(3/11) Shameless Servants

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, preaching programme
12 November 2019, evening, part 3
Translated from Bengali

সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণনামে—এই মাত্র চাই ।
সংসার জিনিতে আর কোন বস্তু নাই ॥

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai
samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

‘I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of sadhus. There is no other way to conquer this material world.’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

It is necessary to listen to what your guru says.

Do you know the mobile phone number of the Lord? Can you call Him? In this world, we have pride, we have moral principles, we worry about protecting and taking care of people, taking care of our wealth and property, we forge relationships with many people (our wives, sons, friends and many others). We live surrounded by friends and people who are dear to us. But they will all go away one day. When you close your eyes, you will lose everything – nobody will come to save you at that time.

While you are alive, you speak, walk and do everything, but all you care for is your friends, relatives, families, wives, sons, parents. They are all related to you only through this body, this is a skin relationship only! But what about your souls? All the relationships you have entered and forged in this world are merely bodily connections – all these bodies will be thrown into the Ganges, buried or burnt one day. It is the truth. But you are always busy thinking about your bodies and everything related to them – about your houses, food, clothes and sleep! We always take untruth for truth (asatyera satya kari mani; অসত্যেরে সত্য করি মানি). Whatever you see in this world is all falsehood, untruth, but this is all you care about. Search for the truth! Search for your own soul and for Him who is your real own! 'Se kabhu na haya para (সে কভু না হয় পর). He will never leave me' (Siksastakam Giti). He is your own, your dear and near one, and He will never leave you, but you have forgotten Him. Why? It is explained in Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te

‘My supramundane trimodal illusory potency (alluring those who are averse to Me) is extremely difficult to overcome. However, this insurmountable potency of Mine can be overcome by those who exclusively surrender to Me.’

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

Falling into Maya's bondage, we became her servants and maidservants, we became her slaves. We live dancing to her tune, tolerating all her beating. Despite all and any suffering we get from her, we cannot leave her service. Srila Madhavendra Puripad prayed:

কামাদীনাং কতি ন কতিধা পালিতা দুর্নিদেশা,
তেষাং জাতা ময়ি ন করুণা ন ত্রপা নোপশান্তিঃ ।
উৎসৃজ্যৈতানথ যদুপতে ! সাম্প্রতং লব্ধবুদ্ধি-
সত্বামায়াতঃ শরণমভয়ং মাং নিযুঙ্ক্ষ্বাত্মদাস্যে ॥

kamadinam kati na katidha palita durnidesa,
tesam jata mayi na karuna na trapa nopasantih
utsrjyaitan atha yadu-pate! sampratam labdha-buddhis
tvam ayatah saranam-abhayam mam niyunksvatma-dasye

'O Lord! How many kinds of wicked orders from lust and others I followed! They had no mercy on me, nor were they ever satisfied! O Krishna! Suddenly, I managed to leave their side and got some good intelligence – I have surrendered at Your fearless lotus feet, please engage me now as Your servant.'

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 3.2.25)

Has she ever shown any mercy to us? Or have you even felt any shame? You have been serving her shamelessly! The only time when we feel shame is when we are asked to serve the Lord. We are ashamed to put on tilaks, to wear neckbeads or grow a sikha on our heads. We are ashamed to show devotion or allegiance to the Lord, but we feel no shame whatsoever to live as menial servants of Maya. This whole world is full of Maya's servants. Are we ashamed of that? No, we are not. That is why we are so unfortunate!

We live our lives serving Maya, serving all the temporary people and things, and we forget that we can actually serve the Lord – Lord Krishna, Lord Govinda – even while living in Maya's domain. We left Him who we must never have forgotten, who we should all serve, who is our Supreme Father – instead, we run behind fake fathers and mothers of this world...

Our parents gave us our bodies, but they did not create us. The bodies they gave us will perish one day. If they were the ones who created us, they would be able to save us. Can they? Nobody in this world can...

Remember this and think about this!

You will not get a letter directly from the Lord, you cannot make a phone call to the Lord directly, but if you come to gurudev, who is the dearest associate of the Lord, you can learn everything about the Lord. Gurudev is a close associate of the Lord, he knows the Lord very well:

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

‘I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all scriptures to be, no doubt, the Supreme Lord Himself and considered to be such by pious souls but who is also, no doubt, the Lord’s dear associate.’

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

On the one hand, the guru is actually the Lord Himself; on the other hand, the guru is also the dearmost associate of the Lord. The Lord sends His close associate to this world in form of a guru.

Because you have forgotten Nitaichand, you have forgotten your Supreme Father. As the result, you are suffering from so many problems, difficulties and pain. Always running behind thousands and millions of rupees, you live your restless lives suffering from all sorts of mental disturbances. During the niyom-seva month we chant in one of the kirtans:

আশা-পাশ শত শত, ক্লশ দেয় অবিরত,
প্রবৃত্তি-ঊর্ম্মির তাহে খেলা ।

asa-pasa sata sata, klesa deya avirata,
pravrtti-urmira tahe khela

'I am constantly surrounded by pain and misery on all sides, with the waves of impulsive desires playing in it.'

(Sri Gitavali, Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The more you want, the more you suffer. 'I am constantly surrounded by pain and misery on all sides, with waves of impulsive desires playing in it.' How beautifully it is written!

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Size: 37 Mb
Length: 75 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Spend, Serve and Succeed
2) What Is What, Who Is Who
3) Shameless Servants
4) Material and Spiritual Desires
5) 'Kidnap Me'
6) Distraction Leads to Destruction
7) Lost and Found
8) Spiritual Sepsis
9) Eternal Parikrama Life
10) Settle in Mathura
11) Mahaprabhu's Advent