— { HARI-KATHA IN KULGACHIA } —
Why Are We Here?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kulgachia Gram, Howrah District
6 May 2018, part 2

We have come here today as a result of a great fortune.

First, 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 God-brothers and sisters, to all devotees, praying for your mercy to this low soul.

Today is a very good day because today, by our great fortune, sadhus, Gurus, and Vaishnavs have assembled here at this house.

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

"It is the general practice of all saintly people to deliver the fallen. Therefore they go to people's houses, although they have no personal business there."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.39)

Why do they come to other people's houses? They come to tell Hari-katha and to help those who come to hear it. It is for others' benefit and welfare that sadhus, Gurus, Vaishnavs visit houses or villages. They want to speak about Krishna and engage us in Krishna consciousness.

Some think that they go house to house just to eat well... You may have heard that there was Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj who used to stay at our Math, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (sometimes he would travel to other places also). He was a big kirtaniya and a disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and he is the composer of our [Bengali] Gaudiya Gitanjali kirtan book. One time, he came to the temple, and you know that everybody at the Math is not the same—not everybody who comes to the Math is a sadhu. Guru Maharaj said that four types of people come to the Math: artto, artha-arthi, jijnasuh, jnani. These four types of people come to serve the Lord. Artto means some poor people; artharthi are those who want some material happiness; jijnasur are those who want to know something, and the jnani are those who already have some knowledge and they come to the temple to acquire some more knowledge. If they come and practise selflessly, unconditionally, then they can become Krishna conscious and serve sadhus, Gurus, Vaishnavs in the holy abode of the Lord. Not everybody has such fortune. Many people come to the Math and many go; many take initiation and give it up later. Not everybody walks this path to the end. Just as at school—many pupils are enrolled into the primary school, but fewer pupils reach the high school, and fewer still go to college and maybe only one or two pupils go to university. Guru Maharaj said also that when you strain something through a strainer or a sieve, in the end not much remains.

So, one time Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj came to the temple, and one brahmachari told him, "This sadhu comes to the temple only to eat." Hearing this, Babaji Maharaj did not go to take prasadam again. He went into his room and thought, "Let me see if I can manage without eating or not." Three days passed like this—he stayed locked in his room and did not come out to take prasadam. After three days, everybody came to his room and called him. You understand, how many days can one live without eating and drinking? When everybody came to his room, they heard that he was only chanting softly, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, etc." Gradually, he came to the state when he could not chant any more (you know when you do not eat, your blood pressure goes low, etc.) When devotees saw him in this state, they forcefully fed him some juice, then the person who initially made that comment came and asked for forgiveness for his offence. Then, Babaji Maharaj took prasad.

If those who come are real sadhus, real Guru or Vaishnav, they do not come for food, for things. They do not come hoping, "I will get something there." They come to rescue the fallen souls, to bring them to Krishna consciousness. We always speak Krishna-katha and we always want to hear Krishna-katha. Srila Madhusudan Goswami Maharaj used to say when he went preaching, "Why do we go for preaching? Why do we make festivals? Because if we talk about Krishna consciousness, we get benefit and those who hear it also get benefit." This is the real purpose.

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