(4/13) Getting in Touch With God

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bandipur, 15 November 2019, evening, part 4
Translated from Bengali

Because we have forgotten the Lord, we are suffering in the burning agony of three-fold miseries. The only way we can free ourselves from this suffering is to take shelter at the holy lotus feet of the Lord. But where are you to go if you want to come to the Lord? Who should you turn to if you want to come to the Lord? This is something you must understand. You should know who you must go to and through whom you can come to the Lord. I keep telling you again and again the same thing: you will not get a letter from the Lord. Do you even know the phone number of the Lord? Nobody does. We must take His number from those who know His phone number, and use that number to call the Lord. What was that lady saying?

Devotee: She was saying that 94340... [His Divine Grace's phone number] is the number.

The 94340 number and the Holy Name are not the same! Just as Har and Hare are not the same. 'The Name of Krishna cannot be chanted in bad association: it may certainly sound like the letters of the Name, but it can never be the Name proper.'

অসাধুসঙ্গে ভাই কৃষ্ণনাম নাহি হয় ।
নামাক্ষর বাহিরায় বটে তবু নাম কভু নয় ॥

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya
namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

‘Brother, the Name of Krishna cannot be chanted in bad association: it may certainly sound like the letters of the Name, but it can never be the Name proper.’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, Srila Jagadananda Pandit)

You can say something that sounds like the Holy Name, but it is not going to be the Holy Name proper. The Holy Name of Krishna (the Hare Krishna maha-mantra) is a transcendental sound vibration. The Lord's Names, beauty, qualities, pastimes, associates and features are absolutely non-different from the Lord Himself, and nobody except the Lord Himself or His associates can ever distribute that to others. We must always remember this.

Hearing this, you must ask yourselves a question. If you cannot get any letter from the Lord Himself, it means that to get a letter from the Lord we must come to some medium through whom we can get in touch with the Lord. This medium is the Lord's close, dear associate. The Lord sends His associate to this world so that he would tell everyone about Him. This is who the guru is. What does the guru do? He comes to tell us about the Lord – he comes to tell us the news about the Lord. If we want to communicate something to the Lord, we should tell about it to our gurudev, and if we have any sincere, strong desire, then gurudev will tell the Lord about it.

It is said in the scriptures:

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 the Lord Himself (saksat Hari); on the other hand, the guru is a dearmost associate of the Lord (priya-jana). The Lord Himself says, 'Acharyam mam vijaniyan (আচার্য্যং মাং বিজানীয়ান্). Know that the acharya is non-different from Me.' Therefore, we must come to take shelter at the holy feet of a bona fide guru. If we take shelter at the holy lotus feet of a bona fide guru, then we will reach the holy lotus feet of the Lord. In other words, if we can live following our guru's instructions and orders, if we can practise spiritual life in chaste submission to our guru, then we can reach the Lord. Otherwise, if we do not come back to God, we will have to keep coming to this world again and again and suffer from birth, death, old age and disease.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 36 Mb
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