What Will Become of You?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, West Bengal
13 February 2020, excerpt

[A jewel excerpt from a holy lecture delivered by His Divine Grace on the divine appearance day of Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.]

We must serve the Lord, we must practise Krishna consciousness. Do you understand? You must practise Krishna consciousness accepting only sattvik food (in the mode of goodness). Love the Lord. Today is the appearance day of Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Prabhupad always spoke in a very straightforward manner... I spoke yesterday about his glories and about Sri Guru-tattva. I was saying yesterday also that at some point, Srila Prabhupad's Guru lived and slept in a public toilet, like the ones we can see on the streets. Everybody told him, "Babaji Maharaj, how can you stay amidst all this stench of stool and urine?" Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj replied, "Oh, this stench can be tolerated, but it is not possible to tolerate the stench of materialists (the people who are proud of their money, family, beauty and other things)."

So, I am telling you today with folded palms: please think what will happen to you after you leave this body. What will become of you? What body will you get? Controlled by the greed of your tongues, you cannot come to the holy feet of the Lord, you cannot take shelter at His holy feet. Engrossed in your material life, you cannot practise spiritual life. You only want more, want more, want more, but do at least some service to the Lord! You will be happy if you serve the Lord. You will not only be happy in this world, but you will also not have to come back to this world again. You are all children of the Lord, and you must all go back to the Lord.

Since time immemorial, we have been born in various parts of the world. Some are born in Russia, some are born in China, and so on. We cannot even imagine which places we have been to! But now you have got this human birth. What is the meaning of this life? It is not possible to understand it in other species—if I come to a cow and try to explain, "Please chant the Holy Name, chant the Holy Name," will it understand anything? Suppose I put a garland on your neck; you will think that your Guru has given you a garland, and you will keep it carefully, but if I put a garland on a cow's neck, it will eat it—a cow cannot understand its value. If you come to a dog and say, "O dog, please chant the Holy Name, please chant the Holy Name!" can the dog chant the Holy Name? It cannot. The Lord has given human beings some intelligence to understand these things. So, why did we get this human birth? To serve the Lord. The problem is that instead of serving the Lord, we live and enjoy material family life like dogs, goats, cats and sheep. You know, not all dogs sleep on the street—some people keep dogs at home, and their dogs sleep on nice beds and mattresses. Some dogs even travel by plane! One time, I was returning to India from London, and I saw somebody travelling with their dog—the dog had a passport! Just imagine it—dogs have passports and visas! That person was travelling to India with his dog, and he had to book a seat for the dog also. Such 'big' dogs from 'big' houses will not sleep on plain dry leaves. So, you have been getting all the money, houses, cars and other facilities for a very long time, but no matter how much you amass, you have to leave one day, and when you leave, you will have to give answer, you will have to explain yourself to settle the account.

ভজিব বলিয়া এসে সংসার-ভিতরে ।
ভুলিয়া রহিলে তুমি অবিদ্যার ভরে ॥

bhajiba baliya ese samsara-bhitare
bhuliya rahile tumi avidyara bhare

"You came into this world saying, 'O Lord, I will serve You', but, having forgotten this promise, you have remained in ignorance."

(Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

"You came saying you would worship Me, but you have forgotten about it." Sadhus, Guru and Vaishnavs come to your house and tell you, "Chant the Holy Name", "Chant the Holy Name", "Chant the Holy Name", "Chant the Holy Name of the Supreme Lord", "Take shelter of a bona fide guru." How many times they have told this to you? But you have not listened to them, so you will not pass--barred from promotion, you will have to again become frogs, snakes, mosquitos and stool-eating worms. It is up to you—do you want to become worms and eat stool, or do you want to eat nice dal, vegetables and stay with the Lord, eating nice prasad? You decide which you want.

I have not come here to ask you for money or riches. People come to houses and chant kirtans to earn money: a kirtan party comes, sings some lila-kirtans and pala-kirtans, but what benefit do you get by listening to it? Unlike such hired singers, I have come to you for your spiritual benefit. They invited me saying, "Many people will come to our house. We will feed everyone luchi, so many people will come out of greed for food, so please come to chant the Holy Name there."

You can ask those who are sitting here in front of me (they are all vegetarian, they follow ekadasi and chant the Holy Name): Are they dying living like this? Ask them if they have any problems. You think that if you chant the Holy Name, you will go back to God and will not be able to come back here, or that you have to leave your family and come to stay at the temple. If you can come, it is good; we have place. Nowadays, many daughters-in-law suffer because of their parents-in-laws and leave for Vrindavan or Kasi; they can come and stay at the temple and serve the Lord...

I am telling you all: please chant the Holy Name, think about the Lord, please love the Lord with all your heart. I keep telling you this. When I die, then you will remember me. And when you leave this body and face the examination, you will be sent away, "Go away. Failed. You cannot cross the Viraja." Then you will lament, "Oh, that sadhu came, but I did not listen to him! What have I done?!" You will again have to be born as moths and mosquitos. I do not want that to happen to you. You can see these souls lamenting now, "Oh! Oh!" and after just a few days they will die again. You must think about it, but you cannot understand it! What more am I to tell you?

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

The situation we find ourselves in is our own fault! So many things are written in the scriptures. "Prasada-seva karite haya, sakala prapancha-jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়)—by honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions" (Saranagati). We take prasad daily, but our material illusions do not go away. We chant the Holy Name so much, but we are not getting any result. Why? Because we have so many obstacles inside us. You pour and pour water into a glass, but you do not see that all the water is falling through holes in the bottom of that glass.

Suppose you go to a wedding by boat. You leave in the morning, eat, enjoy and celebrate the whole day, and in the evening, when the wedding is over, you get on the boat to return home. It is dark, so you do not see anything. In the morning, when the sun rises, you see that you are still at the same place. The boatman says, "I do not know what happened, I have been rowing the whole night!" Some old man will come and point out, "Look, you have not lifted the anchor!" Anchors have four arms: bhukti, mukti, siddhi, kami. It is necessary to lift the anchor. No matter how much you chant, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!" you still remain attracted to material things. You can never practise spiritual life like this. When you chant, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!" you will be thinking, "Oh, where did my grandson go?" and chanting, "Nati-puti, nati-puti, nati-puti (নাতি-পুতি, নাতি-পুতি, নাতি-পুতি): grandson, granddaughter, grandson, granddaughter, grandson, granddaughter" instead...

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