(12) Service Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Singur,
7 May 2019, noon, part 12
Translated from Bengali

There are four ages – Satya, Treta, Dvapar and Kali; and each of these ages has its own prescribed way of worshipping God. In Satya-yuga, people practised meditation (they chanted, 'Narayana-para veda' and so on); in Treta-yuga, people practised fire sacrifices (they lived for ten thousand years and made asvamedha yajna, rajasuya yajna, even naramedha yajna – they sacrificed humans!); in Dvapar-yuga, people lived for one thousand years and practised Deity worship; and in Kali-yuga, the religion is Harinam-sankirtan (congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord).

In Kali-yuga people human lifespan is only 120 years, but in this short span of time the Lord comes personally and brings the highest gift of His own Holy Name to this world...

We have about ten minutes more – tell me, do you have any questions? You have ten minutes to live – any questions, anything you want to know during this time? [His Divine Grace chuckles] You have been listening all this time, and now you can ask questions. If you cannot understand something, if you have any doubts, if you want to know anything, ask me – I will pray to Gurudev and tell Gurudev about it, and he will give a reply.

Question: Could you explain what is aprakrta (transcendental) and prakrta (mundane)?

The bodies of the Lord and Vaishnavs are always transcendental (aprakrta). It means that they are not created from the flesh and blood of this material world. Remember this. If you look at their bodies and think that they are the same bodies as everybody else's, you will be committing an offence. If we consider our guru to be an ordinary mortal man (if we think that his body is made of flesh and blood), then we will be committing an offence to the Holy Name. Wherever gurudev is, he knows everything – even if he is in Kolkata or Nabadwip, he knows what I am doing here. For example, Mahaprabhu appeared from His mother's womb, so if you think that His body is made of flesh and blood like everybody else's, it is an offence. Gurudev and Vaishnavs are also like that. 'Aprakrta-dehe Krsna bhajaya (অপ্রাকৃত-দেহে কৃষ্ণ ভজয়). One can serve Lord Krishna only with a transcendental body' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.193).

Ordinarily, a body is composed of five material elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether), but when one serves the Lord with their body, their body becomes transcendental. It is impossible to serve Lord Krishna with a material body. You cannot serve the Lord with anything but a transcendental body. This is not a body with ordinary eyes, composed of water, air, soil, and so on.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }