"Surrender to Giriraj"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Govardhan Parikrama, Day One
7 November 2018, part 1

We have come to Aanyor-gram. They say in Hindi, "Aanyor," in Bengali, "Aro ano!" and in English, "Bring more!" This is the meaning of the word 'aanyor.'

When all the Vraja-basis offered prasadam to Giriraj Govardhan, Govardhan ate everything that was offered to Him. And not only Govardhan took whatever Vraja gopis had made for this day—all the sweetmeats and savouries—but having taken all offerings He said, "Aro ano! Bring more for Me! Give Me more!" The Vraja-gopis said, "Wait, wait! We will bring more from our homes! We will bring You everything we have!" But Govardhan said, "You do not have to go to your houses—I will take everything from your homes from here!" Then, Govardhan extended His hand so much that He reached all the houses and took everything from all the houses on this day!

That is why the name of this village is now Aanyor. This is the place where Govardhan sat and said, "Bring more! Bring more, I am not full yet!"

ভক্তের জিনিষ প্রভু লুটিপুটি খায়
অভক্তের জিনিষ প্রভু উলটি নাহি চায়

bhakter jinish prabhu lutiputi khay
abhakter jinish prabhu ulti nahi chay

"The Lord eats anything and everything when a devotee offers it, but He does not want anything from a non-devotee."

The Lord accepts everything and anything from His devotees. You will see tomorrow also—tomorrow is the day of that Govardhan Puja, and people will be offering so many things on this day. What does 'annakut' mean? It means 'a mountain of rice'—'kut' means 'a hill' or 'a mountain', and 'anna' means rice. Devotees offer Govardhan a mountain of rice on this day.

[His Divine Grace notices that there devotees missing from the parikrama group:]

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?"

"The fault is mine!" Some come with us but stay at the temple during the parikrama, they prefer to rest and sleep at this time, and it is all right with me—I cannot bring you here forcefully, but I have not come here for this. I have come here to give you some sukriti, and when you get that sukriti, the Lord will give some commission to me. The Lord will give all sukriti to you, and in the meantime I will get some 1-2% commission from that.

We have come here for this parikrama, but I see that not so many people have come—about fifty people have not come today.

Why are you afraid? Remember this—we are saranagata bhaktas, we must be surrendered. If we can surrender, then no matter what problem comes, we will not be afraid. When we surrender, it means we give everything up to the Lord or to our Gurudev. You must pray, "O Gurudev, I surrender to you—I cannot walk, but I am surrendering to you." If, on the other hand, you make your own arrangement, then the Lord will make you struggle even more. You must leave everything to the Lord, to Giriraj. If you make your own arrangements, then the Lord says, "You are making your own arrangements, therefore I will not look after you." Remember this—those who have no one, have the Lord; and those who have many things [to rely on], have nothing, the Lord is not by their side. "Kiser bhalo haya kabhu na bujhinu (কিসের ভালো হয় কভু না বুঝিনু)"—I do not know what is good for me, what is bad for me, I only know that I have come to You and I surrender to You.

Do you remember what Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says?

বড় দুঃখ পাইয়াছি স্বতন্ত্র জীবনে ।
সব দুঃখ দূরে গেল, ও পদ বরণে ॥

bado duhkha paiyachhi svatantra jivane
duhkha dure gelo o pada-varane

I experienced only great distress in my independent life. All my distress has gone away by embracing Your feet.

(Saranagati, 21.5)

"When I was independent I got so much pain, so much unhappiness, so much sadness, but all this sadness is gone from me when I surrendered to You!" You must surrender at the feet of the Lord.

At the outskirts of Sri Aanyor village.

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