Your Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in Latin America
24 August 2018, part 1

I am very happy to see you all today. Actually, I am very sorry because I am a little late, I was very tired—I have gone to many places today; but it is my happiness to see you after so many days.

We get the news of your preaching. You are preaching Krishna consciousness constantly and continuously, going our to the streets, etc. In this way you are following Gurudev's order.

Gurudev and Guru Maharaj told, "Prana achhe yara se hetu prachara: you must preach as long as you have life." While you are staying here, while you are living in this world, you have this human life for the service of the Lord. And you are doing that. You get this human body for the service to the Lord and if you do not do that, then this body is useless—Krishna gave you this human body for service, for preaching Krishna consciousness and if you do not use this body for the service to the Lord, then next life Krishna will take your human body back and you will go to another body.

We have got this body to serve the Lord, but not everybody can do it because they have forgotten Krishna, they have forgotten Krishna consciousness, forgotten their own consciousness due to the illusory environment. However, through good association we can understand who we are and what is our body, then we can get our consciousness back. Through good association you can also meet and get the association of a bona fide guru who is a close friend of the Deities, close friend of the Lord.

By the mercy of Lord, we have got a bona fide guru, we have got his association, but sometimes we forget our service, forget our duty, forget our Krishna consciousness and forgetting ourselves and go to some other way, do some other things. Sometimes we love ourselves more than the Lord, more than the Guru—we love our body more than ourselves, more than our Guru. This is called illusory environment, and this illusory environment can go away, can be removed from our life through good association, through sadhu-sanga.

Sometimes we think we will stay alone, but that is your mind satisfaction. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told "nirjana-bhajan kevala kaitava: if you go to a secluded place and stay alone, that is atmavanchana, you are simply cheating yourself." That is why you should take good association and continue practising Krishna consciousness which means service.

"Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva: be merciful to other souls, have taste for chanting the Holy Name, and serve devotees." You must preach to yourself and preach to others also. Sometimes you must preach to yourself also because you forget your own consciousness. That is why this kind of programme is necessary.

Today I became very sad because one of our friends who was the pujari at the Soquel Temple, Ramai Prabhu, has passed away. I got the message last night. What can I do? We cannot keep anyone—Krishna gives us their association and when He wishes, He takes devotees away from us and takes them to Himself. We have to continue Krishna consciousness with practice...

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