Reaching the Shore of Material Ocean

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
19 July 2015

Almost all of you live a family life now, but every time you come and go in this world you change your family. Maybe in your previous life you had a monkey family, in another life you had a cow family, and next time you may go to heaven—but it is all temporary.

We have fallen into an ocean: we swim in it and cannot get to the shore. When you finally get a human body (reach the shore), you must understand, you must realise what you have got this human body for. Is it only for enjoying, for eating and sleeping? No. We had all that in our previous lives, and we will get it all in our next life also, but you must understand that this human body is only for practising Krishna consciousness, for service to the Lord.

You can do service remaining in your family life. In your family, your mother or your wife cooks some food and you think your son will come to eat it, but it is not sure. Many people went to the Ratha Yatra yesterday, but some people died: some parents think their son, their daughter, or their mother has gone to the Ratha Yatra and will come back, but some of them never come back—they expire. If, on the other hand, your mother cooks for Krishna, then Krishna Himself will bring you to take prasadam.

There are so many religions in this world—karmi, yogi, jnani, etc.,—but they do not get Krishna. Without devotees of Krishna, without practising Krishna consciousness, without having Krishna consciousness, you will not get devotion from Krishna. That is why you must secure membership in Krishna's family.

When you take initiation in Krishna's family, then you become a member of His family, and once you get that membership, you must always 'renew' it. For example, when you open some registration you create a bank account, but if you do not operate that bank account properly, it will collapse. In this line, it is the same: you must get membership in Krishna's family and you must keep that connection alive. This is the proper way to live your life.

You must live for the service to the Lord: "জীবে দয়া, নামে রুচি, বৈষ্ণব সেবা, jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva (be merciful to others, chant the Holy Name, and serve the Vaishnavs)." You can use everything in service. For example, you plant a coconut tree and think, "I have planted a coconut tree, and my son, my wife will enjoy the coconut." You may have planted it, but you have no right to take that coconut's life—when you offer that coconut to the Lord and take the prasad, then you are actually giving benefit to the coconut tree. You can see at some houses people plant so many flowers and trees, but those flowers are not used for the service to the Lord, for the service to Krishna...

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