Chalking Out the Path

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
3 January 2019, part 4

First of all you should practise, chant the Holy Name.

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

Sraddhaya sri-murtir sevana: We have heard that we must offer everything to the Lord, therefore we must do some puja, worship the Lord; but first is good association (sadhu-sanga), then Nama-sankirtan, then Bhagavat-sravan, then staying in Mathura. It does not mean you have to go to Mathura. Where is Vrindavan? Where is the dham? Where there is a sadhu, where there is a Vaishnav.

যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি ।
গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায় ॥

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi
grhete goloka bhaya

"On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there."

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Some may think that they must go and stay in Mathura, but Prabhupad said that if you stay in Mathura out of your own material desire, for your own enjoyment, that is not living in Mathura, it is living in narak (hell).

Whatever you do—whether it is sukarma, vikarma or akarma (whether you do something good, bad or nothing), you will get the result according to your actions—you may go to heaven, you may go to hell. This is not what devotees want though—devotees do not even want liberation, they never ask for it; devotees always think, "I want devotion, janma-janmantare: I want to be able to serve the Lord life after life." Even if you do something good and do not think about Krishna, you will go to heaven, but it is temporary, it is not permanent—when your punya (pious merit) finishes, you will have to come back to this abode again. The same with hell—you may go to hell, but when the result of your sins finishes, you will also have to come back to this abode.

You must understand that neither heaven nor hell is our permanent, proper place. We come from the Lord, we come from Krishna and we should go back home—back to home, back to Godhead. That is our real place. Through the service to the Lord, through the service to Guru, Vaishnavs, you can go to your real place, which is Goloka.

A perfect guru, a perfect sadhu does not come to take your money, property, wealth. What do they come to you for? They actually go door to door to hijack—hijack not your money or property—they come to hijack you. You are staying in a mundane, material family, so they come to grab you, hijack you from this material family and bring you to Krishna's family. When you go to your real home, you will not have to come back again—whatever service you do here, you can get the same service there.

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