(6/6) Purity Within

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham parikrama, 3 July 2019, part 6
Translated from Bengali

First of all, it is necessary to have sadhu-sanga – pure, spiritual association of saints. After that, as you chant and chant the Holy Name, as you listen to Hari-katha in sadhu-sanga, all your unwanted elements and bad habits will go away. These unwanted elements are thorns on the path of devotion – atyahara (eating too much), prayascha (hoarding), prajalpa (talking nonsense), niyamagraha (superficial following of the rules), laulancha (greed), janasanga (bad association). We sing:

ছয় বেগ দমি’, ছয় দোষ শোধি’,
ছয় গুণ দেহ দাসে ।

chhaya vega dami’, chhaya dosa sodhi’,
chhaya guna deha dase

‘Please subjugate my six urges, rectify my six defects and bestow the six good qualities upon this servant.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The six urges are the urge of the mind (mana-vega), tongue (jihva-vega), belly (udara-vega), genitals (upastha-vega), speech (vakya-vega) and anger (krodha-vega). It is necessary to suppress these urges. For example, the urge of the speech means that you say something to somebody, and the person becomes upset because of your words – it is an offence to be like that. Even if you think, 'Oh, I will not speak to this person!' it is also an offence because the person will be hurt. Do not cause anybody pain. Vaishnavs never cause anxiety to others and never criticise anybody. If a guru criticises others, then there is even a mantra that you can recite to give up such a guru:

গুরোরপ্যবলিপ্তস্য কার্যাকার্যমজানতঃ ।
উৎপথপ্রতিপন্নস্য পরিত্যাগো বিধীয়তে ॥

guror apy avaliptasya karyakaryam ajanatah
utpatha-pratipannasya parityago vidhiyate

‘If somebody lives in enjoyment, is foolish (ignorant of what one’s duty is and what must not do) and lives following any other path except pure devotion, then even if this person is called a guru (in name only), it is the order of the scriptures that he must be given up.’

(Mahabharata, Udyoga-parva, 179.25)

If a guru goes everywhere criticising others, you should recite this mantra and give him up. This is what is written in the scriptures.

Practise Krishna consciousness properly.

Mahaprabhu came to everybody one by one and showed them how to clean and serve properly, and one time He also said, 'Those who have collected the most dust (who have worked the hardest) will be rewarded – they will have to make vaishnav-seva and feed everybody!' After that, everybody swept very hard, but when they collected all the dust in one place, they saw that all the dust they had collected in one heap was not even anywhere close to the heap that Mahaprabhu had collected! Mahaprabhu said, 'So, I will be feeding everybody! I am the most fortunate!' He arranged for many nice dishes and sweetmeats to be served to everybody. (This evening you will again get Lord Jagannath's prasad, too.)

So, today is Gundicha-marjan day. Mahaprabhu danced and loudly chanted kirtan here. All this is described very nicely in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. If you read it, you can find it described there how Mahaprabhu observed Gundicha-marjan. First, He would sweep, then He would wash with water, and after that He would take a cloth and wipe everything very nicely. He cleaned the temple from all sides. And all the devotees chanted kirtan.

You have come here to clean the temple, but if you leave the brooms here – if you just discard them anywhere – it pollutes the temple again! You must take them out with you. If you sweep your room and then keep the broom in the room, then the room will again get dirty. It is not right! You must clean the temple, not pollute it. You come here to clean the temple. Therefore, the main thing is that you must clean your hearts. You must practise Krishna consciousness with all your hearts. Until and unless you make your hearts pure, the Lord will never come to your hearts. Practise Krishna consciousness properly in the association of saints. If you can do it, it will bring you the highest benefit – you can come to the Lord.

You are very fortunate to have come to Sri Puri Dham. So many people come here on a bus tour, but our parikrama is not like that. On tours, people get off the bus, eat nice meals and walk around – what do they see? What do they understand? Can you understand anything just by seeing some big buildings?

অন্ধীভূত চক্ষু যার বিষয ধূলিতে ।
কেমনে সে পাইবে পরতত্ত্ব দেখিতে ॥

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite
kemane se paibe para-tattva dekhite

‘My eyes are blind with the dust of visaya, the material world – how can I see the transcendental world?’

Our eyes are blinded with the dust of material world – how can we then see anything of the transcendental world? If Maya Devi gives her mercy and removes this blindness from our eyes, then we will be able to see a transcendental abode with our pure eyes. We can have the darshan of Vrindavan right here, but how many people actually have the eyes to do that? We only see great buildings. You think, 'Vrindavan? Where? There is no Vrindavan here! I only see beautiful buildings and monkey stool everywhere!' Even when you go to Vrindavan, if your eyes are polluted, you will see only monkey stool there – you will not be able to have the darshan of Vrindavan.

Come with me to Vrindavan in the Kartik month. I will take you on a parikrama of Vrindavan and Govardhan. I will try to make it cheap for you. Get in touch with me beforehand if you want to go because I need to book the tickets after Ratha-yatra, four months ahead; otherwise it is not possible to take so many people (there will be no tickets if you decide to come the last minute).

I have heard today that they are going to send a special train, so our tickets got cancelled and we had to book them again. We have booked fifty-four tickets again today. Those of you leaving Puri, do not leave tomorrow – go the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow's train is not good, so take a train the day after tomorrow. I have made all the arrangements today...

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 5 Mb
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