(6/12) Core of Krishna Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
23 February 2019, noon, part 6
Translated from Bengali

Many of you practise wrong things. For example, when a child is born or somebody dies at home, people do not water Tulasi – they do not go to the Tulasi temple, they do not go to the Lord's temple. Why do they do this? Is it written anywhere to do that? Show me. I will give you a million rupees – show me where it is written that you must do this. It is not written anywhere in the scriptures that you must do this. You only say, 'Oh, my mother-in-law and my grandmother used to do this, so we do it like that.' When somebody dies at home, do you stop feeding your children? Even when somebody dies, the child will still cry for food, so you will go to your neighbours and cook something for the child. Then why would you stop serving Tulasi and the Lord? Your stomach will be full – you will always make something for yourself to eat – but you do not care that you do not feed the Lord, that the Lord is not being served. The Lord is our near and dear! He is a member of our household.

For example, Mamata Banerjee is the chief minister of Bengal now. If she were to come here, you will fuss, 'Oh, Didi, our greetings to you. Please take a seat.' But when she comes home, her grandchildren will climb on her lap and say, 'Oh, grandma! Why are you so late? Why have you not fed me today?' And her servants will say, 'Oh, Didi, we need some salt. The salt has finished.' Somebody else will come and say, 'Oh, come and eat!' She is the chief minister to you all, but when she is at home, is she still a chief minister? So, why do you worry so much when you come to serve the Lord? You worry, 'Oh, I have touched this!', 'Oh, this has touched this!', 'Oh, that has touched that!', 'Oh, I must offer bhoga properly!' Why be like that? When you go to feed your husband, you do not feed him reciting any mantras. You have been to Allarnath and Puri – have you seen anybody do that? Raghunandan was a child, and when he offered bhoga to the Lord, he did not recite any mantras – even when his mother did not believe him and he made an offering the second time, the Lord still ate everything. He did not know any mantras. Somebody told me, 'Oh, I do not know any mantras. How will I offer bhoga to the Lord? I do not know anything.' I told him, 'That is your mantra.' You must think, 'I do not know anything, I do not understand anything. Prabhu, I am giving this food to You. Whether I have managed to serve You or not, only You know it. I am giving this food to You, and it is up to You whether You take it or not. I cannot force You to do anything. I am very meek, lowly and fallen. I am giving this food to You, please eat.' That is the mantra. There is no need for any other mantra. This is how you must call out to the Lord and this must be your attitude to the Lord; and this kind of mood must come from within your heart. Always remember this.

So, do Tulasi parikrama every day. Tulasi is the mistress of the house. When you leave for work, you must come to her and pay obeisance to her; and when you get back, you must wash your hands and legs and offer obeisances to her, then you can enter the house. Tulasi will arrange everything for you. Cook for your child, your husband or your relatives at home, but when they go out, they may or may not come back. It is up to the Lord whether they come back or not.

When you cook, how must you do it? Can you not chant Hare Krishna at this time? If you chant Hare Krishna while cooking, then your cooking will come out nice. If you think, 'Oh, I am cooking,' what cooking will that be? You must think, 'Radharani, You please cook,' and cook chanting, 'Krishna, Krishna.' Sachi Mata always thought about Mahaprabhu, so her cooking tasted divine. One time, Jagadananda Pandit got angry and was fasting. Mahaprabhu came to him and said, 'Jagadananda, I have not eaten for three days! Cook something for Me!' Jagadananda Pandit cooked so nicely that Mahaprabhu said, laughing, 'Your angry cooking is very tasty!' Actually, Jagadananda Pandit was not angry when he cooked – he felt anxious because Mahaprabhu said He had not eaten for three days because of him. He kept thinking about Mahaprabhu, so his cooking tasted incredibly. And you must not talk while cooking – if you talk while cooking, then your spit will get into your cooking! You must speak little. Think nicely about Krishna at that time. Think about Krishna, about Radha-Krishna. If you do that, then your cooking will be very nice. You think, 'I am doing', 'I am cooking', 'I am cooking for my husband' – is there any guarantee that your husband comes back to eat your cooking? Your children go to school or college, but is there any guarantee that they will come back? You must cook for Govinda, and Govinda will bring your husband or children back home so that they can take His prasad. It is the Lord who you must always think about.

What do we need to do in this life? We have got this rare human birth now. Why is it called rare? Because sixty thousand souls stand in a queue, waiting to be born as humans. Those who have the fortune will get a human birth. You think that a boy and a girl mix together, and this is how a child comes. No. Sixty thousand souls stand in a queue to get a human birth, and only one of them enters the womb of a mother and get a human birth. The rest 59,999 souls get all kinds of other bodies (cows, goats, sheep, cats, etc.). There are so many living entities and animals living on this earth, in water, in forests. None of us can even tell all their names. We have crossed all these 8,400,000 species – we have been born eight million times as all kinds of animals, etc., and we have been born 400,000 times as humans also. But this time we have got to be born in this land of India, the land where the Lord has personally appeared many times. You can see also that so many foreign devotees from America, London, Russia, Spain also come here to chant the Lord's Names. They do not understand my language, but they are sitting quietly and listening to whatever language is being spoken. They come from so far, but they come here and chant kirtan, wear dhotis, put tilaks, wear neckbeads, chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra; but you were born right in this land, and you cannot come to this line because you do not want to leave small, trifle things – because your tongues are greedy to eat certain food...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Eternal Servitude
2) Morning Tells the Day
3) Real Milk – Real Benefit
4) Sins and Animals
5) Remember Your Promises
6) Core of Krishna Consciousness
7) Relief from Miseries
8) Toxic Life
9) Keep Your Charge Up
10) Brahmans' Trade
11) Greed Is Sin, Sin Is Death
12) Seeking Happiness and Peace