(2/4) Result of Proper Practice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, evening
Translated into English from Bengali
18 February 2020, part 2

It is necessary to know sambandha-jnana: knowledge of the relationship. We know very well what our relationship with our father, mother, wife, son, friends and so on is, but this is a bodily relationship – our eternal relationship is with the Lord. The problem is that we forget that we have this eternal relationship with the Lord.

The kirtan of the Lord is eternal. We always like to please those with whom we have a bodily relationship, we talk to them open-heartedly, candidly, but we do not talk about He to whom our souls are related. What do you call your wife, son, friends, father-in-law, daughters and so on? You call them 'family' (atmiya, আত্মীয়). But what do the scriptures call them? Svajanakya-dasyu (স্বজনাখ্য দস্যু). 'Dasyu' means dacoits, and 'svajanakya' means that they behave as your well-wishers (sajjan), but actually they are dacoits – they suck your blood. Is that not so? Husbands turn their wives into their servants, and wives turn their husbands into their servants; parents use their children for their own service. If many husbands think, 'Oh, if I die and not leave anything for my wife and son, what will become of them?' so they open deposit accounts in the bank for their family. This is how the wife and the children end up sucking the man's blood (hard-earned wealth) during not only his life but also after his death. When husbands retire, they get some pension, and when they die, their wives continue receiving half of their pensions – they continue sucking their blood. Such people do not understand anything except their own interests. Srimad Bhagavatam says that it is those who practise Krishna consciousness that are our closest family (parama-atmiya, পরমাত্মীয়), but we do not keep a close relationship with them and do not treat them as our family. These are very hard words.

You can see that many take initiation, but their relatives do not – their mothers or fathers do not come to this line. Then, they feel that they cannot eat in their houses because their family cook meat and fish, so they gradually cut the connection with their family. What should they do instead? They should bring their families to this line. If you can bring them to this line, you will do the greatest thing.

When can you say that somebody is your family? Who is your greatest friend? A greatest friend is a person who brings you to Krishna consciousness, who cares for you, who is your own. 'Se kabhu na haya para (সে কভু না হয় পর): He never leaves me' (Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). You say your husband is your near and dear, but if your husband is your own, then why does he leave you? If your father is your own, why does he leave you? If my brother is my near and dear, then why does he leave me? What kind of family are they if they all leave me? Our own is only the Lord: He is, was and will always be there. He is sach-chid-ananda vigraha: embodiment of eternity, consciousness and bliss.

I have told you one example that shows what the love for the Lord and the relationship with the Lord must be like. Suppose your son is working somewhere outside, and you know that he will return by a certain train. You come to the station and wait. One hour passes, two hours passes, but he is not coming. The train has come, but you do not see him get off. You will grow very anxious, waiting when he will come, when you will see him. This kind of anxious eagerness must be there for the Lord. 'When will I see the Lord? When will I serve the Lord?' Do you ever think like this? 'When will I do some service to the Lord? When will the Lord come?' This kind of love for the lotus feet of the Lord must come to us. Can you say that anyone has this kind of attraction, or pull, towards the Lord? Does anyone feel anxious, thinking, 'When will the Lord come?' We never feel this kind of pull. This kind of pull comes through spiritual practice – when you practise and practise, it comes gradually. 'I must serve the Lord. It is late. I had to go outside to do some work, but I have not offered bhoga to the Lord this afternoon!' You will feel this kind of pull towards service. If you have a child and have to, for example, go out to see a doctor, you will worry that the child is alone at home, that he must be crying now, that it is necessary to give him milk. This kind of love should be there for the Lord and Vaishnavs. 'I have gone outside, but the Lord is not fed. Who will feed the Lord? Who will bathe the Lord? Who will offer puja and archan to the Lord?' This kind of love for the Lord must come to us.

[Clamour, somebody's relative is unwell.] Who is unwell? Why are you worrying so much? When they leave their body, you will hurry up to get rid of it. You are worrying only about the body, but when the person leaves the body, you will take this body away, singing, 'Bolo Hari! Bolo Hari!' Then, you will come back and quickly change your clothes, sprinkle some cow dung everywhere and burn incense. You will think that your house has become contaminated. You worry about the person's body, but you do not worry about he who will leave this body – you do not think about the benefit of the person's soul. Think about the welfare of the soul! Why are you crying so much because of some body that will be burnt? We are always busy worrying about this – we never think, 'When will I come to the Lord?...'

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Be Serious
2) Result of Proper Practice
3) Keep Your Vision Clean
4) Awake, Arise