(8) Sadhu Nature

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami, Tarakeswar
23 August 2019, evening, part 8
Translated from Bengali

The mind is very naughty. We always think that we have become Vaishnavs, but Srila Prabhupad said, 'Naughty mind! What kind of Vaishnav do you think you are?' Your mind is bad, so how can you be a Vaishnav?! The mind always wants something – it always roams here and there. When the mind is taking you elsewhere, you must recite the kama-gayatri to reduce the power of lust over you and to steady your mind. Lust (desire) gives rise to anger.

Whenever you watch TV or read the newspaper, you can see the situation in this world. Every single day people fight and kill each other because of three things: money (kanak), women/men (kamini) and position (pratistha – people always search whom to get rid of to become great). These three are always the driving force behind all crimes. Everything that is happening in this world is driven by this – even in politics, when one party comes to power, another party comes and removes them to gain power, and when they come to power, then a third party comes and tries to remove them or put them in jail.

Money, wealth, property, cars, houses – the whole world is filled with greed for all these things. People see somebody doing good business or a new bicycle, a new car parked outside somebody's house and they start talking, 'Oh, they must have a lot of money!' And when somebody gets sick and dies, people call the doctor and start beating him – they do not understand that when death comes it comes, it must happen. This is Kali-yuga – there are thousands of bad things happening in this age, everybody is fighting, everybody is worrying what others are doing, everybody is stealing and killing. Amidst all this, how many people observe this Janmastami festival out of love for the Lord? How many people serve the Lord out of love for Him? It is said that among millions of karmis (fruitive workers), there may be only one wise person...

There are millions and millions of living entities living in this world – among all of them, the number of human species is very small. You can see how many flies, trees, plants, animals there are everywhere. Compared to all those species, the number of human beings is very small. Among people, some say that they follow the Vedas (Rg, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva), but the Vedas say that it is prohibited to kill jiva souls and we all kill other entities for our own enjoyment and pleasure. You can see people do this even when they live at the temple. I run many temples and I know what is happening. Devotees cook at the temple and take prasad, but if they do not like what is cooked, they go and cook something else for themselves and eat that. They tell me, 'Gurudev, he is not listening to me – he goes and cooks separately for himself in the evening!' There are such people even at the temple. They get the Lord's prasad, but they do not like it, so they go to the kitchen and cook with nice oil and spices the things that they like (fried eggplant, etc.). This is all greed...

Eating, sleeping, fearing and breeding – the more you do these things, the more they will increase in your lives. But if you try to reduce these things, they will go down. Sleep less. You can see that sadhus wake up at three o'clock or at half past three in the morning. For example, I am used to going to bed at twelve or later (I never go to bed earlier than that) and I still keep waking up every two hours after that... It is a rule for all sadhus that they must wake up for mangal-arati. Mangal-arati means it brings spiritual benefit (mangal). You cannot spend the whole night in your mobile phones and then not wake up for mangal-arati. I know everything, I get news from everywhere, so I know who wakes up for mangal-arati and who does not. You think, 'Gurudev is not here, so he would not know,' but I know everything! I get all the news. Even just by looking at the person, I can say who wakes up for mangal-arati and who does not, who chants the mangal-arati kirtans or who does not.

I told you all before – I came to the temple at a mature age, not when I was a young man, but within two months I learned the whole kirtan book. But now people stay at the temple for six months, for one year, two years, and they still cannot chant even one kirtan, they cannot recite Jaya Dhvani or Vandana. It is very sad. You must become a sadhu, not just dress as one! You apply big fat tilaks, put beads on your necks and think that you have become great sadhus. Do you even understand the meaning of the word 'sadhu'? It means being 'sad' (pure, genuine, living in the mode of goodness). This is what you must first think about.

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