(3/8) Our Misery-Fraught Slumber

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Mejhiari, evening, 20 April 2019, part 3
Translated from Bengali

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

'Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primaeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

Because we forget the Lord we are suffering this agony of threefold miseries. If you want to get relief from this misery, you have to surrender at the holy lotus feet of the Lord. In this Age of Kali, the Lord appeared right here in Nabadwip, West Bengal, India. So, in one sense, you are fortunate; but, on the other hand, you are also very unfortunate because even though Mahaprabhu came right here, you could not know Him, you could not recognise Him. Leaving Nabadwip, He took sannyas in Katwa and stayed in Puri after that. At first, He left Advaita Acharya's house in Shantipur and was going to go to Vrindavan, but then He changed His mind and went to stay in Puri. But you could not know Him, you could not recognise the Lord... Why?

ঈশ্বরের কৃপা-লেশ হয় ত' যাহারে ।
সেই ত' ঈশ্বর-তত্ত্ব জানিবারে পারে ॥

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare
sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

'The Lord can be known only by those who have got at least a drop of His mercy.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.6.83)

Without the Lord's mercy, without gurudev's mercy, without Vaishnavs' mercy, it is not possible to know Vaishnavs or the Lord.

By bathing in the Ganges, you can get rid of all your sins; but just by seeing a Vaishnav, we can become pure. The glory of a Vaishnav is so vast but how many of us can give honour to Vaishnavs? How many of us can treat Vaishnavs with proper honour? If we could do that, we would get supreme benefit. You have heard us chant the kirtan just now:

কৃষ্ণ সে তোমার কৃষ্ণ দিতে পার
তোমার শকতি আছে ।

krsna se tomara krsna dite para
tomara sakati achhe

'Krishna is yours, you can give Krishna – you have such power.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

What is the glory of a Vaishnav? Lord Siva is also a great Vaishnav (vaishnavanam yatha sambhu). On the order of Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma creates this world, Lord Vishnu maintains it, and Lord Siva manages its destruction. But we do not know anything about this Lord. Therefore, He comes in this age as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, a combined form of Radha-Krishna, and says, 'O jiva soul! Wake up! Please stop sleeping! You have lost your address! You are saying that this here is your home, but this is not your home. This is not your address!' Even dogs think, 'This is my village! This is my home!' Even cats will say, 'This here is my village!' Even frogs will assure you, 'This is my hole!' But how many days are you going to be in this world? This life is temporary and full of dangers:

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)

We are told to carry on with our lives, but how? We are alive in this world, and every single day we stay here alive at the expense of killing millions of living entities. When you eat rice, you have to cut (kill) the rice paddy plant – this rice paddy also has a soul, and you kill rice paddy to get rice. When you eat cabbage, cauliflower, potato, banana flowers, spinach and any other herb or vegetable, you have to kill some soul to do that. Even when you drink water, you kill so many living entities that enter your body with water. When you breathe in and out, you inhale and kill many living entities, too. We live in this world killing millions of living entities, and we must incur reaction for all our actions. Whenever you do something, there is always a reaction: every action has an equal and opposite reaction (all scientific books say this). What is the way out of such a sinful life? We are killing living entities every single day in this world. What is the solution? The solution is given by Srimad Bhagavatam and Srimad Bhagavad-gita.

We did not come to this world to eat anything. Lord Krishna is the only proprietor of all things – you are not the proprietor of anything. We cannot enjoy anything. Because we are overcome with ego, we say, 'I do the farming!', 'I am running a business!', 'I am working!', 'I am earning money!', 'I do the shopping!', 'I cook food!' Everybody has a different kind of ego, and everybody is proud of something in their own way. But are we the doers or are we only the instruments? Understand that first. We do not do anything in this world. We are only instruments – if it was not for the Lord's desire, we could not do anything, everything would be lost. But we forgot this Lord.

We keep forgetting the Lord again and again, but sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs come to us and try to make us regain consciousness – although we appear to be awake, we are fast asleep. We live in slumber. But sometimes a person can sleep so soundly that even if you come and call them, they will not wake up...

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 30 Mb
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?