(1/9) Whose Servant Are You?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Midnapore, 23 April 2019, evening, part 1
Translated from Bengali

...I am an eternal servant of Lord Krishna. I come from Lord Krishna, and I am a part of the Supreme Lord (the Lord is brhat-chaitanya, great consciousness; and I am anu-chaitanya, particle of consciousness). The Lord is a great being, and I am only a small particle of Him, nothing more than that. The problem is that we have lost and forgotten this relationship with the Lord. As the result of this forgetfulness, we live as servants and maidservants of Maya, the illusory environment.

What is Maya's position? If you put a piece of iron into fire, it will become red, and if you then touch that red-hot piece of iron to something, it will burn it. Iron gets this kind of power to burn from fire. Similarly, Maya Devi gets her power from the Lord. There is a verse in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that explains it:

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)

Getting her power from the Lord, Maya Devi does her job. She turns souls into her servants, and keeping them bound within material life in this material universe, she keeps them away from the Lord. Deceiving souls, she keeps them deprived of the Lord. Such is the play of Maya. Still, there is a way out. The Lord says in this verse that when somebody surrenders to Him, Maya Devi sees, 'This soul has surrendered to my Master, Supreme Lord Sri Krishna,' and she gradually leaves that soul alone. When the soul becomes free from Maya's clutches, it thinks, 'My duty is to serve the Lord.'

But you are unfortunate because even though you live here – even though you come to the holy lotus feet of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Vallabha jiu – you are engrossed in your material life, in your family life. I am not saying that you must leave your family and go to live in a jungle. You can live in your family, but you must practise Krishna consciousness – you must live serving and worshipping the Lord, your life must be for the Lord. Instead of gossiping or doing other things in the evening, practise Krishna consciousness. You work from early morning to evening, and you think that you have no time for that, but this is not so. People like to say, 'Oh, I have no time to chant the Holy Name.' My answer is 'You go to the bathroom twice a day, or at least once a day, and sit on the toilet for fifteen minutes doing nothing. Chant the Holy Name with your mouth at this time then. What is the problem? Who stops you?' Try to always think about the Lord, then when you die you will attain an auspicious place.

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Size: 39 Mb
Length: 81 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Whose Servant Are You?
2) Preaching Expansion
3) Our Preaching and Life
4) Genuine Worship
5) Give Your Heart
6) Use Your Time Wisely
7) God Exists for Those Who Have Devotion
8) Service Enthusiasm
9) Awkward Excuses