Strike While the Iron Is Hot

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

Do you know what Krishna finally told Arjuna? He said, "You must reject everything."

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66

You must believe it.

If somebody tells you, "I am your father," you will not believe that, but if your mother tells you, "Yes, this is your father," then you must believe it. Similarly, you must believe what is written in the scriptures, what Krishna told Arjuna.

কৃষ্ণ মাতা, কৃষ্ণ পিতা, কৃষ্ণ প্রাণ ধন ।

krsna mata, krsna pita, krsna prana dhana

Krishna is your mother, Krishna is your father, Krishna is your very life and wealth.

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 1.343

I remember when I went to the preaching field in Hoogly, it was in Gurudev's time, I tried so hard for one devotee. Every year he would give some rice and donation for Gaura Purnima, and every year I went there I would ask him, "Prabhu, come for Gaura Purnima this year." He would say, "Yes, yes, I will come." He wanted to come but every time some problem would come up and he could not come. Another year, he said, "Oh, Maharaj, I will come this year!" but then suddenly he got sick and could not come. It repeated like this for three-four years. Finally, he could not come for Gaura Purnima, he could not come to Nabadwip, he could not come to see Gurudev...

One year, this husband and wife settled on going with me to Vrindavan on Kartik parikrama, but at the last moment he told me,

"Maharaj, I cannot go to Vrindavan because my son is getting married in six months."

"The wedding is in six months, and the Kartik parikrama is now. You can still come!"

"No, Maharaj... I have to arrange everything: we must paint the house, do this, do that..."

The man worked in a field just beside a big road, and one day he was working there happily when suddenly I do not know what happened but a car went into the field and he died...

Imagine it is very cold outside and you cannot make yourself jump into the pond, or the Ganges, to bath. What will you do? You are standing, shaking from cold, thinking, "To bath or not to bath?" Then you must throw your clothes into the river so that when you see your clothes going away you will jump after it! Just like this, you must throw your mind! You think, "I will chant the Holy Name tomorrow—I will wait today, and from tomorrow I will start." Are you sure you are going to be in this world tomorrow? Unfortunately, we do not believe that we can leave this world any time...

There are so many living entities in this world... When you drink water there are so many living entities in that water. When a cow eats grass, so many living entities are killed. What is the solution to that? The solution is given in the scriptures. People kill and eat fish, meat, chicken, and the sadhus too kill the jiva souls, but why is the latter not considered a sin? Because sadhus do not do anything for themselves—they cook and do everything for Govinda, and take prasad. They stay in this world, but they live in a world where Krishna is in the centre (Krishna-mayi). We must forget the ego that "I eat, I can do this." We must forget this 'I' and 'mine' world.

Several years ago we went for a programme in one place. The host was a man in his thirties who had just built a beautiful house, with marble floors and fancy bathrooms. He showed me the house, pointing out, "I did this house myself, my parents did not help. I did it all by myself." He insisted that we had the programmes at that place, "You must give programmes here every day: morning, afternoon, and evening." I told him "There are so many people here and they all want us to come to their houses. Usually we go to one house in the morning, another house in the afternoon, and another house in the evening..." In the end, he persuaded me to stay at his house. The next morning he was cleaning the yard when he saw a small snake in the grass among the trees. The hospital was about 10 km away, which was just two minutes by car, but the Lord did not give him even two minutes—he died before that.

So, we think, "Yes, I will see tomorrow. I will do this, I will do that." We say so many things, but this world is like this, this life is like this:

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117

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