Nurture Your Practice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,
2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 7
Translated into English from Bengali

We need sukriti. Without sukriti, nothing will work—if somebody has no previous sukriti, it is very difficult for them to do service of the Lord.

If you come to this line of service to the Lord and do not practise properly, you will not get any result. Practice is the main thing. Those who take initiation and chant the Holy Name, practise properly, then they can easily get to their destination. Srimad Bhagavad-gita also says this. How can you control a fickle mind? What should you do if you cannot chant the Holy Name properly, you cannot serve properly, cannot do anything properly? Gita gives the answer. It is said there that you must practise—without practice it is not possible to control your mind.

You must not run after your mind. If you want to control your mind, you need to use your intelligence to judge what is right and what is wrong, which will be good for you, which will be bad for you. Sometimes we lose our intelligence, but in that case we need good association, sadhu-sanga. If you associate with bad people, you will go in bad direction—if you associate with a thief, you will also become a thief; if you associate with a liar, you will also become a liar; if you associate with a drunkard, you will become a drunkard too; if you associate with those who smoke, they will give a cigarette to you, and so on. It is necessary to understand what harms your devotion, what is inauspicious and what will bring you benefit and auspiciousness. In Kali-yuga, people do not understand this... There are four places where Kali stays: gambling (playing cards, dice, etc.), intoxication (drugs, cigarettes), illegal sex, killing other jiva souls (sarva-jive Krsna adhisthan, Krishna lives within all jiva souls, but people kill other souls). It is necessary to always avoid these things, then you will get supreme benefit.

How many days will you stay in this world, tell me?

সংসার সংসার ক'রে মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala
labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

"Time has passed as I have been busy in my material life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened."

There is only burden in this life, but if you make your family Krishna's family, then you will have no burden. You can live in a family, but if you serve prasad to your children, if you can bring them to the Lord, then your family will not be a burden. "Kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachar (করিয়া কৃষ্ণের সংসার ছাড়ি' অনাচার)": you must make your family Krishna's family and give up what is unwanted and unfavourable. It is necessary to do both.

I have told it to you before. You must make your family Krishna's family. You have got a house, a wife, children, brothers, sisters, friends for the Lord, but the Lord can also take them all away. Many people are so proud of their wife, husband, proud of their sons and daughters, they say, "My son has got a big job!", "My son has become a big doctor!", "My son has become a big engineer!", "My son has done this!", "My son has done that!" Having got everything from the Lord, we forget Him, but the Lord can take everything away.

When Indra got a pig's body, he did not listen to Brahma because he was too much attached to his wife and children. In the end Brahma thought, "I have no time to wait—he was given twelve years and his time is almost finished." To end Indra's attachment to his pig-wife, he had to kill her, only after all his attachment was finished in this way, did Indra start listening to Brahma.

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