(8) Krishna-Centred Existence

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Lord Siva's Temple inauguration,
5 March 2019, morning, part 8
Translated from Bengali

I will tell you one thing now. I told it during the class yesterday, and I will tell it again now. I will be giving a class in the evening as well – you all can come at four o'clock in the afternoon. Please listen carefully and think about these things.

As you know, there are 330,000,000 gods. It is possible to worship all of them? Maybe you can worship Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Kartik, Ganesh, Siva or Paravati, but if you, for instance, worship Lord Siva, then Parvati Devi will be unhappy. If you worship Durga or Kali, then all the other gods will be left out. When you come to water a tree, you always pour water at the root of the tree, not on the leaves (if you water the root, the entire tree is nourished); in the same way, if you worship Lord Vishnu, or Krishna, the all gods' worship is automatically accomplished.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

‘sraddha’-sabde visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

‘Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Your debt to your fathers, mothers and sages – all kinds of debt – are automatically removed if you worship Lord Krishna. There are many people who argue, 'Oh, if you start serving God, you will not be able to serve your parents properly.' Our parents only give us these bodies – they did not create that which we are. For instance, a devotee passed away today: her soul left the body, and her relatives are now crying over that body. Her mother is still alive and healthy (she is not that old), but her daughter passed away.

We always worry about our bodies, but it never occurs to us to think, 'What will bring benefit to my soul?' This is what we should think about, but we forget about it. We must think about what the soul needs. The Lord knows what the soul actually needs. When our souls leave these bodies, the Lord sends them wherever He wants: as you sow, so you reap. If I live this life thinking more and more about my material life, expanding my material life, then the Lord will cheat me and keep me in this world. Humans, birds, parrots, pigs, gods, cats, jackal, cows, bulls and all other species have, their families, children and everything else. So, the Lord will send you to such family lives, too. Having now got this human birth, please think about the Lord.

Think about the Lord, remember the Lord. How much time we waste! Instead of telling each other stories and sitting on the veranda and gossiping about other women, you had better take some rest or having taken rest, chant the Holy Name of the Lord. Everybody get sufficient facilities in their lives.

Why do we say that you should live in Krishna's family? If you cook for Govinda, if you husbands earn money for Govinda, then your family life will be Krishna-centred. What do you do at home? You wash the clothes, cook, cut vegetables, do farming, cook rice, make muri (many do not make it anymore – mostly people just buy it in shops). For example, you can cook for Govinda and then offer it to the Lord with a tulasi leaf, saying, 'Dear Lord, please eat this.' Some people say, 'Oh, I do not know any mantras.' What mantras are there? When you feed your husbands, do you feed him with mantras? You do not. You cook nicely and give it to them to eat. It is the same when it comes to the Lord. You can cook whatever you can procure: rice, boiled potato, anything.

I have a couple of disciples who stay nearby, a girl and a boy. The girl is already married. The boy came to the Tarakeswar temple in the morning and asked me, 'Maharaj, what shall I cook for you? You are going to travel to Bardhaman, you must take prasad before you go.' They were going to cook some subji and rice or muri for the offering, and I told him to make rice, dal and some mashed potato for me. When they offered bhoga to the Lord, I took that prasad and then came here. They have many cows, bulls and much land in their care, but they came early in the morning here and washed the dishes, helped to clean the place. They have their families, but they live nearby and they come to do service.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }