Greatest Hindrances

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 27 January 2020, part 7
Translated from Bengali

We must always remember one thing—there is one very beautiful thing written in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata:

kahare na kare ninda, 'krsna krsna' bale
ajeya chaitanya sei jinibeka hele

"Those who do not offend anyone and always chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna conquer unconquerable Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu."

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.10.312)

On our path of spiritual life, the biggest obstacle in achieving perfection is para-ninda (criticising others) and para-charcha (gossiping about others, discussing others), para-dosa darsan (seeing others' faults). This all is the biggest offence. If you stop making this offence, you will get perfection very quickly. We must take others' good qualities. Guru Maharaj also said: if you always talk about others' faults, what will happen? A sin does not obstruct spiritual life, but an offence does. Those who mix with ladies commit a sin, but if you see somebody mixing with a lady and tell others about it, you are making an offence. Those who commit a sin will have a problem, but those who see them do wrong and talk about it will be removed from spiritual life. This is a very beautiful conception. Always remember this.

At the temple, many do service, but at the same time they gossip about others and look at others' holes. All result of whatever service they do will go out through these holes. If you keep milk in a pot with holes, you will see that the milk will keep coming out and flowing out—you cannot keep milk in a pot with holes. In the same way, no matter how much service I do, no matter how much I chant the Holy Name, if I at the same time commit offences to the Holy Name, then all result of that service will be distorted. You must always remember this.

Spiritual life is similar to school or university. When exams come, students study till very late at night, they spend all day and night studying; however, if somebody studies regularly, every day, then they will not have to study like this for the exam. Spiritual life is also like that. If we chant kirtan every day, if we speak Hari-katha every day, if we speak about spiritual life every day, then our spiritual life will gradually and steadily progress. Always remember this, always think about this. How can I practise Krishna consciousness?

We have got this beautiful body and we are enjoying with the Lord's air and light. For every single jiva soul to survive, it is necessary to kill thousands of other jiva souls. We live by killing thousands of jiva souls—what is the way out from this sinful life? The solution is to make our life Krishna-centred, to become members of Krishna's family. That is why, Gurudev comes and tells us, "Come, become a member of my family. I have so many jobs in my family." It is necessary to seek that kind of job—it is not necessary to know anything about other jobs of the outside world. Gurudev's family requires many employees—come and engage yourself in the service there. Accept service there and you will be supremely benefitted.

You seek dollars and cents, wealth, houses, cars, but once your eyes close, everything will stay here. Why then all the attachment? We will have to leave everything here and go away. Yet you have got this human birth—what is the meaning of a human birth? To practise spiritual life properly, to worship the Lord properly. Yet we cannot do that! Gurudev has given you a ticket, but if you get off the train in Bardhaman in the middle of the way, then you will not get to Vrindavan. What is the hindrance in spiritual life? If you feel you lack food, you lack clothes, you lack money—if you leave spiritual life for all these external things, then this is not Krishna consciousness. You can never get great things without giving up small things. We must always remember this.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (1.6 Mb, 4 min)