(2) Poor Unfortunate Souls

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening preaching programme,
13 March 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Instead of serving the Lord, we turn Him into our servant. We come to Deities and say, 'O Lord, please give me this', 'O Lord, please give me that.' The Lord must serve you and do everything you tell Him to do. Think about it yourselves. You come to worshippable Deities, hand Them a bribe (some rice and money) and expect some favour in return. Somebody wants to recover from some illness, somebody wants to have a healthy life – everybody only thinks about their bodies. You never think about your actual selves (your souls). This is my big sadness.

My Guru Maharaj told everybody these things, and this is what I also come to tell everybody. It is my great sadness that none of you think about your own selves. I told ** Prabhu, 'Call 100–150 people, they can come and listen to a few words. This is all I want. I do not need anybody's rice or money.' Sivji Maharaj told Parvati Devi, 'O Devi! There are many vitta-harankari gurus in this world (those who steal your wealth, money, etc.), but there are very few santap-harankari gurus (spiritual teachers who will rob you of your material agony).' It is to help you and to rescue you from the material agony that I came here for. You are suffering so much in this world – you keep coming to this world and living in its bondage, suffering from happiness and distress, from cold and heat, changing one family after another. You are not looking for a solution to this situation! You have got a human birth, but you have not been able to understand these things...

Even now I see that you are talking. I am talking to you, but you cannot hear what I am saying with your hearts – you only continue talking.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

You cannot understand these things... I have been in Hooghly for nine days. I stayed at one house, but from there I went to different places and took part in twenty-five programmes over that time. If you could see their enthusiasm, great eagerness and love, you could learn from them. But it does not happen... Even if you see it, even if you hear about it, it does nothing to you.

We do not take initiation from a brick building. We take initiation from a guru. If somebody sees a nice brick building and comes to take initiation from there, that is a misconception and it means that the person comes not to serve the temple but to use the temple. It means that in the name of taking initiation the person only makes a show of taking initiation. Many people have taken initiation, but it is only a show – they did not really take initiation. Srila Prabhupad also said that not everybody who takes the mantra can be called a disciple. A disciple is a person who carried their guru's order with utter humility, following it to a T. If one cannot do that, then this is not a disciple. Always remember this. This is all bad fortune...

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