Weaknesses

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham

16 April 2013

If in this life you think, "This is my house, I will not leave this house," then next birth you will become a lizard: you can see that they always stay in the house.

What did Chaitanya-charitamrita tell?

'ei sthane achhe dhana'—yadi daksine khudibe
'bhimarula-baruli' uthibe, dhana na paibe

"There is some treasure in this place, but if you dig in the southern direction, the wasps and drones will rise, and you will not get the treasure.

'paschime' khudibe, taha 'yaksa' eka haya
se vighna karibe,—dhane hata na padaya

"If you dig in the western direction, there is a ghost who will create such a disturbance that your hands will not even touch the treasure.

'uttare' khudile achhe krsna 'ajagare'
dhana nahi pabe, khudite gilibe sabare

"If you dig in the northern direction, there is a big black snake that will swallow you if you try to dig there.

purva-dike tate mati alpa khudite
dhanera jhari padibeka tomara hatete

"If, however, you dig a little in the eastern direction, the pot of treasure will immediately be into your hands."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.132-135)

That is bhukti-, mukti-, siddhi-kami. Gurudev also explained it in another way. I remember I once asked him something and he gave this example.

Before there was no paper money, people used silver coins, even here in India they used silver coins before. Once, a rich man put his riches into a jar and buried it near his house. When his grandson took over the house, he came across that pot with riches, but when he was trying to take it out, he saw there was a cobra. Gurudev asked me, "Do you know who that cobra is?" It is that grandfather. In his life, he had so much attachment with his money, he would guard it so much that much that in his next birth he became a cobra and continued guarding it as a snake.

Attachment is a very dangerous thing. Then you can realise what kind of attachment you must have,

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You have love for your family—your son, daughter, husband, wife, etc.—but if feel that kind of love for the lotus feet of the Lord, then you can understand that you are getting some benefit, that devotion is coming. The kind of attachment you have for your family life should come for your Guru, the Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan.

27 March 2016

[Srila Acharya Maharaj notices that Srila Ashram Maharaj is looking intently at the ceiling fan:]

Maharaj, do you want to stop the fan?

Srila Ashram Maharaj: No, no, I was watching the lizard [an unusually fat one, sitting on the fan]...

Oh, a lizard—it happened so that it is also a devotee... My grandfather from my purva ashram (previous life) became a snake, and somebody in Ekachakra, a pujari, also became a lizard...

That devotee lived in Ekachakra, he did puja and cooked at the temple. When he was very sick, the doctor told him that he had to eat meat and fish for his health, and before his death he started taking meat, fish, and eggs in his house. Then, one day I saw him in a dream, he said to me, "Oh, Maharaj, I am still in Ekachakra!" I began to search, "Who is that?" and I understood he had become a lizard...

Now he likes eating insects—before his death he liked eating meat, fish, and after death he is also eating that. His whole life he did not take meat, but before his death he started taking it because he left his service—I told him not to leave, to stay in the temple, but he did not listen to me. He went back to his house, got very sick, and at the hospital the doctor told him that he had the disease because he was vegetarian... He became tired and started taking meat, fish.

· · • • • · ·

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (1.8 Mb)