(10/12) Mature Vision

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bakultala, noon class, 7 April 2019, part 10
Translated from Bengali

We are surrounded by highway robbers:

কাম-ক্রোধ আদি ছয় বাটপাড়ে দেয় ভয়
অবসান হৈল আসি বেলা

kama-krodha-adi chaya batapare deya bhaya
avasana haila asi bela

'I am attacked by the six highway robbers (lust, anger, etc.), and my life is coming to its end.'

(Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The time is passing! The sun is rising in the morning and setting in the evening – one after another, days are passing.

When we go to Vrindavan, we visit the place of Lal Babu from Jessore, Bangladesh. One fisherman used to come to his home and bring him big fish. One day, when the fisherman came in the morning to bring fish, Lal Babu began telling him stories and, by and by, the whole day passed. In the evening, the fisherman wanted to finally get his money and go back home, so he told Lal Babu, 'Babu, the time is gone.' Lal Babu was startled to hear this. 'Yes,' he thought, 'the time is gone! My life is gone! Instead of sitting here, I must go to Vrindavan!' He left everything and went to Vrindavan, where he constructed a temple (near Jagat Seth).

[Clamour] They are still talking...

দিনের মধ্যে আবল-তাবল
কত পচাল পাড়িতে পর
তার মধ্যে কি একবার
গোবিন্দ বলিতে নার ?!

dinera madhye abala-tabala
kata pachala padite para
tara madhye ki eka-bara
govinda balite nara ?!

'How much nonsense you can talk every day! How many idle talks you have! Can you not say the Name of Govinda even once?'

After such a long time, your ears have become full of rust. Unless you have clean ears, you will not be able to hear. We turned away from the Lord and have been averse since time immemorial, but do you ever think about anything? You think that getting birth is scary, but dying is much scarier. I have written about hell in Guidance 3. You can read there how the soul is taken away by the messangers of Lord Yamaraj at the time of death. The body will stay here.

You think that your parents gave birth to you, but they only give you a body – they do not give us that which we are. We are created and sent here by the Lord, and when the Lord sends Yamaduts, He will take us away from here. The body will stay here, and will be quickly taken to the crematorium.

শ্মশানে শরীর মম পড়িয়া রহিবে ।
বিহঙ্গ পতঙ্গ তায় বিহার করিবে ॥

smasane sarira mama padiya rahibe
bihanga-patanga taya vihara karibe

'My body will be left at a crematorium, and birds and insects will heartily enjoy it.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Now, when a mosquito bites us, we kill it, but when our bodies fall down dead, how many insects will enter our ears, eyes, and nose – who will stop them then? Nobody. If a dead body lies somewhere for two days, so many flies will sit on it – nobody will chase them away. So, strike the iron while it is hot. You still have some time left – do not wait. Brother, do everything timely, do not put things off.

উঠরে উঠরে ভাই আর ত সময় নাই
'কৃষ্ণ ভজ' বলে উচ্চৈঃস্বরে

uthare uthare bhai ara ta samaya nai
'krsna bhaja' bale uchchaihsvare

'Wake up, wake up, brother! There is no time! "Worship Krishna!" they call out loudly.'

(Acharya Vandana)

There is not time left! We have no time in our hands! That is why I am telling you all – serve the Lord sincerely, without duplicity and other desires.

What does it mean to be selfless? Actually, you can give up everything in this world, but there are still two things that you cannot give up. What are they? The first thing is artha (the spiritual wealth), and the other thing is pratistha (name and fame). 'Kanak, kamini, pratistha-baghini chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava (কনক-কামিনী প্রতিষ্ঠা-বাঘিনী ছাড়িয়াছে যারে সেই ত বৈষ্ণব): Vaishnavs are those who can give up money, women and fame the tigress' (Vaisnav Ke? Srila Saraswati Thakur). 'I have become a Vaishnav' – if this idea enters your mind, then you are in great danger.

'আমি ত' বৈষ্ণব', এ বুদ্ধি হইলে,
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।
প্রতস্ঠাশা আসি', হৃদয় দূষিবে,
হইব নিরয়গামী ॥

"ami ta' vaisnava," e buddhi haile,
amani na ha'ba ami
pratisthasa asi', hrdaya dusibe,
haiba niraya-gami

'If I think, "I am a Vaishnav", then I will never stop desiring honour – my heart will become polluted with the desire for prestige, and I will end up in hell.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Many people talk about Mirabai's devotion, but we do not accept her devotion. She cared only about Krishna, but Krishna Himself said, 'Those who say they are My devotees are not My devotees.' Mirabai would say, 'I have got the treasure of divine love for Lord Krishna!' but Mahaprabhu would say, 'I have not got a trace of divine love for Lord Krishna!'

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

'If you did not become devoted to the worship of Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna was in vain.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'Radhara dasira Krsna sarva-vede bole (রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে). Krishna is the property of the maidservants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this.' Whom does Krishna belong to? Whose property is He? Who can give you the right to serve Him? He belongs to Radharani. And who is Radharani? She is non-different from Sri Gurudev. Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur says:

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

'I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all scriptures to be, no doubt, the Supreme Lord Himself and considered to be so by pious souls but who is also, no doubt, the Lord’s dear associate.'

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

On the one hand, Sri Guru is the Lord Himself; on the other hand, Sri Guru is also the dearmost of the Lord. Who is the dearmost of Lord Krishna? Srimati Radhika. So, if we do not worship Radharani, we cannot get any love for Krishna. All Vedas proclaim that Krishna is the property of Radharani's maidservants. You have heard from Srimad Bhagavatam about the dvijapatnis, wives of brahmans. They left everything and went straight to Krishna, and in the end, when they understood everything, they decided, 'We will serve gopis!' Krishna said to this, 'You have come to the right path.' First, they said, 'Krishna, we will not leave You! We left our husbands and came to You, so we will not go back – we will not leave You.' Krishna did not agree, 'You cannot do that. You must go back to your homes.' Then, the gopis said, 'You love Radharani very much, so we will serve gopis (Her servants).' Krishna approved of it, saying, 'Yes, you are on the right path.'

Therefore, we must serve devotees. Without service to devotees, we cannot come to the Lord. If a disciple is standing in front of his guru and cannot see the Lord (cannot understand the Lord), then he must reject this guru. A guru is not a guru, a father is not a father, a friend is not a friend, a mother is not a mother, a husband is not a husband, a wife is not a wife if they cannot help you in the service of the Lord. You must not even take water from their hands!

গুরুর্ন স স্যাৎ স্বজনো ন স স্যাৎ,
পিতা ন স স্যাজ্জননী ন সা স্যাৎ ।
দৈবং ন তৎ স্যান্ন পতিশ্চ স স্যান্ন,
মোচয়েদ্ যঃ সমুপেতমৃত্যুম্ ॥

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan
na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyam

'It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your god, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death.'

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

If a father cannot bring his child to the Lord (cannot bring him to the path that leads to the Lord), he should not beget a child. These are not my words. This is written in Srimad Bhagavatam. If a guru cannot rescue you from the jaws of death (from the deathly ocean of material life), this guru is not a guru. There are many gurus roaming this world – there are many ansestral and local gurus, but the number of spiritual gurus is very small. Sivji Maharaj told Parvati Devi, 'O Devi! There are many gurus in this world who will come to take away your property and money, but there are very few gurus who will come to take away your material misery.'

I can give you one example. I have told it before, but you may have forgotten it after all these years. Suppose you come to a doctor. The doctor checks you and sends you for a blood test. The blood test results come, and it turns out that you have blood sugar. The doctor will prescribe you some medicine and tell you, 'Do not even touch sweets. Do not eat potato, do not eat much rice and rotis.' If you say, 'Doctor, I eat ten sweets a day, I cannot give up sweets. I have much money – you can just prescribe more medication, I will take it, but I cannot live without sweets.' If the doctor is good and loves you, he will say, 'I do not want a patient like you! If you cannot give up sweets, then do not come to me again.' But if the doctor loves your money more, then he will say, 'All right, eat it, but try to eat less slowly. If you eat ten sweets, then try to eat nine tomorrow, then eight, and so on. Try to decrease the number of sweets.' Two weeks later, you will come, do another blood test, and your blood sugar will be high. The doctor will increase the dose of the medication, and in the end you will have to take insulin injections. If the doctors loves you money, he will encourage you to eat everything and come to him again because you will continue paying him, and if you die, what is it to him? In the same way, there are many bogus gurus roaming this world who will worry about your money, 'If I can make this man my disciple, I will get a lot of money! I will be able to build a big house!' There are many such gurus in this world. But the number of gurus who will worry about taking away your threefold miseries (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik: the miseries caused by other souls, by the nature and by your mind) is very small. There are many bogus doctors in this world who think, 'If I give up this patient, he will go to another doctor who will allow him to eat sweets. In the end, I will only lose my income.' No. Just as a genuine doctor cannot be like that, a genuine guru also cannot be like that. If somebody cannot come to this path, if somebody cannot follow the rules and regulations, then it is no use making such disciples! It is necessary to follow the rules and regulations.

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Length: 97 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Check Yourself
2) Spiritual Purity
3) Your Chance
4) Happy Existence
5) Look for Service, Not Excuses
6) Short Time, Short Life
7) Maya's Domain
8) Genuine Connection
9) Thoughtful Existence
10) Mature Vision
11) Places to Be Avoided
12) Do Not Be Afraid to Give