(13/13) Sublime Madness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, 2 December 2019, noon, part 13
Translated from Bengali

It is very hard to get service, but it is very easy to lose it. That is why you must chant Hari-kirtan, practise spiritual life, do service. Do not be lazy, and do not waste your time. You have time, so do service. Many people who come to stay at the temple end up becoming lazy. When you do service, the result of service is more service; but if you make offence to service, you will be removed from your service. When the Lord does not accept somebody's service, it means that He does not like the person – the Lord then removes such people from the temple. He does not open His mouth and say anything, but He will awake such a mood in you that it will become impossible for you to stay at the temple. This is a very important point.

When you are doing something that He does not want – if He does not accept your service – then material desires will come to you. Your desire to enjoy material life will grow, you will have a good health, your name and fame will grow, wealth will grow, or such mood will come to your mind that you will not be able to serve any more or your health will go down – you will get such a disease that will forever remove you from your service. These things are the results of offences. On the other hand, when the Lord accepts your service, then your material desires will be weaker and weaker. When He accepts your service, you will feel humility, detachment from the material world; you will feel you are low and bereft, a beggar, a renunciate; floating in divine love, tears will always fall from your eyes, your heart will be melted – you will feel enthusiasm for your service.

Those who have got some experience of the conscious (transcendental) domain, can see all these things. However, if you commit offences when you do service, your heart will become hard – there will be unconsciousness, materialism within you. The Lord keeps away those whose mind, heart does not get excited, who does not become overwhelmed with enthusiasm doing their service. For example, if your foot touches some items used for the Lord’s service and you do not give it any importance (Oh, what to do?), you do not feel any fear – this is a symptom of callousness, hardness. When your heart becomes very hard, you will not be afraid of your Gurudev or the Lord. If you become daring, you are standing on the path leading to death; even if you are born in a family of brahmans, you will become an atheist (hard-hearted). Those who have no humility, fear and sense of reverence, have no right to worship Deities.

The Lord is antaryami: He is all-knowing, He is the Supersoul. He can understand everything, He can see everything—you cannot cheat Him. Those who have the eyes can see it when Sri Gaurasundar indicates something to them secretly. If He accepts your service, you will be getting more service – after one service another service will come. He will keep you submerged forever through such service, He will keep you by His side – He will hijack you.

If you show the propensity to offer yourself to the lotus feet of the Lord, then you have no other separate duty. When you have this strong feeling within you that you are surrendering yourself, then there will be no more thoughts or worries – you will not think about the future, about your wife, sons, brothers, relatives. There is no shopkeeper mentality in self-submission. So-called friends, wife, sons, brothers are all dacoits in disguise of relatives (svajanakhya-dasyu). They speak to you like your family, but they are actually dacoits who come to rob you of your wealth. They prevent you from following the path of self-submission. 'How will you live if you give everything to the Lord? You want to give everything to the Lord, but what will you eat yourself? Why should you give everything for Vishnu’s service? Will you keep anything for our enjoyment?'

chaitanya-chandrera batula ke rakhite pare?

'Who can stop a madman of Chaitanya-chandra?'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.41)

Nobody can stop those who want to offer themselves to the Lord – such people become crazy, i.e. they have no sense of duty any more. Having no sense of duty towards one’s wife, father, mother is called ‘craziness’.

amare visayi, ‘pagala’ baliya
angete dibeka dhuli

'Saying that I am mad, materialists will kick dust on my body.'

(Saranagati, Bhajana-lalasa, 13.4)

You will then have no knowledge of religion or non-religion any more – you will lose your own self. You will become drawn towards the Lord and feel attracted to Him – you will become mad! You will no longer consider whether the paraphernalia of this material world is good, bad, sinful, or pious. When the Lord’s call comes to you, you will no longer think about your children, you will no longer have any sense of duty. Because you no longer have all these feelings, people will call you mad. Madness is the work of self-submission. All consideration of sin and piety, what is good and what is bad, what is righteous and what is non-righteous, will be destroyed. Children, wife, relatives will stand in front of you – you will not care about them, you will not want to see whether they had anything to eat or not. They are disguised dacoits! When you feel within your heart the urge to submit yourself to the Lord, you will not pay attention to all such obstacles. You will not give it a second thought; you will become mad.

কবে নবদ্বীপে সুরধুণী-তটে
'গৌর-নিত্যানন্দ' বলি' নিষ্কপটে ।
নাচিয়া গাইয়া, বেড়াইব ছুটে,
বাতুলের প্রায় ছাড়িয়া বিচার ॥

kabe navadvipe, suradhuni-tate,
‘gaura-nityananda’ bali’ niskapate
nachiya gaiya, bedaiba chhute,
batulera praya chhadiya vichara

‘When will I wander along the banks of the Ganges in Nabadwip, sincerely calling out, “Gaura-Nityananda!”, dancing, singing and running about without any thinking, as though mad?’

কবে হবে বল, সে দিন আমার ।

kabe habe bala se dina amara

‘Tell me, when will that day be mine?’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'When will I become crazy? When will I got mad and run along the bank of the Ganges in Nabadwip, calling out, "O Nitai! O Gauranga!"' Such madness will come, and then there will be no consideration, no thoughts about sins or piety. Your friends and family will look at you, but you will not care – you will only be thinking about the Lord.

Always remember these things.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Length: 98 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Be Wise
2) Highest Acceptance
3) Solid Surrender
4) Keep This Current Flowing
5) Taste for Prasad-Seva
6) Krishna's Household
7) Serve Gurudev's Family
8) Sri Guru's Mission
9) Best Shelter
10) Depths of Esoteric Relationship
11) Spiritual Life Is Not Fashion
12) Love Service, Not Yourself
13) Sublime Madness