At Sri Alarnath's Temple

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham Parikrama
11 July 2018, translated from Bengali

What have we come here for? You have heard this line in one of the kirtans:

গৌর আমার, যে সব স্থানে,
করল ভ্রমণ রঙ্গে ।
সে সব স্থান, হেরিব আমি,
প্রণয়ি-ভকত-সঙ্গে ॥

gaura amara, ye saba sthane,
karala bhramana range
se saba sthana, heriba ami,
pranayi-bhakata-sange

'In the company of loving devotees, I will behold all the places my Gaura roamed during His ecstatic pastimes.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Wherever Mahaprabhu went to, we will visit all those places in the company of devotees. We will not go there on our own. We have come here in the association of senior devotees and Gurudev. Gurudev told me which places we can visit, so I am taking you all to those places. What is your duty? Your duty is to follow what I say, for your own benefit. If you think about yourself (if you think about what is good and what is bad for you), the Lord will say, 'This man is full of his own interests. He is thinking about himself, so I will never look after him.'

I am not a businessman, I have no business or work. I have nothing. I only roam this world speaking Hari-katha. I speak Hari-katha even to those who have no money, and if somebody gives us some money, we use it for the service to our Mission. This is how we have a hundred and thirty-four temples now. I am also making two new temples in Mayapur and Haridwar now (I have already started the construction) so that when you go there, you do not have to stay at outside places; you will be able to stay at our temples. This is how I live, but I see many people dressed as sadhus in other places we have visited and here also, who do this only to earn money. People come here and pay obeisances to Laksmi Devi, praying to her for money, but until and unless the Lord gives His order, Laksmi Devi has no power.

Srila Rupa Goswami Prahbu wrote this verse:

অন্যাভিলাষিতা-শূন্যং জ্ঞান-কর্ম্মাদ্যনাবৃতম্ ।
আনুকূল্যেন কৃষ্ণানুশীলনং ভক্তিরুত্তমা ॥

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

'The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krishna, free from the coverings of any pursuits, such as action or knowledge.'

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, 1.1.11)

An Srila Narottam Das Thakur also wrote in Bengali:

অন্য অভিলাষ ছাড়ি, জ্ঞান কর্ম্ম পরিহরি,
কায়মনে করিব ভজন ।

anya abhilasa chhadi, jnana karma parihari
kaya-mane kariba bhajana

'The topmost process of devotional service is to worship the Lord with body and mind, giving up desires for fruitive activities and mental speculation.'

(Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

You must have no other desires. The only desire that there must be is the desire of the Lord. We have come with a very big party, and I can see that some of the people are still coming, walking behind – they look this side, that side, going here and there. Is this right? When we were coming here, we were chanting, 'O Jagannath, O Alarnath, I have no eyes to have Your darshan! I am coming inside, but I have no capacity to have Your darshan. But I am still coming, so please forgive my offence.' After I paid my obeisance inside, I remembered that I had forgotten to ask for forgiveness when I paid my obeisance, so I bowed down again, asked for forgiveness ("Prabhu, please forgive my offences"), gave some pranami before leaving and went away.' Listen to what I say, stay with the parikrama party. I had come here beforehand – I bought a book and arranged prasad for you all. I am taking care of you.

You can see many sadhus sitting here, wearing saffron clothes, tilaks, with chanting beads in their hands or on their necks. You can ask them, 'Who gave you these saffron clothes?' You may have heard that one time Srila Sanatan Goswami had taken some saffron cloth from Mukunda Saraswati and, tying it on his head, came to Jagadananda Pandit. Mahaprabhu had left this world at that time, so when Jagadananda Pandit saw that saffron cloth on the head of Srila Sanatan Goswami, he asked him, 'When did Mahaprabhu give you this cloth?' Sanatan Goswami replied, 'I did not get it from Mahaprabhu – one sannyasi, Mukunda Saraswati, gave it to me.' Jagadananda Pandit was enraged, 'You are Mahaprabhu's devotee! How can you wear a cloth that has not been given to you by Mahaprabhu?! How can you take a saffron cloth yourself?' At that time, Jagadananda Pandit was cooking rice, but he was so angry that he cried, 'Wretch! I will throw this pot of boiling rice at you!' You can see me and a few devotees with us wearing saffron clothes. These clothes were given to us by Gurudev. But many people wear saffron clothes to cheat others. That is not right. It is one thing to become a sadhu, and it is another thing to only dress as a sadhu. Some people have wives and children and wear saffron clothes just to earn money. People run behind money, but even Laksmi Devi, crying, went to Krishna through a thorny forest. Therefore, we must worship the Lord.

সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণসেবা, না পূজিব দেবী-দেবা,
এই ভক্তি পরম কারণ ॥

sadhu-sange krsna-seva, na pujiba devi-deva
ei bhakti parama karana

'One should serve Lord Krsna in the association of devotees without worshipping any demigods.'

(Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We say these things, but we must also practise. You cannot chant kirtans without practising what you sing.

নিজ আচারি' ধর্ম্ম জীবকে শিখায় ।
আচার না করিলে শিখান না যায় ॥

nija achari' dharma jivake sikhaya
achara na karile sikhana na yaya

'First follow the instruction yourself, then teach others. If you do not practise what you preach, your preaching will not work.'

When people come here, many go to the temple of Laksmi Devi, but why did Mahaprabhu come here? We went to the temple of Lord Jagannath yesterday, but we could not get the darshan of the Lord because Lord Jagannath has a fever at this time. He is bathed, and after that He has a fever for fifteen days. At this time, He is offered a special dish called pachon (পাঁচন) that is thought to have medicinal properties. I had it brought yesterday to the temple – did you all take that prasad? [Devotees: Yes!] Very nice. Perfect. It was Lord Jagannath's prasad.

So, because Mahaprabhu could not get the darshan of Lord Jagannath during this time, He would run here, to Alarnath, crying, 'O Jagannath! O Jagannath!' When He came here and went to the temple of Lord Alarnath, He would still not get the darshan of Lord Jagannath. Then, He fell on the ground where this small room is now. It is over there, you can go and pay obeisances there.

The problem is that many of you come, and you follow your own mind – you pay obeisances at the places where we do not pay our obeisances, and you do not pay obeisances at the places where we pay our obeisances. I have been chanting many kirtans here, waiting for you all to come, giving you time to pay obeisances. We could have come and go straight to take prasad. But to bring you to the genuine path, for your own benefit, I have to speak some Hari-katha. I have taken much trouble to bring you here only for that. Mahaprabhu came here. Unable to get the darshan of Lord Jagannath, He fell flat on the ground, on the stone floor, and the stone beneath Mahaprabhu's body melted! If you do not believe it, you can go and see that stone over there. When we are leaving, go over there and take a nice look.

In olden days, the Deity of Alarnath was served by some South Indian brahman. One day, that brahman had to go away and left his son to serve the Deity. There is a long story about it. I will tell it to you nicely later.

There is one more thing I want to say to you now. I have got to hear that many of the devotees went to the house of Madhavi Devi, nearby. I will not say who went there, but what is your idea? Chhota Haridas went to Madhavi Devi to bring some rice, but Mahaprabhu was so angry with him that Chhota Haridas had to actually commit suicide. Is that so or not? Then, did Mahaprabhu Himself ever go there? He did not, of course. Then, we must not go there either. Because she is a devotee of Mahaprabhu, we will offer our obeisances to Madhavi Devi, from afar. We must not go to any place where Mahaprabhu did not go. We can only offer our respectful obeisances at such places from far.

It is time now to take prasad, I do not want to delay anyone. I felt pain seeing how you all came here. I was waiting for you all here. Anyway, the captain of the boat is Krishna, not me... Krishna is standing in the boat that crosses the Viraja River, and He will not wait for you. If you get off the boat and go away, ignoring the boat, then you will have to come to this world again after death. Keep to the right path.

Mahaprabhu came here, to Alarnath, to take the darshan of Lord Jagannath. I will tell you the story of Alarnath nicely later, at the temple of Saksi Gopal or Ananta Vasudev, wherever we get time. If you will listen. If you rush to get on the bus and sit there, then you will not hear it. I know that you feel pain to hear these things, so I am asking you all for forgiveness of my offence.

Please offer your obeisances at the temple here and give some pranami. Come, let us go now.

His Divine Grace speaking Hari-katha at Alarnath.

The six-armed form of the Lord and the stone, melted by the touch of Mahaprabhu's body, in front of Him.

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