(1/16) Opening Temple—Opening Your Eyes

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Temple inauguration programme, Hooghly
26 January 2020, noon, part 1
Translated from Bengali

[His Divine Grace is attending a programme in honour of opening a temple in the Hooghly district.]

You know what Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, our guru-varga or our Gurudev said regarding temple inauguration, and it is also something that everyone should know.

গুর্ব্বাভীষ্টসুপূরকং গুরুগণৈরাশীষসংভূষিতং
চিন্ত্যাচিন্ত্যসমস্তবেদনিপুণং শ্রীরূপপন্থানুগম্ ।
গোবিন্দাভিধমুজ্জ্বলং বরতনুং ভক্ত্যন্বিতং সুন্দরং
বন্দে বিশ্বগুরুঞ্চ দিব্যভগবৎ-প্রম্­ণো হি বীজপ্রদম্ ॥

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam
chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam
govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram
vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

"I offer my obeisance to him who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev’s most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all conceivable and inconceivable aspects of Vedic knowledge; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu’s line; who is known as 'Govinda' (Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj); whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord"

(Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

Every year, when we go for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we go to Chaitanya Math, the main temple of Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. We visit it on the first day of the parikrama. You can see in the calendars that will come out this year that the parikrama will be five days next year. We always do the parikrama during four days, but we did not get a chance to go to Simantadwip and Rudradwip (we speak about the glories of those islands from far), and I thought that we could go there. Devotees always worry that they have to stay away from their homes for many days, but you must not think like this. It is necessary to do the parikrama properly. If we go to Rudradwip and Simantadwip during the four days, then it will be too much walking for you. Besides, we will probably we able to stay in Mayapur [at the newly purchased land] next year and do the parikrama from there. We can stay there for one day, then you will not struggle so much. So, what I wanted to say concerns opening a temple or installing Deities.

You know that even if you do ten thousand fire sacrifces, you will not get the result of chanting the Holy Name just once. No matter how much Ganges water you put on your head, the Ganges water purifies only by its touch, but you can become pure just by seeing a Vaishnav. When devotees or sadhus enter a devotee's house or a temple, that house or temple become pure, and it is not necessary to make any separate fire sacrifice or any special arrangements. When sadhus come, the temple is already opened.

You may have heard that Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur once vowed to chant one billion Holy Names (sata-koti Nama yajna). He vowed to chant for as long as it took. Having completed his vow, Srila Prabhupad went outside and saw a Deity in some place—it was Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Giridhari (the Deities of Sri Chaitanya Math, Mayapur). Srila Prabhupad told devotees , "My Lordships have come! Come, let us take Them with us." After that, he entered the temple, and the temple became inaugurated in this way. Our Guru Maharaj (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) was also like that. When the five-storey building was completed, I gave the key to Guru Maharaj, and he told me, "Shall we open it? Come. Take the drums and karatals." Then, I took a drum and karatals and went with him. Gurudev chanted some kirtan and said, "Your inauguration is done." He did not tell me to make any fire sacrifice. However, the people in this world do not understand it. They become upset, "Oh, we did not have a fire sacrifice at our home." That is why (for such people), we have to arrange all this. Other than that, there is no need for any fire sacrifice.

When I came back last night, I told Maharaj that there would be a programme and he would need to make a fire sacrifice, so we are making this vaishnava-hom today. After that, the Deities will be bathed and offered bhog. Finally, everyone will take prasad. Many think so many things are required, but actually it is not such a big matter. Now we will chant some kirtans, and when people gather, I will speak the main Hari-katha, and you will please listen.

Actually, I am busy with preaching now. I did a programme yesterday in another place (Bankura district), and the programme has not finished yet. I left to attend this programme here today, but I must go back and continue preaching and collecting rice after that. I will go back tomorrow. In the morning, I must go to Basirhat and stay there for three days. On 30 January, there is a programme in Uluberia. After that, I have some work in Nabadwip on 1 February and I will go to Ekachakra. On 2 February, I will go again to Bardhaman to finish my programme. Finally, I will come to Ekachakra on 4 February, it is ekadasi day—5 February is dvadasi, and 6 February is trayodasi (Nityananda Prabhu's appearance day). We will have a festival in Ekachakra during four days, from 5 February to 8 February. We used to make this festival during three days before, but so many people want to come that some come on the day after festival. Many temples do not give prasad at that time (ISKCON distributes prasad only during the main festival on the trayodasi day and after that stops), but when I realised this, I thought that people come to the holy dham and do not get any prasad, it is not good. That is why I decided to extend the festival and make it four days (ekadasi, dvadasi, trayodasi, and chaturdasi). Anyhow, I have said much already, listen to these things with your heart, it will give you spiritual benefit. We will chant kirtans now. First, we must chant Guru-vandana.

[His Divine Grace is chanting Sri Guru Vandana, followed by kirtans: 'Krsna haite chaturmukha', 'Sri Guru-charana-padma', 'Sri Krsna Chaitanya Prabhu jive daya kari'.]

This kirtan, 'Sri Krsna Chaitanya Prabhu jive daya kari', tells about surrender (saranagati).

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য প্রভু জীবে দয়া করি' ।
স্বপার্ষদ স্বীয় ধাম সহ অবতরি ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari'
svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

"Being merciful to the souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends with His associates and abode."

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Lord Sri Krishna appears in this Age of Kali together with all the associates (Vraja gopas and gopis) who performed pastimes together with Him in the Age of Dvapar—Subal Sakha, Sridama Sakha, Lalita, Visakha and all other gopas and gopis. He comes in the Age of Kali as Gauranga, and everyone who came together with Him were Krishna's associates in the Age of Dvapar. What is the purpose of His descent?

অন্ত্যন্ত দুর্লভ প্রেম করিবারে দান ।
শিখায় শরণাগতি ভকতের প্রাণ ॥

atyanta durlabha prema karibare dana
sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana

"To distribute the most rare form of divine love, He teaches surrender, which is the life of the devotees."

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You cannot find this transcendental love at any place—there are many kinds of love in this world, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu roamed the land, going house to house, to give everyone the rarest kind of His love. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is so merciful!

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য-দয়া করহ বিচার ।
বিচার করিলে চিত্তে পাবে চমৎকার ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara
vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara

"Consider the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! If you consider it, your heart will be wonder-stricken."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.15)

He distributed His mercy to everyone, going door to door. He said:

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, 'Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?'"

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

পিশাচী পাইলে যেন মতিচ্ছন্ন হয় ।

মায়াগ্রস্ত জীবের হয় সে ভাব উদয় ॥

pisachi paile yena mati-chchhanna haya
maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya

"Those who are possessed by a ghost become delirious, and the same condition arises in those who are seized by Maya, illusion."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

Having fallen into this material bondage, we always think, "My house", "My room", "My son", "My relative"—we spend our lives always busy with all this. However, when you close your eyes, where will all this go? Where will your house go? You have such nice homes, but where will all these homes go? Have you ever thought of this? You were born as humans as the result of a great fortune:

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

"One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

What did Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu say? He told us to give benefit to others, to help others. We must go house to house and, thinking about other jiva soul's spiritual benefit, preach the Holy Name of Krishna. We must go door to door—we must go to everyone's house and beg them for alms. What alms will we beg for? Not any dal, oil or rice! Not money! "Say 'Krishna', come with us! This is all we beg you for!"

You have got this human birth, but you will lose this body and again get another body. As you sow, so you reap. It is necessary to know your own identity. If you cannot know who you are, then you are in a dangerous position. If we think that I am so-and-so Ray, so-and-so Chaudari, so-and-so Mandal, so-and-so Visvas, so-and-so Banerjee, so-and-so Chakravarti, so-and-so Bandopadhya, so-and-so Minister—we roam this world with all these titles, but what is our identity? The real identity of the jiva soul is that it is an eternal servant of Krishna.

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We have fallen into illusory bondage, but the Lord comes with His own associates and teaches us the highest lesson:

অন্ত্যন্ত দুর্লভ প্রেম করিবারে দান ।
শিখায় শরণাগতি ভকতের প্রাণ ॥

atyanta durlabha prema karibare dana
sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana

"To distribute the most rare form of divine love, He teaches surrender, which is the life of the devotees."

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The Lord advents as Gauranga and teaches everyone surrender (saranagati). You cannot get any result without surrender. What does surrender mean?

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

[Limbs of surrender] "Humility, self-submission, accepting the Lord as your maintainer, keeping faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me.'"

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Krishna is our maintainer. We think that our mother and father take care of us, that our wife or son take care of us, but everyone is alone in this world. If your father and mother were your own, why do they leave you then? Why do sons and daughters leave us? Why do our brothers and sisters leave us? Who is our own in this world? Only Krishna. He always was, always is and will always be, but we have forgotten Him!

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)

Why are we suffering in this material world? Why are we burning in the agonising three-fold miseries of this material world? Because we have forgotten our identity—we have forgotten the Supreme Lord.

— : • : —

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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