(3) Assimilate the Substance

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly District
Translated into English from Bengali
21 February 2020, noon, part 3

I have been coming to this area for a very long time, and we have now a temple near this area, in Tarakeshwar. For many years, you have been giving donations (rice, potato, etc.) to the temple, you have been doing so many things, and you have been coming to the temple, but the problem is that nobody can actually understand what the real thing is. Coming and going to holy places is not the main thing – it is simply an eye-exercise.

তীর্থযাত্রা পরিশ্রম কেবল মনের ভ্রম,
সর্ব্বসিদ্ধি গোবিন্দচরণ

tirtha-yatra parisrama kevala manera bhrama
sarva-siddhi govinda-charana

"The trouble of visiting holy places is simply a mental delusion—all possible perfection is the feet of Govinda."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

'Yatha Vaishnav, tatha tirtha': a holy place is wherever a Vaishnav is living.

যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি ।
গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায় ॥

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi
grhete goloka bhaya

"Any day there is devotional service at home, I see Goloka manifest itself in it."

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It is necessary to hear Hari-katha very attentively, with your mind, heart and soul. Do not give your ear to anything else, do not use mobile phones, do not get distracted by anything.

Since the time immemorial, we have been averse to the Lord. We have forgotten the Lord. As the result, we are burning in the agony of the three-fold miseries. We keep coming to this material world and keep struggling to stay afloat in it. We keep swirling in the whirlpool of material life, reaping the result of our own actions. You may wonder, 'Why do people suffer so much in this world? Why do even those who chant the Holy Name suffer?' For example, there is some government here. If somebody commits a crime, the judge appointed by the government will send them to prison, and somebody may also get acquittal if they are good and there is no evidence against them. If somebody is sent to prison, is it the government's or the judge's fault? You do wrong, then you must be punished. So, if somebody does wrong (in this or previous lives), they have to come to this world again and again to reap the result of their actions. Those who do wrong are punished, and those who do good are rewarded; it has nothing to do with the government – if we suffer, the fault is ours.

There is one more thing you should always remember. We keep coming to this world again and again, but you do not know that you have been born this time as humans by a great fortune that you had acquired in your previous lives. The problem is that we forgot our identity – we do not know who we are. We say, 'I am so-and-so Das', 'Such-and-such Ghosh', 'Such-and-such Patra', 'I am from this house', 'I am from that country'. But this is not true. A very long time ago, we left the Lord and came to this world, and our position is similar to the position of those who have been thrown into an ocean without any means of getting out of it. One time, we are born as Hindus in India, but another time we can be born as Muslims in Pakistan or as Christians in England. Nobody can say this for sure. We do not know where we were born before and where we will be born in the future. But one thing you must remember is that this body has no relationship with the Lord. Somebody can say that they do not believe in God, but when they get into hospital or experience some difficulty or pain (if they suffer because of their body or other people), they will eventually pray, 'O Lord! What wrong have I done that You make me suffer like this? O Lord, please save me!' At this time, they accept that there is somebody called 'God' in this world – that there is somebody who controls and manages this world, by whose mercy the wind blows, who gives light and everything else, who allows us to do everything in this world. My parents have given me this body, but they have not given me that which I am. My life-force, my heart and soul were given to me by the Lord. The Lord has given it, and if He wishes, He can also take it away. When the time comes, He will take our soul from this body, and we will have to leave this body and go away. After that, we can get any birth – be it as a cow, a goat, a cat, a snake or a frog. Once born, everyone has to die. It is unavoidable.

— : • : —

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Length: 80 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Examine Yourself
2) Be Honest and Sincere
3) Assimilate the Substance
4) Getting Older but None Wiser
5) Senses vs. Soul
6) Desires and Forgetfulness
7) Irresistible Service Drive
8) Devotees Are Devoted
9) Lord Is Always Merciful