(6/8) One-Pointed Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme
Translated into English from Bengali
20 February 2020, part 6

We must always remain engaged in the service to the Lord – somehow, anyhow. You can make garlands, pick flowers in the garden, pick Tualsi leaves, water Tulasi leaves, cook for the Lord, go to the shop to buy bhoga for the Lord. At the same time, you must give up everything that opposes devotion: the urge of the mind (mana-vega), tongue (jihva-vega), belly (udara-vega), genitals (upastha-vega), speech (vakya-vega) and anger (krodha-vega). There are these six urges. Your tongue wants to eat something, and you eat it, but it is necessary to control your tongue. You must realise, 'This is not prasad. This has not been offered to the Lord, so I cannot take it.' You must not take unoffered food. Take only what has been offered to the Lord.

Keep the association of saints (sadhu-sanga), engange in chanting the Holy Name (Nama-sankirtan), listen to Hari-katha (bhagavat-sravan) and live in the holy abode (Mathura-vas). Living in a holy place and pretending to live in a holy place is not one and the same thing. Staying in Vrindavan or Mathura with an enjoying mentality is not what staying in Vrindavan or Mathura is. If you want to stay in Vrindavan to enjoy, then it is only a pretence of living in Vrindavan. This is not what living in Vrindavan is. Remember this. I will come to stay in Vrindavan only if I have some service in Vrindavan. Many people want to go to Vrindavan and practise their spiritual life there, but I tell them, 'You will go to Vrindavan, but you will have to take your stomach with you. Do you think you will leave it behind?' You take your stomach with you, and so many problems come – you have to feed your stomach. Therefore, it is necessary to always have service mood and always be eager to serve, 'When will I do service? Gurudev has given me an order, and my one-pointed desire is to carry out this order.' Gurudev's order is mercy, and carrying out his order is what is called service. If Gurudev tells you, 'Sit here quietly', then that is service, even if you are doing nothing, only sitting.

We must sit like chatak birds in front of Gurudev. Chatak birds always wait for some rain drops to fall [and never take any water from the ground]. In the same way, we must sit at Gurudev's side and always think, 'When will some order come from Gurudev? When will I get some service?' We must wait for service like chatak birds. Sometimes, Gurudev can say something quickly, and sometimes, he only gives a hint, 'If this service could be done, it would be good.' He may not say it directly, but he lets us understand what he wants. When we stay in Gurudev's association, we can learn to understand such hints, and we can understand what Gurudev really wants. We must always remember this.

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Length: 44 min
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