(1) Dearth of Hari-katha

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ishwarpur, 19 January 2019, part 1
Translated from Bengali

You have assembled here very nicely, and I have also arrived by the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, by the mercy of the Lord. We are here to remember Prabhu who has passed away recently, so the devotees have chosen this day to arrange a vaishnav-seva, bhakta-seva in his honour.

Please listen to what I will say attentively. Do not worry about other things, it is not necessary to give garlands now, you can do it later. Now everybody should attentively listen to Hari-katha. If you all do not listen, how will you preach? First you make take it yourself, then you can give it to others. You must take something from your guru, and this is not money or any wealth – you must take Hari-katha from your guru, then you should preach it in this world.

[A devotee comes with water for devotees.] You see? Everybody is thinking about water now, and water has come. You are thinking about water... If you think about the Lord, the Lord will arrange everything. It is necessary to have faith in this. The Lord says, 'If you are thinking about yourself, then what for will I think about you? If you think about Me, then I will think about you.' These are the Lord's words... If you always think about yourself, 'What will I eat? What will I wear? Where will I sleep?' You are worrying about it yourself, then why will I worry about you?' The problem is that we always think that we must take care of our own lives ourselves (that our life is our responsibility). This is not Krishna consciousness, this is not the line of devotion. The devotional line means surrendering everything at the Lord's holy feet.

Please move forward so that people can come later and sit at the back. You know it. You all know that there are, perhaps, thirty–forty people now here, but when it will be time for prasad, one–three hundred people will come. Everyone comes to eat, but hardly anybody comes to hear Hari-katha. It is like in all places. That is the shortage of this world. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, 'There is no famine, no dearth of food in this world. The only dearth in this world is dearth of Hari-katha.' There is no lack of food in the world – the Lord has sent you to this world, and He has also arranged for your food. Even a dog roaming the streets gets food – does anybody have to provide it? It finds food itself and survives anyhow. The only shortage in this world is the shortage of Hari-katha, discourses about the Lord. Until and unless this shortage is fulfilled, all other shortages will never be fulfilled.

Anyhow, we have come here on the occasion of this Prabhu's departure. Disappearance and appearance of Vaishnavs are not the same as the births and deaths of people in this world. When we talk about the 'birth' or 'death' of a Vaishnav, we say 'appearance' (avirbhav) or 'disappearance' (tirobhav). They come to this world to preach about the Lord, to speak about the Lord, to serve devotees, and when the Lord wishes so, He takes them away to His world...

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