(6/7) Do Not Take This Birth for Granted

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, Nrisingha Palli
14 December 2019, morning, part 6
Translated from Bengali

নৃদেহমাদ্যং সুলভং সুদুর্লভং
প্লবং সুকল্পং গুরুকর্ণধারম্ ।
ময়ানুকূলেন নভস্বতেরিতং
পুমান্ ভবাব্ধিং ন তরেৎ স আত্মহা ॥

nr-deham adyam sulabham sudurlabham
plavam sukalpam guru-karnadharam
mayanukulena nabhasvateritam
puman bhavabdhim na tares sa atmaha

"Those who get this human body but do not try to practise Krishna consciousness, do not try to cross the ocean of material existence, are suicidal (atmaghati). In this human body there is only one way how you can bring benefit to yourself—this body is like a boat and you must accept a Guru as the captain of this boat. What does the Guru do next? When you surrender at his lotus feet, when within your heart you take shelter in him, he gives you mercy that works like a favourable wind. In this way, propelled by that favourable wind of the Guru's mercy, this boat can take you to your destination. However those who cannot understand who is the captain, what is the mercy of devotion, who do not know what is favourable to devotion, what that favourable wind is, are suicidal."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.20.17; translation quoted from Sri Guru Tattva: The Captain of Your Boat)

Our life can be compared to a boat. Those who were born as humans but do not try to cross over this ocean of material existence are suicidal.

Why is this human birth so important and necessary for us? Because it is in this human birth that we have come to a great soul, who is a dearmost associate of the Lord. We have free will. If we want, we can accept this great personality's advice, instructions and guidance. But the problem is that in this Kali-yuga, afflicted with the heart disease of lust, we do not try to accept his advice and guidance – instead, we are always running behind our wicked desires. 'I want to become a millionaire', 'I will live a very long life', 'I want to become a great poet', 'I want to become the chief minister or prime-minister.' On the other hand, if we want to, we can instead aspire after spiritual things. What does it mean? Humans have willing, feeling and thinking. For example, if we want to, we can become vegetarian and take prasad; and if we want to, we can also eat meat and drink blood as outside people do. Humans can exercise their free will.

The problem is that we do not realise this. We want money, we want to have our own business, we want name and fame, we want to be great poets, and so on. We always run behind material things, but if we want to, we can also run behind devotees. If we can run behind devotion, devotees and the Lord, then we can get spiritual benefit. For example, a lion or a tiger cannot give up eating meat, but we are humans, so we have the capacity to judge and use our intelligence – we can give up such things! People say, 'Oh, I cannot chant the Holy Name.' This is a lie. We do not want to chant the Holy Name.

If we want, we can come to the temple and take the darshan of the Deities, listen to Hari-katha; and if we want, we can also go to a tea stall and sit there gossiping, play cards and dice or go to the cinema. Humans choose themselves how they want to live. The Lord has given them the intelligence for that, but we do not utilise our intelligence properly. Instead, we keep roaming in this world search for trifle things. You forget that the highest happiness is in pleasing the Lord, in practising God consciousness.

I have recently been to a large programme in Purulia. Addressing the scientific audience (there were about three hundred people attending), I said that that they created so many things destroying living entities, making so many plans to realise their ambition, and asked them, 'You all eat so much rice, but can you create a single grain of rice? Can you create a simple blade of grass with your scientific knowledge? Can you give life to the most insignificant blade of grass (taror)? You cannot even do that.'

If you want to attain eternal happiness in the eternal world, start practising Krishna consciousness. Do not wait! There is no time! 'I will do it tomorrow', 'I will start the day after tomorrow', 'I will start in two years', 'I will start when I retire.' Ha! But death is running behind you. Yamaraj is running behind you, luring you to his abode. As soon as he gets a chance, he will get you – he will take your life away, and your body will fall down dead. What are you waiting for? You think, 'I will think about God in my old age,' but this is not intelligent! Only unintelligent people will think like this.

We have found our gurudev, who is an eternal associate of the Lord. We have got an opportunity to take advantage of his association. Assuming a form similar to ours, he walks among us and he speaks our language. We are incredibly fortunate to have come to such a personality. That is why human birth is of paramount necessity. The Lord has given us this human birth, but we are wasting this birth, we do not worship the Lord. We do not serve the Lord! We are always following our minds.

লব্ধ্বা সুদুর্ল্লভমিদং বহুসম্ভবান্তে
মানুষ্যমর্থদমনিত্যমপীহ ধীরঃ ।
তূর্ণং যতেত ন পতেদনুমৃত্যু যাবন্
নিঃশ্রেয়সায় বিষয়ঃ খলু সর্ব্বতঃ স্যাৎ ॥

labdhva su-durlabham idam bahu-sambhavante
manusyam artha-dam anityam apiha dhirah
turnam yateta na pated anu-mrtyu yavan
nihsreyasaya visayah khalu sarvatah syat

'After many, many births and deaths one achieves the rare human form of life, which, although temporary, affords one the opportunity to attain the highest perfection. Thus a sober human being should quickly endeavor for the ultimate perfection of life as long as his body, which is always subject to death, has not fallen down and died. After all, sense gratification is available even in the most abominable species of life, whereas Krishna consciousness is possible only for a human being.'

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.9.29)

We have got this rare human birth after so many other births. It is not like this is our first birth – it is not like we did not exist before this birth. We existed before. We had gone through many other births before attaining this human birth. We died and we were born again and again. And it is not like we are born as humans now and after death we will be born as humans again. There is no such guarantee. We are reaping the result of our previous actions in this birth, and in the future we will again get a birth according to our present and past actions. So, after this birth, we can even be born as worms in stool. Our future births are determined by our actions. Sometimes, we can be born as insects, sometimes as animals, sometimes as birds, sometimes as humans, and so on. This is how we become entangled in this cycle of births and deaths.

That is why we must take advantage of this human birth and not misuse it. If we misuse this human birth, we must inevitably fall down. Always remember this. Always remember what I have told you in your hearts.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Take Advantage of This Day
2) Leave False Hopes
3) Seva-Vigraha
4) Rules of Love
5) Science of Devotion
6) Do Not Take This Birth for Granted
7) Sweetness in Bitterness