Charity Begins at Home:
Practise Yourself First

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Morning class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
4 March 2020, part 1, translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First of all, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy, after that I am offering my obeisance to all Guru-varga, all the worldwide acharyas, to all my God-brothers and sisters, to all devotees, listeners, and all of you praying for your mercy to this low soul.

Today is a very good day for us because today is the adhivas maha-mahotsav of our Sri Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama (grand festival in honour of the circumambulation of Sri Nabadwip Dham). We are present here by the side of Bhagavan Sri Nrisinghadev and we hope that by the mercy of Sri Nrisinghadev, by the mercy of Sri Sri Nitai Gaura, by the mercy of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar we may nicely start this parikrama from tomorrow, with eagerness, with heart and soul.

We have now got some opportunity to speak and to hear topics related to the Supreme Lord. I have told you before that we actually speak Hari-katha for our own selves—so that we ourselves can listen to it. It does not matter much whether others listen to it or not; the important thing is that we ourselves hear it—that we purify our own mind, heart, and soul.

When we worship Deities, we always check if the lamp, the chamar, the garland, etc. is clean or not, but we must ask ourselves, "Is my mind clean or not?" Always remember this. We have printed a small book called "Archan-kan" and there you will find a sloka called "nija-dhyan" (meditation on the self) it is also called "buddhi-suddhi" (self-purification). Before starting worshipping the Deities we must say, "My Lord! O Gurudev! O Guru Gauranga! May my mind, heart, and soul remain at Your feet!" This prayer must always stay in our hearts.

Anyhow, there is much that can be said and that also must be said. First of all, we must make ourselves clean, we must see how much we can practise Krishna consciousness ourselves. We say with our mouth, "Na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye (ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে). I do not want wealth, I do not want knowledge, I do not want beauty, I do not want to be a poet."

ধন জন আর কবিতা সুন্দরী
বলিব না চাহি দেহ-সুখকরী ।
জন্মে জন্মে দাও ওহে গৌরহরি
অহৈতুকী ভক্তি চরণে তোমার ॥

dhana jana ara, kavita-sundari,
baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari
janme janme dao, ohe gaurahari!
ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

"When will I declare that I do not desire wealth, followers, erudition, beautiful women, or any other bodily pleasure? O Gaurahari! Birth after birth, please give me unconditional devotion to Your feet."

(Saranagati)

We say all this with our mouth, but the main thing is to what extent can we actually manifest it in ourselves, to what extent can we apply this for ourselves? It is easy to say these things, but it is very difficult to practise these things in our life. You can say anything, but it is very difficult to apply, to experience these things in your own self. That is the main thing. We often say so many things, "Do this," "Do not do this," but how much can we follow it ourselves? To what extent do we practise it ourselves?

I have told you this before—you take initiation and think that you have got everything, but this is not so. When you take initiation, you only become enrolled into this school. When students are enrolled into a school, they must study and take an exam—when the exam's result comes, then you can see if they have studied for ten years or not and what they have learned. We are also like this. You have come here to practise Krishna consciousness, you have taken initiation, but this is only enrolment—some think they take initiation and that is sufficient, that they have got everything there is to get from Gurudev. They do not come for the parikrama, they do not come for festivals, neither do they keep any connection. They say, "I have got initiation, I have become great." This is not so. After you take initiation, you must practise, this is what we must always remember. You cannot become perfect without practice. Practice makes perfect. It is necessary to practise Krishna consciousness. That is why our Param Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj named our society "Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Krishna-anusilana Sangha." This is a place of "Bhakti-siddhanta-sravan-sadan"—a place where you should speak about devotion, listen about devotion, and practise devotion. We must always remember it, think about it and meditate on it.

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