(5/6) Play of Maya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ganga Sagar, evening class
12 January 2020, part 5

You probably know Santosh Prabhu who met an accident on the way to Mednipore. There is some opposition group in the temple, and they told his son, "See? If you stay at the temple, you will also end up like this!" You can see how Maya Devi attacks one—there will always be somebody who will come to you and say such things. Some relatives will come to you and say, "What is the use staying at the temple? Your father died, and you are now driving the car for them. What is the point?" That is why if you are to fight against Maya, you have to be firm. You have to fight Maya at every moment. This is totalitarian war. You must fight against illusion—every day. How will you fight against Maya? Not with sticks and weapon.

Once, one disciple told Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, "You must give me sannyas! I give good lectures! I do so much collection, I preach so much, why am I not getting sannyas?" Srila Prabhupad replied, "You will forcefully take sannyas, but the point is that your danda must not become a stick for fighting!" The danda must not be used for Maya's service. Srila Prabhupad told it very frankly. At another time, he said, "Why are you leaving? Is your house burning? So what? Let it burn! You do not need to go there." This is how Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur spoke. His words were very strong.

One time, he went to give a lecture at a university, and he said, "There is not a single person here who has the eyes to get the darshan of a sadhu." When he preached in Berhampore (Kasim Bazar), some sahajiya groups were doing day-long kirtans for three days. When Srila Prabhupad was giving a lecture there, everyone demanded, "Sit down, sit down! We have not come here to hear all this." Srila Prabhupad went to his room, locked the door and stayed there. Only his servant would come to bring him some water. The host of the programme, a big zamidanr, sent food for him on a silver plate, but Srila Prabhupad did not touch it. A few days later, he told the host, "I am leaving." The zamindar was surprised, "But why? The programme has not finished yet." Prabhupad made an excuse, "I have some business in Mayapur. There is service to the Lord there that has to be done, so I have to go." The servitor told also that Srila Prabhupad had not eaten anything for the past few days, and the host was even more surprised, "But I have sent raja-bhog (opulent food) for him every day!" The servitor said, "Prabhupad only took Tulasi leaves and some water..." Srila Prabhupad did not eat any meal there. Such was his nature, and this was how he spoke.

At another time, when Srila Prahbupad went to Bangladesh, he said also very strong words. He said that so many people were coming to see a sadhu, expecting to see a mendicant walking everywhere on foot, but Srila Prabhupad came there by car. Yes, sadhus use cars, they go to the market and other places by cars—they do this for service.

আসক্তিরহিত সম্বন্ধসহিত ।
বিষয়সমূহ সকলি মাধব ॥

asakti-rahita, sambandha-sahita,
visaya-samuha sakali madhava

"When you are free from material attachment and establish the relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur)

It is necessary to have no attachment and to know the relationship: all material things should be used for the service of the Lord. We must always remember this, and we must always be aware of this. You must use every single thing for the service of the Lord. You must give bhoga to the Lord and serve the Lord eternally, every day.

You do not become a disciple just by taking the mantra and initiation. Not every initiated person is a disciple. Srila Prabhupad explains the nature of Maya very beautifully. If you place a piece of iron into fire, the iron becomes red—the piece of iron gets power from fire and can burn another person if you then touch it to somebody's skin. In the same way, Maya gets her power from the Lord, and having got this power, she can remove the soul from the service to the Lord and engage it in her own service. This is what is called Maya's play.

Therefore, always engage in Hari-kirtan (chant the Lord's Name and glories) and sadhu-sanga (saintly association). Always remember this, always think about this.

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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