Seize the Day

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
12 March 2013

Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He has sent us all, everybody, to distribute the Holy Names all over the world. If we do not do it, we must understand that we have got this human body but at any time we can die.

It is told in Srimad Bhagavatam that when the demons and the demigods were fighting, the demigods won the war. They became very happy and said to a Vaishnav called Khatvanga Maharaj who was there at that time,

"Maharaj, please ask us for some boon. We can give you anything you want."

"I will ask for a boon later, first tell me how many more days is my lifetime?"

"You lifetime is only one moment..." (One moment means forty-eight minutes according to the Vedic calculation.)

"Only one moment? Then I will not ask you for anything. I will not waste a second, at this very moment I am surrendering myself at the lotus feet of the Lord."

Khatvanga Maharaj is fortunate, he knew his life was only forty-eight minutes more, but we do not know if our lifetime is even one or two minutes more. By the mercy of the Lord, by the mercy of the Guru, we got this human body, but what have we got it for? If we cannot use this body for the service of the Lord—if we cannot chant properly, cannot serve—then this body is useless.

Srimad Bhagavatam said also another thing. We have a head on our shoulders, but what is this head for? What is it necessary for? We have this head so that we can bow down at the lotus feet of the Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan. What are our eyes for? To see the murti (the divine form) of Krishna, of Gurudev—always. What have we got a mouth for? Only to talk, gossip, and eat? No! We have got a mouth to chant the Holy Name, to chant the Lord's glories. What are our legs for? We have legs to go to holy places, to go to the place of Krishna's pastimes, Gurudev's pastimes, to do Tulasi parikrama—for that. What are our ears for? To hear Krishna-katha, Guru-katha, Govinda-katha. That is what Srimad Bhagavatam says.

GLORY OF KALI-YUGA

Now is Kali-yuga, the age of Kali. There are four ages—Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapar-yuga, and Kali-yuga. In Satya-yuga, the lifetime was 100,000 years and people practised meditation. In Treta-yuga, the lifetime was 10,000 years and they did fire sacrifice. In Dvapar-yuga, people lived for 1,000 years and did archan (deity worship). And now is Kali-yuga when the lifetime is 120 years.

In Dvapar-yuga, once Krishna was sitting under a tamarind tree and meditating. Suddenly He saw His reflection in the Yamuna, and thought, "Oh, I am so beautiful... Radharani is always crying for Me, but why? Why does She always chant My Name? Why does She cry? I want to taste it." Krishna Himself wanted to come and He made a promise at that time that He would come in Kali-yuga as a devotee.

This is how Krishna Himself came in this age of Kali. He came for two reasons: He wanted to know what kind of taste Radharani gets, and He wanted to supply His own Name to the world. Krishna's Name, beauty, and pastimes are nondifferent from Krishna, that is why Krishna Himself comes in the form of the Holy Name.

So, Krishna appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and He went door to door with Nityananda Prabhu, telling everyone, "You have lost your address! This is not your permanent address! You have left Me, and now I have come to take you back to your home. Back to God, back to home!"

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said,

prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"This Name will be distributed all over the world—in all the villages, towns, and cities that there are in this world."

Mahaprabhu only said it, but who distributed the Name in practice? Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and our Gurupadpadma, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. They did what Mahaprabhu said in practice.

ENTERING ANOTHER LIFE

This Holy Name comes from Goloka Vrindavan through a Guru-parampara (a succession of spiritual teachers). It came from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Narad, from Narad to Vyasadev, then Madhvacharya, and so on. In this way our line came to Madhavendra Puri, from Madhavendra Puri to Ishwar Puri, and from Ishwar Puri to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also took initiation, and you may ask me, "Why did Lord Himself take initiation?" He took initiation because He is an acharya—an acharya means one who practises and gives advice. So, after that, the line continued and eventually came to Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, then Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and then our Param Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

In his life, on his last birthday, Gurudev told everybody, "If anyone wants to take initiation, he will be my successor," and he told my name. In his life, he said to me also, "If anyone wants to take initiation, if they are sincere seekers and follow the rules and regulations, you can give initiation to them."

So, you have been getting good association, you have been listening to the lectures, and also I think you follow the rules and regulations (no gambling, no drinking alcohol, no smoking, no eating fish, meat, no illegal sex), you are practising properly, so I think that you are ready to take initiation...

[His Divine Grace initiates the devotee.]

...This is the Pancha-tattva's name. Ask mercy from them. You can say, "I am a fallen soul, I have no quality. Please give me some mercy so that I can chant the Holy Name," then you can start chanting from the big beads. Chant as I showed you sixteen rounds or more. If some day you are busy with service, you can chant less, but not less than four rounds. Krishna will reveal in your heart and you will be successful in your spiritual life. There is also this ten offences book. You must read it and avoid these offences. Chant without offences and you will get the result quickly.

Now chant four rounds, then you can take talk [sic] and take prasadam, otherwise the seed will be dry. Chant now four rounds minimum...

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