(5/12) Remember Your Promises

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
23 February 2019, noon, part 5
Translated from Bengali

A soul that has no religion is no better than an animal. But many souls living in this world, such as trees, plants, insects and animals, cannot chant the Holy Name. That is why Srila Haridas Thakur chanted the Holy Name loudly – even though trees and animals cannot speak, at least if they can get to hear this transcendental sound vibration, it will give them some benefit. Always remember this.

So, everybody in this world is busy eating, sleeping, fearing and breeding, but there is some difference between us, humans, and other souls. Having got this very rare human life, we must not lose our chance – we must live like humans, not like animals. Why is this human birth so rare? It is said that among 60,000 jiva souls queuing waiting to get this human birth, only one gets it.

As I explained it earlier, we are not these bodies. If I take my blood and compare it to my parents' blood, I will see that it is the same blood. So, my parents have given me this body. We say, 'Oh, I was born from my parents,' but this is not so. My parents have given me only a body, but they did not give me that which I am (my soul). If I were to die now, my family and friends will cry, but my body will still be lying there, so who do they cry for? They cry because the soul has left the body, because the person has died. Actually, we never die. For example, I am wearing these clothes today, but tomorrow I will not wear them – I will change and put on fresh clothes. Just as I change clothes every day, I also change bodies. As you sow, so you reap. So, I will have to live the life I deserve according to my own actions.

When we were in our mothers' wombs, we promised the Lord, 'I will use my eyes to see Your holy Deities. I will use my hands to serve You. I will use my legs to do the parikrama of Your holy land.' You must come for the parikrama of Vrindavan, Nabadwip and other holy places, and you cannot do it, then do the Tulasi parikrama at home. Many people make a Tulasi temple next to a wall, but they do not keep any place for doing the parikrama. If you have already made it like that, do not break and redo it. You can just get a pot (How much does it cost? Twenty rupees?), plant Tulasi separately and take good care of her – it is not necessary to make a whole room for her or to keep her in the house. Keep Tulasi outside the house, in the sun, and do Tulasi parikrama – circumambulate Tulasi four times, you will be rescued from this material world. The only way to avoid these endless births and deaths (getting born as cows, goats, sheep, cats, etc.) Do you understand it? You must do parikrama of Tulasi every day.

You say, 'Oh, I do not have time to do it,' but how long does it take? Do you have no time or do you have no desire to do it? Is it that we cannot chant the Holy Name or we do not want to chant the Holy Name? Our problem is that we do not want to do it. I do not believe that anybody cannot chant the Holy Name. I do not buy it. We sit, we eat, we go to so many places by train, bus, etc. – wherever you are, you can chant the Holy Name. When you are cooking, when you use the bathroom – you take fifteen minutes in the bathroom, but you can pour water and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. What is the problem?

So, will you all do Tulasi parikrama now every day? I have been with you for a few days, and this is our last programme today. I will try to come again after Gaura Purnima. Give me your word that you will do Tulasi parikrama at home every day. [Devotees say: Yes!] Remember your promise. Are you scared now? 'Oh, I have promised to do it, but what if I cannot do it?' Why can you not do it? What is the problem?

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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