Greatest Wealth

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class
5 February 2020, part 4
Translated from Bengali

We must always watch out for that which is unfavourable to devotion. We always say,

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

"Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me', engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion."

(Saranagati, 1)

We say all these big, big things, we give lectures, but to what extent are we able to practise it? Just think about it—how hard it is to practise atma-nivedanam, how hard it is to give everything to the lotus feet of the Lord. It means giving absolutely everything to the Lord—shame, fear, honour, all moral obligations, etc. However, we cannot give this up. Can we give up our ego? Tell me. We are proud of money, we are proud of knowledge, we are proud of our friends and family, we are proud of our beauty. Can we give up everything? We cannot.

Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur wrote one very beautiful thing in his commentary. Your have put a fifty kg sack on your head, and you feel pressure, "I have so much burden on my head!" Even if you come to live in an A/C room, will you feel happy in it? You will not. You have a huge weight on your head, then how will you feel at peace? If you take this load off your head, then you will automatically feel peaceful and happy—you will not need an A/C room then. This sack is the burden of your ego. How can you remove this burden? When you offer a full obeisance—when you fall at your Gurudev's feet—then that sack has to be taken down. You are so proud, thinking, "I have a good job," "I run a business," "I am a great landowner," "I am a millionaire," etc. but:

মায়ারে করিয়া জয় ছাড়ান না যায় ।
সাধু-গুরুর কৃপা বিনা না দেখি উপায় ॥

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya
sadhu-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

If sadhus and Guru bestow their mercy on us, if we can put our heads down at Vaishnavs' lotus feet, then we can overcome this illusory environment. You can remember how Srila Raghunath Das Goswami got liberated from material desires. What did Mahaprabhu tell him? "Go home, do not become crazy!"

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana
yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana

"Do not show your false renunciation to people. Serve accepting material things, but without attachment."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.238)

"Do not show monkey renunciation by wearing tilaks and a kanthi-mala! Go to Puri and only offer obeisance to all sadhus." This is what he did—even if he saw the same person five times a day, he would offer obeisance to them five times! All his material desires went away. He had a wife, beautiful as an angel, his father was a very big zamindar, but he left everything.

Jivan Chakravarti asked Srila Sanatan Goswami for wealth, and Srila Sanatan Goswami said, "Yes, I had wealth once. When I was Patasaha Hussain Sah's minister, I had wealth, but I am not a minister any more—you can see I live under a tree now, where will I get wealth for you?" When Jivan Chakravarti went away, then he remembered, "Wait! I remember I have found a touchstone the other day, but I threw it away into the sand. Go there and see if you can find it." Jivan Chakravarti was about to go and look for it, but he was fortunate—"Darsane pavitra kara ei tomara guna: souls become purified just by seeing Vaishnavs, such is their power." Jivan Chakravarti got to meet Srila Sanatan Goswami, and he felt another desire in his heart—he thought, "This sadhu must have something greater than this touchstone!" When he asked Srila Sanatan Goswami for that higher wealth, Srila Sanatan Goswami said, "Yes, this wealth is the Holy Name. Chant the Holy Name—this is your real wealth. The richest person is the person who has Krishna."

It is necessary to understand what is the main and the real thing in our lives.

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