(1/8) Repeated Prayer, Repeated Plight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, noon programme, 30 January 2020, part 1
Translated from Bengali

A bad day is not a cloudy day—a bad day is a day without Hari-katha. So, today is our fortunate day because we have got an opportunity to hear some Hari-katha. [Clamour in the background.] Hare Krishna! Please do not speak. It has been told so many times:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krsna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krsna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236-237)

Those who obstruct Hari-katha commit a grave offence. Do you know what makes the Lord happy? Krishna told Narad, "Narad, I stay where devotees speak about Me. I feel very happy when I hear Hari-katha from the mouths of devotees, so wherever devotees speak about Me, I come there. When I hear narratives about Myself from the mouths of My dear devotees, I feel very happy." That is why Krishna is known as the best listener. We listen with our ears, but if our mind wanders to another place, we cannot hear what is being said. People say that the mind and the soul are one and the same, so they think that if there is any austerity for the soul, what is the use chanting the Holy Name of the Lord? The soul (atma) is part and particle of the Supersoul (Paramatma), but the mind judges the external world—it controls senses. If your mind wanders to another place, then your eyes, ears and other senses follow it.

We can hear only with our ears, but the Lord can hear with all His senses—He can hear not only with His ears but also with His eyes, mind, hands and other parts of body and senses. For example, there are lotus feet of Vishnu worshipped in Gaya—they offer bhoga to the feet of the Lord, and the Lord accepts food with His feet. All parts of the Lord's body can do everything. Each sense can function as any other sense, and all senses together can also work as one. For example, we use our legs for one kind of work, hands for another kind of work, ears for another kind of work and eyes for yet another kind of work, but the Lord can do everything with any of His senses.

What I have told you is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita and was also told by Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. There is also a very beautiful verse of Yamunacharya that was included in Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam by our Param Guru Maharaj Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

সকৃত্ত্বদাকারবিলোকনাশয়া
তৃণীকৃতানুত্তমভুক্তিমুক্তিভিঃ ।
মহাত্মভির্মামবলোক্যতাং নয়
ক্ষণেঽপি তে যদ্বিরহোঽতি দুঃসহঃ

sakrt tvad akara vilokanasaya
trni-krtan-uttama-bhukti-muktibhih
mahatmabhir mam avalokyatam naya
ksane 'pi te yad viraho 'ti duhsahah

"O my Lord, please lead me into the glance of those great devotees who, in their heart's aspiration to only once behold Your divine form, consider sense enjoyment and liberation to be like straw, and whose separation is unbearable for even You."

(Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 3.18)

Today is Vasanta Panchami—appearance day of Vishnupriya Devi, appearance day of Pundarik Vidyanidhi and appearance day of Sri Raghunath Das Goswami. You must always see the calendar when you wake up—see what day it is and give 'jay' to whichever Vaishnav is mentioned on each particular day. Keep a calendar near your bed and see which Vaishnav's appearance and disappearance day it is. It is necessary to give 'jay' to Vaishnavs—it makes both Vaishnavs and the Lord happy. The most important thing is that the Lord must be happy...

Before I recite and explain the meaning of Yamunacharya's verse, I want to ask you one thing. Why do people in this world worship and serve Krishna? If somebody asks you this question, what answer will you give? [Again clamour.] Hey! Will you stop talking in the background? Have I not just forbidden you to speak? It is necessary to have enthusiasm and strong desire. You will be taking prasad just now—we say with our mouths, "Prasada-seva karite haya sakala prapancha-jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়): by honouring the Lord's prasad I shall conquer all worldly illusions" (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). We are taking so much prasad, but do our material diseases go away? The householder devotees who live a proper pious life offer bhoga to the Lord and take prasad. We take prasad every day, but can any of us say that our material diseases have gone away? Maybe yours have, but mine have not. What is the reason? Why does it not happen? Because we have some problem—we have some fault, some shortcoming. We chant so many Holy Names, but it is said that if you chant the Holy Name once, all sins will be removed and you can get so many benefits, including the result of millions of fire sacrifices. But we chant so much, do we get any of that result? We are proud, "My house", "My room", "My son"—will we ever stop thinking about all these material things?

বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

visaya chhadiya kabe suddha habe mana,
kabe hama heraba sri-vrindavan

"When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

Have we left all material attachments? Have our minds become pure? Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and Srila Narottam Das Thakur chant all this, and we must think about things, and we must understand these things. Both Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita and Srimad Bhagavatam speak about it.

[A devotees is coming to garland His Divine Grace and senior devotees.] Keep the garlands aside for now. Give them later—give them when I tell you to. I am giving class now, and I am speaking about some vital matters. Please stay quiet and keep garlands aside for now. What I am saying now is important—it is important for those who want to practise Krishna consciousness, who want to get the Lord, who want to come to the Lord. Those who have no eagerness, who have no desire, who do not try will not be interested to hear it... They think, "Oh, Gurudev told me to chant the Holy Name, and I am chanting it", "Oh, Gurudev told me to do this, and I am doing it." It is necessary to make an effort. It is necessary to hear Hari-katha and understand the teachings.

— : • : —

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Size: 24.1 Mb
Length: 53 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Repeated Prayer, Repeated Plight
2) Watch What You Wish For
3) Lord's Mercy
4) Pure Ego
5) Beautiful Pastimes (1)
6) Beautiful Pastimes (2)
7) Beautiful Pastimes (3)
8) Take Service Serious