(1/10) Detach Yourself from Illusion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly District, evening
Translated into English from Bengali
21 February 2020, part 1

We have visited various places in Hooghly District over the past several days, and today, as the result of great fortune, we have arrived at this house to get your association. I have not been to this house before, so this is the first time I have come here.

We have got this opportunity to hear and speak about the Lord (to practise sravan and kirtan). This kind of fortune does not come all the time. We do not get to hear about the Lord all the time: we are always only busy thinking about ourselves (we are always busy with our body, life force, mind and ego). We never think about the benefit of our souls.

Who am I and who is Krishna? Why must I worship the Lord? And who am I? If we do not know the identity of our souls — if we do not know who we are – we can neither serve the Lord nor have any relationship with the Lord. It is necessary to know your own identity. We used to know it at some point, but we have forgotten it.

Somebody say, 'I am so-and-so Das', 'I am so-and-so Chaudhary', 'I am so-and-so Biswas', 'I am so-and-so Haldar', 'I am so-and-so Das' and so on – we tell different surnames and names that our parents gave us a few days ago (when we leave this body, nobody will call us by these names again). However, our real identity has nothing to do with these names. There is no relation between the names of this world and the Lord, just as there is no relation between this body and the Lord. Do you understand it? This body is temporary, it is made of flesh and blood – this body can never have any relationship with the Lord. Only the soul is related to the Lord. The soul is directly related to Paramatma, the Supersoul: Paramatma is the Supreme Lord, and the soul is that which I am. 'I am a soul' – this is our identity.

Srila Sanatan Goswami asked Mahaprabhu five questions: 'Who am I?', 'Why am I suffering?', 'What is my real benefit?', 'What is the goal of life?' and 'How can I attain this goal of life?' Answering the question 'Who am I?', Mahaprabhu replied:

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We forget that we are eternal servants of the Lord – we are not servants for one day only; we are eternal servants of the Lord.

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

Because we forget who we are, Maya (the illusory environment) attacks us. Maya is created by the Lord to keep us bound within the net of illusion in this prison of material existence. Bound by this illusory net, we keep roaming here and there. Today we are born in Russia; fifty or a hundred years later, we leave this body and become born in Pakistan; after that, we can be born as a dog in Germany; after that, we can be born as a snake in China and people will eat us. We can be born as frogs, goats, monkeys. We have got this human birth now, but if we do not serve the Lord (if we do not practise Krishna consciousness), we can become demoted again. When you work, you can be both promoted and demoted. The chance that we become demoted is very high because we come to this world and do not practise Krishna consciousness. We only practise Maya consciousness. We are always busy with our wife, sons, daughters, friends, relatives and grandchildren. We do not give any time to the Lord.

That is why sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs come to your homes:

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

"It is the innate nature of great souls to deliver vile fallen souls, but great souls never come to their homes for any personal purpose."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.39)

They do not come pursuing their own purpose. Their purpose is only one: to bring to this path the souls who are averse to the Lord. If they can do that, they get some commission from the Lord. Just as when you sell potato, you can get some commission; if you bring some conditioned souls to this path, you can also get some commission (perhaps, 1%) from the Lord. That is why so much effort is made. We are preaching the whole day long. Just today we finished a programme at 4 p.m., and after that I have come here...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Detach Yourself from Illusion
2) Tenacious Tenants
3) Nurture Natural Devotion
4) Eternal Loving Worship
5) Essential Admonition
6) Where Is Substance?
7) How to Capture the Lord
8) Pillars of Spiritual Life
9) Undiluted Spiritual Life
10) Power of Sambandha-Jnana