(4/13) Where There Is a Will There Is a Way

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ganga Sagar, evening class,
Deity Manifestation Anniversary day
12 January 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

(1) Who am I (কে আমি, ke ami)? (2) Why am I suffering (কেনে আমায় জারে তাপত্রয়, kene amaya jare tapa-traya)? (3) How can I get relief from this suffering and austerity? How can I get benefit? (কিসে হিত হয়, kise hita haya)? (4) What is the eternal goal (সাধ্য বস্তু কী, sadhya vastu ki)? (5) How can I attain this main goal (সাধ্য বস্তু কী করলে পাওয়া য্য়, sadhya vastu ki korle paowa yaya)?

Who am I? Why am I suffering this agony of three-fold miseries? You can have much money, but you can still suffer mentally. You can have much money, but your children can do so bad many things to you also. If you go to Vrindavan, you can see many widows there who used to be wives in big houses (you can understand their background if you look at their appearance), but they are staying in Vrindavan as beggars now. Wearing dirty clothes, they go temple to temple to get some prasad. When their husbands die, their sons write off all property in their wives' names; or when their husbands die, daughters-in-law treat them with much love and affection, win their hearts and then the widows make a will leaving all property to those daughters-in-law – after that, they beat the widows with a stick and kick them out. This is how they end up on the street. I have seen such women in Nabadwip also. Many ladies come to sleep at temples in winter – they shiver and cry quietly. These are the sons for whom you do everything, making sure they get good education... That is why Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says,

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

'All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We study and learn so much but end up becoming asses. Unless you get true knowledge, all your learning is useless. I do not prohibit anyone to study, but when you study, you must also learn true, transcendental knowledge. Otherwise, you take birth as a human, but there is no humanity in you. You live in the lap of your father, mother and friends, but all this affection is just selfishness. Suppose you have a wife – if you suddenly get leprosy or have fleas, she will scold you and not want you to come anywhere close to her. So many husbands become fed up and leave their wives and children. Children nag their fathers, 'Do this', 'Do this', 'Do this', and some men leave their families in the end; and if they stay, their family suck their blood till the last drop, even when they no longer can work. This is the life of enjoyment. But if somebody genuinely takes to the path of devotion to the Lord, such things do not happen to them. If you have devotion, such things will not happen then.

We must practise Krishna consciousness. Many people say, 'Oh, I must serve my mother', 'I must serve my father', but what do the scriptures say? We do not prohibit you to look after your father and mother, but:

গুরুর্ন স স্যাৎ স্বজনো ন স স্যাৎ,
পিতা ন স স্যাজ্জননী ন সা স্যাৎ ।
দৈবং ন তৎ স্যান্ন পতিশ্চ স স্যান্ন,
মোচয়েদ্ যঃ সমুপেতমৃত্যুম্ ॥

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan
na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyam

'It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your god, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death.'

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

If one cannot save you from death (from this material life), then he is not your father, she is not your mother, and she is not a wife to you (you should not take even water from her hand). If somebody does not help you in your spiritual life, they are not your friend, they are not your father, mother or anybody else. Do you understand this? You must remember this.

I see many family people... Sometimes, wives come and say, 'My husband does not accept all this, so how can I take initiation?' I never tell anybody to fight with their husbands or wives, but you should try to explain things to your husbands or wives and bring them to this path, or practise yourself (teach them by your own example). Many husbands tell their wives, 'Do whatever you want to do, I do not want to live like that, I will not do it,' and their wives devise various tricks how to bring their husbands to this path – they make their husbands chant the Holy Name, they make their husbands take prasad, and so on. Many wives had to shed tears as they cooked fish and meat to feed their husbands, and their husbands eventually came to this line. The Lord makes an arrangement. Prasad has a lot of power. Gradually, those husbands do come to this path. There can be some problem at first, but you must tolerate it. Mahaprabhu teaches:

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

'One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

We must strive to always chant the Holy Name of the Lord.

হরের্নাম হরের্নাম হরের্নামৈব কেবলম্ ।
কলৌ নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব গতিরন্যথা ॥

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

'Chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name. There is no other way, no other way, no other way.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.7.76)

There is no other path in Kali-yuga except for chanting the Holy Name. We must become humbler than a blade of grass. Suppose you say something bad to another person – if you cannot tolerate it when somebody say something bad to you, how will the other person tolerate it? It is necessary to be sensitive to others. We must not say anything to others to hurt them or to give them anxiety. We must always tolerate everything. We must be more tolerant than trees and humbler than grass.

— : • : —

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Length: 89 min
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