Self-Centred and Guru-Centred Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to the devotees in Quezon City, Philippines
8 December 2019, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay!
Bhakta-raj Prahlad Maharaj ki jay
Suddha-bhakti-vighnar vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I am very happy to hear your sweet voice. You are preaching Gurudev's conception properly, you are preaching very nicely and increasing your preaching, I am very happy to see that. If I can go out of the country, I will come to the Philippines.

Actually, in this world, people struggle so much from morning to night during their whole life, and they do not think what will happen after death. People only think about their own enjoyment, their own things—they only worry how they will sleep, where they will stay, how they will work, etc. People do so much austerity, but they do everything for themselves, but they do not do anything for the Lord who does everything for us. Because of our ego we think that we are the doers, that we do everything ourselves, but this is not true. That is why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu either comes Himself as a guru or sometimes sends His representative to us as a guru.

তব নিজ-জন কোন মহাজনে
পাঠাইয়া দিলে তুমি ॥

tava nija-jana kona mahajane
pathaiya dile tumi

"You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me)."

The guru comes to tell us that the Lord Himself has appeared in Nabadwip Dham, that this Lord is Radha-Krishna's combined form and that He went door to door begging us to chant the Holy Name. That is why we are very fortunate to have got a bona fide guru in this age of Kali. There are so many gurus in this world, but it is actually very rare to find a proper disciple. Everybody wants to be a guru, nobody wants to be a disciple.

Only taking initiation, taking the mantra does not make one a proper disciple. Giving a garland, giving jay to the guru is external—we must do these things, but at the same time the main thing is that we must keep our Gurudev in our hearts. If we follow Gurudev's instruction, then we will become an example of a proper disciple. One does not become a disciple by only taking initiation—it is necessary to listen to Gurudev and to follow his instruction. These are the main things for us in our life.

You will find so many gurus in this world, but you will not find so many disciples. To be a proper disciple, it is necessary to have a proper character, to follow your guru's instruction properly, and to serve Deities, devotees, and Gurudev your whole life. And our most important duty is to preach Gurudev's conception, to preach what Gurudev told us.

We must engage in proper activities. We must keep good association (sadhu-sanga), engage in Nama-sankirtan, listen to the Bhagavatam, and stay in Mathura (Mathura-vasa). Mathura or Vrindavan are where there is Hari-katha, Krishna-katha going on. In other words, a holy place is where a real, proper Vaishnav stays; it can be any place—the Philippines, Mexico, London, even Iraq, Iran, or even some forest, it does not matter as long as there is a Vaishnav there. A holy place is wherever a Vaishnav lives.

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