(5/6) Clean Your Hearts

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham parikrama, 3 July 2019, part 5
Translated from Bengali

As each year, we conclude our Sri Puri Dham parikrama on the eve of Lord Jagannath's Sri Ratha-yatra festival. Today is the day of Sri Gundicha-marjan lila. This here is the temple of Gundicha, commonly referred to as 'masi bari' (aunt's house). Gundicha is King Indradyumna's wife. There is a temple of Lord Nrisingha – we will go there to offer our obeisances. You can also come to take some water on your heads from Indradyumna Sarovar, or you can bath in it – as you like. From there, we will go straight back to Sevak Bhavan at our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. If you are going to take a rickshaw, tell them, 'Gaurbat Sahi, Chaitanya Saraswat Math.'

So, here, in front of us is Indradyumna Sarovar. Mahaprabhu danced and chanted kirtan here. He also swept and cleaned it. First, Mahaprabhu swept the place, then He would wash it with water, and after that He would take His own cloth and wipe everything. One time, when Mahaprabhu climbed somewhere a little high to wash the temple, one very clever devotee took a pot of water, poured it onto Mahaprabhu's feet and, as the water started to fall from His feet, he drank it! Mahaprabhu did not allow anybody to touch His feet, so that devotee found another way to worship Mahaprabhu's feet. When Mahaprabhu realised what had happened, He became angry – although He was actually internally amused at the ingenuity of the devotee and pleased with him, to teach everybody, He scolded that devotee and told him to get out.

Can you hear what I am saying? Listen to the pastime of Gundicha-marjan carefully. If you hear about it, your hearts will become clean. If you chant about the glories of the Lord and His pastime of Gundicha-marjan, then all the dust (rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa — desire for enjoyment through eyes, tongue, nose, ears, and skin; kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya – lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy) will be purged from your hearts and then Bhakti Devi will descend into your hearts. Such is the glory of this Gundicha-marjan lila.

Mahaprabhu carefully collected all specks of dust. He said, 'I will teach you all how to clean! If somebody cannot get it right, come and help them – teach them.' He would teach one person and then say, 'You have learned it now, so go and teach others.' What does it mean? In other words, Mahaprabhu turned people into gurus, saying, 'You are chanting the Holy Name, you have learned how to practise properly, so now go and teach others. You cannot only eat yourself – you must share with others. Do not be selfish. You cannot just chant the Holy Name yourself – you must distribute it to others and let others chant, too.'

যারে দেখ, তারে কহ ‘কৃষ্ণ’ উপদেশ ।
আমার আজ্ঞায় গুরু হঞা তার’ এই দেশ ॥

yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa

'Tell whomever you see about the teachings of Lord Krishna. On My order, become a guru and rescue this land.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.7.128)

So, coming here, to the Gundicha temple, Mahaprabhu would teach somebody how to clean properly and then say, 'Now you have learnt it, go and teach others.' This is how Mahaprabhu taught everybody. He cleaned all dust – what is that 'dust'? It is the dust accumulated in our hearts. What is this dust? Kanaka (money), kamini (women), pratistha (name and fame). Rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa — desire for enjoyment through eyes, tongue, nose, ears, and skin. Kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya – lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy. All these are dust, dirt, filth! All this must be cleaned through Hari-kirtan.

We cannot do service well – we commit offence to service, we cannot do anything. We must dance and chant in kirtan. You can see that when people come here and sweep the temple, they take it as a play – do you think that you can take out all the dirt just by sweeping a little with a broom? It is a show, a pretence. When you clean, you must clean with all your heart. How should you clean?

You know, when I went to London, I saw how they cleaned the streets there. They use machines to clean the streets. They clean the streets in the same way that we clean our rooms, and each street sweeping machine has a supervisor! The supervisors check the streets to see if there is any sand or dust left, and if they spot anything, they tell the cleaners off. This is how they clean streets in London. I saw it when I was there.

This is how we must clean our hearts. Until and unless we remove all dust from our hearts, where will we seat the Lord? The Lord does not come to a dirty place. It is necessary to have a clean place for Him. We must leave all duplicity and practise Krishna consciousness with a clean heart.

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Length: 11 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Srila Prabhupad's Birthplace
2) Srila Prabhupad's Effulgence
3) King Prataparudra's Mercy
4) Getting to Know Ramananda Ray
5) Clean Your Hearts
6) Purity Within