(4/10) Short-Sighted Minds

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, evening programme,
22 February 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

The people in this world are very busy. If you go to the Howrah station, you can see that whenever a train is five minutes late, people start worrying – as soon as the next train comes, everybody runs to get on. Or when people run to catch a bus, they do not think that another bus will come – everybody runs to catch the bus that is standing at the stop. If you come to people and say to them, 'Please take this book for ten rupees,' they will brush you off, 'Oh, I have no time! No time!' People waste so much time in this world, but they are not trying to spend even a little time on the Lord. We are petted and pampered so much by our families, we spend so much time on our lives, but we do not have time for the Lord. Srila Prabhupad said, 'Do you think you have time for all these material matters? Do you think you have time to worry about material life?'

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

'Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Continue your life trying your best to take shelter of the Name.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

This life is not only temporary but it is also full of dangers! In this situation, you must take shelter of the Holy Name. You should take shelter of the Holy Name and carry on doing your work. Nobody prohibits you to work. What we are told is that we must take shelter of the Holy Name (you have seen people taking initiation today). But we, the people of this world, do not understand it. Almost 100% of people know no happiness – they are only forever busy, and never busy for the Lord.

Somebody has asked me recently when I was doing collection, 'Maharaj, we grow potatoes. When we use some medicine to get rid of insects, is it a sin to kill them?' If you use this potato for yourself, then it is a sin, but if you use that potato for the service to Lord Govinda, then there will be no sin. Even when you are eating rice or wheat, you are committing a sin. Even when you are breathing, you are committing a sin. Whenever you are enjoying the Lord's things, this is a sin. If you live to eat, then you are a sinner; but if you live to serve the Lord, then there is no sin. Die to live. Do you live to die or do you die to live? Those who have devotion can understand this. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave a good example. You can see this microphone here – because we are using it, everybody can hear the class; but if somebody is deaf, will they hear anything?

Srila Prabhupad also said: is everybody called a disciple? These days, people say straight, 'No, gurudev, I will not eat fish and meat,' but when they go back to their homes, they secretly eat it. They think, 'Oh, gurudev is in Kolkata, he will not know it. How can he see it?' But gurudev can understand everything. If people have such ideas (gurudev is human, so when he is staying far away, he cannot see what I am doing), this is an offence: seeing gurudev as an ordinary mortal human. Gurudev is omnipresent – he is present everywhere; so, he can understand who is doing what or who is not doing what.

[More devotees come and start to crowd.] Please move forward to let others sit. You can offer your obeisances from over there, it is not a problem – it is not necessary to come all the way here. Even if you are staying a mile away and offer your obeisance to your gurudev, he will receive it. You offer your obeisances to a photograph of gurudev – gurudev is far away at this time, but does he not receive your obeisances? People have to be taught and explained such simple things... You do not have to come walking over everybody to offer your obeisances – you can do it from far. When I wake up, I always first offer obeisances to Gurudev's photograph. At night also, when I am lying in bed and feel I am getting sleepy, I recite the sayan-mantra, offer my obeisances to Nrisinghadev, to Gurudev, to the Lord and go to sleep.

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Size: 27 Mb
Length: 56 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Service Greatness Is Not External
2) Srivas Pandit's Ideal
3) Sadhus' Dacoity
4) Short-Sighted Minds
5) Food for Thought
6) Quitting Maya's Play
7) Servants' Service
8) Lord's Arrangement
9) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice
10) Sacrifice, Surrender and Succeed