(10/13) Embrace Eternal Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bandipur, 15 November 2019, evening, part 10
Translated from Bengali

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥
মালী হঞা করে সেই বীজ আরোপণ ।
শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

‘Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna. As gardeners, they must plant that seed and water it with practising: hearing and chanting.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151–152)

This is the right approach. But if you take the Holy Name from gurudev and after that do not try your best – you do not chant the Holy Name properly, you waste your time on talking all kinds of nonsense, you do not think about the right things, you do not serve every day – you will not get any result. You think that you can chant the Holy Name one day or one month and that is it, but it is not like that. Krishna consciousness should become your eternal life – this is your eternal search, your eternal practice. Devotees always search for eternal things. So, we pray to you all that you search for the eternal.

Do Tulasi parikrama, serve Tulasi. You must offer food to the Lord and take His prasad. Everything that is created in this world is created for the service of the Lord, for His pleasure. We can neither enjoy nor renounce anything. When you enjoy something, you feel that it is an offence, but if you think that nothing is yours in this world, so you renounce everything, this is also an offence. You must use everything in the service to the Lord. It is not like you will think that since everything belongs to the Lord, so you must not touch anything. Not like that. You must use everything to serve the Lord.

In Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Krishna says, 'If a devotee cannot give anything to Me and worships Me with a drop of the Ganges water and a leaf of Tulasi, I become sold to them – I can never repay My debt to them. To repay them, I give them Myself.'

Therefore, you should realise that everything belongs to the Lord, so everything should be offered to the Lord. If you do not offer food to the Lord and eat it yourself, this is stealing. It is a sin.

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

trnadhika hina dina akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi’ ahankara

‘You must always leave ego and consider yourself to be more lowly than a blade of grass, poor, destitute and wretched.’

(Sri Gitavali, Sri Siksastaka, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Be humbler than a blade of grass. Grass is so low that nobody except the Lord would even create it, but we must become even humbler than such grass.

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

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

‘Practise forgiveness like that of a tree; do not be vindictive, nurture others.’

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

Always forgive everybody and be patient. The greatest quality of a sadhu is patience.

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

‘One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and who gives honour to others without desiring it for themselves is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

Be humbler than grass and more tolerant than a tree, give honour to others – then you will always be able to chant the glories of the Lord. 'Sada' means always, at every moment.

ইহা হৈতে সর্ব্ব-সিদ্ধি হইবে সবার
সর্ব্বক্ষণ বল' ইথে বিধি নাহি আর

iha haite sarva-siddhi haibe sabara
sarva-ksana bala ithe vidhi nahi ara

'By doing this, you will attain success in all respects. There is no other rule but to chant it at every moment.'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.23.77-78)

কি শয়নে, কি ভোজনে, কিবা জাগরণে ।
অহর্নিশ চিন্ত কৃষ্ণ, বলহ বদনে ॥

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane
aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

‘Whether you are sleeping, eating or waking up, incessantly think about Krishna and chant the Name of Krishna with your mouth.’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.28.28)

There are no rules or restrictions when it comes to chanting the Lord's Names or serving the Lord.

Always give importance to serving the Lord. Sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs always stress the importance of serving Vaishnavs and the Lord. And when you come to serve Vaishnavs, you must be careful that you do not commit any offence. There are many kinds of offences – offences to the holy places, to the Holy Name, to service – but the worst among all offences is offence to a Vaishnav. Always be careful not to commit vaishnav-aparadha. Guru Maharaj often said one thing: if you give honour to somebody, what loss is it for you? Always remember this. Every day when we do the temple parikrama, we sing praying to gurudev, 'Sakale samman karite sakati deha natha yatha-yatha (সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি দেহ' নাথ যথাযথ). Master! Give me the strength to give everyone appropriate honour.'

The most important thing is that you must be careful not to commit any offence against a Vaishnav. You all know from the scriptures what the result of such offences are. You know what happened to those who offended Mahaprabhu – they suffered so much as the result of those offences...

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Length: 76 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Appreciate Your Fortune
2) Fossil Hearts
3) God Is Great
4) Getting in Touch With God
5) God's Message
6) Higher Purpose in Life
7) Service Is Not Abstract
8) Choose the Right Path
9) Purity Comes From Practice
10) Embrace Eternal Life
11) Search for the Eternal
12) Service Comes from Heart
13) Educate Yourself