(1/8) Arise from Oblivion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Mejhiari, evening, 20 April 2019, part 1
Translated from Bengali

You are all seated here. Please chant some Krishna-kirtan, speak about the Lord. Please call the Lord. All your lives you have only been thinking about yourselves, about your material life and this material world: 'What will I eat?', 'What will I wear?' You spend a few days worrying about all this, and then your lives are gone and you have to leave, and nobody can say for sure where you will go after that. How many times you had been born before getting this human birth! You have been born as humans having travelled throughout 8,400,000 species, but you are wasting this human birth. We forgot the Lord! We only think about our bodies, 'What will I eat?', 'What will I wear?', 'Where will I sleep?', 'Where will I stay?' We are always busy with all these worries...

The Deities of Gaura-Nitai will stay here – They will appear here to bestow Their mercy on you all. The problem is that you forget this. Because we forget the Lord, we are suffering from the agony of the threefold miseries of this world. We turned away from the Lord and have lived in this aversion since time immemorial. But unless you serve the holy Deity of the Lord with faith, you will be committing offences.

The Lord's light, air, water – you are enjoying everything, but you forget Him. You do not think about Him at all. You do not give your minds to His service, you do not chant His Names...

In Satya-yuga, people used to live 100,000 years and practised meditation. In Treta-yuga, people lived 10,000 years and practised fire sacrifices. In Dvapar-yuga, people lived for 1,000 years and practised Deity worship. But now, in this Age of Kali, people's lifespan is very short, only 120 years (now nobody even lives that long). The duration of Kali-yuga is 432,000 years, and only about 5500 years have passed so far. The problem is that we are born in this Age of Kali forgetting the Lord.

You can see that Nabadwip is very close to this place where you all live. The Lord appeared here in Nabadwip, in West Bengal in the land of India, but how many of you know about Mahaprabhu? You can see people coming from all over India and many remote foreign countries to serve Mahaprabhu – they chant Mahaprabhu's Names, they chant Mahaprabhu's kirtan. But you live right here and you forget about all this.

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?'

We talk so much! Because you forget all this, you will have to be born again – instead of getting another human birth, you will have to be born in some lower species. You can be born as a cow, goat, sheep, cat, dog, snake, frog, etc. Even though we have got a human birth in this Age of Kali, we could not live like humans. We live only thinking about food, clothes, the same as any cat, dog or any other animal. A poor man can sleep in a mud house, and a rich man can sleep in a big posh house with A/C, but it is the same.

আহার-নিদ্রা-ভয়-মৈথুনং চ
সামান্যম এতৎ পশুভির নরাণাম ।
ধর্ম্মো হি তেষাম অধিকো বিশেষো
ধর্ম্মেণ হীনাঃ পশুভিঃ সমানাঃ ॥

ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha
samanyam etat pasubhir naranam
dharmo hi tesam adhiko viseso
dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah

'Both animals and humans eat, sleep, fear and copulate. The difference between a human life and an animal life is that a man can search after God but an animal cannot. Therefore, a man devoid of spiritual quest is no better than an animal.'

(Hitopadesh, 25)

People do not think about this!

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)

You are talking, you are walking here and there – who are you doing all this for? Is there any guarantee that in a few moments you will not drop down dead and will not be carried away to the crematorium? Then why do you not serve the Lord? Why do you not worship Him? Mahaprabhu personally came and went door to door, urging everyone, 'This is not your home!'

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jago, jiva jago, gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

'Sri Gorachand says, "Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'O soul! Wake up! This is not your home! You have lost your address!' We all think that this here is our home, but how long will you be able to stay in this house? As long as you are destined to, not longer than that. It can be five years more, five days more, ten days more, ten years more or twenty years more. All this time that we are staying here, we keep thinking, 'I will eat more! I want more! I want more clothes! I want more things!' We live amidst all these desires. But how many people chant the Lord's Names? How many people know Mahaprabhu? And even knowing Mahaprabhu, how many people worship and serve Him? What did Mahaprabhu order us to do? He said:

যদি আমা'-প্রতি স্নেহ থাকে সবাকার ।
তবে কৃষ্ণ-ব্যতিরিক্ত না গাইবে আর ॥

yadi ama'-prati sneha thake sabakara
tabe krsna-vyatirikta na gaibe ara

'If you have any love and affection for Me, then only say 'Krishna' – do not say anything except "Krishna".'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.28.27)

'If you have any love and affection for Me, then only say 'Krishna' – do not say anything except "Krishna".' Do not say anything, do not speak about anything except Krishna.

That is why I keep telling you again and again: please practise Krishna consciousness, please worship and serve the Lord, chant Lord Krishna's Holy Names. As you chant, chant and chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna, one day all dirt will be removed from your hearts and the Lord will take His seat in your hearts.

— : • : —

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Length: 62 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Arise from Oblivion
2) Embrace Conscious Living
3) Our Misery-Fraught Slumber
4) Unhealthy Condition
5) Sincere Worship
6) Troubled Souls
7) Turn Yourself into Servant
8) Whom Will You Tell?