(2/10) Help Yourself and Others

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
20 February 2019, evening, part 2
Translated from Bengali

We must go to the spiritual world. We come from the Lord, He is our Master, but we forget it.

[A few devotees keep coughing] What is wrong? Why are you coughing so much? Are you cold or are they cooking with too many spices and chillies in the kitchen? [A devotee confirms that chillies are being fried]

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

'Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primaeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

We forget the Lord, and as the result, we are suffering from the agony of three-fold miseries. We are loved and pampered by our parents in childhood, then we go to school, college, we find a job and become busy with our material life – we do not have time to think about ourselves. You may say, 'No, but we think about ourselves.' Yes, but you think, 'What will I eat?', 'What will I wear?', 'Where will I sleep?' This is not thinking about yourself – this is thinking about your body (what your body, or tongue, will eat, how you will fill your stomach, how you can sleep nicely on a good bed, etc.). You never really think about yourself (about your soul). Whether you accept it or not, everybody is suffering in this external world in various ways.

You must realise that everything in this world happens by the will of the Lord. Whatever happened, is happening or will happen, everything is good – everything is by His will. Birth, death, old age and disease happen by His will. This world cannot exist with His will. We enjoy the light, air, wind, etc. and cannot live without them, but this light, air and wind belong to the Lord (they are created by the Lord, for the Lord). By His will, the sun and the moon give light. By His will, there is water in the ground. By His will, there is wind in the air, and so on. The problem is that we enjoy all these things, but we forget whom they belong to. We only think about what is good for our bodies; we do not think what is good for our souls. That is why sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs walk door to door to awaken your consciousness (chetan-sakti), following the order of their guru-varga and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Sriman Mahaprabhu said:

পৃথিবীতে যত আছে নগরাদি গ্রাম ।
সর্ব্বত্র প্রচার হইবে মোর নাম ॥

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

'My Name will be spread in every town and village of the world.'

'There will be preaching about the Lord in the whole world.' This was the Lord's prediction, and you can see it also with your own eyes. Devotees are now coming from all over the world. You can see this new boy has come today. He told me that he had come to speak to me and to stay with me, but I was going to leave for preaching; he felt sad, so I told him to come with us. I took him instead of another devotee (a new boy who has recently taken initiation in Ekachakra). I cannot bring many devotees with me because it will be hard for you also to give them a room to stay. That is why I brought only a few devotees with me. There are also many lady devotees who came with me from Ekachakra and are now staying in Kolkata. When I came back from Ekachakra, almost everybody came back with me. They went straight to Kolkata, and I visited other places (Nabadwip, Bardhaman, Kalna, Nrisingha Palli) before coming to Kolkata. So, people are coming here from all over the world. Both you and they can learn from each other. You can see with your own eyes the evidence that Mahaprabhu's teachings are now preached all over the world. Mahaprabhu and His teachings are not limited to Nabadwip only – through our guru-varga, the whole world now knows about Him. Our guru-varga travelled throughout the world preaching about the glories of the Lord, Sriman Mahaprabhu and Sriman Nityananda Prabhu, and they brought many people of lower classes, religions and principles to this line – now all those people come here and think about the Lord, about their souls' benefit. Coming to realise that 'I am a soul,' they leave behind all Maya and live a pure life (they wear dhotis, put tilaks, wear neckbeads, chant on the beads, sing kirtans, chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and so on). You can see on TV what people dress like in the West, but they come here and learn.

You must continue preaching in this world. 'Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার). You have life in your body, therefore you must preach about the Lord.' As long as you have life-force in this body, you must preach in this world about this life-force (about the soul).

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Length: 60 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Sadhus' Approach
2) Help Yourself and Others
3) Wasteful Living, Low Thinking
4) Immerse Yourself in Service
5) Clear-Cut and One-Pointed
6) Sincere Devotion
7) Hari-Kirtan Adhikar
8) Devotion to Gopis
9) Student Means Studying
10) Read and Learn