(3/6) Wise Up

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 11 February 2019, evening, part 3
Translated from Bengali

It is my standing request to you all that you come to the temple every day for the evening arati, do the parikrama. The people of the outside world waste their time on gramya-katha (speaking about material things) and gramya-varta (discussing material news), but Mahaprabhu said,

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

'Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself and give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236-237)

It is not necessary to speak any gramya-katha – only speak when it is necessary, not more than that. You should not speak too much. If you speak a lot, you will speak about this and that, you will not be speaking about the Lord. If you waste your time speaking about all kinds of other things, when will you speak about Krishna? We do not have so much time! As we are fallen into material bondage, we keep suffering in this world. How many days you have? The Lord has sent you now to this human birth, but do you have time to talk about all those material matters, family matters, etc.? Our time is very short! You should serve Lord Krishna now, you should be chanting His Holy Name now. Do not wait any longer. We can be forced to leave this world at any time. Do not wait. Engage yourself in Lord Govinda's service, then you can get supreme benefit. You can get supreme benefit – you must think about this.

Always chant the Holy Name, always remember the Lord.

If you serve Krishna, all demigod worship is automatically fulfilled – if you serve Krishna, everybody will be pleased. All gods and goddesses worship Krishna. Remember this. There are gods that forget Krishna and take worship for themselves, but they end up in a bad place because of that. You must always remember gopis' mood, their pastimes of lamenting in separation from Krishna that Mahaprabhu also relished in this world as part of His intimate pastimes.

Do the parikrama of holy places in the association of saints. Chant the Holy Name in the association of saints. If you do this, you will see that you will get the greatest benefit – you can very soon get the service of the Lord then...

You have all heard what Sivji Maharaj says.

আরাধনানাং সর্ব্বেষাং বিষ্ণোরারাধনং পরম্ ।
তস্মাৎ পরতরং দেবি তদীয়ানাং সমর্চ্চনম্ ॥

aradhananam sarvesam visnor aradhanam param
tasmat parataram devi tadiyanam samarchanam

'Of all types of worship, the worship of Lord Vishnu is the highest, but the worship of His devotee is higher still.'

(Quoted in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.11.31)

The worship of Lord Vishnu is the highest worship, but the worship of Lord Vishnu's devotees (the worship of Vaishnavs) is even higher.

গঙ্গার পরশ হৈলে পশ্চাতে পাবন ।
দর্শনে পবিত্র কর এই তোমার গুণ ॥

gangara-parasa ha-ile paschate pavana
darsane pavitra kara ei tomara guna

'After touching the Ganges, one attains salvation later; but one can become pure just by seeing you. Such is your quality.'

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

I am laughing to myself. We sing in the kirtan that if you touch the Ganges water (place it on your head or bath in it), you get purified, but it is not necessary to touch a Vaishnav to become purified – you can get purified just by seeing a Vaishnav. I have visited many houses today, starting early in the morning. When I came to some houses in the morning, somebody said to me, 'Oh, how will I offer my obeisance to you? I have not taken a bath yet.' So many Vaishnavs have come to their house, but they think, 'I have not take a bath, how can I offer my obeisance then?' This is what people say... You cannot understand these things if your heart is not purified. You can get purified just by seeing a Vaishnav, but they worry, 'Oh, I have not take a bath, how can I offer my obeisance?' There are many wrong conceptions like that spread around. Bogus sampradayas (aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera, darvesh, saki, sahajiya, sakhibheki, smarta, jata-gosani, atibari, chudadhari, gauranga-nagari) are destroying this world with their misconceptions. They are destroying Vaishnavism...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Spiritual Rules Are Not Rituals
2) Join Service Activities
3) Wise Up
4) Hear, Chant and Remember
5) Surrendered Service
6) Service Disturbances