World of Spiritual Practice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
6 March 2020, part 2, translated from Bengali

You have heard today about three more islands (Sri Antardwip, Sri Simantadwip, and Sri Rudradwip), but we did not get to go to Rudradwip because it is a little far and if we had gone there, we would have returned late at night. Also, it is ekadasi yesterday—it is a dvadasi day, but we observe ekadasi (fast) today and you have become very tired. That is why I did not want to take much time, but still we returned only in the evening. In some places, we had to hurry and we did not get chance to sit and speak. As we were walking, chanting kirtan, the time came to take prasadam, after that we returned here by our buses. If we had walked back, we would have returned only late in the evening.

We have done the parikrama of Antardwip today—you have heard that this is the island of atma-nivedanam (surrender, or saranagati). There are nine devotional practices, one of which is atma-nivedanam. The nine devotional practices are sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, pada-sevanam, archanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering the Lord, serving the Lord's lotus feet, worshipping the Deity of the Lord, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission). These nine devotional processes are represented on the nine islands of Nabadwip. Antardwip is in the middle, and the other eight islands are on the four sides of the middle. You can buy the book Sri Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-Mukta-Mala and see the picture—it is shown here the eight islands on all four sides, and in the middle is Antardwip.

We have visited many places today—we have been to Chandrasekhara Acharya's house (where Chaitanya Math is). Chandrasekhara Acharya is Nimai's uncle. We have been to Nandan Acharya's house. We have been to Simantadwip also, it is the island of sravan (hearing). Godrumdwip, where we are now, is the island of kirtan (chanting). We have also spoken about the glories of Rudradwip. Rudradwip is the island of sakhya, service in the mood of friendship.

You have been walking so much past two days, but tomorrow is the parikrama of Nabadwip (Nabadwip Town, Koladwip), so we will return quickly. Koladwip is aparadh-bhanjan pat and the island of pada-sevanam (serving the lotus feet of the Lord).

কুলিয়াতে পাষণ্ডীরা অত্যাচার কৈল যা'রা
তা সবার দোষ ক্ষমা করি ।
জগতে কৈলে ঘোষণা 'তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা'
হন 'কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥'

kuliyate pasandira atyachara kaila ya'ra
ta sabara dosa ksama kari'
jagate kaile ghosana 'taroriva sahisnuna'
hana 'kirtaniyah sada harih'

"You forgave all the atheists of Kuliya village, despite their bad behaviour. Loudly you proclaimed to one and all: one who is more tolerant than a tree can always chant the glories of Lord Hari."

Tomorrow is the parikrama of Koladwip. We will try to give prasad at the paran time, and then we will return here by bus. We should come back by ten-eleven o'clock and you will be able to rest a little.

You have heard today in Sri Gaura-Nityananda mandir (Nandan Acharya Bhavan) about the meeting of Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu. When Mahaprabhu saw Nityananda Prabhu, They both became overwhelmed with divine love—They embraced each other tightly and fell on the ground. That moment was Their first meeting.

When you were in Vrindavan, you heard many times the glories of Sri Madhavendra Puri, whose disappearance day is today. We always sit on the bank of Govinda Kunda and talk about him. We remember how he got the service to Gopal, how Gopal stole ksir (sweet rice) for him and after that got the name 'Ksir-chora' Gopinath. That Gopinath's temple is in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. This Madhavendra Puri's disappearance day is today, on dvadasi.

Do you know what is the most important thing? The main thing is that we must practise Krishna consciousness... The problem is that we cannot tolerate anything, we have little patience, little tolerance. Today, when I came downstairs, I saw that one old lady was sitting and eating muri (puffed rice). Just think about it! She is sixty-seventy years old, but she is eating muri on ekadasi! So much prasadam was given today—if she wanted, I could have given her a whole bucket of potato, a whole bucket of fruit. When you fast on ekadasi, you get spiritual benefit. Even Mahaprabhu told His mother to follow ekadasi. If you fast on ekadasi one day, what is the problem? When you are admitted to hospital, the day before the operation, you are given saline drips the whole day—at that time you do not eat any rice, you do not eat anything at all. If you eat rice on ekadasi, it means you are eating sin—eating rice on ekadasi is the same as eating cow meat. You must not take any grains on ekadasi—there are five types of grains that are prohibited on this day (rice, wheat, barley, pulses, mustard/sesame oil). It is only one day, and not only that—there is so much anukalpa prasad that you can take. You can take so many other things—fruit, paneer, milk, subji, etc. Can you not manage without grains? If you try, you definitely can.

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