Questions and Answers:
Family, Books, Weeds, and Chanting

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Skype darshan for Russia & Ukraine
19 April 2015

Question: There is a Prabhu, he lives with his sister and nephew. Socially, his life is very different from the life of his family, and he always feels hurt by his relatives. He is asking how not to feel hurt and not to feel miserable.

Has he ever come to India?

— No, he has not.

He needs some good association. Sometimes some problems come in a family, but it is temporary, it is actually not a problem. If he thinks there is a problem in his family and he wants to stay here in India, and if he can tolerate the climate in India, he can come and stay with me here.

In general, our duty is to always harmonise with everybody. We should not fight, should not quarrel—we must tolerate and harmonise with everybody, with the society and the people around you. Even if you stay in a temple, even if you live as a brahmachari, you still have to harmonise, still have to tolerate. So many problems come—to stay in a temple permanently is also not easy.

Question: I have desire to read spiritual literature, some scriptures, but now I do not have any possibility to do it, what should I do?

Actually, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that if you come to Krishna consciousness, if you practise properly, then it is not necessary to read volumes of books, not necessary to accumulate volumes of knowledge. If you only have faith in your Guru, have faith in Krishna, that is sufficient for you. If you have time, however, you can read and hear Hari-katha from great pure Vaishnavs, pure sadhus. These are main things.

You do not have to think so much about books and things like this. When I joined, I did not read any books for seven years—I only listened to Hari-katha, and Gurudev told me to read Chaitanya-charitamrita. Before sannyas, Gurudev asked me, "Do you read any books?" I said, "No, I do not get time to read." Then Gurudev told me, "You can bring one book from Mayapur, Gaudiya-kantha-hara, and you can read it." Then I started to read that book. Otherwise, I also did not read so many books.

Do not worry—you are practising, following rules and regulations, following Krishna consciousness, and that is sufficient for you. Always avoid Nama aparadh, try to avoid seva aparadh, try to avoid Vaishnav aparadh—if you try, you will quickly reach success in your spiritual life.

Question: What is the best way to bring my relatives into connection with Krishna consciousness?

If you cannot do it yourself, you must always bring them to a great Vaishnav. We cannot do anything ourselves, that is why we always give people to Gurudev.

Many new people came to the temple, and I always took them, handed them over to Gurudev because it is his duty to take care of them, and I have always got a good result through that. If I try to do it myself, I cannot do it.

We will try to give them some connection—if they can hear some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, and even chant Hare Krishna, that will be good for them, it will give them benefit.

Question: When we chant, our devotion grows and we try to serve, but together with the devotion there are also some weeds growing in our heart, how can we get rid of those weeds in our heart?

That is a fundamental point. These weeds always disturb your devotion, and it is also one kind of offence, but if you chant more and more, that material desire will be removed from your heart. Chant more and more, engage yourself more and more in service to Krishna, in chanting the Holy Name, then automatically that material desire that is like a weed will leave your heart.

If you keep these desires in your heart, that is not good. You must try to remove it as soon as the seed appears—kill it through chanting, do not keep it within, "Oh, today this material desire is coming..." Tomorrow more will come.

Question: Every day I try to offer all my activities to Gurudev with the pranam mantra, but my daily activities are mostly materialistic. Does Gurudev accept these activities even though they are materialistic?

Actually, if what you are doing is connected with service, with the Lord, with the Guru, it is not materialistic. If you can do everything and connect it to the Lord, to your Guru, that is good for you.

You can ask your heart whether what you are doing is wrong, your heart will always tell you. If you think you are doing something wrong, then remove that kind of activity. You should try to understand it yourself.

I am giving you a prescription, and you must always follow it. If a doctor gives you a prescription and you do not follow it, you will always go towards material things. You must follow the prescription and try to remove your materialistic activities, then you will get benefit.

Question: What should our mood and thoughts be like when we are chanting Hare Krishna maha-mantra?

It is not necessary to think about so many things. For primary devotion, it is not necessary to have some special mood. Chant first the Pancha-tattva's name and then the Holy Name, chant it easily and you will get result, the mood will come to you automatically. There are no rules, no regulations—you can chant the Holy Name in any place—whether you are on the train, in the bus, walking, or even in the toilet.

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