(16/16) If You Want, You Can

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Temple inauguration programme, Hooghly
26 January 2020, noon, part 16
Translated from Bengali

Practise Krishna consciousness in this way, and always remember:

মায়ারে করিয়া জয় ছাড়ান না যায় ।
সাধু-গুরু কৃপা বিনা না দেখি উপায় ॥

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya
sadhu-guru krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We cannot leave Maya unless sadhus and gurus give us their mercy. I have told you this story before—the problem is that we want to leave the blanket, but the blanket is not leaving us. There were two sadhus sitting in Haridwar. They saw a blanket floating down the river, and one of them jumped in to get it, but that blanket turned out to be a bear, who grabbed the sadhu to save himself from the fast current of the river. The sadhu who stayed on the bank saw that the situation was dangerous, so he cried to the sadhu who was in the water, "Leave the blanket, come out!" The sadhu replied, "I have let the blanket go, but the blanket is not letting me go!" So, we want to leave visaya (material world and all its paraphernalia), but visaya is not leaving us. "Visaya-visama-visa satata khainu, gaura-kirtana rase magana na hainu (বিষয়-বিষম-বিষ সতত খাইনু গৌরকীর্ত্তন রসে মগন না হইনু)—I have always been taking the deathly poison of the material world and have never been attracted to the kirtan of Gaura."

Chant the Holy Name. You must always chant more with your mouth, out loud. When you eat, lie down or sit, always chant the Holy Name. This is my only instruction, or advice, to you all. Take shelter of a bona fide guru and practise Krishna consciousness.

It is Nityananda-trayodasi soon. I am inviting everyone to come to Sri Ekachakra Dham. The festival will be during three-four days (from 5 to 8 February, 2020). Try to come on the ekadasi day (5 February) or the day before, I have no objection. Come when you can. Keep some time aside for Nitai. We do many things (we work, run a business, etc.) all the time, and we cannot give time to Nitai. It is necessary to set aside some time for Nitai. One day, your time will burn out, and you will have to leave this world. Call out to Nitai!

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া ।
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ॥

kabe nityananda more kari' daya
chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

When will we leave material ego? "My room", "my house", "my son", "my family"—when you close your eyes, everything will stay here, but does it ever cross your mind what will be your position then? It is necessary to think about it—think about it already now. If you tell something to a tiger or a lion, they cannot leave their habits (for example, they cannot stop eating chicken, goats, etc.), but if you want, you can give up fish, meat, onion and garlic. If you want, you can chant the Holy Name. If you want, you can give up non-vegetarian food, but if you do not do this, then it is your bad fortune. You are unfortunate! You have got a human body, but you have not used it wisely. You have got this rare human body, and you must practise Krishna consciousness. You think, "Oh, I cannot give up fish and meat, how can I take initiation?" If you want, you can give it up. If you want, you can do everything.

You have probably heard the news—China has closed down fifty cities. About eighty Indian people were coming back from China, and they were stopped in the Delhi airport because there is some virus in China. People eat insects, bats, fried cockroaches, raw pig's meat, and some bad things come from that meat—this is how some virus is spreading now. You can see the newspapers, it is written there. All this starts from food. You can see now the place here is full now—everyone is coming for food. People always search to see where prasad is going to be given; they do not care to come to listen to Hari-katha. They come to quickly take a seat. When you start chanting kirtan, they start sitting down to make sure they get a good place. In Ekachakra also, you start chanting kirtan, and people start coming and sitting down for prasad. What am I to say? They come because they are greedy for food...

Eating food and taking prasad is not the same. Honouring prasad means bhoga is offered to the Lord, and then that bhoga comes from the altar as prasad, food remnants of the Lord. Taking remnants of the Lord's food is such a great fortune. When they distribute prasad, people look around and get upset, "Oh, I have got only potato, I have not got any paneer!" This is eating paneer then, not taking prasad. If you think, "Oh, they have not given me aubergine fritters (begun bhaja)," then it is eating aubergine, not taking prasad.

You know, there is one story that happened in Bangladesh a while ago. There was one devotee of Nitai, and some Muslim dacoits (there are mostly Muslim people in Bangladesh) robbed his house. Those dacoits came in a boat to rob the area. In the case, they went to the house of that devotee and cried, "Jay Nitai! Jay Nitai!" The devotee thought that some devotees had come, and as soon as he opened the door, the dacoits pointed a gun at him and robbed his house! So, do not come to cry "Jay Nitai! Jay Nitai!" and steal! Instead of stealing and hiding something, you must always think, "I want to give to the Lord."

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Size: 58 Mb
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