Come to Your Senses

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
26 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Four types of people come to Krishna consciousness: arto, artharthi, jijnasur, jnani (আর্ত্তো, অর্থার্থী, জিজ্ঞাসুর, জ্ঞানী, Bg, 7.16). Arto means old people, artharthi are the people who come for money, jijnasur are the people who want to know something, and jnani means some wise people. These four types of people come to Krishna consciousness but if they do not practise properly, they cannot become devotees.

People come here and sometimes they leave the temple, but this is a very important place, Sri Nabadwip Dham. If you compare any other place to this place, it is called Dham aparadh, seva aparadh, Nama aparadh—it is very dangerous for our spiritual life. Nama aparadh and Vaishnav aparadh are especially dangerous...

You heard the story about Draupadi. When they were doing Vaishnav seva, so much money was spent, and Draupadi personally cooked everything, but one Vaishnav, a cobbler (shoemaker) by caste, mixed all prasad on his plate and ate it all together. Draupadi did not like it, "What kind of Vaishnav is this? I have made so many items, but he is not even tasting it, he does not care what kind of preparations I have made—he just mixed everything..." Draupadi committed Vaishnav aparadh.

Gurudev also said that it is not so easy to stay in Nabadwip Dham. We think we leave because of somebody or for some reason, but it happens automatically—if seva aparadh comes, Vaishnav aparadh, Nama aparadh come, the service will automatically leave us. If we make seva aparadh, our service will leave us.

When we joined the mission and came to the temple, we brought some sukriti, but if we do not do any service here, we do not earn any sukriti, then sukriti will eventually finish and one day we will have to leave that place.

তোমার সেবায় যত হয় দুঃখ, সেও ত' পরম সুখ, tomara sevaya yata haya duhkha, seo ta' parama sukha (Saranagati, 16.4), so much sadness, so much unhappiness, so many problems, so many obstacles will come in our spiritual life—it is not going to be smooth, or easy. Spiritual life is like walking on a sharp razor blade: any time you can cut your feet. The loss will be yours—no one can stop the service of Gauranga, the service of the Lord, the service will always continue, one way or another.

At the same time, even if somebody is an offender, the Lord always accepts their service. The Lord, the Guru are very merciful—Nityananda Prabhu is very merciful. Nityananda Prabhu always takes our service.

উত্তম, অধম, কিছু না করে বিচার ।
যে আগে পড়য়ে, তারে করয়ে নিস্তার ॥

uttama, adhama, kichhu na kare vichara
ye age padaye, tare kraye nistara

Nityananda Prabhu does not consider who is good and who is bad, He saves anyone who falls before Him.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 5.208-209

"Nityananda Prabhu does not look, does not judge who is uttam, who is adham—who is the best, who is good, and who is the worst—He saves anyone who surrenders to Him."

সংসারের পার হই’ ভক্তির সাগরে ।
যে ডুবিবে, সে ভজুক নিতাইচাঁদেরে ॥

samsare para hai' bhaktira sagare
ye dubibe, se bhajuka nitaichandere

May those who desire to cross over samsara and dive in the ocean of devotion serve Sri Nitaichand.

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 1.77

"If you want to conquer maya, if you want to conquer the mrtyu-rup samsar (stop the endless wandering throughout the world of death), then you must worship, you must serve Nityananda Prabhu, the Guru."

Because of our ego we think, "Without me, it cannot run," but everything will run without you—the Lord's service will always continue.

Somebody asked me, "If everybody becomes sannyasi and brahmachari, who will stay in this world? What will happen to the world? There will be no people, and the population will decrease..." What a foolish question! Everything is in Krishna's hands. You think people can control anything? We cannot control anything. We want to be in charge, but we cannot.

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.

Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1

Everything manifests by His desire—by His desire the sun and the moon rise, by His desire the wind blows, etc. but we forget about this. We have received everything we have (we got a wife, children, friends, brothers, sisters, father, mother, etc.) for the Lord. The Lord gives you some happiness, but having got this happiness from the Lord, we forget Him—but the Lord can also take that happiness away.

Somebody will go to hell, somebody will go to heaven; somebody may become an animal, a bird, somebody may become a demigod—it will continue without an end. You have got a human birth and it is an opportunity to finish your wandering throughout the samsar. This human birth is so auspicious, but we do not worship the Lord, we do not think about the Lord. We must understand that if we do not worship the Lord properly, do not practise properly, then time and time again we will have to keep returning to this world—janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi (জন্মমৃত্যুজরাব্যাধি, the world of birth, death, old age, and disease, Bg, 13:9). If you engage in sinful works, you will go to hell; if you engage in pious works, you will go to heaven; but whether you go to hell or heaven you will still have to come back from there. What is the solution to this?

সাধু পাওয়া কষ্ট বড় জীবের জানিয়া ।

সাধুগুরুরূপে কৃষ্ণ আইল নদীয়া ॥

sadhu paoya kasta bada jivera janiya
sadhu-bhakta-rupe krsna aila nadiya

Understanding that it is very difficult for a soul to find a sadhu, Krishna came to Nadia in the form of a pure devotee.

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.8

In this Kali-yuga it is very hard to get a sadhu, a Guru, that is why Krishna Himself comes in the form of a sadhu, a guru. He comes personally to teach everyone, but we do not accept His teachings, we only say we accept it:

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।

গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7

We always make Vaishnav aparadh... There are several types of Vaishnav aparadh, but now is the Age of Kali and in this modern age there is so much Vaishnav aparadh—somebody shows something on their Facebook page, or says something about somebody else without thinking, or writes something about somebody else in an email, etc. It is also a kind of Vaishnav aparadh. We make so many offences to the Vaishnavs.

We say we are devotees of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, but what is the duty of a devotee?

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and veneration.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124

We must keep good association, do Nama sankirtan, hear about the Lord, worship the Deity with faith, and live in a holy place. Krishna must be in the centre of our family—we must life in His family.

মঠ মন্দির দালান বাড়ীর না কর প্রয়াস ।

অর্থ থাকে কর ভাই যেমন অভিলাষ ॥
অর্থ নাই তবে মাত্র সাত্ত্বিক সেবা কর ।

জল-তুলসী দিয়া গিরিধারীকে বক্ষে ধর ॥

matha mandira dalana badira na kara prayasa
artha thake kara bhai yemana abhilasa
artha nai tabe matra sattvika seva kara
jala-tulasi diya giridharike vakse dhara

"Do not endeavour to make monasteries, temples, or big houses, but if you have wealth, brother, then you can make them, as you desire. If you do not have wealth, then simply perform pure worship. Offer water and Tulasi to Giridhari and hold Him to your chest."

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 9.29-30

If you have no money, what is the problem? You can give water and Tulasi and keep the Lord close to your heart. Everyone can get some Ganges water, and even if they cannot, they can always use the mantra and transform any water into the Ganges water; Tulasi grows in all houses—so you can always worship the Lord with some water and a Tulasi leaf and keep the Lord in your heart. If, however, we do not practise what is advised in the scriptures, we will not get anything...

You may be doing some service, but if you make Nama aparadh your seva will always be useless. Mahaprabhu told Das Goswami Prabhu,

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely. Do not expect honour, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Krishna, and within your mind serve Radha and Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237

You must serve Radha Krishna, but without service to Mahaprabhu there is no service to Krishna—your attempts will be in vain. How many people can understand this?

ধর্ম্মাচারী-মধ্যে হয় বহুত 'কর্ম্মনিষ্ঠ' ।
কোটি-কর্ম্মনিষ্ঠ-মধ্যে এক 'জ্ঞানী' শ্রেষ্ঠ ॥
কোটিজ্ঞানী-মধ্যে হয় একজন 'মুক্ত' ।
কোটিমুক্ত-মধ্যে 'দুর্ল্লভ' এক কৃষ্ণ-ভক্ত ॥

dharmachari-madhye haya bahuta 'karmanistha'
koti-karmanistha-madhye eka 'jnani' srestha
koti-jnani-madhye haya eka-jana 'mukta'
koti-mukta-madhye 'durlabha' eka krsna-bhakta

"Among those who follow the dharma there are many of those who practise karma. Among millions of such sincere karmis, there is only one truly wise person. Among millions of such wise people, there is only one liberated soul. Among millions of such liberated souls, there is hardly one devotee of Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.147-148

You must always remember the Lord's teachings. Jagadananda Pandit said,

যদি চাহ প্রণয় রাখিতে গৌরাঙ্গের সনে ।
ছোট হরিদাসের কথা থাকে যেন মনে ॥

yadi chaha pranaya rakhite gaurangera sane
chhota haridasera katha thake yena mane

If you want to maintain your love for Gauranga, then remember the story of Chhota Haridas.

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.12

You must understand and accept the teachings of Mahaprabhu, and what will be your duty? Three things: jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaisnava seva (জীবে দয়া, নামে রুচি, বৈষ্ণব সেবা), and nothing else...

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