Clean Your Mind

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 27 January 2020, part 11
Translated from Bengali

Atyahara, prayascha, prajalpa, niyamagraha, laulancha, janasangancha (eating too much, hoarding, talking nonsense, superficial attachment to rules and regulations, greed, associating with nondevotees) are thorns or obstacles on the path of devotion. These things obstruct spiritual life. Atyahara means eating too much: vakya-veg, jihva-veg, mano-veg, krodha-veg, udar-veg, upastha-veg (urges of speech, tongue, mind, anger, stomach, and genitals). "Chhaya vega dami' chhaya dosa sodhi' chhaya guna deha' dase (ছয় বেগ দমি' ছয় দোষ শোধি ছয় গুণ দেহ দাসে). O Vaishnav Thakur! Please subjugate my six urges, rectify my six defects, and bestow the six good qualities upon this servant." You must always control yourself and not allow yourself indulge in these things. We must always think what we can do not to be swayed from this path of spiritual life, that our spiritual life may never become spoilt.

How many days will we be here? We always live here, controlled by ego and overcome by misconception. All your dollars, cents, houses, rooms, cars, etc. will not go with you. People are proud of their money, proud of their mind, proud of their knowledge, proud of their beauty, proud of their qualities, and they are taking people down a wrong path, down a bad path with their wrong ideas. Therefore, you must always practise Krishna consciousness. I am here for you all. Gurudev has kept me here, and I did not leave you—I am here with you.

Soon is Nityananda Trayodasi. It is going to be a very beautiful festival. There are now twenty more rooms constructed. When Indian devotees come, they do not get a place to stay, so they have to stay on the verandas and in the nat mandir in the cold. Now the rooms are not a problem. Please come, the festival will start on the next ekadasi. Come, observe Nityananda Trayodasi. "Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha Krsna pabe (নিতাইয়ের করুণা হবে ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ পাবে): when Nitai bestows His mercy, you will reach Radha-Krsna in Vraja."

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' by 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 Bhaktivinod Thakur)

বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

visaya chhadiya kabe suddha habe mana,
kabe hama heraba sri-vrindavan

"When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

When will we leave all material things and when will our minds become clean? Our mind is naughty. Our mind takes us to different places—we live following the whims of our minds. We do not understand what the mind is for—we do not understand who and what we must associate with. We always keep listening to nonsense talks, we always keep talking nonsense. I am telling you: both those who listen wrong things and those who do wrong things are offenders. Those who do wrong commit a sin, and those who tolerate it are also making an offence. Therefore, always keep away from those who are offenders of Vaishnavs (who criticise and blaspheme Vaishnavs).

বৈষ্ণব-চরিত্র, সর্ব্বদা পবিত্র,
যেই নিন্দে হিংসা করি’ ।
ভকতিবিনোদ না সম্ভাষে তাঁ’রে,
থাকে সদা মৌন ধরি’ ॥

vaisnava-charitra sarvada pavitra
yei ninde himsa kari'
bhaktivinoda na sambhase tan're
thake sada mauna dhari'

"The character of Vaishnavs is always pure. Bhaktivinod keeps quiet and does not associate with those who are envious of Vaishnavs and who criticise Vaishnavs."

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says that when somebody criticises Vaishnavs, he always keeps quiet, he does not say anything—he does not like it. He did not want to hear such things. Who does what, who does not do what—we do not criticise even other demigods and demigoddesses. We do not blaspheme Saraswati, Laksmi, Durga, Kali. We do not worship them, but neither do we criticise or blaspheme them. We do not tell anyone, "Stop your worship of Kali", "Stop your worship of Laksmi", "Stop your worship of Saraswati", "Stop your worship of Durga." Sadhus never criticise or offend others. Always look for your own faults. Vaishnavs are adosa-darasi—Vaishnavs do not see others' faults. Vaishnavs are not those who put tilaks:

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।

গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

You come to pay obeisance to the Lord, and the Lord can understand very well why you come. You come to take initiation from Gurudev, and Gurudev can see with what intention you come—a genuine Guru can understand everything well. He may not say anything outwardly, but even if he does not say anything, he understands everything. It is not that he will always tell you about it—he will give you some hint. When we come to the Deities, do we have eyes to see Deities?

অন্ধীভূত চক্ষু যার বিষয ধূলিতে ।
কিরূপে সে পাইবে পরতত্ত্ব দেখিতে ॥

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite
ki rupe se paibe para-tattva dekhite

"Our eyes have become blind by the dust of visaya, the material world—how can we see the transcendental world?"

Our eyes have become blind with the dust of materialism, then how will we be able to see the Lord? The Lord can understand very well why you come to Him, with what intention you come to Him. You cannot cheat Him. You can cheat everyone, but you can never cheat Guru, Vaishnavs, and the Lord. All your tricks, cheating, lying, etc. will be exposed.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

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