(11/13) Learn and Practise

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ganga Sagar, evening class,
Deity Manifestation Anniversary day
12 January 2019, part 11
Translated from Bengali

You must always chant the Lord's Name and the Lord's kirtan (glorification). Do you think that you have learnt two kirtans and you have got everything? You must listen and learn more. If I speak to others without learning anything myself, what will I tell others then? I have listened a lot in my life, too. Every time I call sadhus from Mayapur, I give them time to speak for five–ten minutes, and I always listen to what they say at this time. They know so much more than me. If I do not know something, but another person knows it, I must learn it from them. Sometimes we mingle among the students also. I learnt this even before, during the time when I was teaching. When I first started teaching at university, the government would send somebody to test me. I saw the man in the class, and I understood that he had not come to the lessons before. Do you know what I did? I was smart. I would ask some good students to speak during the class, and while the man was distracted by that, I would walk over and see who he was. He did not even know I learnt it. So, when devotees are speaking Hari-katha, I always listen to what they say. When somebody is giving teachings according to the true conception, we accept it. We do not learn only by reading books.

I am writing books from time to time, and you can find many things in them. Last night, when the programme finished and everybody left, I had a shower at ten and sat with a book, reading and proofreading. Two books will come out at Nityananda Trayodasi. So, among all the works I am doing, I am also writing books... I am not writing anything from myself, actually – I am writing what Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupad, Gurupadpadma said. This is what we must write about. The problem is that there are only English-speaking people staying with me, I am not getting any Bengali people, that is why I have to write myself... Sometimes, if I visit some programmes at the houses where people can write well, I ask them to write for me. I give a class in the morning, and when I get a break before noon, I use this time to write; after that, I go out again in the afternoon for another programme, return late in the evening, and I again sit down to write. I write wherever I go amidst other duties. When I went to Nepal, I also spent some time there writing. It was very cold there, so I sometimes could not sleep. They offered to bring an electric heater, but I am not used to it, so I could not tolerate it. There, I gave several lectures at a school, medical college and engineering college. They have a different system at schools there. They feed the children at school and do not allow children to bring food from home to make sure that all children are equal and eat the same food. They give them vegetarian food. The principal gave me an opportunity to give a class for the children from the first to the eighth grade. They asked very good questions. I spoke to them, and they asked questions about Bhagavad-gita. 'Why must we read Gita?', 'Why must we read Bhagavatam?', 'Why must we accept Krishna?' I was speaking with my eyes closed, and one child asked me, 'Maharaj, why are you speaking with your eyes closed?' They all know English, so I spoke in English (I do not know Nepalese), and they could also ask me questions in English.

One boy came to me from another mission. He said that he was from a poor family, but I told him that he must still study, finish school, go to college. For example, all foreign devotees finish school. That boy's parents are initiated, but they are poor – his father maintains the family (Krishna's family) by selling tea. Their house is very poor, but they are practising Krishna consciousness. 'Ye dina grha bhajana dekhi grhete goloka bhaya (যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায়). On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there.' Do you think that the Lord needs a big building to stay? The Lord can stay even in a tin shed. Wherever we are, we must always practise Krishna consciousness, we must always serve and worship the Lord.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Clean Your Heart and Cultivate Devotion
2) Seva-Dharma and Mano-Dharma
3) Strive for Spiritual Subsistence
4) Where There Is a Will There Is a Way
5) Excreting Visaya
6) Live in Domain of Mercy
7) The Side-Tracked and the Drowning
8) Servants' Wealth
9) Live Thinking about Lord
10) Turtle Consciousness
11) Learn and Practise
12) Sadhu's Duty
13) Internal Asuddha