Sincere Practice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary
27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 10

There are so many gurus in this world—there are karmi-gurus, there are jnani-gurus, etc. but there are very few santapa-harankari gurus (সনতাপ হরণ কারী গুরু, gurus who can take away your three-fold miseries)—there are many vitta harankari gurus (বিত্ত হরণ কারী গুরু, gurus who take away your money, steal your property, and so on).

Suppose you go to a doctor and say, "Doctor, my health is not good"—the doctor sends you for a blood test and sees that you are diabetic, you have high blood sugar. He tells you, "Do not eat sweets and potato," but you refuse, you say, "I have money, I cannot stop eating sweets—I must eat ten sweets a day. Prescribe me some medicine, I will take it." If the doctor does not love you but loves your money, he will say, "OK, take this medicine, you do not have to give up anything," and he will only waste your money—"He will come to see me every week, and I will get my fee." If the doctor is good (if he loves you), he will say, "I do not need such patients as you. Do not come to me again. If you want to come to me again, you must stop eating sweets, then only you can come."

Some come and take initiation from gurus who say, "Meat, fish, eggs, onion, garlic—do whatever you want, eat whatever you want, mix with women without marriage if you want, do not worry. Only come and give me pranami." There are such gurus in this world, and their number is very large.

“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)

"Na kara markata-vairagya (Cc, 2.16.238)—do not show money renunciation." Markat means a monkey. Have you seen monkeys in Vrindavan? They walk naked—no clothes, nothing, but as soon as they see your glasses, they immediately take them, and if you give them a biscuit they return the glasses. Is it not so? That is markat-vairagya, phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation), it means that there are material desires inside.

কৃষ্ণভক্ত—নিষ্কাম, অতএব 'শান্ত' ।
ভুক্তি-মুক্তি-সিদ্ধি-কামী—সকলি 'অশান্ত' ॥

krsna-bhakta—niskama, ataeva 'santa'
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami—sakali 'asanta'

"A devotee of Krishna has no desires and is always peaceful. Those who have material desires, desire for liberation or desire for some perfection are always lusty and never know any peace."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.149)

We must serve and practise with yukta-vairagya, proper renunciation, not with false renunciation. Some say, "Oh, I will not stay in the temple, I will go to Haridwar and stay alone." Have you heard the story of Gita-samsar?

There was once a guru who told his disciple to read Gita every day. He started reading Gita every day, but there was much disturbance at home, he did not like it, so one day he said, "I will not stay here! I will go to Rishikesh and read Gita there, alone."

He went there and read Gita every day, but he had many material desires in his mind, so he would fall asleep while reading. As he was sleeping, a rat came and bit his Gita. He woke up and saw half of his book had been eaten. He thought, "Oh, what am I going to do? I must kill the rat!" He got himsa-buddhi in his mind—his inclination grew towards violence. So, how did he get rid of the rat? He found a cat and brought it to the place where he was staying. Seeing the cat at home, the rat ran away, but now the cat started meowing and crying for food... He thought, "Now the cat is hungry, how will I feed it? I want a cow!" He got himself a cow. Then he thought, "Who will feed and take care of the cow? I need a girl." He got some girl and married her. In this way, he ended up with a great samsara (family). He also had many children—somebody cried, "Give me a car!" somebody cried, "Give me a house!", somebody cried, "Give me money!"...

In the meantime, the guru of this disciple thought, "My disciple left for Rishikesh so long ago, let me go there and see how his reading of Gita is going on. He must have become so great." But when he came to his disciple he saw a great samsar—a great samsar of Gita!

So, do not keep material desires in your heart. You must remove all dirty things from your heart by continuously hearing Hari-katha—then the seed of devotion will sprout.

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 your seed of devotion with the water of practising (hearing and chanting). And,

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

তার মধ্যে সর্ব্বশ্রেষ্ঠ নাম-সঙ্কীর্ত্তন ।
নিরপরাধে নাম লৈলে পায় প্রেমধন ॥

tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana
niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana

"Of the practising processes, the best is Nama-sankirtan. If you chant the Holy Name without offence, you will get the wealth of divine love."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.71)

You must always, at every moment chant, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." When Mahaprabhu was in Puri, He would go to the bathroom biting His tongue. Gopal asked Him one day,

"Prabhu, is anything wrong? Why are You biting Your tongue?"

"My tongue is very naughty—I am going to the bathroom to pass stool, it is a dirty place, but My tongue wants to chant the Holy Name even there," replied Mahaprabhu.

"Prabhu," said Gopal, "but You said there are no rules and regulations regarding the time and place of chanting,

কি শয়নে, কি ভোজনে, কিবা জাগরণে ।
অহর্নিশ চিন্ত কৃষ্ণ, বলহ বদনে ॥

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane
aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

Whether you are sleeping, eating, or resting, always chant the Name of Krishna.

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Madhya-khanda, 28.28)

"You can chant the Holy Name the whole day, even if You chant the Holy Name in the bathroom, what is the problem?"

"What you are saying is right, Gopal," said Mahaprabhu. "You are My Guru from today—from today, your name will be Gopal Guru!"

You can chant the Holy Name at any time—when you go to the bathroom, while you are eating, etc. you can chant all the time. When we take prasad, we always say,

mahaprasade govinde nama-brahmani vaisnave
svalpa-punya-vatam rajan visvaso naiva yayate

"O king, one whose fortune is meagre never develops faith in mahaprasad, Govinda, the Holy Name, or the Vaisnavas."

sarira avidya-jala jadendriya tahe kala
jive phele visaya-sagare
ta'ra madhye jihva ati lobhamaya sudurmati
ta'ke jeta kathina samsare

"The body is a net of illusion, and the material senses are the enemies; they throw the soul into the ocean of mundanity. Among the senses, the tongue is the most greedy and wicked. It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world."

Jadendriya (material senses) means five karmendriya (five senses through which we act—feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth), five jnanendriya (five senses through which we perceive things—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), and the tongue throws the souls into the material world. What is said next?

krsna bada dayamaya karibare jihva jaya
sva-prasad-anna dila bhai
sei annamrta pao radha-krsna-guna gao
preme daka chaitanya-nitai

"Krishna is very merciful: to conquer the tongue He has given us His remnants! Accept this nectarean food, sing the glories of Radha-Krishna, and with love call out, 'Chaitanya! Nitai!'"

প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয়
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you take prasad, all these senses will be controlled. That is why you must do prasad-seva (take prasad). It is not about eating vegetarian food. Monkeys also eat vegetarian food, calves drink only milk, cows only eat grass—they are also vegetarian, but do they get the Lord through that? It is necessary to offer food to the Lord, then take prasad—if you do that, then your senses will be controlled. If you cannot control your senses, you will not be able to control anything.

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