(1/1) Welcome to Krishna's Family

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, noon programme,
22 February 2019, part 1
Translated from Bengali

Devotees also live in a family, but theirs is Krishna's family. The Lord lives in their houses, and He is the master of their houses – there, everybody cooks for Him, works for Him, grows potato for Him. Whatever is done is done for His service, and in the meanwhile, devotees take the Lord's prasad. This is how we must live. We must not live for our own enjoyment; otherwise, we will keep incurring reaction for our actions.

We have been living in this world for a long time now – we are enjoying the sun's warmth, the moon's light, Varundev's wind, the rains and all the other facilities. All these things are there by the will of the Lord. He is the manager of all demigods – He has divided all the duties among various gods (for example, Saraswati is responsible for knowledge and learning, Laksmi Devi and Ganesh are responsible for wealth and affluence). So, you must think whose this world is. This world does not belong to us – it belongs to Lord Krishna. You think that since you earn money, your family is yours, but this is not so. You are only doing whatever the Lord wishes you to do – you are only an instrument. If you were to leave this world right now, you would see that you do not have any say in the matter; or if you were to be admitted to hospital and stay there for six–ten years, you would see that no doctor can do anything. So, you must think who controls and manages this world. The Lord does.

The problem is that we have forgotten Him. We neither chant His Holy Names nor even think about Him. That is why Srila Prabhupad and all our guru-varga come to this world, fulfilling Mahaprabhu's prediction:

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.'

They come to preach about the Holy Name and Mahaprabhu's teachings, and now it is being preached all over the world through gurus, Vaishnavs and devotees.

যারে দেখ, তারে কহ ‘কৃষ্ণ’ উপদেশ ।
আমার আজ্ঞায় গুরু হঞা তার’ এই দেশ ॥

yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa

'Tell whomever you see about the teachings of Lord Krishna. On My order, become a guru and rescue this land.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.7.128)

Mahaprabhu said, 'I order you to distribute this Holy Name to everyone.' And genuine sadhus do that. There are also bogus (contractual) sadhus in this world who come to sing a few kirtans for fifty rupees, a thousand rupees or five–ten thousand rupees. This is not how you chant kirtan. This is business: people take up this occupation to earn money and maintain their families. They come, sing, dance, play the harmonium and let people enjoy. They do not offer bhog to the Lord, they do not serve the Lord – such people cannot be Vaishnavs. Vaishnavs always speak about the Lord and constantly serve devotees, sincerely and selflessly. Their duty is to serve devotees. They are the genuine sadhus and Vaishnavs in this world. They bring this Holy Name to this world. If we get such sadhus' mercy and can serve Vaishnavs, then we can become Vaishnavs ourselves. We must not rush to become devotees of Krishna – we must first become devotees of Krishna's devotees.

The Lord Himself says, 'Those who say that they are My devotees are not My devotees. My devotees' devotees are My real devotees.' It is no use saying, 'Oh, I have seen God!', 'Oh, I have found God!' Do not say such things. 'Apana bhajana-katha na kahibe yatha tatha (আপন ভজন-কথা, না কহিবে যথা তথা). Do not tell anyone and everyone about your own bhajan, service and practice. Keep it private.' We only come to serve the Lord – the Lord may or may not accept our service, it is up to Him.

So, you are very fortunate to have come today to enter into relationship with the Lord. I have told you before that you will not get a letter from the Lord. But if you give your letter to the Lord's associates, or representatives, then they will send it to the Lord, and they will also tell you the news about the Lord. I told you earlier today also that it is not possible to chant the Holy Name if you have anarthas (unwanted elements, bad habits). Anartha means harbouring love for this world, having material thoughts in relation to this world. If you have such feelings and thoughts inside you, you can never chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. If you want to chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna, you must first chant Nitai-Gaura's Holy Names because even if you have anarthas, there will be no offence if you chant Their Names – as you chant and chant Their Names, all anarthas (all faults and bad habits) will go away and you will get taste for chanting the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. Always remember this.

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Length: 16 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Welcome to Krishna's Family
2) Basic Rules and Regulations