(15/16) Seal Your Heart from Maya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 23 April 2019, noon, part 15
Translated from Bengali

[Somebody's phone rings] Your mobile phone is ringing – is it Maya Devi calling you? Are you going to answer her call? Where is your home? Where is your house? You do not understand where your real address is...

Whose house is it? Whose home is it here? You think, 'This is my room', 'This is my home,' and after you, your son will say, 'This is my house,' and after him, his son will say, 'This is my house.' So, how can you say that anything belongs to you? You are only a temporary guard. You are staying in a rented place for as long as the lease is valid – once your lease expires, you will be taken to the cremation ground.

শ্মশানে শরীর মম পড়িয়া রহিবে ।
বিহঙ্গ পতঙ্গ তায় বিহার করিবে ॥

smasane sarira mama padiya rahibe
bihanga-patanga taya vihara karibe

'My body will be left at a crematorium, and birds and insects will heartily enjoy it.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You know, one time somebody asked me, 'Maharaj, we are supposed to wear tilaks, but what about sindoor? Can it be worn?' I told them, 'Sindoor is worn on the parting of the hair, why do you need to wear it on your forehead?' They ask this because they do not like to wear tilaks, but your sindoor is short-lived – once your husband dies, it is wiped off by your dead husband's thumb or his feet. Is this not what is done? Do people still do this? [Devotees confirm it.] So, when your body is taken to the cremation ground, all these sindoor, etc. will be gone, but tilaks and neckbeads will always be there – everything else is short-lived. Everything will be gone – you will have to leave everything in this world. Money, wealth, houses, cars – everything will have to be left behind. We came to this world with nothing on us, and we will leave it taking nothing with us.

We came naked, and we will go naked. So what is there to be so proud of? What is there to be depressed or worried about? There is nothing for you all to worry about. You must do that which you have come to this world for. You must practise Krishna consciousness: serve and worship the Lord, chant the Holy Name of the Lord. This is what we have come to this world for, and this is what is the most important for us. How much have I been able to serve my guru? How much have I been able to preach for my guru? How much have I been able to serve the Lord? How much have I been able to please and make the Lord happy? This is what we must always watch out for and focus on. We must not live focusing on our own happiness and the happiness of our senses.

আত্মেন্দ্রিয়প্রীতি-বাঞ্ছা—তারে বলি 'কাম' ।
কষ্ণেন্দ্রিয়প্রীতি-ইচ্ছা ধরে 'প্রেম' নাম ॥

atmendriya-priti-vanchha—tare bali 'kama'
krsnendriya-priti-ichchha dhare 'prema' nama

'The desire to gratify one's own senses is kama (lust), but the desire to please the senses of Lord Krishna is prema (divine love).'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.4.165)

Our own happiness is lust, a vile material desire. We must not follow our minds. If gurudev asks you for something, you must offer what he has asked for, not what you think is better to give (you do not need to go out of your way to do other things). We must always think about this. 'Satisfying the whims of your mind is only a show of service, it is not service (nijera manera kheyala khusi-mato bhajana abhinaya, bhajana bale na; নিজের মনের খেয়াল খুশিমতো ভজন অভিনয়, ভজন বলে না).' You must keep your mind aside. Do not follow your mind. When our Guru Maharaj was a young boy of just seventeen years old, Srila Sridhar Maharaj taught this to him, 'Do not do what your mind tells you to do. Do what I tell you to do.'

In the early days, there was a rule at the temple that if there was any remainder of rice from the day before, this panta bhat (পান্তা ভাত; cooked rice, soaked and fermented in water) would be mixed with some subji or dal and served for breakfast. One morning, Srila Sridhar Maharaj was chanting the Holy Name on his veranda and watching the devotees take prasad. The storekeeper distributed some dal and rice from the day before to everybody, and it happened so that he scooped some dal with insects and gave it to Gurudev. (Perhaps, the dal was not covered well, so some insects got into it.) Gurudev hesitated at first, but then he took out the insects and ate the dal. Srila Sridhar Maharaj saw it and told him, 'Gaurendu, come and see me after you finish taking prasad.' So, Gurudev finished taking prasad and hurried to see Srila Sridhar Maharaj.

'You wanted to see me?'

'Yes, when you were taking prasad, you got some insects in your dal – why did you take it?'

'Well, you told me that I must not follow what my mind wants to do. My mind told me not to eat it, it did not want to eat it, but this prasad comes from you and you told me to follow what you say, so I ate it.'

Srila Sridhar Maharaj was pleased, and he understood, 'This boy will be raised well. He is listening to me.'

This is what is called 'Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya ara na kariha mane asa (গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য আর না করিহ মনে আশা). Make the teachings coming from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart and do not keep any desires.' We must keep the words of our Divine Master tight in our hearts – we must not keep anything else there. We must always remember this. Do you understand?

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Size: 41 Mb
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