(9) Unspoil Yourself

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami, Tarakeswar
23 August 2019, evening, part 9
Translated from Bengali

Our minds are naughty – they are always swayed in different directions. Everybody is always fussing over food and sleep. You know, in our Math there was a rule before that you cannot dish yourself anything. It was a rule. One person would distribute prasad to everybody, and after that, one of the devotees who finished eating would come and serve prasad to that person. Nobody could come and serve prasad to themselves choosing what they liked more, what they wanted to eat, and so on. That was our training. Now brahmacharis have nice dhotis and shirts, but in our times if you asked for a simple bar of soap, you would be given a tiny bar just to wash your clothes. If you said that you needed toothpaste or a toothbrush, they would tell you, 'Nobody will give you toothpaste or a toothbrush at the temple! You can brush your teeth with some salt and mustard oil.' Such was our life at the temple in Nabadwip. We had to struggle a lot. But now they get everything at the temple, and if the cooking is not to their liking, they go to the kitchen and cook themselves. I know what is going on. I know who is doing what and who is not doing what – even nobody tells me about it, I can look at the person and understand it myself. Just by looking at the person, I can see how much they practise Krishna consciousness and serve the Lord. Beware!

Sadhus must always be careful in their lives.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

Always think about this. I am praying to you all – please continue your spiritual lives following all the rules and regulations, with all sincerity. Leave all other desires (anya-abhilasa) and become fixed in only one exclusive desire (ananya-abhilasa) – leave all other thoughts and think only about Krishna. Other desires and exclusive desire are not one and the same. Other desires means thinking about anything else but Krishna, and exclusive desire means thinking about nothing else but Krishna. In our lives, we mostly think about other things – we think about anything else but Krishna. Food, clothes, sleep, money, comfortable life – this is what we are always busy with.

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

‘My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleep. It never occurs to me that death is there, waiting right next to me.’

(Sri Kalyan-Kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We never think that death will come and get us. We can leave this very moment. We show off in every possible way, doing this, that, that, thinking ourselves to be 'the Man.' But everything happens by the will of the Lord...

The other day a rich man's son was driving his twenty-million-rupee Jaguar car and caused a fatal accident. We use that road every day when we drive in Kolkata. It was raining that day, so a couple from Bangladesh came into a police kiosk to take shelter. The man was a general manager at a bank, so they are from a well-off family. The Jaguar car was driving 120 km/h and crushed into another car, which sent it crushing into the police kiosk. The kiosk collapsed and killed both people sheltered inside. They were going to return to Bangladesh the next day, but instead their dead bodies were sent back home. Such is the situation in this world. This is happening every day. Nobody knows when we will have to leave this world. Everything happens by the will of the Lord. There is also a kirtan about it ('Tumi sarvesvaresvara vrajendra-kumara').

Let us chant a kirtan glorifying Lord Krishna now. It is ten o'clock, so let us chant some kirtan now, and after that we can talk about Lord Krishna's appearance.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Sri Krishna Vandana' (deva bhavantam vande).]

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