(4/16) Tread with Caution

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 23 April 2019, noon, part 4
Translated from Bengali

There are gurus in this world who go place to place holding day-long kirtans, three-day-long kirtans, dressing up and dancing like mad, but Srila Prabhupad said that you cannot worship a Deity for a ten-rupee fee inasmuch as you cannot read Bhagavatam for a fifty-rupee remuneration. You cannot hire somebody to read Bhagavatam. Even if you hear such lectures or sing such kirtans your whole life, you will not get any benefit.

কোটি জন্ম যদি করে শ্রবণ কীর্ত্তন ।
তবু না পায় ব্রজেন্দ্রনন্দন ॥

koti janma yadi kare sravana kirtana
tabu na paya vrajendranandan

'Even if you practise hearing and chanting for millions of lives, you will not get Krishna, the Son of King of Vraja.'

হেন কৃষ্ণনাম যদি লয় বহুবার ।
তবু যদি প্রেম নহে, নহে অশ্রুধার ॥
তবে জানি, অপরাধ তাহাতে প্রচুর ।
কৃষ্ণনাম-বীজ তাহে না করে অঙ্কুর ॥

hena krnsa-nama yadi laya bahu-bara
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe asrudhara
tabe jani, aparadha tahate prachura
krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura

'If you chant this Name of Krishna many times but still there is no love, no tears streaming from your eyes, then you can know that there are too many offences and the seed of Krishna’s Name does not sprout in you.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.29–30)

You must chant the Holy Name without offences. Offences must be given up. Otherwise, you can chant the Holy Name(?) your whole life and not get anything.

একবার কৃষ্ণনাম যত পাপ হারে ।
পাতকীর সাধ্য নাহি তত পাপ করে ॥

eka-bara krishna-name yata papa hare
patakira sadhya nahi tata papa kare

'A sinner cannot commit more sin than once chanting Krishna's Name can remove.'

অসাধুসঙ্গে ভাই কৃষ্ণনাম নাহি হয় ।
নামাক্ষর বাহিরায় বটে তবু নাম কভু নয় ॥

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya
namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

'Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

It is impossible to chant the Holy Name in bad association. You can pronounce, 'Hare Krishna,' but it will be only letters because 'Hare Krishna' and the Holy Name are not one and the same. Nama Prabhu is particular about whose mouth He chooses to come to: He does not come to the mouths of offenders. Such people can chant, 'Hare Krishna,' but it will be only external letters, not the Name proper. It can be namabhasa (shadow of the Holy Name) at most, but mostly what such people chant is nama-aparadh because if you can chant namabhasa, you can at least get liberation. Mahaprabhu asked Srila Haridas Thakur, 'How can mlechhas and yavans (the most unfortunate souls) become liberated?' Srila Haridas Thakur replied, 'By shadow chanting of the Holy Name.' Shadow chanting means sometimes somebody can mockingly or negligently say, 'Oh, Hare Krishna!' that can also be the Holy Name.

One time, when Guru Maharaj was in Russia, I was with him in the same car. On the way, we saw a naked-looking girl dancing with a bottle in her hand on some street. At that time, there were no A/C in the cars, so our windows were open. When that foreign girl saw Guru Maharaj, she suddenly cried, 'Hare Krishna!' Everybody, say with me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Maya Devi has entered here. She always walks around looking for holes in everyone. You know, when your body is weak, a disease can easily attack you; in the same way, those who are spiritually weak can also be easily attacked by Maya. She does her service – she always looks for a hole in us and as soon as she finds it, she pounces at us.

কৃষ্ণ-বহির্ম্মুখ হঞা ভোগ বাঞ্ছা করে ।
নিকটস্থ মায়া তারে জাপটিয়া ধরে ॥

krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga vanchha kare
nikatastha maya tare japatiya dhare

'When souls become averse to Krishna and desire enjoyment, Maya, who is always nearby, pounces on them.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

That is why Maya Devi enters people during the class, and you can see that people start dozing off. As soon as there is a chance, Ghum-parani (ঘুমপাড়ানী, fast asleep and snoring), Jhim-parani (ঝিমপাড়ানি, fast asleep and drooping) or Dol-dolani (দোল-দোলানি, fast asleep and rocking or jerking) comes. When people start sleeping or their minds start wandering, they cannot hear anything. We must be careful – Maya can attack us at any time.

How does Maya Devi work? Suppose you take a piece of iron and put it into fire, the iron will become red. After that, if you touch that iron, it will be very hot – if you touch that iron to some cloth, it will burn the cloth. Where does iron get this power to burn? From fire. Maya Devi is also like that. Getting her power from the Lord, she turns us all into her servants – she takes us away from the Lord's service and engages us in her own service.

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

'My supramundane trimodal illusory potency (alluring those who are averse to Me) is extremely difficult to overcome. However, this insurmountable potency of Mine can be overcome by those who exclusively surrender to Me.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

What does the Lord say here in Srimad Bhagavad-gita? 'I created Maya Devi, I am her master, so it is not so easy to defeat her. How can it be done? When you surrender to Me, she will see, "Oh, this jiva soul has surrendered to my Master, I must not obstruct this soul anymore," and she goes away.' Still, even then, she will always continue looking for an opportunity to get you back into her clutches.

You can see many people who took initiation but later give up everything and fall into illusory environment again. You must be careful – you must search for the right train to get on! When you come to Howrah, you must see which train actually goes to Vrindavan. Otherwise, you see some beautiful train (you see some pleasure for your eyes, nose, skin, ears, tongue) and you get on that train, but that train will take you to another place. That is why Lord Siva told Parvati Devi, 'O Devi! There are many vitta-harankari gurus in this world (those who steal your wealth, money, etc.), but there are very few santap-harankari gurus (spiritual teachers who will "rob" you of your material miseries).'

There are many gurus in this world who love money – they think, 'Oh, if I let this man go, he will go to some other place where he will be allowed to eat anything he wants and to do anything he wants. It will be my loss then. But if I keep this man happy, then he will give me money every month.' There are also such doctors. Suppose you have diabetes; they will tell you, 'It is all right, you can eat sweets in moderation!' Does it make sense to eat sweets and take medication? How can you control diabetes like this? A genuine doctor will love you, and he will want what is good for you. It is the same with gurus. There are gurus who will tell you that you can do whatever you want, but you must look for and take initiation from a bona fide guru.

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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