(3/12) Eternal Focus

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, 1 December 2019, evening, part 3
Translated from Bengali

We must chant the glories of the Lord, we must sing about the Lord, we must chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna. If one day you come and listen to Hari-katha and the other day you do not do it, it will not do. This must be your life every day. You must serve eternally, every single day without fail. You must chant the Holy Name every single day, eternally. Just as you eat every day, you must serve the Lord every day, too. Every day you must offer bhoga to the Lord and every day you must then take His prasad. Always live following your guru and sadhus. What is service to the guru and Vaishnavs? If you follow what they say, this is service.

I always tell everybody that you can find many kinds of gurus in this world, but there are very few disciples in this world. A disciple is a person who accepts their guru's instruction with humility and follows it without saying a word.

We must be like chatak birds. Just as a chatak bird is always waiting for a drop of rainwater, we should always wait, anxiously, 'When will any order come from my gurudev? When will gurudev order me anything? I want to follow his order.' We must always hanker and wait for that. This is the meaning of mercy. Whenever any order comes from above, this is the most valuable and dearest thing for us. Like chatak birds, we should wait for any order that our gurudev may shower upon us.

Just think about Mahaprabhu's mercy, about what Mahaprabhu has given us. To rescue the souls of Kali-yuga, the Supreme Lord personally comes incarnating as His own Holy Name. He went begging house to house, ‘Krsna bala, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai (কৃষ্ণ বল, সঙ্গে চল, এই মাত্র ভিক্ষা চাই). I am begging you for one thing only: come with us and chant the Holy Name of Krishna!’ What did He beg us for? 'Please come with Me, please chant the Holy Name of Krishna.'

Like chatak birds, we must always wait for any order to come from our gurudev, and until that happens, we must always think about our gurudev – we must keep our hearts, minds and souls at gurudev's holy feet.

We were born as humans this time, then why must we behave and live like animals? Why must we live only for the sake of eating, sleeping, defending and breeding? But what will happen after that? Think about it! This is what I have come to tell you about.

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার,
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ ভার

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

‘You must know the main truth that this life is not eternal and full of various dangers.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Our lives are not eternal, and any time danger can come in our lives. Sometimes happiness comes, sometimes unhappiness comes. When we feel unhappy, we remember the Lord, but when we are happy, we forget Him. You cannot be like this. 'Sukhe duhkhe bhulo naka, vadane harinama kara re (সুখে দুঃখে ভুলো নাক, বদনে হরিনাম কর রে). In happiness and in sadness, do not forget it: loudly chant the Lord’s Names.'

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার,
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ ভার

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

‘You must know the main truth that this life is not eternal and full of various dangers.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

There will always be dangers and problems: we are born as humans, so we are bound to get sick, to suffer from various ailments, we are bound to face suffering and tolerate many things. But it does not mean that you can forget or give up the Lord because of this.

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 33 Mb
Length: 69 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) A Life of Imperfection
2) Open Your Door to Mercy
3) Eternal Focus
4) Harinam: Devotees' Heartbeat
5) Humans' Advantage
6) Call Out to Gaura-Nitai
7) Repent and Revolt
8) Gift of Sankirtan
9) Seat Sankirtan In Your Hearts
10) Survive and Thrive
11) Service Life—Joyful Life
12) All Walk, No Talk