(2/2) "Please Wake Up"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, translated from Bengali
21 January 2020, part 2

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself and give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

There must be no gramya-katha, no gramya-varta, no nonsense talks. One moment you practise Krishna consciousness, but the next moment you speak about other things. Many of you have seen one old lady who stayed at our temple in Nabadwip. She always chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra on her beads. One day, she was thinking with her bead in her hand, and when she saw me, she asked me, "Maharaj, has my granddaughter phoned you?" I replied, "Didi, are you chanting on your mala or are you chanting, 'Nati-puti, nati-puti (নাতি-পুতি, নাতি-পুতি): grandson, granddaughter, grandson, granddaughter?'" She was surprised, "What do you mean?" I said, "What I said is correct." So, when will all these material desires go away from us? When will material desires becomes trifle?

Aspiring to wear this cloth of a renunciate, we show that we have become renunciates. We show that we leave everything, but we cannot truly serve the Lord with all our heart. We see that everyone pays obeisances to those who ring the bell and offer puja and archan to the Deities, but nobody gives any importance to those who cook for the Lord with heart and soul. Most people do not worry whether the Lord has eaten well, whether the items have been prepared well or whether there is too much salt or masala in the preparations. Cooking service is extremely important. We must give honour to those who cook. Actually, whatever service devotees do at the temple (somebody cooks, somebody worships Deities, somebody makes garlands and so on), all services are valuable. It is all service to the Lord, and all servitors are dear to the Lord. Everyone should do whatever service they have been given by Gurudev.

One time, somebody asked Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, "I have written so many books, I am giving so many lectures and collecting so much for the Mission, why are you not giving me sannyas?" Srila Prabhupad replied, "Because if you take the danda (the holy staff of a renunciate), you will use it as a stick for fighting." It is necessary to always be alert and make sure that the holy staff of the sannyas order does not turn into a stick for fighting.

We must always be alert that we have come to this mission to practise Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupad told that you can even take a loan to preach Mahaprabhu's teachings. We have not come to this world to become carpenters and owners of bricks, mortar and great buildings. We want to come in possession of Gurudev's wealth, and his wealth is not temples and buildings; Gurudev's wealth is Krishna-prema. Gurudev has submitted his mind, intelligence, ego and everything else at the holy lotus feet of Sri Krishnachandra, and getting his mercy means getting his love and affection. If we can get even a drop of Gurudev's mercy, we will get supreme benefit.

মঠ মন্দির দালান বাড়ীর না কর প্রয়াস ।

অর্থ থাকে কর ভাই যেমন অভিলাষ ॥
অর্থ নাই তবে মাত্র সাত্ত্বিক সেবা কর ।

জল-তুলসী দিয়া গিরিধারীকে বক্ষে ধর ॥

matha mandira dalana badira na kara prayasa
artha thake kara bhai yemana abhilasa
artha nai tabe matra sattvika seva kara
jala-tulasi diya giridharike bakse dhara

"Do not endeavour to make monasteries, temples, or big houses, but if you have wealth, brother, then you can make them, as you desire. If you do not have wealth, then simply perform pure worship. Offer water and Tulasi to Giridhari and hold Him to your chest."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 9.29-30)

If you have money, you can make a temple, but if you do not have money, then, as Srila Jagadananda Pandit wrote in his Sri Prema-vivarta, worship Sri Sri Radha Krishna eternally by keeping Them close to your chest and offering Them water and Tulasi. To be able to worship eternally, it is necessary to have sincerity. You cannot get any result without sincerity. Your service must be eternal—you must serve every day without fail. You worship the Lord today, chant the Holy Name, dance and sing, but tomorrow you sit idle, indulging in laziness and slothfulness. If you think, "I have been a devotee for a long time, so it is not necessary for me to do anything or practise," you will become apathetic and lazy in your spiritual life. It is necessary to have enthusiasm. When your Guru and Vaishnavs are coming, when you are observing the appearance and disappearance days of our guru-varga and Vaishnavs, you should make festivals nicely—it is necessary to do it with happiness and eagerness. If you do something today and stop it tomorrow, then you will get rusty. You must always practise Krishna consciousness—eternally, every day and moment.

We have been averse to the Lord since the time immemorial.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

"Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primaeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

We are suffering in this agony of three-fold miseries because we have forgotten the Lord, and the only way to get relief from this position is to take shelter of the holy lotus feet of the Lord. But where will you find the Lord?

কৃষ্ণ সে তোমার কৃষ্ণ দিতে পার
তোমার শকতি আছে ।
আমি ত কাঙ্গাল 'কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ' বলি
ধাই তব পাছে পাছে ॥

krsna se tomara krsna dite para
tomara sakati achhe
ami ta' kangala 'krsna krsna' bali
dhaitava pachhe pachhe

Krishna is yours. You can give Krishna. You have that power. I am very poor. Calling, 'Krishna!' 'Krishna!', I run after you.

তব নিজ-জন কোন মহাজনে
পাঠাইয়া দিলে তুমি

tava nija-jana kona mahajane
pathaiya dile tumi

"You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me)."

দয়া করি' মোরে পতিত দেখিয়া
কহিল আমারে গিয়া ।
ওহে দীনজন শুন ভাল কথা
উল্লসিত হবে হিয়া ॥

daya kari more patita dekhiya
kahila amare giya
ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha
ullasita ha'be hiya

"Seeing me so fallen and being merciful, he came to me and said, 'O humble soul, listen to this wonderful message and your heart will rejoice.'"

তোমারে তারিতে শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য
নবদ্বীপে অবতার ।

tomare tarite sri-krsna-chaitanya
navadvipe avatara

"'Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you.'"

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Srila Prabhupad says that you are going to give class and speak about the Lord and Srimad Bhagavatam, but then some bad news come and you stop your Bhagavatam reading and run there. With your mouth, you say, "Na dhanam, na janam, na sundarim: I do not want any wealth, any followers or a beautiful wife," but in practice, you always run after it.

We are always running in the direction of visaya (material world and everything related to it). If only we had this kind of love for the Lord! If only we felt separation from the Lord, "I have not got the Lord! I cannot find Him! I have not been able to know the Lord!" When Krishna, garbed in His royal attire, came to Kuruksetra to bathe in Brahma Kunda during a solar eclipse, Mother Yasoda, Nanda Maharaj and Vraja gopis also came there, but when they saw Krishna, they felt, "This Krishna and our Krishna are not the same! Where is His flute? Where is His peacock feather? Let us take Him back to Vrindavan!" The pull of their separation was so intense that they forcefully took Krishna back. This feeling of separation (viraha) must come to us, "I do not find the Lord! I have not been able to serve my Gurudev!" We cannot do anything, but we like to say that we have done so much. We think that we have become Vaishnavs, but Srila Prabhupad said: "Dusta mana! Tumi kisera Vaisnava? (দুষ্ঠ মন ! তুমি কিসের বৈষ্ণব ) My dear mind, what kind of Vaishnav do you think you are?" Our mind is always naughty, always fickle—it becomes drawn in various directions. We always want this, that. We always trade with the Lord ("I will give You this, and You will give me that in return"). We always want something from the Lord and annoy the Lord. We must never give any disturbance to Gurudev and Vaishnavs.

Gurudev will not always tell me what service he wants from me, but you can see what makes him happy, and you must be always intent and wait anxiously for service. Just as chatak birds always anxiously wait for rain water to come, we must always be anxious, "When will Gurudev give his order?" and when his order comes, if I can carry it out, I will progress towards the path of spiritual benefit. We must always remember this.

The problem is that we quickly forget everything. We sing a kirtan but then we forget what we sing. This is the play of Maya. She finds different ways to remove us from service and make us forget the Lord. What is the duty of Maya Devi? If you keep a piece of iron in fire, the iron will receive power from fire and become red—if you then touch this piece of iron to some thing, it will burn it. In the same way, Maya Devi receives her power from the Lord and keeps us as her servants and maidservants, continuously using us in her service. She keeps us forgetful of the Lord. But sadhus, Guru and Vaishnavs are very compassionate—they mercifully come and tell us:

তব নিজ-জন কোন মহাজনে
পাঠাইয়া দিলে তুমি

tava nija-jana kona mahajane
pathaiya dile tumi

"You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me)."

দয়া করি' মোরে পতিত দেখিয়া
কহিল আমারে গিয়া ।
ওহে দীনজন শুন ভাল কথা
উল্লসিত হবে হিয়া ॥

daya kari more patita dekhiya
kahila amare giya
ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha
ullasita ha'be hiya

"Seeing me so fallen and being merciful, he came to me and said, 'O humble soul, listen to this wonderful message and your heart will rejoice.'"

তোমারে তারিতে শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য
নবদ্বীপে অবতার ।

tomare tarite sri-krsna-chaitanya
navadvipe avatara

"'Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you.'"

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The Lord Himself appears in Nabadwip in this Age of Kali as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, a combined form of Sri Sri Radha Krishna, and goes house to house, calling everyone:

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand says, "O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"

"O jiva soul! Please wake up, stop sleeping! This is not your house! This is not your address!"

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Extent of Sincerity
2) "Please Wake Up"