Your Home Is Ready—Are You?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in Venezuela
19 December 2015

I am very happy to see you all. You always practise Krishna consciousness properly although there are so many obstacles in the country, that is why Gurudev is always with you, Krishna is always with you.

So many tests come to you, but you do not leave and you are still within Krishna consciousness. Krishna always tests us. You can look at me and you can see how much I am tolerating, how many problems I am facing. If you can see and observe it, then you can depend upon me. It was not after seeing my service for only one or two days, or one or two years that Gurudev could depend upon me. He had tested me so many times, he had observed me so many times, only after that he handed everything over on my shoulders.

Many times I would come to pay dandavat to him, and he chastised me. Many times he told me to get out, but I would get out only for half an hour—after half an hour I would come again, pay dandavat to him and ask something. Later Gurudev told everybody, "Look at this boy. I have told him many times to get out, but he gets out for a few minutes and after that comes back. Now I understand that if any problem comes, he will not run away from my mission, he will not leave my mission—he will not leave his Guru's service, Guru Maharaj's service, Deities' service, the temple service. Anyhow he will stay here permanently."

Service is not for one day, six months, a year, or twenty years. Service is until your death, until you leave your body. You must understand it. Service is not only for some time, not temporary. You think, "I have been doing this service for twenty years," but twenty years is nothing for the Lord. You must serve the Lord and your Guru until your death, until you leave this body.

The problem is that we do something and we think we have done so many things for the Lord, for the temple—this is ego. When this ego comes, it removes you from the service. You must understand that we cannot do anything for the Lord. Lord Krishna runs all planets, He does everything—He is not someone small. When we do something for twenty years, for fifty years, it is nothing. Whatever we do, it is nothing for Him, but at least we are fortunate that Krishna takes our service.

So, you should realise for yourself what your duty is, what you have come to Krishna consciousness for.

ভুক্তি-মুক্তি আদি-বাঞ্ছা যদি মনে হয় ।
সাধন করিলেও প্রেম উৎপন্ন না হয় ॥

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya
sadhana karile prema utpanna na haya

"If you have material desires, if you want liberation, enjoyment, some mystic powers, and so on, then even if you practise all life, or life after life, prem, divine love, will not come."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175)

If you practise Krishna consciousness but have some inner material desires, some bad hankering, then you will not get the proper result. You will not get the proper result. You must understand it.

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

You come to Lord Krishna, but you want liberation, you want some enjoyment—Krishna will give you everything, but in the middle of the way devotion will run away from you. Krishna will hide devotion from you. So, you must avoid this temporary enjoyment. As Gurudev said, "বৃহৎ স্বার্থ পাইতে হইলে, ক্ষুদ্র স্বার্থ ত্যাগ করতে হবে, brihat svartha paite haile, ksudra svartha tyaga korte habe: if you want to get great things, you must avoid small things." You sing during the Kartik month the song about Mahaprabhu's sloka,

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

"I do not want wealth, I do not want followers, I do not want beautiful women, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could do Your service life after life."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 20.29)

নাহি মাগি দেহসুখ বিদ্যা ধন জন ॥
নাহি মাগি স্বর্গ আর মোক্ষ নাহি মাগি ।
না করি প্রার্থনা কোন বিভূতির লাগি ॥

nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya, dhana, jana
nahi magi svarga ara moksa nahi magi
na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi

"I do not pray for bodily pleasure, learning, wealth, or followers. I do not pray for heaven, I do not pray for liberation, and I do not pray for any supernatural powers."

(Sri Siksastakam, 4.1-2, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We do not pray for anything. We do not pray for any kind of opulence, any kind of mystical power. We do not want that. We only pray and want to be a servitor, we want to be a devotee. "If You make me born again, I do not mind it, but I want to be Your servant," that is sufficient.

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)

Showing something to the people and the world and secretly doing some nonsense is not good. "Loka dekhana Gora bhaja", you show something to the world, but Krishna knows, Gora knows that you are a thief, that you do nonsense behind Their back. You may be able to hide it from some other people, but you cannot hide anything from your Guru, you cannot hide anything from the Lord. The Lord knows everything about you.

So, keep practising Krishna consciousness continuously. So many years have passed for us on this planet, so many births and deaths have passed, but we have finally got a human body, we have finally got a bona fide Guru. If you can practise continuously, with tolerance, humility, giving honour to others, removing all material desires, chanting the Holy Name properly, then your real home is ready for you: then Gurudev already has your home made there, and he is only waiting for you. But if you cannot practise properly, if you cannot keep proper desire, cannot do service properly, how will you then get to your real home?

In his last days Gurudev said to me, "Acharya Maharaj, you bring so many people to me, but can you tell me how many people practise Krishna consciousness properly?"...

Gurudev went to every country... We sing, "Kara more atma-satha." It means hijacking. Other people, dacoits, rob you, take your gold, take your money; a great sadhu, a bona fide Guru also hijacks, but he does not hijack gold, money or anything like that—he hijacks you! He brings you to Krishna consciousness—he hijacks you and sends you to the lotus feet of the Lord.

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