(4/8) Shift Your Priorities

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly district,
28 February 2019, evening, part 4
Translated from Bengali

'Jive daya, Name ruchi, vaisnava-seva' means that you must chant the Holy Name and if anybody comes to you, you must explain Krishna consciousness to them again and again, again and again. You must not turn anybody down. I have heard once two men talking. One of them argued, 'Oh, he eats [meat] briyani! Why must I take him with me to Vrindavan and Dvaraka?' and the other man replied, 'What is the problem taking him with you? It is necessary to teach and explain things to people...' What is the problem? So many people eat briyani, so many people do all kinds of things, so many people eat beef, but we bring such people to this path. So many devotees used to eat beef, pork, chicken, but now they are vegetarian and fast on ekadasis.

'Abhimana sunya nitai nagare bedaya. Lord Nityananda Ray wanders throughout the towns without any pride.' Would He be able to do it if He had ego? If you think, 'I have become a great Vaishnav, I have got a big garland,' it is an offence. If there is some deficiency in our spiritual practice, we will be gradually removed from the service to the Lord. In particular, we can be removed if we discriminate devotees based on their position (if we think that sannyasis and brahmachari are higher than grihasthas and consider grihasthas rotten enjoyers who mix with women and do all kinds of other things). There are many people who think like this, but this is not what Mahaprabhu taught. Mahaprabhu said,

যেই ভজে, সেই বড়, অভক্ত—হীন, ছার ।
কৃষ্ণভজনে নাহি জাতি-কুলাদি বিচার ॥

yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta—hina, chhara
krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vichara

'Only a nondevotee can be considered as worthless and abominable: anyone who takes to devotional service is great – there is no consideration of class, caste or any other status for those who have taken up service to Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.67)

কিবা বিপ্র, কিবা ন্যাসী, শূদ্র কেনে নয় ।
যেই কৃষ্ণতত্ত্ববেত্তা, সেই ‘গুরু’ হয় ॥

kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, sudra kene naya
yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei 'guru' haya

'It does not matter whether one is a brahman, sannyasi or sudra – whoever knows who Krishna is can become a spiritual master.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.128)

This is what Mahaprabhu taught us, and our guru-varga practised and preached His teachings in this world. We, in turn, must also live following our guru-varga and their instructions. There is no lack of food, clothes or money in this world – the only dearth in this world is the dearth of pure Hari-katha and pure Vaishnavs. There are no Vaishnavs in this world. There are only people who roam this world to satisfy their own desires and senses...

Why do sadhus go house to house? To tell people Hari-katha – to tell people about the Lord. In this world, everybody lives in material bondage, floundering in the ocean of material life, but sadhus approach such people so that they can hear about the Lord and come to this path – they come to rescue them. Mahaprabhu is patita-pavan: He is very merciful to the fallen souls. Following His line, our guru-varga go house to house, telling everybody,

জীব জাগ জীব জাগ গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jaga jiva jaga gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

‘Sri Gorachand says, “Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?”’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When a ghost possesses somebody, the person starts talking gibberish. We are like that, too. We talk nonsense. We forgot our Supreme Father and live suffering in all these various ways, passing day by day, life after life.

মায়াজালে বদ্ধ হ’য়ে, আছ মিছে কাজ ল’য়ে ।
এখনও চেতন পেয়ে, রাধামাধব-নাম বল রে ॥

maya-jale baddha ha’ye, achha michhe kaja la’ye
ekhana-o chetana peye, radha-madhava-nama bala re

‘Bound in Maya’s net, you waste your time on useless work. While you are still conscious, chant Radha-Madhav’s Names!’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'Bound in Maya’s net, we waste our time on useless work. While we are still conscious, we must chant Radha-Madhav’s Names!'

জীবন হইল শেষ, না ভজিলে হৃষীকেশ ।
ভক্তিবিনোদ-উপদেশ, একবার নামরসে মাত রে

jivana haila sesa, na bhajile hrsikesa
bhaktivinod-upadesa, ekabara nama-rase mata re

'Your life is finished, but you have not served Lord Hrishikesh (the Lord of the senses). Bhaktivinod instructs: Become mad with the Name's nectar just once.'

(Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Your lives will come to an end! Think about the Lord! Think about what Vaishnavs come to tell you. Think about serving the Lord. Give your lives to the Lord, then you will see that everything in your lives will go smoothly and beautifully. But we live in this illusory world, in this Kali-yuga, and our situation is such that we only live spending all twenty four hours a day on ourselves. We keep sighing, dreaming about our material interests, living twenty four hours a day to satisfy our own senses, always thinking about our own happiness. This is how we spend our whole lives. We never find time to think about the Lord, we do not think about service to our guru and Vaishnavs. If we live like that, we will have to reap the result – our actions will bring a reaction. What will become of us then? What result will we have to reap?...

The scriptures says very nicely:

ভাগবত পড় বৈষ্ণবের স্থানে ।
একান্ত আশ্রয় কর চৈতন্য-চরণে ॥

bhagavata pada vaisnavera sthane
ekanta asraya kara chaitanya-charane

'Study Bhagavatam under guidance of a Vaishnav and take exclusive shelter of the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.5.131)

You must study Bhagavatam in the association of Vaishnavs and take shelter at the holy feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When we take shelter of a bona fide guru – a guru who knows the Lord, who knows where the Lord's home is – he can take us to the Lord's home. Sri Guru is the Lord's own – he is Srimati Radharani or Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.

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Size: 25 Mb
Length: 51 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Steer Clear of Offences
2) Disciple's Life
3) Mahaprabhu's Standard of Cleanliness
4) Shift Your Priorities
5) Make No Mistake
6) Non-Negotiable Stance
7) Be Strong and Straight
8) Do Not Run After Knowledge