(2/10) Practise Hari-Kirtan

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

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says:

বড় দুঃখ পাইয়াছি স্বতন্ত্র জীবনে ।
সব দুঃখ দূরে গেল, ও পদ বরণে ॥

bada duhkha paiyachhi svatantra jivane
saba duhkha dure gela, o pada varane

'I was very unhappy in my independent life, but all my unhappiness is gone now that I have embraced the Lord's feet.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'When I lived independently, I suffered so much – I lived as I pleased, listening to whatever my mind told me. But now that I have surrendered at the holy feet of the Lord and live following my guru, all my misery and distress is gone.'

We must follow the order of our guru. We say with our mouths: 'Ami sakti-buddhi-hina, ami ati dina, koro more atmasatha (আমি শক্তিবুদ্ধিহীন আমি অতি দীন কর মোরে আত্মসাথ ॥): I have no energy, I do not have any power or intelligence. Please hijack me!', 'Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya ara na kariha mane asa (গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য আর না করিহ মনে আশা). Make the teachings coming from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart and do not desire anything else.' We chant these things in kirtans, we pay obeisances to our guru saying he is great, but we do not follow what our guru tells. We do not live following him. For the pleasure and happiness of our senses and minds, we roam everywhere in all four directions.

I am requesting you all – please think about yourselves. Do not think only about your bodies the bodies that will fall dead after a couple of days. You use apply so many creams, use so much soap and other things worrying about your bodies, but these bodies will be taken to the crematorium in a few days, and only insects, jackals and dogs will feast on it. When you are gone, where will all these houses, rooms and great buildings be? You will have to leave everything behind. You think, 'This is my room', 'This is my house', 'This is my wife', 'This is my family – you have wasted so much time thinking about all these things! Try to think about it. Try to be detached from the material world and attached to the Lord.

Live in Krishna's family. Everything that is created in this world is created by Krishna and for Krishna, but you are thinking, 'I am growing potato, rice, roots, eggplants' – yes, you are planting all these things (you are putting the seeds in the soil), but the Master of all plants is God (He gives them life).

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥
মালী হঞা করে সেই বীজ আরোপণ ।
শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

'Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna. Becoming gardeners, they plant that seed and nurture it with the water of hearing and chanting.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151–152)

When you put a seed into soil, you must water it, but if you water it too much, the seed will rot. So, if we enter the devotional matters where we have no right to enter (if we transgress our rights), it will destroy the creeper of our devotion. There will be no devotion left. Therefore, I am praying to you – please practise Hari-kirtan.

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Length: 82 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Oblivious Existence
2) Practise Hari-Kirtan
3) Your Deepest Need
4) Engage Yourself in Sankirtan
5) Bhakta-Abhiman and Bhakta-Bhav
6) Deadly Dearth
7) Surrender Comes First
8) Wasted Time, Wasted Life
9) Managers' Mania
10) Remember, Love and Serve the Lord