"Does It Cross Your Mind?"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Translated into English from Bengali
15 February 2020, part 3

We chant so many rounds of the Holy Name—but why are we not getting the result? We sing in the kirtan,

প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয়
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

But have anyone's illusions gone away? Maybe yours have, but mine not yet. There are five diseases—avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that goes against one's enjoyment), and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits). Perhaps, your diseases are gone, but I still have these diseases—but we take prasad every day, so what should we do? We do prasad-seva, but our material diseases are not going away. We chant the Holy Name, but why are we not getting the result quickly?

Suppose you want to take some water, but if there is a hole in your glass and you do not see it, then all water will fall through it. In the same way, no matter how much we chant, we have holes—these holes are offences. Nama-aparadh, seva-aparadh, dham-aparadh, Vaishnav-aparadh—everything falls through these holes. So, what do we do? It is necessary to practise prasad-seva. If you do prasad-seva, all material diseases will go away—but we do prasad-seva, and our material diseases are not going away; you must understand where the deficiency is. Seva-aparadh, dhama-aparadh, Vaishnava-aparadh...

Listen carefully, do not let your mind wander to other places. You must listen attentively. If you listen attentively, you will understand it. When we worship the Deities, we see if the chamar is clean or not, if our clothes are clean or not, if the lamp stand is clean or not, if the plate with all the items for the worship is set OK or not, but do you ever think if your mind is clean or not? That is why our Param Guru Maharaj wrote a nice "nija dhyan" or "buddhi-suddhi" sloka in the Archchan-kan.

দিব্যশ্রীহরিমন্দিরাঢ্যতিলকং কণ্ঠং সুমালান্বিতং
বক্ষঃ শ্রীহরিনামবর্ণসুভগং শ্রীখণ্ডলিপ্তং পুনঃ ।
পূতং সূক্ষ্মনবাম্বরং বিমলতাং নিত্যং বহন্তীং তনুং
ধ্যায়েচ্ছ্রীগুরুপাদপদ্মনিকটে সেবোৎসুকাঞ্চাত্মনঃ ॥

divyam sri-hari-mandiradhya-tilakam kantham sumalanvitam vaksah
sri-hari-nama-varna-subhagam sri-khanda-liptam punah
putam suksma-navambaram vimalatam nityam vahantim tanum dhyayech
s chhri-guru-pada-padma-nikate sevotsukan chatmanah

"Meditate that the Lord’s Temple (your body) is decorated with shining tilak, your neck bears a beautiful tulasi-mala, your chest is adorned with the Names of Sri Hari and sandalwood paste, you are wearing fine, new, clean cloth, and in your pure, eternal form, you are at the lotus feet of Sri Guru, eager for service."

So, if you do not listen attentively (if you do not give your mind to Hari-katha), you will just sit here and not get any benefit—just now this Prabhu was asleep, could he hear anything?

Devotee: The mind is fickle, it goes to other things.

Yes, it does, and it will not do. You cannot be sitting and thinking, "Has a goat eaten my cabbage or not?" You cannot serve like this.

In this world, people chant the Holy Name or serve the Lord for three reasons. First kind of people worship the Lord because they are afraid—if they do not worship the Lord, what if some sin comes later? Number two, they say, "If we worship the Lord, it will bring auspiciousness to our house—everybody will be healthy, we will have children, grandchildren, everything will be ok, everything will run properly." You can say, this is karma-misra bhakti. Number three is kartavya-bodh (serving out of sense of duty).

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

"God is above, so I must worship Him." Many do this. But if a mother loves her child and takes care of the child—does she do it only out of duty or out of love? Sometimes she thinks, "Oh, the child will grow up and look after me." He may or may not look after you. If parents get a good son, they feed him nicely, etc.

Devotee: They bring him to the class to let him have your darshan.

Yes, bring him, let him sit with me, or give him to the temple. Anyhow, a mother loves her son out of love and affection, but how many of us worship the Lord with love? The Lord is the master of the house.

Suppose there are four people staying at the house, but you must say that Gurudev, the Lord are also staying there—we have many family members. Who thinks like this, tell me? Radha-Krishna, Mahaprabhu, this is three, Gurudev, four. So, you have eight people in your house, and you must cook for them. Who thinks like this? People say, "I have a son, a daughter, I must go shopping, work, cook for them"—but does anyone think that they also have the Lord to work for? No, they say, "He is God, so why must I think about Him?" People have no faith in God!

We wake up every morning and sing

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ॥
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

"Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me'."

(Saranagati, 1, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"Goptrtve varan" means Krishna is our maintainer. We mut have faith that Krishna will maintain us, take care of us. Who will be in charge, who will look after you if for example your child dies? Whose responsibility is it? The Lord's. We forget this. We forget that Krishna is our maintainer, and as a result we suffer since the time immemorial. Our Gurudev and scriptures say that Krishna is our maintainer, Krishna is our protector—they say that if you chant His Holy Name, you will get the Lord one day; if you live in Vrindavan, you will reach the Lord one day. Those who have such faith must certainly reach the Lord.

Devotees: Nitai Gaura Hari bol!

If you do not have such faith, you can go to Vrindavan and stay there all your whole life, but you will not get anything. If you have faith, you can go to Vrindavan once only, or stay in Nabadwip Dham once only, but you can quickly reach Vrindavan. It is necessary to have faith. Otherwise if you keep coming and going and if you have no faith, you will never get any result. You must always remember this.

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