Importance of Hearing and Listening

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

There is no consideration of appropriate or inappropriate time for chanting the Holy Name. I have told many of you before—when your husband dies, does it mean you cannot take the Holy Name for six months? You know, when Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was in Kolkata, he told everyone that they must follow ekadasi. Why? There are five-six types of grains or pulses (rice, wheat, barley, pulses, mustard/sesame oil), and ekadasi is followed because all sins are staying in grains on that day. (Puffed rice and flat rice are made of rice, and we do not take it on ekadasi too.) So, when Prabhupad declared to everyone that it is necessary to fast on ekadasi because all sins are in the grains on this day, then antithesis came—wherever there is a thesis, there also comes an antithesis. There is true religion and there is also reverse religion. What do the people who follow such reverse religion do? They say: if a woman has a husband and she fasts on ekadasi (if she does not eat meat on this day), then the life of her husband will decrease. Does any wife want her husband's life to decrease? So, they say, "No, no, I do not need any ekadasi!" So, not only do they not stop eating meat on this day, they actually eat even more meat, thinking that if they do not eat meat on this day, their husband's life will decrease! I read this in one of Srila Prabhupad's books. So, people end up eating even more meat on ekadasi. They say that only widows can fast on ekadasi, but married women must not do it because it will decrease their husband's life. The in-laws can actually prohibit their son's wife to fast for fear of their son's life becoming shorter. So, when a girl is used to following ekadasi and gets married, the in-laws can even kick her out, "Go back to your parents' home! My son's life will decrease if you fast on ekadasi!" So, sometimes they ask me, "My husband has died, and I must observe the rites for six months, does it mean I cannot take Harinam?" When you husband dies, you must chant the Holy Name even at that time. You take dead bodies chanting, "Bolo Hari [chant the Holy Name of the Lord]"—is that not chanting the Holy Name? Then who prohibits chanting the Holy Name at this time? Are you going to stop all your Deity service? When people die, their small children cry, and if nobody cooks at their home, neighbours cook something and give it to the child. So, the Lord is there in His room, and even if somebody dies, you must still cook for the Lord.

Do you remember how once we were at the temple of Gaura Gadadhar in Champahatti, there was one disciple of Pujyapad Srila Bhakti Kumud Shanta Maharaj. We were taking prasadam at that temple, and that man was a little crazy—he took the microphone and announced, "I will die today! Please know that I will die today!" I quickly told devotees to turn of the microphone and take it away from him. When we left the temple and continued the parikrama after prasadam, the manager of the temple in Champahatti ran after us—he cried to me, "Maharaj! One person from your Math has hung himself on a tree!" I told him (this is the Lord's arrangement), "No! This person is not from our temple! Go and see if he has the badge of our Math. Let us continue the kirtan! Go, go!" When we returned to the temple, I heard that Srila Ashram Maharaj was still sitting there in Champahatti. I told him, "Maharaj, what are you doing there? Come back from there! He died, but it is adhivas today and tomorrow is the appearance day of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Must we stop it now?" So, if somebody dies, does it mean we have to stop sankirtan? Srila Ashram Maharaj later told, "You are very cunning," but I had no choice—police would come and I would have to go to the police station and so much problem would come, then all the happiness and joy of the festival will be spoilt for everyone. What benefit is it to everyone? That man was crazy... Another time, when somebody died during the parikrama time, I did not even let any one know—they arranged for the body to be taken away at midnight and sent it to their home (somewhere in South 24 Parganas). I did not want to spoil everyone's happiness.

When Srivas Pandit's son died, did he tell Mahaprabhu about it? Then? We must learn from it. He did not tell Mahaprabhu anything, He did not disturb Mahaprabhu's kirtan. Therefore, you must never stop kirtan.

The Holy Name of the Lord can be chanted at any time. It means that there is no certain time when you can chant the Holy Name and there is no certain time when you cannot chant the Holy Name (even if somebody dies at home, you must not stop chanting the Holy Name of the Lord). You know, when there is a solar eclipse, it is considered an inauspicious time and people always lock the Deities' room. This is a prejudice.

You know, they call me from Vrindavan and complain, "Maharaj, all temples are closed, only your temple is open!" I said, "Yes, this is my order." He said, "People are scared of corona!" I said, "Those who are afraid will understand it and act accordingly, but what are you so worried about?" They complain that we cook and take prasad during the corona, but I told him, "What is your problem? Do you have nothing to do at home? An idle mind is the devil's workshop. It is not like somebody will come, there will some problem, and you will be sad—if people die, you only get happy. So, why are you so worried about them? You think if they die, it will be good for you, so why are you so worried about them?" Then he kept quiet and did not say anything. He knows he cannot talk to me like that.

So, there is no consideration of time, qualification or clean/unclean state—you must chant the Holy Name of the Lord even at the time of death, you will get perfection. If you can chant the Holy Name at the time of death, you will reach perfection. That is if the Holy Name comes to your mind at that time. Many people do not understand how merciful Guru and Vaishnavs are—they go house to house, begging people to chant the Holy Name. They are bestowing so much mercy on the jiva souls of this world.

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

"It is the general practice of all saintly people to deliver the fallen. Therefore they go to people's houses, although they have no personal business there."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.39)

They have no want of money, clothes, food or anything else. They only come to people's houses and chant kirtan. Those who can understand it give their genuine love and affection.

Anyway, one thing is that you can teach a parrot to chant Hare Krishna and it will chant easily, but our situation is such that we cannot do that. And another thing is that when a parrot chants, this chanting does not last. If a cat catches the parrot by the throat, it will make bird noises. Guru Maharaj told this. He said, "Oh, he is chanting so much, but if you punch him in the stomach, he will only cry, 'O mummy! O daddy!'—he will not chant Hare Krishna at that time any more." Guru Maharaj told this jokingly.

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