(2/8) Unhealthy Mindset

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

The duration of people's life is very short in this Age of Kali. Moreover, this age is an ocean of faults. But despite that, this age has one great merit. Do you know what it is? In this Age of Kali, the Lord appears as His Holy Name.

কলিকালে নামরূপ কৃষ্ণ-অবতার ।
নাম হৈতে হয় সর্ব্বজগৎ-নিস্তার ॥

kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara
nama haite haya sarva-jagat-nistara

'In the Kali-yuga, Krishna appears in the form of the Name. The entire world is delivered through that Name.'

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.17.22)

The Lord appears in this Age of Kali as His Holy Name, but people have little intelligence, little strength and a short life. Seeing this, the Lord takes Sri Radha's heart and halo and appears in this world as Gauranga Mahaprabhu. As a common man, He would go door to door, begging everyone:

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jago, jiva jago, gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

'Sri Gorachand says, "Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

পিশাচী পাইলে যেন মতিচ্ছন্ন হয় ।

মায়াগ্রস্ত জীবের হয় সে ভাব উদয় ॥

pisachi paile yena mati-chchhanna haya
maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya

"Those who are possessed by a ghost become delirious, and the same condition arises in those who are seized by Maya, illusion."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

When a ghost possesses somebody, the person's intelligence becomes covered (matichchanna): they do not understand who they are, they cannot recognise themselves or others – in other words, they become mad. We are also like that: as if possessed by a ghost, we are conditioned souls, captured by Maya. We have no memory or knowledge of Krishna. We do not know who is Krishna, and we do not know who we are. To tell us about it, the Lord personally comes in the Age of Kali. Although He is invisible now for this world, He still sends His associates, our guru-varga, to this world to rescue such lowly and fallen souls as ourselves. We sing in one of the kirtans: 'Mo sama patita prabhu na paibe ara (মো-সম পতিত পরাবহু না পািইবে আর): My Lord, You will not find another soul as fallen as I am' (Srila Narottam Das Thakur). 'I am the lowest and the most fallen soul in this world.'

When will this mood come? We must not only sing this, lip-deep. The Lord is bhava-grahi: He wants our mood, our innermost feelings. Therefore, we must always think about the internal meaning of kirtans. It is necessary to know the rasa (divine mood), the meaning of kirtans; otherwise, we will not be able to understand anything. It is necessary to always sing and sing and think about these things.

We sing:

রাধিকার পক্ক অন্ন বিবিধ ব্যঞ্জন ।
পরম আনন্দে কৃষ্ণ করেন ভোজন ॥

radhikara pakka anna vividha vyanjana
parama anande krsna karena bhojana

'Radhika cooks rice and various subjis, and Krishna eats what She cooks with great joy.'

(Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We sing, 'Radhika cooks rice and various subjis,' but we think, 'I am cooking.' Is that not so? We think, 'I cooked this,' 'I did the shopping,' 'I grew the vegetables' and so on. That is why it is said, 'Ahankare matta haiya, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kari mani (অহঙ্কারে মত্ত হৈঞা নিতাই-পদ পাসরিয়া অসত্যেরে সত্য করি' মানি): becoming mad with pride, I forgot Nitai's feet and accept untruth as truth!' (Srila Narottam Das Thakur). 'I do it,' 'I have it,' 'I know it' – this is no doubt ego. We take what is untruth (asatya, অসত্য – unreal, non-eternal) as truth. We think that everything that there is in this world is created for us and by us. We do not realise that there is a Master of this world, and we are only His instruments. You can compare it to a tractor – the Lord is the engine, and we are only the drivers. There is a hand (hata, হাত), and there is a hammer (haturi, হাতুড়ি). Can a hammer work without a hand? Therefore, the Lord is in charge of everything, and we are only His instruments.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) My Soul's Well-Being
2) Unhealthy Mindset
3) Sincere Faith Does Not Come from Knowledge
4) Best Birth
5) Faith and Determination: Foundation of Krishna Consciousness
6) One-Pointed Life
7) Chanting or Vomiting?
8) Watch Yourself