(10/10) Come to Worship the Lord

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Morning class during village preaching
16 February 2020, part 10
Translated from Bengali

No matter where they stay, the devotees of the Lord always accept all austerities and pain. One time, I was sitting in my car, and somebody came up to me and said, "If you had not been released from prison, you would have rotten and died there!" I laughed. I did not rot in prison! When I was there, I spoke Hari-katha, I spoke about the Lord, and some people from there even took initiation later. They say I would rot and die there! Those who die, die, but I did not have any problems. I laughed there—everybody cried and felt miserable, but I was in a good mood: I spoke to everyone nicely, told everyone stories about the Lord, explained Krishna consciousness to them and told them that if they embraced it, all their unhappiness would go away. And that person came to me and said, "If you had not been released from prison, you would have rotten and died there." Devotees never "rot and die". Wherever they stay, devotees want more and more problems, "May more suffering come! May more obstacles come to me!" They never want to get free from all problems and go to Haridwar to sit there silently. No. "Give me more suffering, Prabhu! Give me more problems!" The more suffering I get, the more mercy I have.

Does anyone have any questions? Does anyone, perhaps, have any difficulty understanding something?

Devotee: Could you tell us a story?

A story? We speak Hari-katha about the Lord, what "story" should I tell you? If you like listening about the Lord, it is good. Always engage yourself in Krishna-kirtan and keep what you hear in your heart. Always listen about the Lord. Many kirtans were chanted in the morning, but you were not here—you must always come in the morning. Wake up early in the morning. Get into this habit. If you wake up early in the morning, you will see yourself how auspicious it is. In this country, people sleep till ten or eight o'clock, and nobody can stay with me because they will have to wake up at daybreak (at four o'clock). People stay up until twelve-one o'clock at night talking and watching TV, but devotees go to bed early and wake up at daybreak—they chant the Lord's Name and glories, they serve the Lord. At the place where I stay, they give me prasad at seven, and after I take it, I leave—I am always busy.

Instead of always eating, sleeping, breeding and fearing, you should listen to Hari-katha. If we do not listen about the Lord and do not glorify the Lord, the dirt from our hearts will never go away. That is why, to remove the dirt from our hearts, we must always listen to Hari-katha and speak Krishna-katha. We must not be scared of any austerity or sins for the sake of the Lord. People are always scared, thinking, "If I serve the Lord, I will have problems," but they are not scared to commit sins for their enjoyment ("nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari, নিজ সুখ লাগি' পাপে নাহি ডরি").

Always think about these things. Always engage in Hari-kirtan (glorification of the Lord, chanting the Lord's Name, practising). Read the books. There are many stories in them. There is Guidance (Volumes 1, 2 and 3). They do not cost much—they were printed cheap, and they are sold cheap too (we only ask as much as the printing cost). Take these books and read them at home, you will see many stories about the Lord in them.

The problem is that we read these stories, but they do not stay in our hearts because there are material desires in our hearts. You have heard the story of Chitraketu. At first, Angira Rishi did not tell him anything—he gave him a son, saying, "You will get a son, but along with the son, you will get both happiness and unhappiness." Becoming engrossed in happiness, Chitraketu forgot about unhappiness that was to come. So, always remember these things. Do not come with material desires. I have told you just now—like small children who eat soil, we always want one thing, another thing (we want money, we want knowledge and so on). If you get the Lord, you will get everything. Dhruva Maharaj was embarrassed when Krishna came to him and said, "You have been meditating to get your father's throne, so take your throne now." Dhruva Maharaj understood that he had made a mistake. He prayed to Krishna, "O Lord, please forgive my offence. I have made a mistake and feel ashamed of myself. I have got You, I do not need to have anything else." If you get the Lord, you will get everything.

You have read Srimad Bhagavad-gita. When the Pandavas fought against the Kauravas, the Kauravas lost the battle, so the Pandavas got the kingdom. After the war, Krishna said to Kunti Devi, "Aunt, your children have got the kingdom back, so they can rule it now happily. You can all live happily, there is no need for Me here anymore. I am leaving for Dvaraka." Hearing this, Mother Kunti said, "Prabhu, if You are not here, we have no need for any happy kingdom. As long as You are here, we have all the happiness we need." She said many more things also. Even though the Lord had given them a kingdom, Kunti Devi said, "This kingdom is temporary, but the happiness of the Lord's association and service is eternal."

The sad thing is that we relish temporary material happiness, comfort, love and affection. It is all temporary—once you close your eyes, everything will stay here. People always run behind money. In this area, farmers say that there are no people left who do farming—all the children who study hard, and even those who do not study, run to Kolkata to work and earn money. Everyone is busy working! This is what Kali-yuga is like... Those who are intelligent, like you all here, will engage in sravan and kirtan.

Come here. I want people to practise Krishna consciousness, to serve and worship the Lord. "Grhe thako, vane thako, sada 'Hari' bole dako (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক সদা 'হরি' বলে ডাক): whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out to the Lord." Take shelter of a genuine guru and practise Krishna consciousness. You cannot practise spiritual life eating meat, fish, drinking alcohol, gambling. These two things cannot go together. If any guru tells you, "You can eat whatever your soul fancies," you must know that the soul does not want to eat all these things. The soul wants to serve the Supersoul (Paramatma). Your tongue and mind want to eat all this—if your mind wants, you will take prasad, and if your mind wants, you can also drink alcohol and take drugs and eat the meat of goats, cows, men and dogs. In China, people eat cats, cockroach fritters, lizards and spiders. They are also human, and we have been born there too, but:

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of his birth and bring benefit to all other people."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 9.41)

'Helping others' means bringing to this path the souls who are averse to the Lord. I can give you some clothes today, but these clothes will tear in half a year, and you will want clothes again. You want to have a two-storey house, but once you build it, you will start thinking of a three-storey house. Moreover, you give 100,000 rupees to the temple and think that you are the best donor (that your name is first in the list), but when somebody else gives 200,000 rupees, you feel upset, "Oh, my name is second now." There can never be any peace in this world. Therefore, submit everything at the holy feet of the Lord, then you will get peace and everything else.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Bhaja bhakata vatsala', concluding thus the noon programme.]

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 42 Mb
Length: 87 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Life Suffused with Kirtan
2) Listen with Your Heart
3) Internal and External Transformation
4) Create a Relationship
5) Always Think about Hari-Katha
6) Connection with the Transcendental
7) Inane Interests
8) Bhakta-Vatsala Krishna
9) Become Pure Servant
10) Come to Worship the Lord