(11/12) Places to Be Avoided

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bakultala, noon class, 7 April 2019, part 11
Translated from Bengali

It is necessary to follow the rules and regulations. First, you must understand what the four places of Kali are. Gambling, intoxication, illicit sex and meat-eating. There is also the fifth place, gold, but I am not even mentioning it because many cannot follow it. If you can avoid it, it is good.

Gambling means playing cards, chess, dice, lottery. I read in the newspaper not so long ago about a man who had won twenty million rupees in lottery. After the tax, he must have got about fifteen million rupees. He built himself a big house, gave all his siblings and friends one million each, bought a car, etc. But even then he could not give up his greed for lottery. He started buying even more lottery tickets. Seeing his win, other people also started buying more lottery tickets. In the end, that man who had won twenty million rupees spent all his money, sold all his property, his wife's jewellery, etc. – his wife had to start rolling bidi to make a living, and he began to beg. Then you can understand why we say that gambling is not good.

Intoxication means smoking cigarettes, bidi, tobacco, taking drugs, drinking tea. Even tea should not be taken.

Illegal sex means unlawful mixing with women. You know what this is yourselves. There are eight kinds of association with women. Even thinking about a girl is also association. You have your own wife, but you see some pretty girl walking down the street and you are thinking about her – that is also association with women. The same is true about women – if they think about other men or if they see some handsome man and think about him, that is also unlawful association.

Meat-eating is slaughter, violence towards other living entities. You must not kill any souls because Lord Krishna is present within all entities, within all souls (sarva-jive Krishna-adhisthan, সর্ব্ব-জীবে কৃষ্ণ-অধিষ্ঠান). One time, somebody from Rama Krishna Mission asked me this question (and you may have this question as well), 'You do not eat meat, but you eat spinach, bananas and other vegetables – are you not killing souls, too?' I told that man, 'You were going about your business, but your fortune was such that you came to the temple and you are taking this prasad. But what if you had had an accident on the road?'

[His Divine Grace is distracted] Have you offered the bhog? How long will it take you to offer it? Ten minutes? All right, go and offer it. It is not necessary to recite so many mantras. You know, one time, somebody asked me, 'Maharaj, I do not know any mantras, how can I offer bhog to the Deities?' I told him, 'That is your mantra! "Dear Lord, I do not know any mantras, I do not know anything, I have no quality or qualification. I do not know how to cook properly – I do not know if I have put enough salt/sugar or not. I am giving this food to You, please eat it." If You eat, it is very good, and if You do not, then what am I to do?' When you give food to your husband, do you give it to him reciting mantras? You do not.

So, meat-eating means you must not kill any living entities. Sadhus also can be seen to kill living entities, but they do not do this for themselves. They do everything for the Lord. Everything that is created in this world is created for the Lord and by the Lord. You can plant a coconut tree, but you cannot give that tree life. If you cannot give life to it, then you have no right to eat it. Remember this. If you forcefully take things and stealthily eat them without offering them to the Lord, you are a thief and the result of your eating is only sin. This is ego, and you will have to reap the reaction for that. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction (you have studied this third law of Newton). If you hit somebody, you have to be hit in return (an eye for an eye). We live in this world at the expense of killing so many living entities – we drink water, we walk, etc. – so we have to reap the result for our actions. There is no way to escape from it. What is the solution then?

You can see devotees cooking here today. Who are they cooking for? For Lord Govinda. They will give this food to Govinda, and if our fortune is such that He will leave some prasad for us, then we will take it. But if I die right this moment, then I will not take any prasad. There is no guarantee that I will be alive. Who can give you any guarantee that you will live another year? Nobody can. The Lord can take us away from here at any moment.

I saw an article in the newspaper only yesterday. A family (parents and a eleven-year-old daughter) were travelling to Puri for a holiday. When they reached Panskura, they got stuck in a traffic jam – they were driving behind a bus, but a lorry came driving at a high speed and hit them so hard that the whole car went crushing underneath the bus! They could not even take the car out – they brought a crane there and the crane first toppled over the bus. The girl died, and her parents were then rushed to hospital. The bus driver was also injured. This happened just yesterday. So many souls are leaving their bodies every second. Do you think you leave the body and come to the Lord?

You must always think about these things. You must live worshipping and serving the Lord, the guru and Vaishnavs. You come from the Lord, so you must live serving Him.

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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