(6/6) Material Quirks

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 9 February 2019, part 6
Translated from Bengali

What is mano-dharma?

[Some devotees are leaving] You must come tomorrow. Or do you have to do your Saraswati puja? When people do Saraswti puja, they eat boiled things (vegetables and pulses boiled whole). It tastes awful! ...The whole world is running like this. This world is something amazing. What else will you say? It does not say anywhere in any scriptures to do this, but people do this...

It is like tying up a cat. Do you know this story? Srila Prabhupad told it. A boy got married and was going to bring his bride home the next day (the family knew that the bride's relatives also would come to visit, too). Now, they had a black cat at their house that had a habit to jump on guests. So, the mother of the house ordered to hide the cat and tie it to something so that it would not come to disturb the guests. When everybody came to the house, the cat began to meow loudly. The bride was new at the house, so she could not say anything – she thought, 'I guess this is the tradition here.' And she did not ask anybody about the cat later. Twenty-five years later, she became a mother-in-law herself. When she sent her son to get married, she remembered that cat and thought, 'Gosh! When I came here as a young bride, my mother-in-law tied a cat. Where will I find a cat now? And I remember it was a black cat...' She quickly sent servants to look for a black cat. They could not find a black cat, so they brought a white cat. The woman said, 'All right, paint the cat black!' They painted the cat and tied it in a room!

I remember when I was building the temple in Ekachakra, we first made a hut with corrugated sheet and had to buy bamboo. I went to the market and bought some bamboo for fifty rupees. Then, I could not find workers, so I asked some man, 'Can you cut the bamboo for me?' The man quickly said, 'No, no! We do not cut bamboo in my family!' Later, I found out that they had had some accident when somebody got hurt in the eye with a bamboo twig! That is why they never cut bamboo any more... In another family I know, they never used to go to Puri at the time of Ratha-yatra. Why? Because his grandmother went to Puri at Radha-yatra, and she got tramped in the crowd. She did not die, but she fell down and got tramped by the crowd. After that, they decided that nobody in their family would go for Ratha-yatra ever again. I told them to come with me. I forcefully took them with me to Puri and broke this kind of nonsense rule. I told them after that trip, 'What? Has anything happened to you? Has anything bad happened to your house?'

These are all superstitions and wrong ideas that people get from the experiences they acquire in this and previous lives (ku-samskara).

So, what is mano-dharma (concocted religion)? Some desire comes to your mind and you make religion out of it – this is how it appears. This is something that your mind wants. For example, your stomach is full, and you are not hungry, but you still want to eat more because you are greedy, so you go to the shop and get some snacks. You know, they often say to naughty children, 'Hey, you are not hungry! It is your eyes that are hungry!' You see something and your mind says, 'Eat it!' The mind controls your eyes; it is the head office that commands all senses. How can you control your mind? You must control it with intelligence. Your mind controls your eyes, ears, nose, etc. – it produces anger, envy. For example, you steal something from a man, the man calls the police, and the police catches you; then, you think, 'Oh, it is not good to steal.' You get some intelligence and that intelligence can control your mind. Sometimes, your intelligence controls your mind, and sometimes your mind controls your intelligence.

What happens if I listen to non-devotional talks? 'If we listen to non-devotional talks or take advice from non-devotees, then we will spend millions of lifetimes in illusory bondage serving every single atom of this material world.' We must listen to what Vaishnavs say. If you listen to Vaishnavs, you will have faith and devotion, and you will be in a good place. If you do anything else besides devotion, it is a source of misery and pain.

I have been to Bardhaman to collect rice recently. At one mill, the owner told me, 'We are making enough sales. We are not getting enough rice! What are we going to do now? How can we give it to you? We gave you 50 kg last time, but this time I can only give you 25 kg.' I told him, 'All right, give whatever you can give.' In the end, he gave 50 kg, and when his mill manager brought it to our car, I told him, 'You know, your boss is suffering a lot. Tell him what I said.' He asked me, 'Why is he suffering?' I explained, 'Because he is thinking about himself. He has forgotten who the owner of this world is, who manages this world, from whom we get light and air, by whose mercy we are alive. That is why he is suffering so much now. He is worried that he cannot sell his rice, that he cannot earn his money, he does not know what will happen to him. He is suffering from so much anxiety. If he just thinks about the Lord, he will see that everything will be all right. Whatever happens by the will of the Lord will happen. What is meant to happen will happen.' If we realise that everything happens by His will, then we will not feel any pain or misery. Always remember this.

All right, much has been said today. Let us chant some kirtan now. There are two books coming out this Nityananda Trayodasi, Nityananda-mahimamrta and Guidance 3 (Bengali). Guidance 3 is written in difficult language, but I will read it to you and explain.

Hari bol. Nitai Gaura Hari bol. Nitai Gaura Hari bol. Nitai Gaura Hari bol. Always call out, 'Nitai Gaura Hari bol!' If you cannot chant the Holy Name of Krishna all the time, then chant, 'Nitai Gaura Hari bol.' When you chant the Holy Name of Krishna, there is some fear of offences, but there is no consideration of offences when one chants the Names of Nitai and Gaura.

Devotee: What offences are they?

There are the ten offences of the Holy Name, I have told you about them before. You must chant the Holy Name giving up the ten offences. At the same time, if you chant the Holy Name, as you chant and chant all your offences will go away...

Hare Krishna. Hari bol. Hari bol.

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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