(2/17) Seek Soul's Solace

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bolpur, evening, 19 January 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

There are three kinds of liberation: sayujya, merging with Brahman; sarupya, having the same body as the Lord; salokya, residing at the same planet as the Lord; samipya, being an associate of the Lord; and sarsti, having the same opulences as the Lord. There are people who talk about liberation. Basically, liberation means your soul merges into Paramatma. Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu gave one example of this. Suppose some straw is floating in a channel or river and overnight there appears a drop of dew on it. This drop of dew thinks, 'I am so small, but I am in this huge ocean! If only I could become part of this great ocean!' When this drop of dew falls into the water, it merges with the water, and there is no trace of its existence anymore. Similarly, we are all tiny souls – we are anu-chaitanya (tiny conscious entities), and the Lord is brihat-chaitanya (great cognisant personality). If somebody is going down the path of liberation, they will merge with the Lord and disappear.

You must remember these things. Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita explain what benefits the soul. The main scripture is Srimad Bhagavatam. It explains very nicely how the soul can be benefitted. Before you understand this, you must know your own identity – you must understand who you are. Our identity is that we are souls. We have this body – these eyes, legs, nose – that we have got from the Lord, and every part of this body has some role. For example, if I had only one leg, one arm or one eye, it would be very difficult to live like that. So, the Lord has provided us with everything (all tools and senses) to live and work. We must use these facilities to think about the benefit of our souls. How can our soul be benefitted? Sriman Mahaprabhu explained it to Srila Sanatan Goswami very nicely.

Srila Sanatan Goswami asked Sriman Mahaprabhu five questions: (1) Who am I (ke ami, কে আমি)? (2) Why am I suffering (kene amaya jare tapa-traya, কেনে আমায় জারে তাপত্রয়)? (3) How can I get relief from this suffering and austerity? How can I get benefit? (kise hita haya, কিসে হিত হয়)? (4) What is the eternal goal (sadhya vastu ki, সাধ্য বস্তু কী)? (5) How can I attain this main goal (sadhya vastu ki korle paowa yaya, সাধ্য বস্তু কী করলে পাওয়া য্য়)? Who are we? Why are we suffering? What is beneficial for us? What is the highest goal and how can it be attained?

Among all of us here, some were born here in Bolpur, some were born in America, some were born in Malaysia, some were born in Venezuela, some were born in Colombia, some were born in London. Those who were born in London are called English, and those who were born in India are called Indian, but all this is not our identity. Remember this. We were born in India, so we say that we are Indians, but this is the identity of the body only. Our real identity is that we are souls.

The problem is that we forget that we are souls.

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

'The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We forgot who we are. We think that we are these bodies, that we identify ourselves with our bodies. One time, somebody asked me, 'What is the proof that I and my body are not the same thing?' I told them, 'All right, suppose you are the body. When you eat some potato, it becomes partially dissolved inside your body, so if you are your body, it means that when you eat potato, you become a potato!' We are not these bodies. If you ask somebody, 'What are you?' people will usually tell you their names. You have some name for some time in this world, but when your body dies and is thrown into fire, nobody will call you by that name anymore. So, whatever name you bear is not who you are, it is only a name. You are a soul.

What is the duty of the soul? The soul keeps coming and going in this world – it is born, then dies, and then is again born. Just as we are wearing some clothes today but tomorrow will change them and wear clean clothes, we keep changing our bodies. Our bodies are like clothes. There are many species that live without any clothes (dogs, cows, goats, trees, and so on), there are even some human tribes that wear no clothes, but we have more intelligence, so we wear clothes (mad people wear no clothes). We have some intelligence, and we should take advantage of it by using it for a good purpose. We must understand the true meaning of intelligence. Those who have good intelligence (sumedha, subuddhi) think about the benefit of their souls.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Self-Realisation
2) Seek Soul's Solace
3) 'Why Am I Suffering?'
4) Relief from Reaction
5) Escaping Life of Sin
6) Highest Attainment
7) Learn to Love Lord
8) From Hell to Heaven and Back
9) Sadhus' Clothes and Sadhus' Hearts
10) Genuine Gurus' Mission
11) Money Does Not Buy Devotion
12) Higher and Highest Devotion
13) Learn the Conception
14) Start Practising Sincerely
15) Make Effort
16) Cure from Material Misery
17) Live for the Lord