(11/14) In Search of Reality

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ishwarpur, 19 January 2019, part 11
Translated from Bengali

One time, somebody asked me, 'Why are you not serving your parents?' Did my parents give me that who I am? Did they create me? They only gave me this body, but they did not give me life. I am serving my Supreme Father, the Lord. I think higher. This is simple living, high thinking, as Param Guru Maharaj said.

Param Guru Maharaj's commentary on Srimad Bhagavad-gita is called 'Hidden Treasure' – if you read his interpretation, you will discover the hidden treasure of Srimad Bhagavad-gita. Param Guru Maharaj also has another book called Search for Sri Krishna. Search for the Lord, and you will get real beauty. In this world, you can see a beautiful girl, a beautiful tree or mountain, but Krishna possesses the highest beauty. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, 'search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful'. If you want to come to the Lord, you must serve His devotees. First, become a servant, then you can become a devotee yourself.

If you try to get enrolled into a university without first going to primary school, high school and college, what will you understand when you come to a university lecture? Nothing. You must first study the primary level. In the same way, you have not served Krishna's devotees, but you rush to say, 'I have become a devotee of Krishna!' First become a servant, then you can become a devotee. This is Mahaprabhu's conception. Remember this.

I began telling you about Srimad Bhagavad-gita's teachings. Everything that is created in this world is created for the Lord's pleasure. If you eat something without offering it to the Lord, you will be eating sin. Therefore, you must take shelter of a bona fide guru and take Deities' prasad. Many ask me how they must offer bhoga when they do not know any mantras except for the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The Hare Krishna maha-mantra is the main mantra, so you can offer bhoga with it. 'Hare Krishna' means Radha-Krishna. Take Radha-Krishna's Name and offer food to the Lord. After that, you can take His prasad. Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj also taught this. He said that men must not see their wives as objects of their enjoyment. Your wife is not your servant. She is not an object to be enjoyed by you. One time, somebody took initiation from Srila Babaji Maharaj and lived as a brahmachari. After some time, that man suddenly got married. He came to Srila Babaji Maharaj and told him the news. Srila Babaji Maharaj told him, 'You have got married, good, it is not a problem. Now you can work (do farming or whatever it is you do), earn money and do the shopping, and your wife will cook and offer bhoga to Deities. But your wife will take prasad first, and you will take her prasad so that you do not consider yourself Prabhu (master).'

When I went to South India, one man with a big moustache came to take initiation. I asked him, 'Why do you wear moustache?' He replied, 'It looks nice and manlike.' I said, 'But you are not a man! You must think that Krishna is the only male, and everybody in this world is female! You must give up this kind of ego. Moreover, scriptures say that if your moustache touches water when you are drinking, you are drinking urine.' The man was surprised, 'Really?! I will shave it off at once!' [His Divine Grace chuckles] There are many funny stories like that...

When I went to Nepal, one doctor asked me, 'Buddhists worship Buddha, Christians worship Jesus, Muslims worship Allah, but why do Hindus worship so many Gods?' You know, many people think that all religions are one. Our chief minister is of the same opinion. Think about it. When the CPM party celebrated rakhi-bandhan, a Hindu girl tied a rakhi on a Muslim's man's hand, showing that they are friends. They do this externally, but do they really feel this internally? Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists can come to the same party meeting and sit all together, showing externally that they are all together, but do they really feel so internally? Everybody's level is different. We actually have something to learn from Muslims – they pray (do namaz) five times a day, but when we tell everyone to pray three times a day, many cannot do that (and they cannot offer bhoga to the Deities five times a day). Other than that, their level is mayavadi conception because they think that God has no form. In that sense, sahajiyas are a little better than them because at least sahajiyas accept that God has a form. Those who worship impersonal God say that the soul (atma) and the Supersoul (Paramatma) are one and the same. This is heresy!

There was a programme recently where a man spoke like that, and I told him straight that what he spoke about, Mahaprabhu called it heresy (pasandata). One gentleman in that area told me that he wanted to make a temple there, and when I came there, I saw that they called the temple 'Sri Krishna Ashram'. I told them all about it. I told them to call it Chaitanya Saraswat Ashram, but they called it Sri Krishna Ashram because the man who had given money to make the temple wanted that name. I told the host, 'If a Muslim man had given you money, will you become a Muslim?' Srila Prabhupad said, 'I will not leave a single rupee for you all because if I do, you will become lazy and not practise Krishna consciousness.' Gaudiya Math did not start their preaching from money. You do not practise Krishna consciousness through money. It is necessary to have a heart. You can have nothing to give at all, but if you offer just some Tulasi leaves with water, that is sufficient. You think, 'I cannot do any service or worship the Lord properly,' but does that mean that you must become a Muslim or a Christian?

When I was in South India, I took a taxi to go to a programme (the devotees arranged a car for us, but one day they could not), and the driver was a Muslim man. There is nothing wrong with that – we can speak to them and tell them Hari-katha. While the man was driving, I washed his brain, explaining what they do and what we do. When I spoke to the man, he told me, 'Oh, actually we have all become Christians now.' I asked him some questions, but he did not know anything about Christianity. In the end, he told me, 'Sir, I do not know anything. We are poor people, and they gave us seven thousand rupees to be converted to Christianity. There are five of us in the family, so we all became Christians.' This is how foreigners come and turn people into Christians here...

And there is one more story also. The father of the current minister, Reddy, ordered to give half of the Tirupati temple to Christians to make a church there, but the Lord did not allow this to happen. A helicopter crushed on top of that place, and they all became afraid after that. As the result, the spread of Christianity slowed down; otherwise, they go place to place, build churches and covert people by giving them money. Forgetting their own religion, people are doing this to India out of greed for money. This is not devotion.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Dearth of Hari-katha
2) Follow without Imitation
3) Higher Conceptions
4) Pursuit-Free Devotion
5) Dasya-Abhiman, not Prapya-Abhiman
6) Servant's Stance
7) Internal and External Mood of Servants
8) Highest Vaishnavs and Pseudo Vaishnavs
9) Example of Vaishnav Quality
10) Action and Reaction
11) In Search of Reality
12) Cutting Illusory Bondage
13) Love for Lord, Love for Yourself
14) Come to Serve Devotees