(9/12) Thoughtful Existence

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bakultala, noon class, 7 April 2019, part 9
Translated from Bengali

If you get an opportunity, come with us for Ratha-yatra. Hundreds of devotees will be going there. Some of the devotees from your area will also be joining us. We are leaving on 29 June. If you have no money, you can still anyhow come with us on the train, stay with us and do the parikrama of the holy dham during seven days. Taking bus and going to this place, that place is not the same. Parikrama is done in the association of devotees:

গৌর আমার, যে সব স্থানে,
করল ভ্রমণ রঙ্গে ।
সে সব স্থান, হেরিব আমি,
প্রণয়ি-ভকত-সঙ্গে ॥

gaura amara, ye saba sthane,
karala bhramana range
se saba sthana, heribo ami,
pranayi-bhakata-sange

'In the company of loving devotees, I will behold all the places my Gaura roamed during His ecstatic pastimes.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We will go to all the places that Gaura visited. We do not go to any other places. When outside people go on such tours, what they do is called eye-exercise. In the same way, if you hold your beads and only go through the beads without actually chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with your mouth, that is called finger-exercise. I have seen people holding their beads, moving their fingers in the bag, and talking to others at the same time. Is this chanting the Holy Name? It is not. It is an offence to the Holy Name. When you chant the Holy Name, you do not need to show it to others. 'Apana bhajana-katha na kahibe yatha tatha (আপন ভজন-কথা, না কহিবে যথা তথা). Do not tell anyone and everyone about your own bhajan, service and practice. Keep it private' (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). I do not want to tell others about my own spiritual practice or service. It is not necessary to do that. We are only aspiring servitors. We have come to serve the Lord, we have got an opportunity to do some service, but whether the Lord accepts this service or not, that is His matter – it is up to Him. Other than that, we do not really know anything. We must always understand this.

Always remember these things. Always keep good association (the association of saints).

সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণনামে—এই মাত্র চাই ।
সংসার জিনিতে আর কোন বস্তু নাই ॥

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai
samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

'I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of sadhus. There is no other way to conquer this material world.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

Always remember this. You must chant the Holy Name of the Lord in good association.

We will also be going for the Vrindavan parikrama for fifteen days. During our parikramas, we only chant kirtan – we walk and chant, chant, chant...

Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu came in this Age of Kali, and They are very merciful – They come to bestow Their mercy on such souls as us. To rescue such fallen and lowly souls as ourselves, the Lord personally comes from Goloka Vrindavan to this material world. Just like us, He ate, He walked everywhere, and He would always chant, 'O Krishna! O Krishna!' He approached everybody and urged them, 'O jiva soul! Stop sleeping! Wake up! This here is not your home – you have lost your address! Please come with Me! Krsna bala, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai (কৃষ্ণ বল, সঙ্গে চল, এই মাত্র ভিক্ষা চাই). I am begging you for one thing only – come with Me and chant the Holy Name of Krishna!' Nobody wants anything else from you – nobody wants your money.

ধন জন আর কবিতা সুন্দরী
বলিব না চাহি দেহ-সুখকরী ।
জন্মে জন্মে দাও ওহে গৌরহরি
অহৈতুকী ভক্তি চরণে তোমার ॥

dhana jana ara, kavita-sundari,
baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari
janme janme dao, ohe gaurahari,
ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

'When will I say that I do not want any wealth, followers, poetic gift or any other bodily happiness? O Gaura Hari! Birth after birth, please give me unconditional devotion to Your holy feet!'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

নাহি মাগি দেহ-সুখ, বিদ্যা, ধন, জন ॥
নাহি মাগি স্বর্গ, আর মোক্ষ নাহি মাগি ।
না করি প্রার্থনা কোন বিভূতির লাগি’ ॥

nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya, dhana, jana
nahi magi svarga ara moksa nahi magi
na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi

'I do not pray for bodily pleasure, learning, wealth, or followers. I do not pray for heaven, I do not pray for liberation, and I do not pray for any supernatural powers.'

(Gitavali, Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We do not want heaven. We know that gods and goddesses live in heaven and enjoy a very happy, opulent life, but when their piety finishes, even they have to again come back to this material world. Even gods have to take birth again and again. So, even if you go to heaven and live like a god, you will have to come back from there. So, sadhus pray, 'I do not pray for bodily pleasure, learning, wealth, or followers. I do not pray for heaven, I do not pray for liberation, and I do not pray for any supernatural powers.' And what do we say when we pray? 'Dhanam dehi, vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi, kavitam sundarim dehi – make me rich, make me clever, make me beautiful, give me a good wife, make me a poet.' The opposite.

Mahaprabhu said,

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

'I do not want wealth, I do not want followers, I do not want beautiful women, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could serve You life after life.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.20.29)

'I do not want anything – I do not want to have anybody next to Me, I do not want any wealth!' Devotees do not pray even for liberation – in fact, they put their leg on top of Mukti (Liberation) and go in the direction of devotion. Liberation means cessation of existence. There are five kinds of liberation: sayujya (merging with Brahman), sarupya (having the same body as the Lord), salokya (residing at the same planet as the Lord), samipya (being an associate of the Lord), sarsti (having the same opulences as the Lord). We do not want any of such liberation. What is liberation like? If you throw some straw into the river in the evening, there will be some dew on it in the morning. Seeing the river around it, this drop of dew thinks, 'Oh! I am so small! I wish I could be like this great ocean of water!' Then, this drop of dew falls into the river and dissolves in it. Will it be able to find its existence after that? This is what is liberation like. We do not want this.

What do we want? We are cutting vegetables here, we are cooking here, we are making garlands here, we are serving the Lord here – we wish to get this kind of service there, in Goloka Vrindavan. And the next level is that even this conception should be rejected because this is also one kind of desire (to go to Goloka and serve there). We must think, 'I only want to serve. If the Lord takes this service, then I will go there, well and good; and if He does not take it and does not take me to His abode, it is well and good, too.' At the same time, if devotees and Vaishnavs say so, then some arrangement will be made for us. Vaishnavs come and tell us, 'We will arrange everything for you.' We must think about this.

We must understand these things, but the problem is that we, in this world, do not understand anything. We forgot the Lord and have been living in this world since time immemorial. When I see how people live in this world, I feel much pain. If you go to the Howrah station and offer somebody a book, they brush you off, 'I have no time! No time!' When Lord Indra was born as a pig, Lord Brahma came to him and said, 'What is this?! You were Indra, and now you are eating stool!' Lord Indra (in his pig's body) got angry, 'What are you talking about?' and he was going to bite Brahma. Lord Brahma was telling him as his guru, 'Indra, you were the king of heaven before, but because you were cursed by your guru Brihaspati, you had to be born as a pig! Listen to me!' Indra kept eating stool and kept brushing him off, 'I have no time for your talks!' The people in this world are just like that... They run so hard to catch a train to earn their money – to earn their thousands of rupees – but they have no time to read a book. I saw somebody ride a motocycle, and when another man offered him a leaflet or a newspaper for free, the man refused to take it, 'I have no time for this!' They are in such a hurry! How long are you going to live? You are doing so many things, but is there any guarantee that you will not die this very moment? We must think about these things. We are wasting our time. We have very little time. You are thinking about material things and material life, but what does that give you? You must live in Krishna's family. You must think about Krishna. We have no time in our hand. It is time for me to leave – I will not stay in this world for a long time! We must think about this. I forget who sent me to this world and only think about the happiness of my body, about knowledge, money, etc. Whom can I tell of my misery?

সংসার সংসার ক'রে মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala
labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

'Time has passed as I have been busy with my material life, and the result is nothing—only garbage.'

কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি' বৃথা দিন যায় ॥

kisera samsara ei chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya

'What sort of world is this? It is only a trick, a show. While I affectionately take it as my own, days pass by in vain.'

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 are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

'Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Continue your life trying your best to take shelter of the Name.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

I do not prohibit you to live your life – I do not prohibit you to work, to do farming, to run your business – do whatever you are doing, but engage everything in service to the Lord.

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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