(11/16) Align Your Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Temple inauguration programme, Hooghly
26 January 2020, noon, part 11
Translated from Bengali

Seeing material old age, diseases and death, Lord Buddha left His house to perform austerity. While He was meditating, He achieved nirvana, or liberation. He showed this world the path to liberation or the path to great nirvana. However, devotees do not want liberation. They accept any misery with a smile if that makes the Lord happy. Devotees aspire for unhappiness to make the Lord happy, "Give me unhappiness. It is all right, no problem! If it makes You happy, give me unhappiness." This is such a high conception! Vraja gopis gave their foot dust for Krishna. When suggested that they would go to hell because of that, they did not care, "We will go to hell? No problem! We can go to hell, as long as the Lord is happy." When a mother cooks for her son, she suffers from the smoke coming from the stove, but still she cooks religiously every day because she is a mother and she loves her son. It is necessary to love the Lord in the same way. Just as a mother loves her son, we should love the Lord—we do not want any enjoyment or liberation.

It is very easy to advise others, but it is necessary to practise this in your life. Only advising others will not do.

Many people keep parrots at home and teach them to say, "Come in", "Sit down" and other similar phrases. You can also teach them to say "Hare Krishna", but when a cat comes and catches the bird, it will never say "Hare Krishna"—it will cry and screech.

So, when we come to give class on Srimad Bhagavatam, we say that we do not want enjoyment, we do not want liberation, but when some news comes, we leave the Bhagavatam class and run to see what has happened. It is not right. You are reading about the Lord, so you must have faith, "I am speaking about the Lord, and the Lord will arrange everything. They are in danger? The Lord will arrange everything, I am reading Bhagavatam. I will not stop no matter what."

However, when you speak about the Lord, when you read about the Lord, you must also make sure your behaviour and practice are aligned. It is easy to say things and to preach, but it is very difficult to do it. You say "trnad api sunichena" (be humbler than a blade of grass) with your mouth, but can you be humbler than a blade of grass? We cannot! We say "taror iva sahisnuna" (be more tolerant than a tree), but can we be more tolerant than a tree? We cannot. Can we give honour to others? We cannot. Many people chant kirtan, but they do not understand the mood of the kirtan. Very few people see the deep meaning of kirtans. To tell the truth, most people's vision is not attracted towards this.

প্রভু তব পাদযুগে মোর নিবেদন ।
নাহি মাগি দেহসুখ বিদ্যা ধন জন ॥

prabhu tava pada-yuge mora nivedana
nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya, dhana, jana

"O Lord, I am appealing at Your holy lotus feet—I do not pray for bodily pleasure, learning, wealth or followers."

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We say, "I do not want bodily happiness," but when we go to sleep, we think, "Oh, my mattress has gone too soft," or, "Oh, this mattress is too hard! My back is sore."

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

"I do not want wealth, I do not want followers, I do not want beautiful women, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could do Your service life after life."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.20.29)

When one genuinely cares, "Is the Lord happy or not?" then it is pure devotion. You must always keep yourself engages in the service of the Lord. It is necessary to cook for the Lord nicely, it is necessary to feed the Lord nicely.

So, you advise others, but you must first advise yourself, then it will be fruitful. You give big lectures in front of others, but you must first advise yourself. You must remember this. I am writing all this in a new book (Guidance 4), read it. You can read it yourself, you can read it during the class, you can read it when you go to other people's houses. I have written everything in it. I cannot express everything during the class, so I sit down and write everything carefully and nicely. Read it. I am trying to have it published by Nityananda-trayodasi, but it is very difficult...

We must always keep ourselves engaged in the service of the Lord. We may not have this qualification, but it is necessary to hear about it and to speak about it. Even though we have no right to say this, we still say it because when you hear and hear about it, when you speak and speak about it, then you will start thinking about your own qualification. It is necessary to first give guidance and advice to yourself, then you can advise others. Learn it yourself first.

You must remember these things.

— : • : —

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Length: 120 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Opening Temple—Opening Your Eyes
2) Live As a Member of Krishna's Family
3) Meaning of Surrender (1)
4) Meaning of Surrender (2)
5) How to Pray to Vaishnav Thakur
6) Orphaned and Blind
7) Satisfying Lord and Your Soul
8) Trade Secret of Krishna Consciousness
9) Taste for Hari-Katha
10) Eternal Nourishment
11) Align Your Life
12) Two Keys to Success
13) Ekadasi Vrata (1)
14) Ekadasi Vrata (2)
15) Practise Day and Night
16) If You Want, You Can