(9) Hari-Katha or Self-Deception?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, morning, 29 January 2020, part 9
Translated from Bengali

Why cannot the teachings of Sri Rupa-Raghunath enter our ears? Whose ears does it enter? It is written here, in Guidance (Volume 3), about it. If, by our great fortune, we are anxious to serve the Lord, then it will enter our ears. It is necessary to be anxious to serve. Suppose Gurudev tells you to sit down, and you sit down, but if your mind is in another place, what is the use? I have told you another example many times also. There was one maulana (Muslim religious leader) who would sit and read the Quran all day long, chanting all the usual Muslim prayers. One lady would come to listen—sitting at the back of the audience, she would cry bitterly. The maulana was annoyed, thinking, "Does she even understand the meaning of these words? Why is she crying?"

"You have been listening at the mahfil (gathering) all this time, but what do you understand? Why are you crying?" he asked her one day.

"Oh, I cry because I hear your words," the lady answered.

"But why?"

"I had a goat once that had a beard, just like yours. When it ate, it would move its beard, just like you do when you speak. So, when I see you shaking your beard, I remember my goat."

We are like that too. One time, somebody asked me, "When we go to the Jagannath temple, why are there all the writings and odd pictures in the temple?" I told that person, "I have been going to Puri Dham for twenty-five years, but I have never noticed anything like that. You should think why you see those things." Unless you come to Jagannath with an aspiration to serve Jagannath, whatever you see will be eye-exercise. If you go there for eye-exercise, then you will see all those nonsense things. If we go to Jagannath to serve Him, then we will not see all that.

One time, a lady climbed on Mahaprabhu's shoulder to get the darshan of Jagannath! Govinda, Mahaprabhu's servitor, quickly told her, "Get down! Get down! What are you doing?!" But Mahaprabhu told him, "Quiet." Later, Govinda asked Mahaprabhu, "Why did You not allow me to stop that woman? She was climbing on top of You!" Mahaprabhu explained, "Because even I do not have the kind of intense desire to see Jagannath that that woman had. Because she was so eager to see Jagannath, she did not even see that I was there." If you get the darshan of Jagannath, you will see Krishna Himself, so that lady wanted to see Jagannath again and again. Mahaprabhu said, "Even I do not have this kind of strong desire." Mahaprabhu showed His humility in this way.

So, I was speaking about Hari-katha and whose ears it can enter. If, by our great fortune, we are anxious to serve the Lord, then it will enter our ears. It is necessary to have a strong desire to hear; otherwise, you can be sitting here, but Hari-katha will not enter your ears. We must be able to hear and keep Hari-katha within our hearts. Those who are unfortunate may think they have heard Hari-katha, but they have not actually heard the proper meaning—they were cheated. The moment we lose our guardian (if I say, "I have no guardian! I have nobody to protect me!"), the enemies surrounding us will attack us. The moment we stop listening about Krishna consciousness from a bona fide sadhu, stop serving the sadhu sincerely, Maya will immediately take advantage and seize us. Just as ants always look for a hole, Maya Devi is also always looking for a hole to attack us.

We chant the Holy Name so much, but if we also criticise Sri Guru and Vaishnavs and say so many other things, then it is the same as trying to keep milk in a glass with holes—just as all milk will fall through the holes, the result of all our service will fall through the holes of our offences. The moment we stop listening to Hari-katha from genuine, sincere saints, the moment we stop serving serving sincere sadhus, Maya gets her chance and attacks those who do not do service.

— : • : —

{ 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