(4) Life of Awakened Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, morning, 29 January 2020, part 4
Translated from Bengali

We are told to chant the Holy Name giving up all offences. We are chanting the Holy Name so much—some say, "I am chanting 100,000 Names!", some say, "I am chanting 300,000 Names!", somebody else says, "How many thousands of Holy Names does your Gurudev [Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj] chant every day? I chant 100,000 Names!" Mahaprabhu said, "I do not eat at anybody's house unless they chant ten millions Holy Names." So, people come and ask, "How many Holy Names does your Guru chant?" I hear these things—I hear what others are preaching. People claim, "I have chanted 100,000 Names!", "I have chanted 400,000 Names!"—they become filled with the burden of ego and pride. Having got no transcendental knowledge, they remain amidst offences, thinking, "I have chanted 100,000 Names!" If a person truly chants 100,000 Names, do you think that this person can have any ego? Those who chant the Holy Name have no ego—they do not feel any pride about how many Names they chant, about how much wealth and knowledge and how many followers they have. So, it is easy to understand whether you chant 100,000 Names or not—when such pride is there, it means all this chanting is only offences. We must think about these things.

[Addressing one of the devotees.] Where is your son? I cannot see him. Why will he not sit here? Those who cannot sit here, in front, have some other desires. It is said: When will Rupa-Raghunath's katha enter our ears? It will not enter our ears until and unless we remove all other desires from our hearts.

Listen carefully to what I am saying. What is a temple (math)? A temple is a centre of Hari-kirtan. There are many temples (maths and mandirs) in this world now, but are they all centred on Hari-kirtan? Those who stay at the temples and can understand this know that a life in Hari-kirtan is the life of awakened consciousness of an infinitesimal jiva soul (anu-chetanata). No apathy, laziness, mundane talks and thoughts and lowly desires have any place there. Some temples become sraddha-baris (houses where funeral functions are held). In some temples, people come to watch news and films on TV. Tell me, can you call such places a temple? Such places are called commode! Even listening to lila-kirtans is better than that. It is said that mayavadis are even worse than sahajiyas. Those who listen to lila-kirtans have at least some good in them because they believe that the Lord has a form, but mayavadis are much worse because they do not accept that the Lord has a form. Although sahajiyas at least accept that the Lord has a form, they use Radha-Krishna for their own purposes.

The pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna are devoid of any lust. "Jaya jaya ujjvala-rasa sarva-rasa sara—all glory, all glory to the paramour pastimes of the Lord, which is the very essence of all possible ecstasy." Why do we sing this in a kirtan? Many go to Vrindavan and think, "What is this? What is Krishna doing with all those unmarried young girls?! How can that be?" Who is capable of understanding it? Sahajiyas (imitators) see it and get intimately involved with each other to satisfy their own lust. There is love that is devoid of lust (kama-sunya prema), and there love that is filled with lust (kama-yukta prema). Whatever love you can see in this world is all lust, it is not love. The so-called love of this world has no relation to prema. People say they marry for love, but this is not love—it is all lust. If you marry for love, you cannot leave the person the next day, you cannot kick the person out of the house, you will not take any interest in their wealth and money. This is all lust.

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 27.4 Mb
Length: 57 min
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
Pure