Dham-Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
6 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)

[Noise.] Have you not just now sung kirtans? Why are you chatting now? When kirtans are going on, you are quiet, but as soon as kirtans finish, then all the nonsense talks start. You are making an offence in front of the Lordships. I keep telling you all the time:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely. Do not expect honour, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Krishna, and within your mind serve Radha and Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

This is Mahaprabhu's teaching. You have come to the abode of Mahaprabhu to observe, to celebrate His appearance festival, to circumambulate His abode—do you think that you do not need to follow Mahaprabhu's order?

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

"Just saying, 'I am Gora's! I am Gora's!' does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।

গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

Gora knows everything, He knows what you have come here for. You are doing dham-parikrama, visting various temples—the Lord, Gora (Mahaprabhu) know what purpose you have come with.

Do we have the eyes to take the darshan of the Lord?

অন্ধীভূত চক্ষু যার বিষয ধূলিতে ।
কিরূপে সে পরতত্ত্ব পাইবে দেখিতে ॥

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite
ki rupe se para-tattva paibe dekhite

"Our eyes have become blind by the dust of visaya, the material world—how can we see the transcendental world?"

Our eyes are blind with the dust of material world—do we have the capacity or right to have the darshan of the Lord (to see the Lord)? You may have it, but I do not. It is necessary to see the Lord with your heart, and it is necessary to see sadhus with your ears. You cannot see a sadhu with your eyes. You must listen to Bhagavat-katha with your ears.

You are doing this dham-parikrama as a result of a great fortune, but if you come to a holy place and make offence, then you are in a big danger. There are dham-aparadh, seva-aparadh, etc. It is all written in our calendar. Please take the calendars home—you can see there when our Math has festivals, you can always check it and know it. We have festivals in different temples—sometimes there are festivals in Tarakeswar, sometimes in Ekachakra, Ganga Sagar, Nrisingha Palli, Puri, Vrindavan. If you join different festivals observed in different holy places, if you keep good association and live according to the precepts of good association, then you can reach the same destination that the sadhus reach.

On the other hand, if you keep doing wrong, only keep talking, where will that take you? "Kothay chhilam, hetay elam, kothay yabo bhavi nai (কোথায় ছিলাম, হেথায় এলাম, কোথায় যাব ভাবি নাই): where I was, where I came, where I will go—I do not know." Think about it, where will you go then? Having got this human birth now, do you think you will get it again? Many will not. Many will have to be demoted, not promoted. We were reading today at Madhai Ghat—Jagai and Madhai committed so many sins, but we are much more sinful than they are, we are much greater offenders than they are because we make seva-aparadh, dham-aparadh, Vaishnav-aparadh, etc.

Therefore, take this holy abode on your head—it means you must not walk here on your feet, you must walk here on your head. You must walk here with your heart. Every single particle of dust here is the holy dust from the lotus feet of Vaishnavs and great souls who are here in Sri Nabadwip Dham. All demigods, demigoddesses who people worship—Durga, Kali, Laksmi, et. al.—they all come here and roll in the holy dust of this abode, but we do not have such eyes, that is why we cannot see it...

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