Patience Is a Virtue

By His Divine Grace
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham
19 June 2013, part 4

If somebody wants to serve the Lord, it is necessary to practise with enthusiasm. If you do not have that eagerness to practise, you will not get the result. Also, sometimes we become frustrated, "Oh, I took initiation so many days ago, I have been practising for so many days, but still I have not been able to reach my destination... I am not getting the proper happiness..." We feel hopeless and lose patience. If you lose patience, you will not get the result.

How will you get happiness if you have disease? When your body is sick and somebody gives you some good food, you will get no taste in your tongue—everything will taste bitter. When you have many material desires—rupa, ras, gandha, sabda, sparsa (desire to enjoy through the senses of sight, taste, smell, sound, touch); when you have six enemies—kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (desire, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy); when you suffer from six faults—atyahara, prayascha, prajalpa, niyamagraha, laulancha, janasangancha (eating too much, hoarding, talking nonsense, superficial attachment to rules and regulations, greed, associating with nondevotees); when you suffer from the six urges—mana-veg, krodha-veg, jihva-veg, udar-vega, upastha-veg, vakya-veg (mental urge, urge of anger, tongue, stomach, genitals, speech)—when all this in inside, then you will get taste for Hari-katha. When you hear Hari-katha repeatedly, then you can understand something.

You can examine yourself—what do you like to hear, Hari-katha or other things? What is more interesting for you? You know, sometimes they play some songs in movies, they play them for two months and then another song comes out, but Hare Krishna maha-mantra is always the same and you begin to lose interest. We chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, chant, but then we get tired and want to stop, and what did Rupa Goswami Prabhu write?

tunde tandavaniratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye
karna-kroda kadambinighatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham
cetah prangana-sanginivijayate sarvendriyanamkrtim
no jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi

When the holy name of Krishna descends and captures the tongue and lips, it controls them so strongly that it engages them in chanting the holy name as if the lips and tongue have gone mad. In this way, the power of the name descends in them, and one feels that only one tongue and one mouth are not enough; thousands of mouths are necessary to taste the name. Then the holy name of Krishna enters the ear with such a great force and current that the ears are captured, and one thinks that only two ears are insufficient; he wants millions of ears to attend to the sweet current entering the ears. Two ears are nothing to him; he wants millions of ears. The nectar of the holy name is coming like a flood through his ears, pushing its way within the heart.

It is so sweet that as it goes to capture the heart, the center of all senses, everything is paralyzed. Wherever that sweet aggressor touches, the whole thing is captured with such intensity that everything else is ignored. Rupa Goswami writes, "I don't know, I can't say, I fail to express how much nectar there is in the holy name of Krishna. These two syllables contain so much sweetness, and such a high quality of sweetness. And this sweetness is so aggressive that it captures everything."

(Vidagdha-Madhava, the translation is quoted from 'The Search for Sri Krishna')

He says, "I want millions and millions ears! I want millions of mouths! Only two ears are not sufficient! One mouth is not sufficient! Millions and millions of ears are necessary to hear this Holy Name, there is so much sweetness in Him!"

If you can follow what I am saying, you can reach your goal...

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