(3) Why Are You Wasting Time?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening preaching programme,
13 March 2019, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Having travelled through the wombs of so many species, you have come to this world owing to your immense good fortune. You have got such a nice human body, a body that even the Lord Himself assumed and used to serve Lord Govinda. Gurus, Vaishnavs, the Lord come to your houses and keep telling you, calling you, inviting you, 'Please come', 'Please do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama', 'Please do parikrama in the company of devotees', 'Please do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama in the association of saints', 'Please chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna.' You cannot worship your Deity by paying somebody ten rupees. You cannot hire people to chant kirtan for fifty rupees – such kirtans are not kirtans. Even if you listen to such kirtans for millions of lifetimes, you will never get any benefit – you will never come to the Lord like that. Why? Because such chanting is full of offences.

There are many things that I can tell you, but there is no point in knowing so many things, in reading so many books. If I am thirsty, there is no point in thinking about a whole ocean of water – if I drink just one glass of water, that is sufficient to quench my thirst. Do not search for or think about a whole ocean of knowledge. Therefore, it is my prayer to you all – please chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. Chant the Holy Name of the Lord.

You waste so much time from morning until night – you walk down the street, you sit at tea stalls, you chat with people, you tell each other stories, you gossip, you visit your friends' and neighbours' houses and chat there. Is there time to waste on all such nonsense talks? How long are you going to live? You have already finished so many millions of births, and you will be in this world for mere hundred years – how many days is that? Compared to the universal time, these hundred years are nothing, but you waste this precious time on worrying about money, food, houses, clothes and sleeping – this is how your lives pass and finish...

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

‘My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleep. It never occurs to me that death is there, waiting right next to me.’

(Sri Kalyan-Kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It never occurs to us. Just recently a devotee from your area passed away. He used to work in a bank. I visited his house and know his family – I know that his son works in a prison and he got married. We all will die...

Our parents give us our bodies, but they did not give me myself (that which I am). Remember this. If you take your blood and compare it to your parents' blood, you will see that it is the same blood. Everybody knows this. So, these bodies of flesh and blood are given to us by our parents, but they did not give us that which we are. Who do we come from? The Lord. The Lord created us, He gave us that which we are. We are souls. Every living entity has a soul inside it, and all souls are parts and parcels of the Lord. So, our souls (atmas) have a relationship with the Supersoul (Paramatma).

You will not get a letter from the Lord, but if you approach His devotee, they can convey your letter to the Lord and also tell you everything about Him. What does Krishna Himself say? 'Those who say that they are My devotees are not My devotees. My real devotees are those who are devoted to My devotees.' You must remember this. We cannot say that we are Krishna-bhaktas. We are devotees of Krishna's devotees – we are the servants of the servants of His servants. If we can serve the servants of the servants of His servants, if we can become a speck of dust at their holy feet, that is our greatest attainment.

— : • : —

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