(2/6) Unfaltering Determination

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ganga Sagar, evening class
12 January 2020, part 2

If you want to chant the Holy Name, you must always remain in the right association.

'সাধুসঙ্গ', 'সাধুসঙ্গ'—সর্ব্ব শাস্ত্রে কয় ।
লবমাত্র সাধুসঙ্গে সর্ব্ব সিদ্ধি হয় ॥

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya

"All scriptures keep saying, 'Good association', 'Good association'. You can attain all perfection even just by a drop of good, saintly association."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54)

If you do not stay in good association—if you associate with bad people—you will be talking about bad things and thinking about bad things. If you keep good association, then we will be able to chant Hari-kirtan (chant the glories and the Holy Name of the Supreme Lord) properly.

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 never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

If you want to chant the Holy Name, then all the scriptures say: "Sadhu-sanga", "Sadhu-sanga". We must associate with saints (sadhus). Never associate with unsaintly persons.

When you come to the holy abode of the Lord, you must speak about the Lord. Do not talk village talks, "Where do you come from?", "Where is your home?", "Where will we stay?", "What will we eat?", "How are you?" This is all gramya-katha ('village talks'). "Kothay chilam hethay elam kothay yabo bhavi nai (কোথায় ছিলাম হেথায় এলাম কোথায় যাব ভাবি নাই)—I never think where I was, where I went, and where I will go."

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, you never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain—who will you blame now, brother?"

(Folklore)

How many times have you come here and how many times have you left? It is necessary to serve the Lord with genuine sincerity (nistha). You must not worry, "Who will take care of me when I grow old?" The Lord tests His devotees in many ways, He gives them various austerities and pain. But when you get austerities and pain, if you do not leave the Lord, if you do not leave your spiritual life, do not leave your service to the Lord and to your Guru, then you prove that you are a devotee. The Lord will send much pain and austerity to you, but you must forget it and carry on. Those who forget the Lord in the face of austerity. You are living here on the island of Ganga Sagar, and there are many austerities here. Many problems will come, but we must continue chanting the Holy Name and glories of the Lord and serving the Lord. You must be firm, and you must have the strongest faith.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Your debt to your mother, father, rishis (sages), demigods—all debts are cleared if you serve the Lord. People will say, "Oh, he is not serving his parents", "Oh, he left his parents and is only thinking about the Lord", but what do the scriptures say? "Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished." Those who serve the Lord and Sri Guru have no debt to their mother, father, sages or demigods. All debts are cleared for those who serve the Lord. Because our parents give us this body, we have some debt towards them. We receive many things from demigods, so we are also indebted to them. But if we want to genuinely practise Krishna consciousness, we must have a strong faith and be determined that we will never leave the Lord's service.

When you make offences to service, you will be removed from service.

You must always serve Tulasi Maharani. Always think how to take care of Tulasi to make sure she is staying happily and beautifully. Service to devotees is the main thing. Tulasi Devi is a devotee of the Lord, she is Bhakti Devi (devotion personified). You do Tulasi parikrama, chant Tulasi kirtan ("Tulasi Maharani, Vrinda Maharani"), you water Tulasi, but you do not see that her leaves dry or there is any other problem, you do not take care of the Tulasi temple (mandir). It is not right. When I see Tulasi gardens here, I become surprised. I have seen Tulasi abroad—they make very beautiful Tulasi gardens. It can be very cold abroad (for example, in Russia), but I have seen that they make Tulasi comfortable and take very good care of her.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Your debt to your mother, father, rishis (sages), demigods—all debts are cleared if you serve the Lord. Many say, "I have left my home and come here, but there are problems here." It is not right. We come to practise Krishna consciousness. The Lord gives you some problems at home, so you leave, but if the Lord had not given you this austerity at home, you would not have come to this line. You leave home and come to the temple, but if you stay at the temple gossiping and telling stories to others, then it is not a temple—it becomes a commode! It is necessary to serve the Lord and speak Hari-katha eternally, at every moment. Do you understand? There used to be a beautiful Tulasi garden before, where is it now? You must make a beautiful Tulasi garden. Always keep some place for a beautiful flower and Tulasi garden for the Lord.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Daily Duty
2) Unfaltering Determination
3) Live Within Service
4) Clouded Intelligence
5) Play of Maya
6) Answers to Many Questions