(7/7) Sincerity vs. Excuses

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Two
18 March 2019, evening class, part 7
Translated from Bengali

We do not get time to chant the Holy Name. We are so busy with our material lives and material problems that we do not find time to think about the Lord. We are very unfortunate. I do not believe in such things (I do not believe that you do not have time to practise spiritual life.) You can see that we are managing such a big family – our family is the whole world...

Yesterday I got a phone call at half past eleven from Bangladesh – the person kept speaking for half an hour. I spoke very little and went to sleep at twelve. They called me about the construction that is going on there, asking me questions about the works, and I had to explain everything. There is construction going on in Ekachakra also, and the worker called me the day before yesterday. Leave that, even when we are doing this parikrama here, I am arranging the buses for you, doing the shopping. When we go for parikrama, I always look behind to see if everything is all right. I am always busy with so many things. So, do not tell me any excuses. You say you do not have time to chant the Holy Name, all right, then chant when you sit in the bathroom passing stool [without the beads – the beads are never to be taken into the bathroom]. You get time to sit in the bathroom, so chant the Holy Name there then. Mahaprabhu Himself taught this. You will find that pastime described in the Puri Dham book.

কি শয়নে, কি ভোজনে, কিবা জাগরণে ।
অহর্নিশ চিন্ত কৃষ্ণ, বলহ বদনে ॥

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane
aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

'Whether you are sleeping, eating or waking up, incessantly think about Krishna and chant the Name of Krishna with your mouth.'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.28.28)

'Sayane' means that even when you are sleeping you must chant the Holy Name! While you are dreaming, you can be chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and looking at the Lord.

You must have faith in these things.

'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 mother, father, sages, demigods and all other debts are automatically cleared if you worship Krishna.

I am finishing here for today. Go have prasad quickly and take rest. Always remember and be alert about what I tell you. I keep telling you things again and again – for your benefit. You have heard that when Nityananda Prabhu bestowed His mercy, He would kick the devotee, He would keep His feet on the devotee's head. He is an unlimited ocean of mercy! Somebody like me cannot give mercy because I have not even been able to become a Vaishnav yet – I do not know how to do anything, I do not understand anything – but following my gurudev's order, I am only trying to help you to find the Lord's house, to help you find your own home. I am merely trying to take you all to your own home.

You have lost your home, you have got lost. You think you have a house and you are rushing to return to it – the parikrama has not finished yet, and many of you will be already leaving. You have come here with a return ticket. Nobody says, 'Oh, I will stay here for ten days more to do service at the temple.' Do you think I will kick you out or tell you to leave? No. Stay longer. Stay here for ten days, stay here a month, stay here the whole life! I have no objection. I am not joking. We have many temples, many branches. You can stay at any of them and do service. Both ladies and gents can come, but people are not coming... You do not understand it. When you suffer, then you will understand it. When you son kicks you out onto the street, when you have some problem at home, then only will you feel that you are in danger and will want to come here. But when your family smothers you with affection, you will not want to leave your comfortable life (Maya has grasped you). Gurudev also said that only the boys who were driven out of their homes by their parents came to the temple (maye tadano bape khadano; মায়ে তাড়ানো বাপে খেদানো). I did not come to the temple like that. I had studied and was already working, so when I came to the temple, I left my work. I left everything to tell everyone only one thing...

I saw sahajiya kirtan in my childhood, but I could not appreciate it. My father did not let me read Gita, so I would read it hiding from him. I studied in the seventh or eighth grade at that time. We had a small temple at home, and I would go there secretly to read Gita. I saw that when some guru came to our area, he would say just the opposite of what Gita says. One time, I challenged him, 'What kind of guru are you? You only come to people's houses and look for rui and katla [popular types of fish] in their ponds! You never chant the Holy Name yourself, you do not offer bhog to the Lord, do not take prasad! If you are a guru, what sort of mantra do you give to others?' The guru then told my mother, 'I see your son has become too mature!' I used to be very proud of myself on account of that. Now I do not say such things. I originally come from a Muslim area, so I would look down upon them, but now if I see any Muslim chanting the Holy Name and serving devotees, I pay obeisance to them.

When I went for preaching in South India, I saw that Muslim people did not like me. But when I needed to take a taxi, I took a taxi that was driven by a Muslim man. I ended up speaking to the man for one hour! I told him some good things from Islam, spoke nicely to him, and then the man said, 'I will drive Maharaj every day! I like what he says.' He also came to our programmes and sat at the lectures. That is my work (bringing people to this line). Islam has some limit – they worship God up to Brahma. This is mayavad because they do not believe that God has a form (like mayavadis, they say that God has no form). They think that Hindus just make up some image of God. I spoke to him about all that, referring to various Muslim scriptures (Quran and others) and namaz practices, quoting slokas. The man was surprised, 'How does Maharaj know all this?'

[At this, His Divine Grace finishes the class, chanting Hari Haraye Namah Krishna and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and reciting Jaya Dhvani.]

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Future Vision
2) Happiness amidst Sadness
3) Smooth Parikrama Day
4) Chad Kazi Purified
5) Meaning of Vaishnav-Seva
6) Sole Sustenance: Sravanam, Kirtanam and Smaranam
7) Sincerity vs. Excuses