(1/10) Prodigal's Favourite, Miser's Pensioner

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Midnapore, 24 April 2019, evening, part 1
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

'The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

You have come today to hear about and to glorify the Lord. Sravan (hearing) means 'sreyo' and 'van': it is that which can bring you benefit.

সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণনামে—এই মাত্র চাই ।
সংসার জিনিতে আর কোন বস্তু নাই ॥

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai
samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

'I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of sadhus. There is no other way to conquer this material world.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

Always chant the Holy Name of the Lord loudly. If you chant the Holy Name in your mind, you get one kind of result; if you chant loudly, there is another kind of result; and if you chant and dance, there is yet another kind of result. If you call some family member (for example, your son, daughter or daughter-in-law) mentally, they will not answer to your call – you must call them by their name loudly. It is the same with the Lord – you must call the Lord loudly by His Name, 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.' 'Hare Krishna' means Radha-Krishna. We must always call out to Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.

There are many kinds of Names of the Lord – somewhere He is worshiped as Radha-Vallabha, somewhere as Radha-Gopinath, somewhere as Radha-Madan-mohan, somewhere Radha-Raman, somewhere Radha-Shyamasundar, somewhere Radha-Govinda, and so on. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed the service and worship of the Lord through His Holy Name, and after Him, Shyamananda Prabhu, Acharya Srinivas, Narottam Das Thakur and Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu preached in various parts of India. Here in Midnapore, the main preacher was Shyamananda Prabhu. As the result of their preaching, you now have this opportunity to come forward to the Lord and devotion.

After the disappearance of Shyamananda Prabhu, Acharya Srinivas and Narottam Das Thakur, there have appeared various misconception groups: aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera, darvesh, saki, sahajiya, sakhibheki, smarta, jata-gosani, atibari, chudadhari, gauranga-nagari. They had virtually destroyed Mahaprabhu's current because almost nobody followed Mahaprabhu's genuine teachings.

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

'Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.'

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।
গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

'You put on tilaks and show the whole world that you serve Gora, but secretly you do outrageous things. Gora will catch you, thief (hypocrite)!'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6–7)

Many people practise renunciation in this world – they show their false renunciation, or monkey renunciation. The renunciation we practise is called proper renunciation (yukta-vairagya). It means that we keep houses, cars, money, everything, but we realise that everything belongs to the Lord and everything must be used for the service to the Lord. In the kirtan 'Nitai-pada-kamala' it is written, 'Ahankare matta haina, nitai-pada pasariya asatyere satya kari mani (অহঙ্কারে মত্ত হৈঞা, নিতাইপদ পাসরিয়া অসত্যেরে সত্য করি মানি). Maddened with pride and forgetting Nitai’s feet, you take untruth for truth.' We take untruth for the truth. 'Untruth' means 'my house', 'my room', 'my son', 'my family' – we think that all these temporary things are true and eternal, and we never think about Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

'When will Nitaichand give His mercy to me? When will all my material desires become trifle?'

('Prarthana', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We never think about this. We never wonder, 'When will my material desires go away?' Instead, 100% people in this world are always busy with their own lives from morning to evening; they do not have time for God. They live only to eat and to wear clothes. You can think about it yourselves and understand that this is the truth.

One is born and has to die one day, and the whole day, the whole life everybody is busy with food and money. Even snakes, frogs, dogs, cats spend all their days in search of some food. Even though we have got a human birth, we live like that too – we live only worrying about money, food and clothes. I have told so many people: if you worry about food so much, then come and stay at the temple – you will not have to worry about your house, food, clothes or money; come and practise Krishna consciousness, chant the Holy Name and do some service at the temple, it will bring you benefit. But you are thinking about your wives, children and friends and you are wasting your time on them. You are only thinking about your material interests, but you never think about your real interest or about the Lord. How many days are you going to live like this? You have got this human birth, but how long are you going to be in this body? 'Kothay chhilam, hethay elam, kothay yabo bhavi nai (কোথায় ছিলাম, হেথায় এলাম, কোথায় যাব ভাবি নাই). Where was I? Where have I come? And where will I go after that? It never crosses my mind.'

We always think about our houses, about food and clothes – this is how we passed our childhood and the young days when we looked beautiful, but now we are getting old: our eyes cannot see well, our ears cannot hear well, our hair grows gray, our whole appearance gradually diminishes and many diseases come. All this time as we grow older and get old, we keep wasting our time. When old age comes, we will think, 'Vardhakye ekhana upaya-vihina ta'te dina akinchana (বার্দ্ধক্যে এখন উপায় বিহীন তা'তে দীন অকিঞ্চন). Now aged, devoid of any means of deliverance, I am poor and worthless. Vrddha-kala aola, saba sukha bhagala, pida-vase hainu katara (বৃদ্ধকাল আওল, সব সুখ ভাগল, পীড়াবশে হইনু কাতর). Now old age has come and all happiness has fled – distressed by diseases, I have become miserable' (Saranagati).' In your old age, your legs pain, your back pain, you cannot walk. When you had time, you wasted it, and now that you are old and decrepit, you live amidst so many problems. I am not saying that you must leave your families, but you should live in Krishna's family. Whatever you do, do it for the Lord. Whenever you cook, cook for the Lord. 'Prasada-seva karite haya sakala prapancha-jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়). By honouring the Lord's prasad I shall conquer all worldly illusions' (Saranagati).

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Length: 77 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Prodigal's Favourite, Miser's Pensioner
2) Material Diseases
3) Master's Property
4) 'I Am My Gurudev's'
5) Disciple Lives in Guru's Shelter
6) Day for Service, Life for Service
7) Foundation of Knowledge
8) Pitfalls and Benefits
9) Temple Life
10) Keep Well