(2/10) Tenacious Tenants

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 2

As we pass our lives, we leave one place and become controlled by another place. We cannot reach the Lord. But we have got some good fortune now. This Age of Kali has many faults, but amidst all its faults, there is one great quality: in this Age of Kali, the Supreme Lord Himself appears in this world as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, taking Sri Radha's heart and halo, and He also comes as His Holy Name. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu went door to door, telling 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)

'O jiva! Stop sleeping! Wake up! You have lost your address! This is not your house! I have come to take you home!' We must go. Where? To our own home. We must know where our real home is. Those who know where their home is try to get there. If you get lost somewhere, you will keep wandering about for many days, looking for your home. The problem is that you think this here is your home. But this is not your home. You are only renting this place in the world. The Lord has kept you here in a rented place for some time – you will stay here as long as you are 'paying the rent' to the Lord. When your 'rent' is over, the Lord will remove you slowly from this place – then everyone will chant 'Bolo Hari' and take you to the crematorium. Is that so or not? You must always remember this.

ভাল মন্দ খাই, হেরি, পরি, চিন্তাহীন ।
নাহি ভাবি এ দেহ ছাড়িব কোনদিন ॥

bhala manda khai, heri, pari, chinta-hina
nahi bhavi, e deha chhadiba kona dina

"I eat, see and wear whatever I fancy without any thinking and never think that one day I will leave this body.

(Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We do not realise that one day we will leave this body, so we are always carefree: we forget all about happiness or unhappiness. When we are happy, we forget the Lord (you do not know who God is, you cannot see God). But when you fall ill or when you are in hospital, you will call, 'O Lord! Please help me!' Only when you face some danger do you remember about God. At this time, the feeling will awaken in your heart that there is God. When you are suffering, you will pray, 'O Lord, please help me! Please relieve me from this suffering. I am a sinner...' At this moment, you will think that there is somebody above you (that you have a master). But who is this master? He is the one by whose mercy everything is running in this world: owing to Him, the sun is giving light and warmth; owing to Him, the wind blows and we get oxygen. For example, if the wind stops blowing, we will die: we cannot live without oxygen (if somebody puts a pillow to my face and I get no oxygen, I will die – it will not take even two minutes)...

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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