(1) Become Good Listener

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Kinkarbati
Translated into English from Bengali
26 February 2020, part 1

Say with me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

We have been very busy with preaching for the past several days. Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama is very close, and there is no time left at all now. Still, you have told me to come, and we have got this opportunity to engage ourselves in the Lord's service for one more day today.

It is not always that an opportunity comes to engage ourselves in the Lord's service and in chanting His Name and glories, but it has come to us today, and we are able to speak and hear about the Lord, to glorify the Lord. It is said that a bad day is not a cloudy day – a bad day for us is a day when we cannot hear or speak about the Lord, when we cannot hear and chant the Holy Names of the Lord.

We are very fortunate to have got this opportunity to speak and hear about the Lord today. Where does the Lord stay (Hari kothay)? In Hari-katha (Hari-kathay). In which forest does the Lord live (Hari kona vane)? In hearing about the Lord (sravane). How should you see a sadhu? You cannot see a sadhu with your eyes. You must 'see' a sadhu with your ears. It is necessary to have good and clean ears.

When will the inspiration to hear and glorify sadhus awaken within us? When we learn to serve the Lord with love. This is not some service that you do out of duty, out of fear or in the hope to get something in return. Those who listen about the Lord and serve the Lord with love feel very eager to hear and speak about the Lord, and as they listen and listen about the Lord, their devotion gradually increases.

When we receive initiation from Gurudev, all our sins from previous births, all our dirt goes away. This is the result of a genuine initiation. The relationship you have with your father, mother, brother, sister, friends is a material relationship. The relationship between a father and a mother, between a husband and a wife, between a mother and a son is a material relationship. Do you know when this relationship can be cut, when it can gradually become more and more lax? When you realise that you need to have a relationship with the Supreme Lord Hari and Gurudev. When you develop this relationship with the Lord and Gurudev, then your material desires will finish. You have some material attachment that you call 'duty' (for example, a wife has some duty towards her husband), but this attachment and sense of duty will slowly finish. If it does not happen, then you can serve Radha-Krishna for a whole eternity and then you will be removed from your service.

Many people keep Radha-Krishna Deities at home and they are very enthusiastic to serve Them. But if you do not listen to Hari-katha from your Guru and sadhus, if you do not get a chance to engage yourself in Hari-kirtan, you will not get any good result. If you do not listen to that which you should be listening to, where will that take you? If you hear Hari-katha, you will get spiritual benefit, but if you do not, then you have some old ladies staying here, but after they go, these Deities will become nigraha ('burden' or 'confinement') and then galagraha ('throttling'). Is that not so? It is...

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Size: 28.3 Mb
Length: 58 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Become Good Listener
2) Eternal Engagement
3) Serve Intently
4) Worse Than Death
5) Increase Your Devotion
6) Real Substance of Devotion
7) Shameful
8) Exclusive Self-Realisation
9) Keep Your Focus Straight