Awakening Your Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
7 March 2017, Sri Nabadwip Dham
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama adhivas day,
Bengali evening class, part 3

You have all come to take part in this Nabadwip Dham parikrama. This is a matter of a great fortune. We have got a rare human birth, and if we can do this Nabadwip Dham parikrama, this is a great fortune because from all kinds of holy places, this Nabadwip Dham is the highest abode.

'navadvipa'-hena grama tri-bhuvane nai
yanhi avatirna haila chaitanya-gosani

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Adi-khanda, 2.55)

"There is no place in all three worlds like Nabadwip, the place where Chaitanya Gosai appeared." So, we will all together remember this Chaitanya Gosai here, we will remember what gift He has brought to this world, what He has given to the world.

"Chetana-darpana-marjanam": He has given chetan, it means chaitanya (consciousness) and darpan means a mirror. If you keep a mirror in a room, it becomes dusty and dirty and you will not be able to use it, but if you wipe this mirror and stand in front of it, then you will be able to see yourself in it. In this way, you must awaken this consciousness within you. Listen repeatedly to the sadhus, Guru, then the dust in your heart will be removed, then the devotional creeper will come in your heart.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper."

মালী হঞা করে সেই বীজ আরোপণ ।
শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন ॥

mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

"As a gardener, they must plant that seed and water it with practising: hearing and chanting."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151-152)

You must water that devotional creeper with sravan and kirtan (hearing and chanting).

So, you have come to take part in Nabadwip Dham parikrama and it is our prayer that we may go tomorrow, do the parikrama properly and return here. That is our fulfillment. We will go on the parikrama, listening to the Hari-katha, chanting kirtan, listening to the glories of this dham. Tomorrow we are going to Antardwip, then Simantadwip, Rudradwip.

We have got so many births before, we have been born so many times, we have been coming to this world so many times, we have been travelling throughout this universe for so long, but having got this rare human birth, what is our duty now? What have we got this human birth for? This is what you must hear from the mouth of sadhus—you must understand what you have got this human birth for...

You have got eyes, ears, nose, etc, but if we use them to always criticise others—if we always see, listen to and talk about all kinds of nonsense with these eyes, ears and mouth, then what is the use? The body has a hole that stool comes from, it has a hole that urine comes from, some bad things come from your eyes, some bad things (spit) come out of your mouth, but the Lord is so merciful—He has given us a tongue and if we do not chant the real Holy Name with it, but instead use it to criticise and discuss others, if we are always jealous, envious, then we will never be able to take good association or do service.

First it is necessary to control, to conquer yourself. You have five sense organs of action (karmendriya) and five organs of perception (jnanendriya)—feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth (পদ, পাণি, পায়ু, উপস্থ, বাক, pada, pani, payu, upastha, vak); eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin (চক্ষু, কর্ণ, নাসিকা, জিহ্বা, ত্বক্, chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak); and mind, intelligence, and ego (মন, বুদ্ধি, অহঙ্কার, man, buddhi, ahankar). If you can gradually bring these things under control, if you can follow this path, then you will get the supreme benefit...

What is our final destination? Goloka Vrindavan. You have heard that there, the trees are wish-fulfilling—there, the trees can give you whatever fruit you desire. Here, if you come to a mongo tree and ask for a banana, you will not get it, but there the trees are wish-fulfilling, so the trees can give you whatever fruit you want. There are surabhi cows there—if you put a bucket under their udder, the milk flows automatically. Rejecting this kind of land, we roam this world from place to place. What is our necessity now? What is our duty? We must try to get chetan-vastu (consciousness) through sadhu-sanga (good association).

সংসার ভজিলি শ্রীগৌরাঙ্গ ভুলিলি
না শুনিলি সাধুর কথা ।
ইহ-পরকাল দুকাল খোয়ালি (মন)
খাইলি আপন মাথা ॥

samsara bhajili sri-gauranga bhulili
na sunili sadhura katha
iha-parakala dukala khoyali (mana)
khaili apana matha

You served your family (mundane ends), forgot Sri Gauranga, and never listened to the sadhus' words. O mind, you wasted both this life and your next life. You depraved yourself.

'Avatara sara Gora avatara' by Srila Lochan Das Thakur.

"We have been eating our own brain." You know that if you do pious works you go to heaven, and many do such pious works, but sukriti and punya is not the same—sukriti means using His things for His service. You think, "Oh, I have given ten rupees, or fifty rupees, for the service of the Lord," but actually it is "worshipping Ganges with the Ganges water." You are giving the money to Him who owns it. Who did you get those ten rupees for? You earn it for Govinda—because Govinda, the Lord, gave you His mercy you could earn it, that is why it is actually worshipping Ganges with the Ganges water (ganga jal diye ganga puja kora).

We must always remember this. If we can serve the Lord following the footsteps of our Guru, then, by giving benefit to others, your soul also gets benefit. Following the whims of your mind if not bhajan—service to Guru and Vaishnavs, satisfying their mind is what is called bhajan. So, if we can engage ourselves in the service of the Lord, we will get the supreme benefit. This is how, in a beautiful way, we will do the Dham parikrama...

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