(9/10) Managers' Mania

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
23 February 2019, evening, part 9
Translated from Bengali

Aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera, darvesh, saki, sahajiya, sakhibheki, smarta, jata-gosani, atibari, chudadhari, gauranga-nagari – never associate with such people. All these things are going on in this world. People always think about various titles and social statuses – they work in an office thinking about getting a big post there. But the sad thing is that nobody in this world thinks of becoming a devotee of Krishna's devotees, about becoming a devotee of the Lord... In this world, people do not practise genuine Krishna consciousness, and it made Srila Prabhupad and all our other guru-varga cry, 'They have not taken initiation properly, they are not practising Krishna consciousness properly.' Instead of taking initiation, people only pretend to have accepted a guru.

Garbed into deceit, we always criticise Nityananda Prabhu (guru-tattva, gurudev) and others, always gossip – we waste so much time on this feeling jealous of others. Sadhus must be free from envy (nirmatsar): they feel happy when they see others doing good. But Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said that, instead, we are happy when others are unhappy and we are unhappy when others are happy.

পর সুখে দুঃখী সদা মিথ্যাভাষী
পরদুঃখ সুখকর ॥

para-sukhe duhkhi sada mithya-bhasi
para-duhkha sukha-kara

'I always lie. I feel unhappy to see others happy, and I feel happy to see others sad.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When we see somebody happy, it upsets us; and when we see somebody upset, we feel very happy. Such is our mood... We cannot practise Krishna consciousness genuinely. How many people can practise properly, genuinely? Instead of practising, people hire singers to chant kirtans, but Srila Prabhupad said that you cannot chant kirtan or serve the Lord for ten rupees or by signing a contract.

Everybody must chant Krishna-kirtan (chant the glories of the Lord, serve and worship the Lord). You bring a kirtan party, pay them five thousand rupees, and they come, sing and go away, but you are the same as before – what do you get by that? Do such kirtans create any change in you?

Sadhus go house to house to help you change. Nityananda Prabhu went door to door, calling out to everybody:

ভজ গৌরাঙ্গ, কহ গৌরাঙ্গ, লহ গৌরাঙ্গের নাম রে
যে জন গৌরাঙ্গ ভজে, সেই আমার প্রাণ রে

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re
ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

'Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga’s Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!'

(Sri Nityananda Prabhu)

আমারে কিনিয়া লহ ভজ গৌরহরি ॥

amare kiniya laha bhaja gaura hari

'I will be sold to you, please accept and serve Gaurahari!'

(Sriman Nityananda Prabhu)

'You can buy Me – just worship Gaura-hari!' Even Krishna says also, 'You can buy Me – just serve Me with a drop of Ganges water and a Tulasi leaf.'

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

'Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

The Lord says, 'Give up all religions and surrender to Me. I will take care of you, so do not worry about anything, do not be afraid of anything.' We act like we are the mangers, but the Manager is already there. Because we are full of ego, we become 'managers' and try to manage everything. But nothing is under our control. Think about it.

To be able to live, we have to kill millions of living entities every day. We breathe, we absorb daylight, we drink water – whatever we do, we always consuming some living entities. When we breathe in, so many living entities enter our bodies and die inside it. When we eat rice, we cut the paddy; when we eat eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower or any other vegetable, we also kill the plants. At every step of the way, we live at the expense of killing other souls. How is it possible to find a solution to this situation? If you can make your life Krishna-centred, if you can live in Krishna's family, then you will not have to suffer from the reaction for your actions. Otherwise, you will have to reap the result of your every action. If you live a Krishna conscious life, you can be doing farming or running a business, but whenever you take any vegetable, you are not doing it for your own sake. If you do something for the pleasure of the Lord (to offer bhog to the Lord), then your actions will be part of nirguna plane. I was asked recently, 'Maharaj, when we grow potato, we have to use pesticides. Is it a sin?' Even when you grow rice, you have to use pesticides, otherwise you will not have good crops. So, if you grow rice or potato for Lord Govinda's service, then you will not incur any sin for killing all those insects. Even Srimad Bhagavad-gita says this. Whatever you do, you must do it for Him. We must live following what the scriptures say.

There are many religions in this world, but:

পৃথিবীতে যত কথা ধর্ম্মনামে-চলে ।
ভাগবত কহে সব পরিপূর্ণ ছলে ॥

prthivite yata katha dharma-name-chale
bhagavata kahe saba paripurna chhale

'Bhagavatam says that whatever is going on in this world in the name of religion is complete cheating.'

(Based on Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.1.2)

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Size: 40 Mb
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