(5) Become Free

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, 30 April 2019, evening, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's kirtans are very beautiful. He writes:

বড় দুঃখ পাইয়াছি স্বতন্ত্র জীবনে ।
সব দুঃখ দূরে গেল, ও পদ বরণে ॥

bada duhkha paiyachhi svatantra jivane
saba duhkha dure gela, o pada varane

'I was very unhappy in my independent life, but all my unhappiness is gone now that I have embraced the Lord's feet.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'When I was independent, I was very unhappy and sad, but all my sadness was removed when I surrendered to You. All my sadness was gone when I embraced Your holy feet.'

বড় দুঃখ পাইয়াছি স্বতন্ত্র জীবনে ।
সব দুঃখ দূরে গেল, ও পদ বরণে ॥

bada duhkha paiyachhi svatantra jivane
saba duhkha dure gela, o pada varane

'I was very unhappy in my independent life, but all my unhappiness is gone now that I have embraced the Lord's feet.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'O Lord, I have come to Your feet, and all my sadness is now gone.' For as long as we keep all the burden on our own shoulders, problems will only increase. Surrender to the Lord: 'O Lord, everything happens by Your will, so I do not need to worry about anything.' Always remember this. 'I was very unhappy in my independent life, but all my unhappiness is gone now that I have embraced the Lord's feet.' We must always remember this and live as surrendered souls.

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
‘অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ’—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভাব-বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

‘(1) Humility, (2) self-submission, (3) accepting that the Lord is your maintainer, (4) keeping faith that “Krishna will certainly protect”, (5) engaging only in what is favourable to devotion, (6) rejecting what is unfavourable to devotion.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Humility means that we must always feel that we are poor and bereft.

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি’ অহঙ্কার ॥
বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি’ অন্যে করবি পালন ॥
জীবন-নির্ব্বাহে আনে উদ্বেগ না দিবে ।
পর-উপকারে নিজ সুখ পাসরিবে ॥

trnadhika hina dina akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi’ ahankara
vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji’ anye karabi palana
jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija sukha pasaribe

‘You must always leave ego and consider yourself to be more lowly than a blade of grass, poor, destitute and wretched. You must practise tolerance like that of a tree and nurture others giving up vengeance. You must live without causing anxiety to others and do good unto others forsaking your own happiness.’

(Sri Gitavali, Sri Siksastaka Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

To help others (para-upakare), sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs approach us on the order of the Lord and tell us about Him. As Srila Prabhupad said, you will not receive a letter from the Lord, but if you approach the Lord's associates and speak to them openly, sincerely, they will convey our words to the Lord. We must know whom to submit our letter of appeal. Gurudev knows the Lord, and we know our gurudev, so we must approach him. Who can give you the right to serve Lord Krishna? Whom does Krishna belong to? He belongs to Srimati Radharani, and Srimati Radharani is nondifferent from Sri Gurupadpadma. The Lord sends His own to this world (tava nija-jana), and this person, the prema-guru, is Srimati Radharani. The guru comes to teach everybody about transcendental love (prema). Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a prema-avatar: He comes to perform His magnanimous pastimes in this world in this combined form of Sri Radha-Krishna. So, gurudev is non-different from Srimati Radharani, so he can give you the right to serve Krishna.

Always remember these things.

[To one of the devotees] Are they cooking at the kitchen? If not, they must come and listen to the class. Everybody must come and listen. If you have service, you must go and do it, but everybody else must come and listen to the class.

It is ekadasi today – everybody will get prasad today. Do not leave. When you come to your father's house, what do you do? You gather and have a festive meal all together. Hearing this, you may feel hungry. If you do not stay, then we will offer the bhoga to the Lord, but we will not be able to serve devotees. Stay and do some service if you can. [To one of the devotees] Take these fruit and offer it in the evening – devotees have brought this fruit for service, so take it to the kitchen and offer it. Everybody will take ekadasi prasad today here.

You are probably worried, 'Oh, if I stay, who will feed my husband and children? I know what it is like to live in a family... I know that you come to listen to the class, but when it comes to seven o'clock in the evening you start worrying who will cook and feed your family. Such is the pain of material family life. You must get free from such a life – be detached! You must live without attachment, free from material entanglement. Always stay away from family life. The more you are entangled in material life, in family life, the more you will have to suffer again and again. The more you worry and think about your material life, the farther you will be kept from the Lord's service. Such is the play of Maya Devi.

— : • : —

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