Wait No More

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Translated from Bengali
9 December 2018, Tarakeshwar, part 5

কাম-ক্রোধ আদি ছয় বাটপাড়ে দেয় ভয়
অবসান হৈল আসি বেলা

kama-krodha-adi chaya batapare deya bhaya
avasana haila asi bela

I am attacked by the six highway robbers lead by kama and krodha, and my life is coming to its end...

("Anadi karama-phale" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

The sun is setting, the days are finishing, passing! When will our day come? Khatvanga Maharaj got forty-eight minutes, Pariksit Maharaj got seven days, but we do not have that kind of devotion and fortune that we will get a notice in advance. Once the notice comes from the Lord, we will have no more time left, we will have to leave everything at once. This house, wife, children, friends, relatives, family, this body—we will have to leave everything and go to the burning ghat. What did the Lord send you here for? He gave you eyes so that you can have the darshan of His Deity; He gave you hands so that you could do His service; He gave you mouth so that you could speak about Him—but we have forgotten all this.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

"Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117)

We have forgotten the Lord and as a result we are burning from the three-fold miseries, wandering throughout the universe, being slaves to kama and krodha. But you have found a bona fide Guru—there is no need to wait any longer!

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)

Take shelter of the lotus feet of Gurudev and all these miseries will be over. The Lord says, "Acharya mam vijaniyam: you must know that an acharya is I Myself." We sing in the kirtan also,

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

যস্য প্রসাদাদ্ভগবৎ-প্রসাদো
যস্যাপ্রসাদান্ন গতিঃ কুতোঽপি ।
ধ্যায়ং স্তুবংস্তস্য যশস্ত্রিসন্ধ্যং
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado
yasyaprasadat na gatih kuto 'pi
dhyayam stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, praising and meditating upon his glory at the three junctions of the day. By his grace, one gains the Lord's grace. Without his grace, one has no shelter anywhere."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 8)

We have no other way except for prasad—guru-prasad, bhakta-prasad. Prasad means not just food remnants—prasad means Hari-katha. If we can accept this prasad, we will get supreme benefit. Those who are unfortunate keep coming and going again and again in this world. But if having got this rare human birth we can listen to the katha of sadhus and the Guru, if we can practise properly, then we will get supreme benefit.

You do not have to leave your house, family, your job. "Grhe thako, vane thako, sada 'Hari' bole dako (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক সদা 'হরি' বলে ডাক), whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out the Holy Name." You can practise Krishna consciousness even if you stay in a forest or when you are working—if you do everything for Govinda, if you work for Him, if you run business for Him, then you will make your life worthwhile. We can get supreme benefit—if we serve the Lord, the Guru, and the Vaishnavs, we can get a place at the lotus feet of the Lord.

This is our earnest prayer to you all—always chant the Holy Name. Promise to me that you will not forget the Lord, that you will not forget Krishna. He is the One who has brought us to this world. People say that we come to this world because of our mother and father, but who keeps us alive, who gives us birth, who arranges everything for us? Scientifically, you say that it is your father and mother because if they had not given you birth you would not have been able to come to this world. We accept certain parents to come to this world, and we never tell anyone to neglect them, but we can see that even these big learned, educated people of this world forget their parents and do whatever their wives or friends tell them, they forget their parents and run their life in a wrong way. We pray to you that you do not go down this path. We pray to you that you serve the Lord. Have faith.

When I am born, my mother tells me, "This is your father," and from childhood she teaches me to call that person father, but how do I know who my real father is? We believe what our mother says—she knows who the real father is. So, when we read the scriptures, if we do not believe what is written there, what is written in Bhagavatam, then we are making the greatest offence. Sivji Maharaj said, "Aham vedmi, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va. I know Bhagavatam, Sukadev knows it, but Vyasadev may or may not know it." He who composed Bhagavatam may not know its meaning, but his son and disciple knows it. In other words, the Lord Himself is saying that He may not know Himself, but His devotee knows Him.

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