(9) Breaking Free

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's
appearance day, Hooghly district
24 February 2019, morning, part 9
Translated from Bengali

You forget that there is an owner, there is a master in this world. Overcome with Maya Devi's games, you forget all about it. I tell you about this every day. What I say is Srila Prabhupad's words.

You can see that there are some few people in this world who became attracted to Krishna consciousness and now live serving the Lord, serving devotees, but why do the rest of the people cannot do it? To understand this, you must first understand that the soul and the mind are not one and the same.

The mind lives in the external world, and the soul lives in the internal world. The soul (atma) is part and parcel of the Supersoul (Paramatma). The soul knows what Paramatma needs and wants. In this world there are people who say, 'Eat whatever your soul wants,' but the soul does not want any food – whenever you feel like eating something, this is only a craving of your tongues. You can see that a small boy can eat full stomach, he does not want to eat anymore, but if he sees something he likes, he will start nagging his mother, 'Mummy, buy it for me! I want to eat it!' This is eye-hunger or mind-hunger – this hunger does not come from his stomach because his stomach is full. We are like that, too. We see or think of something, and our eyes, minds, tongues want it. That is why we live eating meat, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, doing bad things with women, and so on. This is the world our minds live in. People say that the mind and the soul are one and the same, but this is absolutely wrong.

The soul belongs to Paramatma – the soul knows what Paramatma wants, and Paramatma knows what the soul wants. The soul's intrinsic duty is to serve Paramatma. Why then do souls do not do it? Suppose some men take me and throw me into a net – will I be able to get out of it? I will not. I will get tangled and never get out of it. Maya Devi is also like that. She throws her net on us, and we cannot get out of it. Suppose you take an iron rod and place it into fire. The rod will become red hot – you will not be able to touch it with your bare hand. If you touch a piece of cloth with that red-hot rod, it will burn the cloth; if you touch a piece of paper with it, the paper will burn; or if you touch somebody's hand with it, it will burn and leave blisters. Where does the iron rod get this power to burn? From fire. Similarly, Maya Devi also gets her power from the Lord, and she becomes so powerful that she throws a vast net on us and we completely forget the Lord. Maya Devi turns us into her servants and maidservants and keeps us always busy with the worries, 'What will I eat? What will I wear? Where will I sleep? How will I have children? What will become of my children?' The whole day long we are busy thinking about all this. Maya Devi turns us into her servants and keeps us away from the Lord. This is her duty.

There are some fortunate souls who develop service mood and make a step towards the Lord – when they take shelter of some devotee of the Lord and at the holy feet of the Lord, then Maya Devi sees, 'Oh, this soul has surrendered to my Master [the Lord is her Master, too], I should leave this soul alone.' When Maya Devi slowly, slowly leaves this soul, then the soul can start practising spiritual life.

So, what should you do now? First, you must surrender. Make a step forward. Once you make a step forward, you will realise what your soul's duty is and you will see what your soul wants. When this happens, you will lose all interest in eating fish, meat and all these other things. You will feel your soul's desire, 'I have taken shelter in my Lord, I want to always think about Him.' Do you understand what I am saying? If you do, then surrender to the Lord. Say together with me, 'Hare Krishna!' Why are you not saying it? Do you know why you cannot say it? Because the Holy Name of Lord Krishna does not come to the mouths of those who commit offences against the Holy Name.

‘কৃষ্ণনাম’ করে অপরাধের বিচার ।
কৃষ্ণ বলিলে অপরাধীর না হয় বিকার ॥

‘krsna-nama’ kare aparadhera vichara
krsna balile aparadhira na haya vikara

‘The Holy Name of Krishna considers offences: when one who commits ten offences of the Holy Name takes the Name of Krishna, it produces no transformation in them.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.24)

If you chant the Holy Name with offences, such chanting will not stir anything in you. When your husband dies or some relative dies, you become moved and cry so much, but you never cry thinking, 'When will I come to Krishna?' Nobody cries thinking, 'When will I be able to see Krishna? When will I get to see my Master?' That is why it is said that 'When one who commits offences against the Holy Name takes the Name of Krishna, it produces no transformation in them.' Even though such is our situation, there is a solution provided specially in this Kali-yuga.

It is said that Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, but despite that there is one great advantage in this age: in this age, the Supreme Lord comes to this world as Gauranga, a combined form of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, and He comes with His alter ego, Nityananda Prabhu. Mahaprabhu and Nityananda, Gaura and Nitai, are one but They manifest Themselves as two for Their pastimes. So, Srila Prabhupad and the scriptures say that for as long as we remain attracted and attached to this world, for as long as we have material desires and thoughts, the Holy Name of Lord Krishna will not come to our mouths. We can chant, but what we chant will be only the letters of the Name, not the Name proper. Even though the Holy Name does not come to those who are materially entangled (who are covered with anarthas), it is possible to chant the Holy Names of Gaura and Nitai in this state. Even when you are covered with anarathas, you can still chant the Holy Names of Gaura and Nitai – Their Holy Names will come to your mouths. If you keep chanting Their Names, all your anarthas will go away and then you will feel taste for chanting the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. So, say together with me, 'NITAI GAURA HARI BOL! NITAI GAURA HARI BOL!' Always remember this.

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