(11) Do Not Be Duped

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, morning, 29 January 2020, part 11
Translated from Bengali

Having got this human birth, does any of us want to again become a goat, dog or cat? Nobody wants it, everybody wants to go to heaven instead, but even demigods have to come down from heaven. Yesterday, everybody worshipped Saraswati. People live amidst material knowledge, worshipping material knowledge. These days, if you do not follow what 'Didi' [an allusion to Mamata Banerjee, popularly called 'Didi'] says and have independent thinking, then you will be brainwashed until you 'forget both your father and the Lord'. There is no need for any studying because if you do not follow what the government says, you will fail. The teacher will tell you, "You do not listen to me, go away." These days, knowledge means to follow 'Didi'—whatever she says goes. You must think in this way, you must act in this way, then the road is open for you. But what is her term as a minister compared to one kalpa (a day of Brahma, the lifetime of the universe; equal to 4.32 billion years)? She is elected for some five years, but after that somebody else will be elected. Everyone gets power from the Lord. The Lord makes somebody Saraswati, somebody Laksmi, somebody Kali, somebody Ganesh—this is the Lord's will.

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Most people worship Krishna, Kali and Ganesh, but there are 330,000,000 demigods—does anyone even know their names? I do not. Do you? Today, you worship Saraswati, but you do not worship Kali. If you worship Siva and do not worship Parvati, Parvati will be angry. You worship Kartik, but you do not worship Ganesh, then Ganesh will be angry. You worship Durga, but Kali will be angry, "You are not giving anything to me!" What is the solution then?

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

If you serve the Supreme Lord, all demigod worship is automatically accomplished—it is not necessary to worship anybody else separately.

If we listen to non-devotional talks or take advice from non-devotees, then we will spend millions of lifetimes in illusory bondage serving every single atom of this material world. We must not listen to anything non-devotees say. Do you understand it? We must not listen to anything non-devotees say. We must listen about the Lord from the mouths of devotees. You must remember this.

Many people like to say that Kali, Krishna, Ganesh are all one and the same. Is it not so? It is true, this is what people say, but Kali, Krishna and Ganesh are not the same. There is jagat (world), and there is Jagannath (jagat-nath, the master of the world). Is this the same too? People cannot conceive of transcendental Jagannath through their material senses. Many people also say we must serve "poor Narayan" [a folk belief that the poor beggar class should be perceived as God personified]. Can Lord Narayan ever be poor? A poor man can never be Narayan, nor can Narayan be ever poor. You cannot call a jiva soul the Supreme Lord. Some claim, "I have become God"—they go to the jungle and tell people that they will protect them! They pretend to be God.

When you say, "Gurudev, please bestow your mercy on me," then only the Lord will bestow His mercy on you (it is not possible to get mercy independently, on your own). Even when we wear a garland on our necks, we offer it at the lotus feet of Gurudev first. We do not take obeisances from others—when somebody pays obeisance to us, we send this obeisance to Gurudev, thinking, "This person is paying obeisance to my Gurudev, not to me." Just as we do not accept anybody's obeisances (pranam), neither do we use donations (pranami) for ourselves. I have told you before that there are many pranam-taking and pranami-taking gurus in this world. They will stretch out their legs in front of you so that you can wash them and later distribute the water for others to drink it. Have you not seen this? They do this in your area too. I have also seen it in my life. In my childhood, when the local guru came, my 'Matri Devi' (honourable mother) would wash his feet with her hair! I was a little boy, but it annoyed me very much. I thought, "What kind of guru is this? He comes and lounges in a chair. And Mother has to cook for him!" They did not offer bhog or anything—Mother would cook something, and he would eat it himself. There was a pond near our house, and it was full of rui and katla fish. They catch and eat it. One time, I asked that guru, "You are a sadhu, but you are eating so much fish?" He said, "This rui and katla is niramish (vegetarian), and the other small fish is amish (not vegetarian)!" I said, "What? They all live in the same pond! They are all not vegetarian! I have read in a book that all fish is non-vegetarian!" Then, he told my Mother, "Your son is a very clever boy!"

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Serve with Love
2) Deep Renunciation
3) Perverted Taste
4) Life of Awakened Consciousness
5) Genuine Spiritual Life
6) Service Through Self-Abnegation?
7) Service Is Not a Play
8) Brahmans' Position
9) Hari-Katha or Self-Deception?
10) "I Have Come to Help You"
11) Do Not Be Duped
12) Penniless Life
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