(1) Give Up Selfish Greed

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, festive morning programme,
6 March 2019, part 1
Translated from Bengali

Say together with me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

I have been telling you for three days that I have not come here to chant kirtan – I have come so that you can chant kirtan. If I eat puffed rice and cucumbers, will your stomaches be full by that? They will not. So, if I chant kirtan, I will be befitted, and if you chant kirtan, then you will be the ones benefitted. You must chant kirtan yourselves. I have told you that getting hired singers to come and chant kirtan is a waste of time and money. I come here so that you can chant the Holy Name of the Lord.

You can see that there are many foreign devotees in our Mission. Where is South Africa? Where is Mauritius? They have to travel fifteen hours by plane(!) to come here, crossing thousands and thousands of miles. A plane flies, perhaps, at one thousand kilometers an hour, and it takes their planes fifteen hours to get here. They come to this line from so far and take initiation – you have seen me talk to some devotees through the computer just now: a small child took initiation. They are very fortunate. They are so far, but they come to get connection with me. Yet I am right here, next to your houses – I come, chant kirtan and speak Hari-katha, but not even one person from your houses comes to this path. Why? Only because of some trifle greed – because people cannot give up eating fish and meat. Because of this simple craving we cannot come to this path. ‘Greed is a sin, and sin is death (lobhe papa, pape mrtyu; লোভে পাপ, পাপে মৃত্যু।).’

জিহ্বার লালসে যেই ইতি-উতি ধায় ।
শিশ্নোদরপরায়ণ সে কৃষ্ণ নাহি পায় ॥

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya
sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

‘Those who, subservient to their tongues, run here and there and are devoted to satisfying their genitals and bellies cannot attain Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.227)

This is what the scriptures say.

জিহ্বার লালসে যেই ইতি-উতি ধায় ।
শিশ্নোদরপরায়ণ সে কৃষ্ণ নাহি পায় ॥

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya
sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

‘Those who, subservient to their tongues, run here and there and are devoted to satisfying their genitals and bellies cannot attain Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.227)

If you have not heard before, there are four things that must be given up: gambling, intoxication, illegal sex and slaughter. Kali stays in these four places, so there is always quarrel and strife there. If you cannot give up these four things, then even if you chant the Holy Name your whole lives, you will not come to the Lord.

কটি জন্ম যদি করে শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন ।
তবু না পায় ব্রজের নন্দের-নন্দন ॥

koti janma yadi kare sravana-kirtana
tabu na paya vrajendranandana

‘Even if you practise listening and chanting for millions of lives, you will not get Krishna, the Son of King of Vraja.’

'Millions of lives' means that you can come to this world (be born) millions of times, but you will still never come to the Lord because you live making many offences. The Holy Name can be chanted only if you give up offences. 'Niraparadhe Nama laile paya prema-dhana (নিরপরাধে নাম লৈলে পায় প্রেমধন). If you chant the Holy Name without offences, you will get the wealth of divine love of Krishna' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.71).

I told you yesterday that if you have unwanted habits and desires (anarthas) inside you, the Holy Name will never come to your mouths. But in such a state you can chant the Holy Names of Nitai and Gaura – there can be no offence in chanting Their Names. That is why when we chant kirtan, we chant Nitai's and Gaura's Names more. When Nitai and Gaura bestow Their mercy, all unwanted elements will leave us, and when those anarathas go away, we will feel taste for chanting the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. If you chant the Holy Names of Nitai and Gaura, there can be no offence in it, but if you chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna, there can be offence. This is how extremely gracious and merciful Nitai and Gaura are.

One devotee told me recently, 'I do not know any mantras, how will I worship the Lord?' I told him, 'That is your mantra! "I do not know anything" – that is the mantra. If you worship the Lord with devotion through this mantra, the Lord will accept your worship.'

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