Devious Distractor

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Translated from Bengali
9 December 2018, Tarakeshwar, part 3

[His Divine Graces notices a devotee snoozing at the class:]

You are sleeping during the class! You should leave this habit. You sleep during the day in the temple, so now when you are not getting this time to rest, you start sleeping during the class. You must avoid this habit. It is a matter of habit—if you do something all the time, it will be your habit. If you are used to sleeping in the day time, then you will be drowsy during the class. Many think that if you do not sleep you will not manage, so when they come to the class they sleep, but you can see my example—I am not like this, I run everywhere the whole day and do not want to sleep, I only get some sleep at 12 at night.

Do not sleep during the class. If you feel drowsy, chant Hare Krishna. I understand that you are sleepy—you worked all day from morning till night yesterday, you slept late and it was cold, now the sun is out and you feel sleepy. When you feel sleepy during the class it means Maya Devi is disturbing you—you start feeling drowsy, your mind starts wandering to other places, somebody talks to you, etc. This is all Maya Devi's game, it means she is attacking you. Remember this.

Just as when your health is weak, when your blood pressure or haemoglobin is low, different diseases can attack you, if you become weak in your spiritual practice, different diseases can attack you—nikatastha maya tare japatiya dhare (
নিকটস্থ মায়া তারে জাপটিয়া ধরে), Maya is always near and she can seize you. If you are weak in your spiritual practice then drowsiness will come, your mind will start roaming to different places, you will become fickle, you will not want to do service. Look at me—I can speak the whole day. Even if you tell me to come for seven-ten days, I can carry on the whole day every day without sleep. Sometimes of course I will need to go to the bathroom and sometimes you will need to feed me, that is all—I will go to the bathroom and come back, I will go eat and come back, sleep is not necessary.

Ahara, nidra, bhay, maithuna (আহার, নিদ্রা, ভয়, মৈথুন, eating, sleeping, defending, mating)—the more you increase these things, the more you will be doing them. When I just came to the Math I would eat twenty-five rotis in the evening, now I cannot eat even one roti, I take only a half.

Ahara and nidra is eating and sleeping.

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.

('Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Nidra—how much we sleep. Bhay—how much we fear... But now there is no fear—whatever the Lord wants, if the Lord keeps me alive for his service, then I will live. "Marabi rakhabi yo ichchha tohara" (মারবি রাখবি, যো ইচ্ছা তোহার)": if He wants to kill, He will kill, if He wants to protect, He will protect. And you understand what maithuna (copulation) is—the more you increase it, the more you will do it.

Talking about nidra (sleeping), Maya Devi comes as three sisters—one is Ghum-parani (ঘুমপাড়ানী, fast asleep and snoring), Jhim-parani (ঝিমপাড়ানি, fast asleep and drooping) and Dol-dolani (দোল-দোলানি, fast asleep and rocking or jerking). These three sisters attack you. What is the remedy? If you see somebody is sleeping next to you, pinch them, then their drowsiness will go away. Chant Hare Krishna and Maya Devi will go away, but she will stand nearby—as soon as you get weak again, she will attack. She is always roaming everywhere waiting to seize you, and once she seizes you she will not let you go.

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