(7/10) Soul Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, Nrisingha Palli
14 December 2019, evening, part 7
Translated from Bengali

I told you earlier today that we have not come to this world to be called 'daddy', 'mommy', 'grandpa', 'grandma', and so on. We are merely messengers of the Lord. We must preach about the Lord.

Do you know which day is a bad day for us? A bad day is a day without Hari-katha, the day when we cannot listen about the Lord. When does spiritual life start? It starts on the day we take shelter in a bona fide guru, the day we get connection with the Supreme Lord Hari. Our Gurupadpadma gives us connection with the Supreme Lord. All people want is happiness, and this is what they strive to achieve. Why is it that they cannot attain this eternal existence and bliss? If you want to attain and feel genuine, eternal happiness, you cannot do it by cultivating your material life. It is necessary to cultivate devotional life.

What is necessary to cultivate in human birth? Soul consciousness. This is the only way to live a spiritual life. Exercising your body, exercising your eyes – this is only pleasure for material senses. It is necessary to cultivate soul consciousness. Great souls tell us that if we can cultivate soul consciousness, we can come to God.

What is the meaning of soul consciousness? It means listening about the Lord (sravanam) and chanting the Lord's glories and Names (kirtanam). This is how soul consciousness develops and grows.

There are four varnas (brahman, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra) and four ashrams (brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyas) in this world, but Srimad Bhagavad-gita says:

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

‘Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair.’

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

This is karma-misra bhakti, the basic, primary matter: 'Offer everything you have to the Lord.' Jnana-misra bhakti is a little higher. We should at least practise karma-misra bhakti. Great souls and gurus tell us that those who have just entered this spiritual line should take advantage of Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. If they do this parikrama, it will bring benefit to their souls and they can progress in spiritual life very fast. Then, Sri Purushottam Ksetra (Sri Puri Dham) parikrama is for those who are ready for more. Lastly, Sri Vrindavan Dham (Sri Vraja Mandala) parikrama is for those who have progressed further. These days, people go to Vrindavan for eye exercise. Just going there and looking at temples is not what darshan of Vrindavan is about. This is just eye exercise, sense exercise, ear exercise, leg exercise, body exercise. Such exercise can give liberation at most. There are four kinds of liberation: sayujya (merging with Brahman), sarupya (having the same body as the Lord), salokya (residing at the same planet as the Lord), samipya (being an associate of the Lord), sarsti (having the same opulences as the Lord).

There must be only exclusive, one-pointed, unalloyed devotion to the Lord leaving any other desires.

অন্য-অভিলাষ ছাড়ি’, জ্ঞান-কর্মম্ম পরিহরি’,
কায় মনে করিব ভজন ।
সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণ সেবা, না পূজিব দেবীদেবা,
এই ভক্তি পরম কারণ ॥

anya-abhilasa chhadi', jnana-karma parihari',
kaya mane kariba bhajana
sadhu-sange krsna seva, na pujiba devi-deva,
ei bhakti parama karana

'I will serve the Lord with my body and mind, giving up all other desires and pursuits of material benefit and knowledge. I will serve Lord Krishna in sadhus’ association without worshipping any gods or goddesses – this is the ultimate way to attain devotion.'

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Serve Krishna in the association of sadhus. Service should be in saintly association.

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)

Those who give up pursuits of knowledge and live in their own place in the association of sadhus – who spend their lives listening to the loving pastimes of the Lord from the holy mouths of sadhus and serving the Lord with their body, mind and speech, then the Lord, who is unconquerable throughout the three worlds, becomes conquered and subservient to them. Have you read Srimad Bhagavad-gita? The same thing is written both there and in Srimad Bhagavatam.

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Size: 41 Mb
Length: 86 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Preaching Life
2) One-Pointed Happy Life
3) Do Not Get Blown Away
4) Temples Are Not Temporal
5) Danger of Deviation
6) Love for Kirtan
7) Soul Consciousness
8) Gist of Religious Life
9) Burning Burden
10) Living the Dream