(2/10) Listen with Your Heart

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Morning class during village preaching
16 February 2020, part 2
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

Please say with me now. Say it loudly, with full voice. When you argue with others, then all neighbours can hear you! Say:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

The Supreme Lord is the wealth of Goloka, you must cry forcefully to bring Him here. You must call out to the Lord loudly—He is so far!

Now please listen attentively, do not speak. Do not let your mind wander to other places and switch off your phones. Listen to Hari-katha for one hour. You have been chanting kirtans, and now you must listen attentively, with your mind and heart.

The Lord says, "I do not stay in Vaikuntha. I do not stay in the hearts of yogis. Where do I stay? I stay wherever My devotees chant about My glories and pastimes." The Lord stays in the kirtan of devotees—He does not stay where some hired kirtan singers perform to earn money for themselves and their material families and for the pleasure of their senses. If you listen to devotees who practise properly, with an open heart, who listen to the narratives about the Lord, who speak about the Lord and worship the Lord accordingly, then the Lord will come. The Lord does not stay anywhere and everywhere. There are many things told and extolled in this world, there are many kinds of songs and dances in this world—I can see that somebody is having a disco party and people are dancing nearby—but does the Lord stay there? The Lord comes wherever His devotees speak about Him.

There is some antithesis in this world—somebody must be there who will disturb and obstruct Hari-katha. You can see that when you come to tell people something good for you, you will always get somebody who will say the opposite. For example, Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told to follow ekadasi (not to eat grains on ekadasi because sin stays in grains on this day, so if you eat grains, you will be eating sin), but there is a party who says, "No, if you do not eat fish one day, your husband's life will be reduced!" Does any wife want her husband's life to be affected? So, women say, "No need to follow ekadasi, may my husband live a long life." People say this, and others believe it. Others say, "Oh, if you have a husband, you must not fast on ekadasi because if you do, his life will reduce." This kind of belief is common in Bardhaman and other areas. But is this written anywhere in the scriptures? Take your whole life and try to find a scripture where it is written that it is prohibited to fast on ekadasi for married women. They are afraid to fast on ekadasi because they think it can harm their husbands, but there is no harm! This is a misconception. If you take rice, mustard oil, wheat, etc. on ekadasi, you will be eating sin. Take some fruit, some curd, milk, potato subji. You think that you cannot live without rice for one day, that you have to eat it every day, but if you are in hospital, you can live a whole month on saline only, and nobody will give you anything to eat. One time, somebody asked Guru Maharaj (Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj), "I work with a big hammer at work, how will I work if I fast on ekadasi?" Gurudev replied, "Then you can eat five kilograms of potato in the morning before going to work." You can boil potato or mix with some [home-made] turmeric powder, black pepper. Eat that and observe ekadasi, what is the problem?

Anyhow, ekadasi is observed because sin stays in five kinds of grains on this day, that is why we do not take grains on this day. Our entire guru-varga and even Mahaprabhu Himself told to follow ekadasi, so we must fast. From now on, you should also follow it. You can learn about the rules and how it is observed from devotees.

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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