(3) Prepare Your Heart

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami, Tarakeswar
23 August 2019, midnight, part 3
Translated from Bengali

We want money, we want to have things for our bodies, we want to have friends, wives, children – we want facilities for enjoyment, we want sense gratification. We can even covet piety (punya), the highest attainment we can get in this world, but we do not feel any attraction to the Lord of the World (Jagadiswar), to the Supreme Father of the World (Jagadpita), who is the dearest being to us. We have no love for Him. Realising this, we must come to understand that our lives are passing in vain. For as long as the jiva soul remains deprived of the heartbeat of Krishna's supreme appearance, it will remain cheated or futilely unsuccessful.

We chant in one of the kirtans:

দুর্ল্লভ মানব জন্ম লভিয়া সংসারে ।
কৃষ্ণ না ভজিনু দুঃখ কহিব কাহারে ॥

durlabha manava janma labhiya samsare
krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare?

‘I have got a rare human life in this world, but I have not worshipped Lord Krishna. Who shall I tell about my misery now?’

সংসার সংসার করি মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥

samsara samsara kari michhe gela kala
labha na haila kichhu ghatila janjala

‘I have wasted all my time on material life and family and have got nothing but garbage as the result.’

কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি বৃথা দিন যায় ॥

kisera samsara ei, chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya

‘What kind of life is this? It is only a trick, a show. I have wasted time taking this world and the people around me in it as my own.’

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)

Before the Lord appears in one's heart, there must appear Bhakti Devi in it. Lord Krishna's appearance is the only necessity of every living entity – this has already been explained, but how does that appearance happen? Supreme Lord Sri Krishna does not appear randomly on His own. Before Lord Krishna appears in the heart of the soul, Bhakti Devi must appear there first.

If there is darkness and dirt (the dominance of tamo-guna activity) in the soul's heart, if there is all-encompassing despondency, when the soul cannot see any light anywhere around it – there is only difficulty, obstacles, danger – then the soul will start searching for the beauty, sweetness and magnanimity of the Lord and it will come to realise that it is lacking the Lord's truthfulness (satyam), eternity (sivam) and beauty (sundaram). Just as a full moon comes after the new moon, just as happiness comes after unhappiness, just as peace comes after a strife – in the same way, when one is going through much difficulty in life, they can see that this difficulty heralds light. After darkness comes light. It is necessary for every soul to have the sun-like effulgence of the Lord advent within them.

When the soul suffers from various miseries and pain and begins to search for Lord Krishna, they can be given entrance into the kingdom of light where there is only peace, love and happiness. If Lord Krishna is to appear, before His holy appearance there must first appear Bhakti Devi. Until and unless love and devotion arise in one's heart, He will not come and He cannot come also. You can see the Lord only through the eyes of love.

It is said in Sri Brahma-samhita (5.38):

premanjana-chchhurita-bhakti-vilochanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram achintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi purusam tam aham bhajami

'The sadhus, their eyes tinted with the unguent of love, see within their hearts that Shyamasundar Krishna of inconceivable qualities; that Primeval Lord, Govinda, do I adore.'

Sadhus behold the Lord with the devotional eyes smeared with the salve of divine love. If devotion has come, then it becomes possible for the Lord to reveal Himself, or for Lord Krishna to advent. If one has no devotion, no love in the heart, then the Lord has not appeared in such a heart. The Lord can appear only in the heart where devotion has manifested itself. He appears in the heart being attracted by the soul's devotion. One can bind the Lord with devotion. We chant in the 'Damodara Astakam' prayers:

রুদন্তং মুহুর্নেত্রযুগ্মং মৃজন্তং
করাম্ভোজযুগ্মেন সাতঙ্কনেত্রম্ ।
মুহুঃশ্বাসকম্প-ত্রিরেখাঙ্ককণ্ঠ
স্থিত-গ্রৈব-দামোদরং ভক্তিবদ্ধম্ ॥

rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam
karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram
muhuh svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha
sthita-graiva-damodaram bhakti-baddham

‘I am offering my obeisance to Lord Damodar (who was tied around His belly with a rope of devotion), who is crying bitterly and wiping His fearful eyes with His lotus hands. He is sobbing again and again, which makes the necklace on His chubby neck (adorned with three sweet lines) shake.’

(Sri Sri Damodara Astakam, 2)

How is possible to bind the Lord? How did Mother Yasoda manage to tie Him? Not with an ordinary rope but with rope of devotion. So, with the rope of devotion one can pull and bind the Lord within their heart.

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