Perfect Chastity

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, morning class
Sri Varaha Dvadasi, 6 February 2020, part 2
Translated from Bengali

You are always so busy with your work—you are always so busy only with the happiness of your body, with money, food, clothes. People do not remember the Lord, do not chant the Lord's Name, do not chant the Lord's kirtan, do not think how to please the Lord. You think you wake up, only ring the bell and offer some incense and flowers, and the Lord is happy with you—you think you ring the bell, offer some flower and incense, this is how the Lord is worshipped. I know that this is what you do every day, but this is not the worship of the Lord. When you worship the Lord, you must sit in front of the Lord, you must chant the Lord's kirtan (glorify the Lord, chant the Lord's glories). You must chant the Lord's Name—play karatals or just clap your hands and sing the glory of the Lord. You must chant the Lord's Names.

Chant guru-vandana, Vaishnav-vandana, Nityananda's vandana, Gaura Hari's vandana, the Lord's vandana. Buy the kirtan guide books, it is only twenty rupees—it is written there what kirtans you should sing in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Most kirtans are chanted in the morning and in the evening, not so much in the afternoon (at noon). At noon, you just offer the bhog and chant the bhoga arati. If you can chant kirtans in the morning and in the evening, it is good. Wake up in the morning and practise. It is necessary to develop this habit. We sing in the morning,

উদিল অরুণ পূরব-ভাগে
দ্বিজমণি গোরা অমনি জাগে ।
ভকত-সমূহ লইয়া সাথে
গেলা নগর ব্রাজে ॥

udila aruna purava-bhage
dvija-mani gora amani jage
bhakata-samuha la-iya sathe
gela nagara-vraje

The sun arises in the east, and the jewel of the brahmans, Sri Gorachand, awakes. Taking His devotees with Him, He goes out about the town.

You must wake up when the sun arises—wake up 1 hour 34 minutes before the sunrise. Remember this. This is what "aruna udaya" means. You must get out of your bed 1 hour 34 minutes before the sunrise.

উদিল অরুণ পূরব-ভাগে
দ্বিজমণি গোরা অমনি জাগে ।
ভকত-সমূহ লইয়া সাথে
গেলা নগর ব্রাজে ॥

udila aruna purava-bhage
dvija-mani gora amani jage
bhakata-samuha la-iya sathe
gela nagara-vraje

The sun arises in the east, and the jewel of the brahmans, Sri Gorachand, awakes. Taking His devotees with Him, He goes out about the town.

We must do parikrama together with devotees. If you cannot do that, you can come during the Kartik parikrama for one month and the rest of the time practise at home—do Tulasi parikrama at home. If you can, make a Tulasi temple and do the parikrama around it four times. Do Tulasi parikrama every morning and evening.

You must follow this. If a doctor gives you prescription but you do not follow it, your disease will not be cured.

We are wasting our time. I sometimes see when I go out in a car that so many people come to the market in the evening that even a car cannot go there. In the evening, people come in crowds to the market. They gather every evening for one hour—they drink tea, meet with friends, relatives, etc. But these are not your friends and relatives—they are disguised dacoits! They look like your friends, but they behave like dacoits. They will suck your blood to the last drop. A husband works the whole life, and when he dies, his wife continues taking half of his pension even after his death. You have to serve your wife even after your death! Just look at this. You do not like to hear this, but you must understand what I am saying. People are so attached to their wives! If only they had this kind of attachment to the Lord! If only people thought, "I will keep aside some money so that it can be used for the Lord even after my death." How many people think like this? Guru, Vaishnavs, and devotees think like this. When Gurudev disappeared, he left much money, and that money was used to make this temple here in Ekachakra. Gurudev saw only the beginning of the construction here, he did not see the final temple. Those who always submit themselves to the Lord, surrender themselves to the Lord, use everything in the service of the Lord. They have so much love and affection for the Lord!

I have seen Gurudev's example. When I was the manager at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (Nabadwip), Gurudev would come about four times a year to the temple, and he would want to see the records. He told me to keep record of all expenses—I had a ledger where I wrote down all expenses and incoming donations. Gurudev also told me, "Even if you get one rupee donation, you have no right to spend it on yourself. If you get one rupee, you must come and give it with me. Later, if you need ten rupees, you can come, ask me, and I will give it to you." This is what Gurudev taught me. I gave everything to Gurudev, and when I needed money, I could come and ask him even for one lakh rupees (for construction, etc.). I never spent a single rupee on myself.

One time Gurudev's younger brother took two hundred rupees from me, and I wrote in the ledger that I had given two hundred rupees to Dhananjaya. Gurudev asked me later, "Why did Dhananjaya take two hundred rupees?" I replied, "He did not tell me." Then, Gurudev called Dhananjaya (he was staying at the temple—because he was Gurudev's younger brother, Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave him shelter at the temple, and he was looking after the store room) and asked him, "Dhananjay, why did you take two hundred rupees from Vinod?" Dhananjaya said, "To buy keo-karpin oil for mother." I cannot repeat the word that Gurudev used that day—I cannot use such words in front of you. Gurudev said, "Your mother used to survive eating muri, and now she has come here and lives like a zamindari, taking nice prasad. They bring her prasad to the room before the offering is made to the Deities. She used to have no mustard oil, she used to have no proper clothes, and now that she has come to the temple she is buying keo-karpin oil?!" Gurudev spoke like this about his own mother; he never even called her "mother"—he always referred to her as "Dhananjay's mother."

Gurudev also told me one thing. His mother used to think, "Oh, Vinod had become the manager, now he is so proud that he does not come to my room any more!" I visited her before, but maybe just a few times, and I knew why I did not go to her house any more. Gurudev told me, "You can go to all rooms in the temple, but you must never go to that woman's room." She was an old lady (over eighty years old), but Gurudev prohibited me to go into her room. I heard why later, and I understood it. After Gurudev told me not to enter her room, I never once went to her. By the Lord's wish, she left her body when I was out of the temple, doing collection. I got the news through someone, and I told them to take care of everything. I had service (I was doing collection), and Gurudev did not tell me to go back, "Oh, Dhananjay's mother passed away, come back to the temple," so I did not come. I was actually relieved because the problem was solved.

In this way, I followed Gurudev's every word. This is why Gurudev loved me so much—I have never got this kind of love from anyone. Gurudev chastised me very much, but he also loved me very much.

— : • : —

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