(3/6) Stumbling Along

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, evening class
20 January 2020, part 3

We chant the kirtan, saying with our mouths:

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

"(1) Humility, (2) self-submission, (3) accepting the Lord as your maintainer, (4) keeping faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me', (5) engaging only what is favourable to devotion, (6) rejecting what is unfavourable to devotion. Lord Krishna hears the prayers of those who surrender in these six ways."

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

There are things that are favourable to devotion, and there are things that unfavourable to devotion. Suppose you are doing a fire sacrifice—you are putting one spoon of water and then a spoon of ghee, then again a spoon of water and a spoon of ghee. Can you do a fire sacrifice like this? You cannot. Therefore, you must do that which is favourable to devotion, and you must always give up that which is unfavourable to devotion. Remember this.

Surrender means you must be humble. You have a great hope to become a Vaishnav, but then you stumble over the "trnad api sunichena" sloka. We always chant various kinds of kirtan. For example, Srila Narottam Das Thakur sings, "Vrndavane chabutara tahe mora mano-ghera—my mind dwells within the courtyard of Vrindavan." Many of us sing this kirtan, but we know very well where our minds dwell. Srila Narottam Das Thakur has the qualification to sing this kirtan, so he can sing it, but we must chant the kirtans and do service according to our qualification. Everyone must do the service that was given to them by Gurudev. We think, "I like this", "I do not like this," but practising Krishna consciousness following the whims of your mind is not real Krishna consciousness. Spiritual life means following Sri Guru and Vaishnavs, serving them and fulfilling their desires. It is necessary to remember this. What can we do to satisfy our Gurudev? We must always think in this direction.

People like to say that they will practise Krishna consciousness, but when you reach this age, you will be always thinking about what you had been doing for those sixty years. And you know yourself also that when you are sixty, your legs will pain, your back will pain, and you will need another person to help you to get from one place to another. You will be worrying about your health—how will you chant the Holy Name then? So, those who say that they will come to this line to practise Krishna consciousness and chant the Holy Name when they are sixty are only cheating the Lord. You must always remember this.

— : • : —

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Length: 60 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Pure Kirtan Springs from Heart
2) Loving Relationship and Obedience
3) Stumbling Along
4) Build Service Relationship
5) Repairing Bad Fortune
6) Chastity and Purity of Association