(3/7) Can We Ever Do It?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, evening, 28 January 2020, part 3
Translated from Bengali

If only you just once thought about the Lord in the same way that you think about yourself! Not just when you are unhappy—in happiness or sadness, always, constantly, at every moment! When you are sad, you call out to the Lord, but when you are happy, you say, "I have my house", "I have my car", "I have money"—will the Lord do everything? Will the Lord feed me? I have to do everything, I take care of everything. If you always live with this burden of ego, it will not take you anywhere. You must take this burden of ego off your head. The Lord say, "I stay where there is Hari-katha, Krishna-katha. I come wherever devotees speak about Me. My most favourite place is where devotees listen to and chant My glories. Narada, this is where I stay."

Non-devotees cannot give anything to the Lord. They worship the Lord, gods and goddesses in various ways for their own benefit, to get something for themselves, to fulfil their own interests, for their own happiness and comfort.

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If devotees aspire for enjoyment or liberation, Krishna hides the knowledge about pure devotion from them and lets them go, giving them enjoyment or liberation."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.18)

If you want some enjoyment or liberation, Krishna will not give you devotion—He will hide devotion from you.

কৃষ্ণভক্ত—নিষ্কাম, অতএব 'শান্ত' ।
ভুক্তি-মুক্তি-সিদ্ধি-কামী—সকলি 'অশান্ত' ॥

krsna-bhakta—niskama, ataeva 'santa'
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami—sakali 'asanta'

"A devotee of Krishna has no desires and is always peaceful. Those who crave to fulfil material desires or attain liberation or perfections never know any peace."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.149)

Devotees are peaceful at heart—they have nothing, and they do not think about anything. The Lord does not stay with those who have ego—with those who are proud of wealth, proud of knowledge, proud of beauty; the Lord throws to such people whatever they want, but He does not stay with them. You have heard about Srila Sanatan Goswami, Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami. "Krsna-krpa yanre, tanre ke rakhite pare—if Krishna has given somebody His mercy, who can stop them?" Nobody can bind them. Yet we live amidst our attachments and desires 24/7—we do not have time, we do not take shelter of Sri Guru's lotus feet, we cannot leave our greed for food and things, we cannot give up the urge of our tongues, cannot give up the urge of our minds, cannot give up the urge of our eyes, cannot give up the urge of our stomaches. We think, "There is still so much to see and so much to eat!"

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, you never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain—who will you blame now, brother?"

Who will you blame? You are your own enemy, and you are your own friend. If we submit ourselves at the holy lotus feet of the Lord—if we give our body, heart, soul, mind, ago, knowledge, wealth, family, everything to the Lord—we will get supreme benefit! But can we ever do that? Can we ever surrender ourselves? We talk about surrender with our mouths, we offer prostrate obeisances, we say we have become surrendered, what have we truly become surrendered? Can we truly live following what Gurudev says? Can we even hear what Gurudev says? Everything we do becomes karma (material activity)... When you do karma, you will have to become bound by it, and the result of material bondage is hellish suffering.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Lord's Liberal Mercy
2) Deepest Distraught and Desire
3) Can We Ever Do It?
4) Find Evidence
5) Living in Mathura
6) Make Your Heart Pure
7) Run Behind Genuine Krishna Consciousness