(3/10) Help Yourself and Others

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ganga Sagar, morning class,
Deity Manifestation Anniversary day
12 January 2019, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Many people like to say that when people take sannyas, they come to the temple and do not serve their parents. But you are all initiated, so you know who your fathers and mothers are. We are eternal souls. It is necessary to understand who we are – we are not these bodies. Our bodies are made of earth (ksiti, ক্ষিতি), water (apa, অপ), fire (teja, তেজ), air (marut, মরুৎ) and ether (vyoma, ব্যোম). When the body dies and is burnt, it becomes again mixed with soil. The same happens to the bodies of cows, goats, trees and all other species. When a tree dies, it is cut down, used as logs for fire, and then the ash gets mixed with the soil again; eventually another body is created from that ash.

Who are we? We are souls, so we must think about the benefit of the soul. In this world, people worry about their bodies, always thinking how to keep their health good, but even goats, cows, cats and sheep think about that. We must think about our souls' benefit and increase our souls' welfare. Eating well and dressing well is not the soul's interest. We must think about that which brings benefit to the soul, not to the body. The soul's interest (svartha) means surya-patha (the path of light); it means doing that which is beneficial (sreyo) – listening about the Lord and living in the Lord's family.

We are not going to be in this world for a long time. People live here for sixty, seventy or eighty years, but even a mosquito that lives for fifteen days or a month thinks, 'I will live a long time!' so within a month, it gets a wife, children, grandchildren, and so on. Some of us live sixty, eighty or even a hundred years, but no matter how long you live, this life is temporary.

We have got this human birth now. We eat, sleep, fear and procreate, and dogs and goats do the same. There are dogs that roam the streets, and there are dogs that live in an A/C house and travel by plane! Some dogs are lucky, so they live like in heaven. In the same way, there are also people who live on the street, and there are people who live in five-storey houses; some eat nicely, and some starve. There are many kinds of people in this world. For example, here in Bengal, people love rice, but in South India, people eat a lot of sour things, dosas and idlis. Everybody has different habits. If you cook nice paneer rasam and nice sak and bring to a pig, the pig will not eat it; but if you give it a bucket of stool, it will be very happy. We all have come to this life having eaten all sorts of things before.

[To a distracted person] Listen to what is being said. Even if you get nothing from it this lifetime, some benefit will come to you in a future life.

So, what is the difference between dogs or goats and humans? They eat nicely, and we here also eat whatever we like. For example, when I went to Russia, I saw that they like wheat bran (গমের ভুসি) – we feed it to cows here, but it is their favourite food there... If you go to Arunachal, you will see that they like to eat dogs there! If you go to China, you will see that they like eating snakes and frogs. And in some places, people eat other people (they eat raw human meat!). In some countries, for example Colombia, they eat raw cow's meat. There are all kinds of people all over the world, but we have taken birth here in India:

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

'One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

What does it mean to help others? If you give somebody clothes or a blanket, is it help? You give them a blanket today, but they will want something else tomorrow – or they will use the blanket for two years and then will again come to ask for another one. Will that satisfy their hunger? It will not – it will only increase it. You can give 200,000 rupees to a drunkard, but he will drink more and then come to ask for more money. How can you change such people? It is necessary to teach them, to explain to them that what they are doing is harmful and unhealthy – giving them money will not do anything. Drinking and gambling are self-destructive. You can explain it with the help of science and scriptures. It is necessary to go door to door and explain these things to people.

When we study science, we learn that every action has an equal opposite reaction. You say in Bengali also, 'It marle patakale khete hay (ইট মারলে পাটকেল খেতে হয়). If you hit a brick, you will get hit by a brickbat.' There is action and reaction – if you do something, you will have to reap the result. If you do karma, you will become bound by it (you will get karma-bandhan). How is it possible to save yourself from karma and its bondage? This is what Srimad Bhagavatam tells about.

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Length: 50 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Power of Mindful Service
2) Service Is All About Mood
3) Help Yourself and Others
4) Beyond Body and Bondage
5) Do Not Cheat Yourself
6) Your Life, Your Escape
7) Keep Internal Purity
8) Embrace Devotion to Lord Krishna
9) Know Where You Belong
10) Result of Sadhu-Sanga