(7/14) Worship Nitai!

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class,
16 February 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama is coming soon. Please come. Everybody should come. I am trying to make all arrangements for you so that you do not have to struggle there. I am always Actually, I did not realise it before – if I had known at least three months ahead that so many people would come, I would have made a whole building for you all. You all know how much construction work Gurudev has done through me – some of you can remember what there was at our temple in Nabadwip and what the temple in Nabadwip has become. Where there is a will, there is a way. In previous years, I used to make a pandal here (it cost ten–twenty thousand rupees to make it), but nobody stayed there, so I stopped making it; but now so many people are coming. Anyway, you can stay on the verandas (there are bathrooms just outside and also upstairs) – it is even better than staying in a pandal. Try to manage. What to do? It is necessary to tolerate some austerity sometimes. This is Nityananda Prabhu's examination place. He sees that you are coming here and staying here even despite all the austerities. 'I will eat well, wear nice clothes and stay in a nice room' – devotees do not think like this. When you host a festival at your house, ten–fifteen people come to your house, and you think where to put everybody up, what arrangements to make, etc. But when hundreds and hundreds of devotees comes, they have to rough it to stay together. I feel very bad to see it, but there is nothing that can be done for now. Still, you are very fortunate that you have managed to come here. You have come from very far. On the other hand, you think that you have had to travel far, but there are devotees here who have come from thousands of miles away, spending hundreds of thousands of rupees just to come here. Some come travelling for forty–fifty hours on the plane! They come here and dress the Deities, decorate the Deities' room.

Say with me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Can you see now? The whole nat-mandir is full! I have never seen this before. When I was going to make the temple here, Guru Maharaj asked me, 'You are making such a big nat-mandir, but will you find the people to fill it with?' You can see now that the whole nat-mandir is full. Nityananda Prabhu must have known it, so He has arranged for a big place. Nityananda Prabhu knows what He needs, so He has arranged all this.

You have been listening to Hari-katha today nicely. I am very happy to see that you are worshipping Lord Nityananda Prabhu all together, that you have taken shelter in Him. It makes me very happy. There will be another festival next year and you will be thinking about Nityananda Prabhu, but you must not think about Nityananda Prabhu only a year later. Even when you go to your houses, you must always call out to Him, 'Doyal Nitai! Doyal Nitai!' Will you do it? [Devotees say, 'Yes.'] Will you all call out to Nitai? You must always call out to Him, 'Doyal Nitai!' Call out to Him and cry, shed tears. If you do not get Nitai's mercy, you cannot get Radha-Krishna's mercy. We need Nityananda Prabhu's mercy.

Let us chant a few kirtans now. After that, I will speak again. And chant the kirtans with me, out loud. I told you yesterday that I did not come here to sing kirtans. I am a pauper, and If I sang kirtans, I could earn a lot of money, but I do not go anywhere to sing kirtan – I come to make you all chant kirtan. If you chant kirtan, then Nitai will be happy.

There is a famous singer called Radharani in Nabadwip. She earns a lot of money singing kirtans. One time, she came to see Guru Maharaj at our temple. I spoke to her at that time.

'Didi,' I asked her, 'thousands of people come to listen to you singing kirtans, but when I went to the same place in the afternoon to give a class on Bhagavatam, only one–two hundred people came, not more. How many people have you brought to this path through your kirtans?'

'I sing kirtans to earn money, but your gurudev chants kirtan in this world so that people can come to worship the Lord.'

Gurudev chants Nitai's glories so that people can come, hear it and start worshipping Nitai and think about Nitai. Genuine gurus (associates of the Lord, of Nitai) go door to door and call out:

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jago, jiva jago, gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

'Sri Gorachand says, "Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

পিশাচী পাইলে যেন মতিচ্ছন্ন হয় ।
মায়াগ্রস্ত জীবের হয় সে ভাব উদয় ॥

pisachi paile yena mati-chchhanna haya
maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya

'Those who are possessed by a ghost become delirious, and the same condition arises in those who are seized by Maya, illusion.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

'My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Days are always passing. Hour after hour, day after day, year after year – we are losing our lifetime each year. But when will we worship Nitai? When will we worship the Lord? This is what we must think about. If you serve Nityananda Prabhu, I will always stay with you. Do you understand? Worship Nityananda. This is what I want to say to you. I do not want anything else from you – I do not want your money, houses or any other property

ধন জন আর কবিতা সুন্দরী
বলিব না চাহি দেহ-সুখকরী ।
জন্মে জন্মে দাও ওহে গৌরহরি
অহৈতুকী ভক্তি চরণে তোমার ॥

dhana jana ara, kavita-sundari,
baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari
janme janme dao, ohe gaurahari!
ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

'When will I say that I do not want any wealth, followers, poetic gift or any other bodily happiness? O Gaura Hari! Birth after birth, please give me unconditional devotion to Your holy feet!'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

I want causeless devotion! O Lord, please let me have devotion to You birth after birth.

[A devotee comes up to His Divine Grace to tell something. After that, His Divine Grace remarks] Listen, there is one request to you all. I know that you will feel pain to get up and go away now, but thousands of people are coming tomorrow to take prasad and it is necessary to help at the kitchen. You know, I have seen in Kolkata that they have invented one very nice machine for cutting vegetables. If we can get it, you will not have to work so hard at Gaura Purnima time. You just put a sack of potato into the machine, and all the potato comes out peeled and diced. It can also shred cabbage. Well, we do not have this machine now, so we hope that you can help us with the 'machine' of your hands. I am asking ten–twenty ladies to please go to the kitchen and help the cooks cut the vegetables. I will be very happy. Nityananda Prabhu will also be happy. And when you go there, do not sit there and tell each other stories! Listen to the class from there. All right? The speakers are on, so you can hear the class from there.

[His Divine Grace then chants kirtans.]

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Length: 144 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Students' Chastity
2) Parikrama Outline
3) We Cannot Ignore Nityananda Prabhu
4) Reaching Out to Nityananda Prabhu
5) Dasya-Abhiman
6) Be Sincere and Serious
7) Worship Nitai!
8) Illusion of Devotion
9) Vaishnavs' Qualities
10) Who Are You Serving?
11) Learn to Appreciate Service
12) Lesson for Householder Devotees
13) Covering Up Prejudices
14) Devotion to Devotion