Sadhus' Mission

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
7 March 2017, Sri Nabadwip Dham
Bengali evening class, part 1

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First of all, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy, after that I am offering my obeisance to all Guru-varga, to all my God-brothers and sisters, to all devotees and all of you praying for your mercy to this low soul.

"I am low and fallen, I have no quality, qualification."

শক্তিবুদ্ধিহীন আমি অতি দীন
কর মোরে আত্মসাথ ॥

sakti-buddhi-hina ami ati dina
kara more atma-satha

যোগ্যতা বিচারে কিছু নাহি পাই
তোমার করুণা সার ।
করুণা না হৈলে কাঁদিয়া কাঁদিয়া
প্রাণ না রাখিব আর ॥

yogyata vichare kichu nahi pai
tomara karuna-sara
karuna na ha-ile kandiya kandiya
prana na rakhiba ara

O master! I am devoid of ability and intelligence, and greatly distressed. Please accept me. When I examine myself for qualifications, I find none. Your mercy is everything. If you are not merciful to me, then, crying, I will no longer maintain my life.

Many of you think that you have come here for some punya, piety. If you do pious activities, you will go to heaven, but even heaven is temporary, is it not? When you come to heaven, you will enjoy some happiness for some time as a demigod or a demigoddess, but just as demigods have to come back from there, you too will have to come back and go to lower planets (hell) after that. Now tell me, do you want to go to heaven? Does any of you want to go to heaven?

Devotee [softly]: No.

Say clearly. Does anyone want to go to heaven?

Devotees [firmly]: No!

All right, that is good.

নাহি মাগি স্বর্গ আর মোক্ষ নাহি মাগি ।
না করি প্রার্থনা কোন বিভূতির লাগি ॥

nahi magi svarga ara moksa nahi magi
na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi

"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)

Bhaktivinod Thakur says, "I do not pray for any opulence or powers." Where is our destination? Where is our home? Goloka Vrindavan. This is where you must go—the place of no return. When you come there you will never have to come back again. You must go to the place where you will never have to be born and die again, you will never have to again suffer old age and disease. To take you to that place, the sadhus undergo so much austerity going house to house, coming to your houses, calling you, "Come, come!"

At the time of temple inauguration in Tarakeshwar, I would go out every morning and came back in the evening visiting ninety houses every day. Walking on foot with my stick, I would go house to house and returning to the temple in the evening, I would give class. You saw how many thousands of people came for the festival. Those who saw the festival, could see how by the inspiration of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, by the desire of Srila Guru Maharaj, by the mercy of Gurudev, such a beautiful Math manifest there and how many thousands of people came there, took prasad, listened to the class, kirtan. You can imagine—the people from the places where nobody understood Hari-katha, nobody knew, nobody understood who Krishna is, that kind of people came to this path.

One time, I went for collection to Mednipur. At one of the houses, a man saw me in the car. He came to me and said, "I am sorry, I cannot help you." I said to him, "I have not come here to take your help, I have come here to help you." Then, he let us in and gave us a seat at his house. When we came in, I saw he began climbing a coconut tree. I asked him, "What are you climbing the coconut tree for?" He wanted to give us a dub. I told him, "I will take prasad later. I have come to help you, and you must first take my help." He climbed down from the tree, sat down and listened to Hari-katha. After the class, he went into his house and put whatever rice there was in his clay pot into our collection sack. On top of that, he gave us whatever money he had—twenty-fifty rupees. I asked him, "You have given everything to us, what are you going to eat at night?" He said, "The Lord will take care."

I gave that man an invitation card to Nabadwip Dham. He said, "Nabadwip... Will I ever be able to go there in my life? It is so far... Where will I stay there? How much money is needed? I do not know anything about these things..." I told him, "The address is here, you do not need to worry." He said, "All right, I cannot cannot come this year, but I will come next year." Then I told him, "In the meantime, here is what you will do. Every day you cook two kg of rice. Take a handful of that amount and keep it in a clay pot."

When I came to that village next year, he showed me that he had collected thirty-four kg of rice. I told him to give ten kg to the Math, sell the rest twenty-four kg and come to Nabadwip with that money. He came to Nabadwip, took initiation from Guru Maharaj, began chanting the Holy Name. Later, his children also took Harinam, and now they come for Nabadwip Dham parikrama too.

One day, he told me, "Maharaj, why do you not come to our village any more?" I explained to them, "That time I went there to hijack you all. You thought I had come for your rice, dal, money, to hijack your wealth, but I went there, hijacked you all and brought you to the feet of Gurudev. That is why I came there. My intention is successful, so now there is no need for me to go to your village."

This is what the sadhus want—they do not need your money. Real sadhus do not come for your money. As Maharaj was saying just now, there are many false sadhus who only dress as a sadhu—it is very difficult to become a sadhu, but it is very easy to dress as a sadhu. That is why I always tell you,

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

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)

Do not make a show for the world that you serve Gora, you must love Gora with your heart. Do not be a hypocrite. You must love with your heart—love comes from the heart. It is not necessary to love just for the sake of showing it to others. You must love with your heart, with the real feeling.

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