(10/16) Bad Days Turn Into Bad Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 23 April 2019, noon, part 10
Translated from Bengali

A bad day is not a cloudy day. A bad day is when we cannot hear about the Lord, when we cannot serve the Lord. Whenever we are doing something that is not service to the Lord, it means that we are busy with service to Maya, illusory environment. Devotees consider such a day to be a bad day. May such days not come to our lives. For that, we must engage ourselves in service every single day.

'Ye dina grha bhajana dekhi grhete goloka bhaya (যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায়). On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there.' When there is spiritual, devotional life practised at any home, Goloka Vrindavan can be seen at this home. Devotees cook food for the Lord, offer food to the Lord, think about the Lord, pray to the Lord every day. How many of such days do we have in our lives? Each and every one of us must live like that. We must live in Krishna's family every single day. 'Kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachara (করিয়া কৃষ্ণের সংসার ছাড়ি' অনাচার). You must make your family Krishna's family and give up all bad habits.' We must leave all bad habits.

[Clamour] Why are you talking so much? I told you before:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

'Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236)

All this talking is prajalpa – idle, nonsense talks. It is one of the thorns on the path of devotion. What are other thorns? Atyahara – eating too much. Prayascha – accumulating too many things: 'I want more! I want more!'. If you have only five rupees, you can actually live more peacefully because if you have a hundred rupees, you will want to buy more things and then you will want to have more money. We must take only what is necessary to keep our body and soul together, not more than that. Prajalpa – village talks. People sit at tea shops and talk about all kinds of nonsense. You work or do housework the whole day, and in the evening you can sit and chant the Lord's Name – you can take kartals and sit in front of the Lord and chant some kirtan. This will bring you some benefit. What is the need to go to a tea shop and talk about politics and your town? There is no need to do that. It is a waste of time. If you live like this, you are just wasting your days.

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)

You work from morning to night – you leave early in the morning and when you get back in the evening, you go to a tea shop and gossip there with other people, and you end up going to bed at midnight or later. Instead, you can go to bed early and wake up early. If you go to bed at nine or ten o'clock, you can wake up at three–four o'clock for the mangal-arati. Do not waste your time. This life is not going to last forever.

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

'Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

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Length: 85 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Be Resolute
2) Pillars of Service Mood
3) Tongue's Attachment
4) Tread with Caution
5) Search for Reality
6) The Obstacle Is You
7) Bogus Love, Bogus Claims
8) Core of Devotional Life
9) Love Me, Love My Dog
10) Bad Days Turn Into Bad Life
11) Tottering Life
12) Control Your Mind
13) Devotees' Benevolent Kindness
14) Gift of Vision
15) Seal Your Heart from Maya
16) My Question to You