Change of Heart

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, first evening class
20 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 3

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

How many times we have come and gone, there is no end of it. Yet you are your own enemy, you are your own friend. If you are your own friend, then leaving behind all material attachment, keeping yourself far from the material things (visaya), sacrificing your life, offering your life to the lotus feet of the Lord, you must come to this line.

ধন জন আর কবিতা সুন্দরী
বলিব না চাহি দেহ-সুখকরী ।
জন্মে জন্মে দাও ওহে গৌরহরি
অহৈতুকী ভক্তি চরণে তোমার ॥

dhana jana ara, kavita-sundari,
baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari
janme janme dao, ohe gaurahari!
ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

"When will I declare that I do not desire wealth, followers, erudition, beautiful women, or any other bodily pleasure? O Gaurahari! Birth after birth, please give me unconditional devotion to Your feet."

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We do not want any wealth, followers, erudition, beautiful companions for the happiness of this body.

আসক্তিরহিত সম্বন্ধসহিত ।
বিষয়সমূহ সকলি মাধব ॥

'asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'
visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

You must not be attached. You must see everything in relation to the Lord. We have a temple, it is necessary to clean it, to wash it, it is necessary to clean the buildings and the rooms—devotees are coming and will be staying here; it is necessary to clean the bathrooms for them, to clean the garden around, to fix the lights. We must not be attached thinking, "Oh, without me nothing will be done." No. "I am only a guard of Govinda's wealth. I am a gatekeeper. This is my identity."

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"When the jiva soul makes the mistake of forgetting that it is an eternal servant of Krishna, Maya captures the soul by its neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.24)

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117)

We have forgotten the Lord, and as a result we are burning now with these three-fold miseries. The only way to get relief from this suffering is taking shelter of Gauranga's lotus feet.

Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu, "Nitai, I have left West Bengal. You must preach Krishna-katha there now." Nityananda thought, "People will not accept preaching about Krishna so easily, they will take it in the opposite way and make offence. I know what I will do. I will preach about Gauranga!" He would sing,

ভজ গৌরাঙ্গ, কহ গৌরাঙ্গ, লহ গৌরাঙ্গের নাম রে
যে জন গৌরাঙ্গ ভজে, সেই আমার প্রাণ রে

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re
ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

"Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga's Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!"

"Those who worship Gauranga are My life and soul." Nityananda Prabhu said, "They are My soul." When will we get the mercy of the lotus feet of this Nityananda Prabhu?...

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া ।
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ॥

kabe nityananda more kari' daya
chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You must sing this, you must always think about this. Always, at every moment you must think about this!

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া ।
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ॥

kabe nityananda more kari' daya
chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

"When will Nitaichand be merciful to me? When will my material desires become a mere trifle?" It is not so easy to come to the stage when your material desires lose any importance...

You can see many sadhus in many places—at Kumbhamela, in Ganga Sagar, etc. There are so many pretending sadhus in this world, but it is not so easy to find a real sadhu. I tell you this story sometimes—we want to leave the blanket, but the blanket does not want to leave us.

There were two sadhus in Haridwar. They were sitting one day on the bank of the Ganges—in Haridwar, the Ganges is very large and swift. One of the sadhus notices something big floating down the Ganges and said to the other sadhu, "Look! Here is a blanket floating in the river! We can dry it and use at night!" [It is cold in Haridwar.] Actually, it was not a blanket, but a bear that had fallen into the Ganges and could not get out of it because the very swift current. When the sadhu jumped into the river and grabbed onto the 'blanket', there started a fight—both of them wanted to get out. The sadhu who had stayed on the bank was surprised, "Why is he not getting out?" and shouted, "Brother! Leave the blanket!" The sadhu in the water replied, "I am leaving the blanket, but the blanket is not leaving me!"

So, we want to leave material things, but it is very difficult to do it. To leave the material world, to leave material desires, it is necessary to do so many things. It is not so easy. That is why there is a need of sadhu-sanga.

'সাধুসঙ্গ', 'সাধুসঙ্গ'—সর্ব্বশাস্ত্রে কয় ।
লবমাত্র সাধুসঙ্গে সর্ব্বসিদ্ধি হয় ॥

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya

"Good association", "good association," all the scriptures keep saying. Only by good association can you get all perfection.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54)

If you have many desires in your heart, you will not get anywhere—you will not get any result.

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