Looking For Advice?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
29 July 2013

Who is your enemy? No one is your enemy—your enemy is your mind.

ঐছন আমার মন ফিরে যেন অন্ধজন
সুপথ বিপথ নাহি জানে

aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana
supatha vipatha nahi jane

"My mind wanders like a blind man who cannot tell the right way from the wrong way."

'Thakura Vaishnava-gana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur

The mind does not know what is the right way and what is the wrong way. We cannot control our mind, but the Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan can, so the intelligent men will always take good association and will always leave bad association—they will serve the Lord in good association (sadhu-sanga) and follow the sadhu's advice. This is the process.

In this world, in this age of Kali, you will get so many gurus—karmi guru, jnani guru, yogi guru, and so on—but Srimad Bhagavatam told,

গুরুর্ন স স্যাৎ স্বজনো ন স স্যাৎ,
পিতা ন স স্যাজ্জননী ন সা স্যাৎ ।
দৈবং ন তৎ স্যান্ন পতিশ্চ স স্যান্ন,
মোচয়েদ্ যঃ সমুপেতমৃত্যুম্ ॥

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan
na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyam

"It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your god, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

It is not your friend if the person cannot help you in Krishna consciousness; it is not your husband if that man does not help you in Krishna consciousness, if that man cannot give you devotion to Krishna and Krishna consciousness; and even it is not your Guru if the person cannot protect you from death (death means coming and going, mrityu-rupa samsar). These are the main things.

A santapa-harankari guru (সনতাপ হরণ কারী গুরু), a guru who takes away the three-fold miseries (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik, আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক: miseries caused by one's body, by the nature, and other souls) is very rare in this age of Kali, but a vitta harankari guru (বিত্ত হরণ কারী গুরু, a guru who will take away your money, steal your property, and so on) is always there. I will give one example that was given by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

In this world, suppose you come to a doctor, and the doctor tells you, "You have blood sugar. You must take this medicine and follow my instruction—you cannot take potato and you cannot take sweets." You, the patient, say, "Oh, doctor, I have so much money, I can take the medicine, but I cannot follow your advice. I cannot stop eating sweets and potato..." If the doctor loves you, then he will say, "I do not want that kind of patient."

The Guru is also like this. A real Guru will not give you flattery, he will not tell you, "You can take anything you want and then you can slowly, slowly remove it." No, the Guru will say, "You must first avoid this bad association, avoid bad habits and follow my instruction, otherwise I do not want you." If, however, the Guru loves your money more, he will think, "If I give initiation to this person, I will get some donation, pranami." There are so many of this kind of gurus available in this world, but one who is actually a Guru will not give you any advice of pravrtti-marga (path of mundane enjoyment)—he will tell it to you directly, as it is, and will not flatter you.

So, we can easily understand what is necessary for our spiritual life...

· · • • • · ·

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

• Download (1.2 Mb)