(4/11) Material and Spiritual Desires

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, preaching programme
12 November 2019, evening, part 4
Translated from Bengali

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি’ অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

"Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean."

বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি’ অন্যে করবি পালন ॥

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

Practise tolerance like a tree. Stop ill-treating others, instead nurture them.

জীবন-নির্ব্বাহে আনে উদ্বেগ না দিবে ।
পর-উপকারে নিজ-সুখ পাসরিবে ॥

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

Do not trouble others for your own upkeep, and forget your own happiness in the course of helping others.

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

We must throw our own happiness away for the sake of others. We have come here to bring benefit for others, for you all. After this programme, I will have to go to Purulia. I checked the google maps and saw that it is two hundred kilometers away from here. We should arrive there by two o'clock at night (the programme is at ten o'clock in the morning tomorrow). I was also on the go yesterday the whole day. I started out in the morning and came back only at six in the evening – this is when I took noon prasad. A few days ago I returned from a tour of Vrindavan, Jaipur and Kuruksetra. Today I started out at seven and went to Bardhaman, there was a programme and many people took initiations. After the initiations finished, I came here, reaching by five or five-thirty. On the way, I stopped at our Tarakeshwar temple for ten minutes. I had brought some prasad from Vrindavan, so I gave it to the devotees staying at the temple and then came here.

Why do sadhus go door to door?

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

'The innate nature of great souls is to deliver vile, fallen souls: great souls never come to their homes for any personal purpose.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.39)

Why did Mahaprabhu do it? What did He tell everybody, going door to door?

জীব জাগ জীব জাগ গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jaga jiva jaga gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

‘“Wake up, soul! Wake up, soul!” says Gorachad (Golden Moon). “How long are you going to sleep in the lap of this witch Maya?”’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'O jiva soul! Stop sleeping! Wake up! This is not your address!' Do you know your address? Can anybody say it? Sometimes I think also about something. When we have some festivals, we send devotees invitation letters. Sometimes it happens so that the father (the devotee we write to) dies, but we do not know about it, so we send the letter of invitation to his house as before. If the person is dead, the family usually returns our letters without opening them, writing on the envelope, 'He is already dead. He does not live here anymore.' So, when the father who actually built the house dies, his family says, 'This is not his address anymore' and returns the letters... These are the games of this world, and we always live playing these games. What a waste of time...

What is the meaning of human life? The very purpose of this life is to come to a genuine guru and practise spiritual life – if you can do that, then your life purpose will be fulfilled.

Who can give you the right to serve the Lord? You call this festival 'rasa-utsav'. This is an extremely high conception. In those pastimes of the Lord with gopis, there is no shyness, shame, fear, there is no fear of breaking your pride or honour, there is no reservation whatsoever. As soon as Krishna plays His flute on the day of Rasa Purnima, all Vraja gopis go mad for Krishna and run to Him, leaving behind their sons, daughters and husbands. But there is not a trace of lust in those pastimes!

In this world, what we mostly see is lust – we do not see any love here. If there was love, how could a boy fall in love with a girl, marry her and then kill her? Is this what you call love? People get married because of greed or lust. Sometimes, people declare their love to somebody, the person rejects them, and they kill the object of their so-called love. Is this what you call love? This is not love. This is lust. Everything in this world revolves around satisfying everybody's lust. But in Sri Krishna's rasa dance, there is niskama-prema (love devoid of any desire). Devotees' love is selfless.

What mantra should you use to worship the Lord? You must worship the Lord with your heart and soul, with devotion. What we need to have is devotion. It is not necessary to know any mantras or anything – if you have devotion, you can reach the Lord. So, it is devotion that we must earn and develop. We must practise devotion. How will devotion come? 'Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (ভক্তিস্তু ভগবদ্ভক্তসঙ্গেন পরিজায়তে). Devotion comes through the association of devotees' (Brihan-naradiya Purana). If you associate with devotees, then devotion will come to you. What does associating with devotees mean? Hanging out with a devotee? Eating from the same plate? Sleeping on the same bed? Association with devotees means listening to devotees and doing what they tell you to do. What is right, what is wrong, what should be done, how it should be done – you can understand everything through association. It is necessary to serve with heart.

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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