(4/6) Illusion and Delusion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 9 February 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

You can see here explained how Maya (illusion, illusory environment) works.

When blacksmiths make something out of iron, they prepare the iron by heating it in fire – when the iron is red-hot, they can create things from it. Why does iron become red? Because of the fire. If you then touch a piece of that red-hot iron to somebody's clothes or body, it will burn the clothes or the body. So, 'if you heat a piece of iron in fire, it gets burning power from the fire and can burn other things – Maya also takes her materials from the Lord and removes souls from His service.' Just as a piece of iron gets power from fire and can burn others with that power, Maya Devi also gets her power from the Lord and can also burn others with that power – she can remove others from the Lord's service.

I have also written here (Guidance 3, '108 Questions and Answers') about jive daya: mercy, or kindness, to the souls. 'The only kindness, or mercy, to jiva souls is speaking to them about Krishna consciousness (Hari-katha kirtan). There can be no other way to show kindness to a jiva soul that could compare to Krishna-kirtan. Mercy to jiva souls means to engage a soul averse to the Lord in the service of the Supreme Lord through the medium of Hari-kirtan.' Mundane people say that kindness to others means opening schools and hospitals, but Srila Prabhupad explains that this is the conception of impersonalists. Rama Krishna Mission, Bharath Seva Ashram, etc. engage in such things. They do not even come close to Gaudiya Math. Those missions preach about service to the souls (jive seva), saying that you must help everybody, be it a dacoit, a thief, a good man or a bad man. But you can educate a man, teach him good things, do everything for him – where is the guarantee that he will not become a bad man later? You can give a blanket to a poor man, but how do you know he will not come to ask for another blanket or for more things tomorrow? You help others, but they may or may not appreciate your help. What do the sadhus of Gaudiya Math consider help to others? They take the souls who have forgotten the Lord, bring them to the Lord and engage them in His service. They think about much higher things – they think about the soul's benefit, so they arrange for the soul to serve the Lord. This is the highest thinking. I have told you before that when mundane people talk about help to others, they think only about bodies. I have just told you the story of the man who won fifteen million rupees in lottery, but did he stop buying lottery tickets after that? He did not. Then you can understand it yourself. Rama Krishna Mission brings a car full of medicine and distributes it among sick people, but what is the use? That man who won money in lottery could have lived happily, thinking, 'All right, I have got much money by the mercy of the Lord (by the mercy of Allah), so I do not need to work anymore. I can live peacefully.' Instead, his greed for money only increased and he became an even worse man. People cannot understand this... I have seen this many times, too. When I stayed in Nabadwip and made a festival for Guru Maharaj, I distributed nice blankets and saris to poor people a few times. People would crowd and say, 'Oh, I do not like this colour! Give me that colour!' When I heard this, I thought, 'What is this?!' I left and went away from there.

What does a show of service mean? 'It is what those who serve the Deity must not become like. If a temple priest worships the Deity for a ten-rupee salary, this cannot be "serving" the Lord. If someone does "kirtan" for twenty rupees, this cannot be "chanting the Holy Name"; if you settle with somebody to give a lecture or read "Bhagavatam" for fifty rupees, this cannot be "Hari-katha" – this is amusement for the sake of people's joy or an eloquence display. This is not devotion, this is not Vaishnavism – it is enjoying the Name, it is pursuing one's own interest (karma-marga).' You can see brahmans doing puja in many temples. For example, Saraswati Puja is coming soon, so people will hire brahmans for five, ten, twenty, fifty rupees and ask them to do what is called 'debal thakur puja' (দেবল ঠাকুর পূজা; deity worship performed by hired brahmans). This is not devotion – this is only desire to enjoy. You pay fifty rupees to a band to sing kirtans to the harmonium, but it is only entertainment. This is a show, or pretence, of service; it is not service. Service must be eternal, uninterrupted.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 17.8 Mb
Length: 36 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Primary Realisation
2) Plain and Simple
3) Through Trials and Tribulations
4) Illusion and Delusion
5) Live in Sadhu-Sanga
6) Material Quirks