Sober Up!

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

If you do not control six senses, you are bound to be unhappy. If you cannot control your senses—

কাম-ক্রোধ আদি ছয় বাটপাড়ে দেয় ভয়
অবসান হৈল আসি বেলা

kama-krodha-adi chaya batapare deya bhaya
avasana haila asi bela

I am attacked by the six highway robbers lead by kama and krodha, and my life is coming to its end...

("Anadi karama-phale" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), mada (madness, intoxication), abhiman (ego)—if you do not bring these under control, if you do not hold them, then sooner or later you will be unhappy. When you want something, you think, "I need this, I want this," and when you do not get it you feel dissatisfied and frustrated, your mood becomes foul. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also says this here in Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, I was just reading about it the other day. It is written there very beautifully.

"When will Nityananda Prabhu be merciful to me? When will He force me to leave my pride and give me the shade of His feet?" [Pv 10.16] When will Nityananda Prabhu take the pride out of my heart? "Pride is the path to hell. Carefully avoid it, and humbly immerse yourself in the lotus feet of Radha and Govinda." [Pv 10.15] "The Lord bestows greater mercy upon the humble, and pride and humility do not co-exist." [Pv 10.14] "When you give up your pride, you will give up the world, and when you give up the world, your heart will become pure." [Pv 10.11] "Withdraw your affection from the world and dedicate it to the lotus feet of Krishna." [Pv 10.12] You have some affection towards the material world, and you must withdraw that affection, take it away—withdraw your affection from the world and dedicate it fully to the lotus feet of Krishna.

abhimana chhadile bhai chhadibe visaya
visaya chhadile suddha habe tomara asaya

"When you give up your pride, you will give up the world, and when you give up the world, your heart will become pure."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 10.11)

Otherwise your heart will not be pure. Those who are proud people, do not give respect to Vaishnav devotees, they do not even have any regard for religion or irreligion—"they neither respect Vaisnava devotees nor do they have any regard for religion or irreligion. Out of pride, they always remain idle or commit sins." [Pv 10.5]

"Remember, glorify, and serve the Lord, and be kind to all beings. Do all this as a proper renunciant." [Pv 9.34] "Krishna may not give you friends and relatives, or He may give them and then take them away. Accept all such conditions as a source of joy." [Pv 9.35]

The Lord has given you a wife, a son, a daughter—He has given you everything—and having got all this, you forgot the Lord. Then, the Lord will again take everything away from you—He will take away your wife, children, brothers, sisters and give you misery instead. He can give you happiness and He can give you also sadness, but people of this world do not understand this. Having got everything (a car, a house, money, wealth, Guru), they forget the Lord... People can stay at the place of their Guru, but they do not go to the temple of their Guru, they do not offer obeisances at the temple of their Guru. You have got a wife, children, etc. for the Lord, but you forget Him—you forget the One who you get everything from.

krsna yadi nahi deya parijana-parikara
athava diya ta laya sarva sukhera akara

"Krishna may not give you friends and relatives, or He may give them and then take them away. Accept all such conditions as a source of joy."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 9.35)

He can take everything from you. Today somebody is a king, next day he is a street beggar; somebody is a street beggar today, next day he is a king. It is His play. Is it not so, tell me?

— : • : —

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