(12/12) Embrace Sheltered Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Festival anniversary,
4 March 2019, evening, part 12
Translated from Bengali

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

'The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We forgot about that, but we must not be like that. God has brought us to this world, He has made it possible for us to eat and live in this world, but we forget Him and, as the result, have to endure so much suffering. In other words, why do we suffer? Because we forget the Lord. If you want to get relief from this situation, then 'Bhagavata pada Vaisnavera sthane, ekanta asraya kara Chaitanya-charane (ভাগবত পড় বৈষ্ণবের স্থানে, একান্ত আশ্রয় কর চৈতন্য-চরণে). Read Bhagavatam under guidance of a Vaishnav and take exclusive shelter of the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.5.131). Study Bhagavatam from Vaishnavs and take exclusive shelter at the holy feet of Lord Chaitanya.

Having heard me speak all this time, do you have any questions or doubts? You can tell me directly.

Where is our home? In Goloka Vrindavan. This is where we all must go. Somebody will go there earlier, somebody later, but everybody's destination is there. What you must understand is that having got this human body now there is no guarantee that you will get it again in your next birth. It is said in the scriptures that demigods live and enjoy a happy life in heaven. Why? When you live a pious life and accumulate sufficient pious credit, you can go to heaven; but when that pious credit becomes exhausted, you will have to come back to this world, and it is not guaranteed that you will be born as a human – it can be any lower birth, too. This is what both Srimad Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam say. Even Lord India, the king of heaven, had to be born as a pig.

You must not forget the Lord. Live in Krishna's family. The only problem is that we cannot give up small, trifle matters to attain something great. A great attainment means that we can come to the Lord and no longer suffer from birth, death, old age and disease. If I were to say, 'Do whatever you want, eat whatever you want,' then so many people will queue to take initiation from me. But when I say that we prohibit these four things (the four regulative principles – gambling, intoxication, illegal sex, meat-eating; no fish, meat, onion, garlic, lentils), then you see that everybody is put off. What does it mean? Because of some trifle greed of our tongues, we cannot give up small things.

When people eat meat, they eat their own flesh. It is said in the scriptures:

যো যস্য মাংসমশ্নাতি স তন্মাংসাদ উচ্যতে ।
মৎস্যাদঃ সর্বমাংসাদস্তস্মান্মৎস্যান্ বিবর্জয়েৎ ॥

yo yasya mamsam-asnati sa tan mamsada uchyate
matsyadah sarva-mamsadas-tasman-mat-syan vivarjayet

'Those who eat meat are called meat-eaters, but those who eat fish devour all kinds of meat (cow, pig, etc. even one's own meat). Therefore, one must completely give up eating fish.'

(Manu-samhita, 5.15)

It is said that those who eat mean eat their own flesh. How so? As long as your pious merit is not exhausted, you enjoy a happy life in heaven; but once your pious merit finishes, you are bound to fall down from heaven as the result of your own karma.

তে তং ভুক্ত্বা স্বর্গলোকং বিশালং
ক্ষীণে পুণ্যে মর্ত্ত্যলোকং বিশন্তি ।
এবং ত্রয়ীধর্ম্মমনুপ্রপন্না,
গতাগতং কামকামা লভন্তে ॥

te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam visalam
ksine punye martya-lokam visanti
evam trayi-dharmam anuprapanna
gatagatam kama-kama labhante

'After enjoying the vast heavenly plane, upon the exhaustion of their pious merits they return to the human plane. In this way, persons desiring enjoyment who follow the Vedic rituals for demigod worship come and go – they undergo repeated birth and death in this material world.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.21)

Having enjoyed their pious merit, materialists keep returning to this world – sometimes, they are born as goats; sometimes, they are born as cats; sometimes, they are born as dogs; sometimes, they are born as pigs; sometimes, they are born as cows, snakes, frogs.

We come back to what I have just told you:

যো যস্য মাংসমশ্নাতি স তন্মাংসাদ উচ্যতে ।
মৎস্যাদঃ সর্বমাংসাদস্তস্মান্মৎস্যান্ বিবর্জয়েৎ ॥

yo yasya mamsam-asnati sa tan mamsada uchyate
matsyadah sarva-mamsadas-tasman-mat-syan vivarjayet

'Those who eat meat are called meat-eaters, but those who eat fish devour all kinds of meat (cow, pig, etc. even one's own meat). Therefore, one must completely give up eating fish.'

(Manu-samhita, 5.15)

Our bodies are made up from earth, water, fire, air, ether. When somebody dies, their body is burnt and turns into ash, or it is buried, as Muslim people do, and the result is the same: the body is again mixed with soil. Then, the other elements are mixed and another body is created in this way. So, suppose you love eating fish. When you die, your soul will leave your body and get another body as a cat, for example. In the meantime, your body will get mixed with soul and the Lord will create some fish from it. So, you become a cat and will eat that raw flesh that used to be your own body. That is why if you eat meat, you are actually eating your own flesh.

I have told you what the scriptures say, so leave these trifle things. You worry what will become of you if you do, but you can see these boys here – they used to eat cow's meat before, but now they wear tilaks, they chant the Holy Name. They used to eat snakes, frogs and even raw pig's meat, but when Gurudev came to their countries, they took initiation from him, or later from me, and now they are vegetarians, they fast on ekadasi and chant the Holy Name; they chant kirtans and play the mridangas. You can see them: they are foreigners, but they are very fortunate to have come to this line. You, on the other hand, were born right here in India.

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

'One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

It is your duty to do good onto others. What does it mean to be good to others? Giving some clothes to somebody? You will give somebody clothes today, but tomorrow they will want more clothes. You can give a blanket to some poor man, and the next day he will come to you and ask you for a nice warm coat. This asking mood, these desires cannot be satisfied by giving people material things. You can think about it yourselves. When you had no electric current in your house, you used to sleep peacefully at night. Now you have electric current, so you install fans. But that is not enough. After a while, you start dreaming of an air cooler. But even that does not satisfy you. After a while, you start thinking of an air conditioner. Desires always keep growing. Suppose you live in a mud house. The Lord arranges for you to earn some money, so you keep improving your house and in the end manage to make a good brick house. After a while, one floor does not seem to be enough, so you expand your house and build the second floor, the third floor, the fourth floor, and so on. We always want more and more and more. There are 330,000,000 demigods in this world. You worship Durga or Kali and pray, 'Make me rich', 'Give me knowledge', 'Make me beautiful', 'Make me a great poet' – we always want something. Suppose a father has five children. His four children keep nagging him, 'Father, I want this', 'Father, I want that.' But his fifth child only loves him without wanting anything from him – naturally, the father will leave all his wealth to that child. It is the same with the Lord. We are all God's children. If we just serve the Lord, He will provide everything for us – He will give us everything we need; we do not need to want anything.

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

'I do not want wealth, I do not want followers, I do not want beautiful women, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could serve You life after life.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.20.29)

ধন জন আর কবিতা সুন্দরী
বলিব না চাহি দেহ-সুখকরী ।
জন্মে জন্মে দাও ওহে গৌরহরি
অহৈতুকী ভক্তি চরণে তোমার ॥

dhana jana ara, kavita-sundari,
baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari
janme janme dao, ohe gaurahari!
ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

'When will I say that I do not want any wealth, followers, poetic gift or any other bodily happiness? O Gaura Hari! Birth after birth, please give me unconditional devotion to Your holy feet!'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

This is what we must think about.

All right. I have spoken a lot today. I will not take more of your time now. I would like to finish here. We are going to meet again tomorrow morning. I will also come in the late morning and speak again. Please come to the programme tomorrow to hear Hari-katha and take some prasad.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Length: 56 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Pure Hearts' Kirtan
2) Worship of Lord Siva
3) Proper Worship Comes from Proper Identification
4) Know Thyself
5) Pivoted Life
6) Short-Lived and Short-Sighted
7) Do Not Cheat Yourself
8) Devotional Service
9) Temple Is Not Made of Bricks
10) Spiritual Foundation
11) Stray Souls
12) Embrace Sheltered Life