Take Care

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
6 March 2020, part 3, translated from Bengali

We have no enthusiasm, no eagerness to chant the Holy Name. Some say, "I cannot chant," but the question is—is it that you cannot chant or is it that do you not want to chant? Sometimes I call out someone's name saying, "You chant now, I will listen," but they do not chant—they only keep talking. You always think about food, clothes, women, about your wife, sons, daughters, you always nurture and care for your relatives, but I feel much pain seeing this plight of the jiva souls. How will they ever get relief?

Mahaprabhu once asked Srila Haridas Thakur, "How will all the yavans [people of other beliefs] be rescued in this age?" Srila Haridas Thakur replied, "Namabhase mukti paibe. They will be liberated through Nama-abhas (chanting the shadow of the Holy Name)." If somebody chants the Holy Name, even if it is negligently, they can get benefit. You can see the example of Chand Kazi. You know that Muslim people would not take the Name of Rama, but they always say, "Haram [abonimable, unacceptable]." They call some unacceptable food "haram", when they hear about a pig or pig's meat, they also say "haram". Yet Mahaprabhu took it in such a way that "haram" can also mean "Ha Ram! [O Rama!]" In this way, through Nama-abhasa, they can get liberated. So, when Chand Kazi broke a mridanga at the house of Srivas Pandit and Mahaprabhu heard about this, He was sad, "How will all these rich, distressed people get benefit? They do not think how to get relief from this illusion and suffering?" Such is our position—we do not think about it...

How many people from Nabadwip know about Mahaprabhu these days? When I was telling you about Simantadwip, I told you that when they celebrate Durga-puja behind our temple in Kolkata, they put up posters of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Vivekananda, Rama Krishna Paramahamsa, Subhas Chandra Bose, Mamata, Narendra Modi, Indira Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, and along with all these pictures they also place Mahaprabhu. They think Mahaprabhu was an ordinary man, a sannyasi. Who understands Mahaprabhu these days? Everybody says it is "dol purnima" but we never say that—we always say it is "Gaura Purnima." I went to the market the other day to bring some things here, and I saw them selling sacks and sacks of coloured powder (abir/gulal). You must not do wrong—do not do all these things. Do not play with colours. Never make this mistake, and do not go outside on this day (Gaura Purnima). Stay only here. These colours and this play are dirty. People see some pretty girls and want to play with them, but this is bad. Come to the temple early in the morning and do not go outside. If you are staying outside, stay in your room and come here at three-four o'clock (tomorrow is a fasting day), but do not come out in the morning from eight o'clock until one in the afternoon. In the name of playing, you will only become dirty.

Try to always remember what I am saying. Also, during the parikrama I heard that many devotees have lost money today (dollars, rupees, etc.). How does this happen? Because you keep your bags behind, then two people come—one pushes, and one takes the bag away. Do not keep your bags behind, always keep your things in front of you. You must be always careful. Your money is Gurudev's money, Lord's money, so always take care.

You know, Gurudev did not give me little money—he gave me millions of rupees, and I have never ever lost even one rupee. I even faced robbers in my life, but fortunately I could find a way to escape them. The Lord gives the intelligence—when you surrender to the Lord, the Lord teaches you what to do. When I was making the temple in Bamupara, there was a robbery in a bus (at that time I used to go there by bus, I did not have a car)—I was returning late in the evening and some robbers attacked the bus. I jumped out of the bus and sat quietly at the bus stop. Later, after everything got quiet, I came out of the bus stop and started walking. Only one time in my life, when I was studying at university, some pickpocket stole twenty rupees from my pocket. I made such a fuss at that time—I went to the bus driver and said to him, "You have pickpockets in your bus, and you must be a part of their gang! If you do not stop all this, I will set your bus on fire!" The driver got scared and gave me my twenty rupees back! In my life, that was the only time my money was stolen.

I do not know how people can steal so much money—somebody lost one million rupees, one and a half million rupees, etc. I guess when you have too much attachment to money, the Lord takes that money away and makes you unhappy, but if your money gets stolen, you must not be upset—you must think, "OK, it was all Maya, and not the Lord has taken it away. The Lord has taken my last wealth."

Tomorrow we are going to do the parikrama of Koladwip. Always practise Krishna consciousness—having taken shelter of a bona fide Guru, you must practise Krishna consciousness. This is the main thing in our life. There are so many gurus in this world, but when the guru is himself sitting in a hole, how can he pull you out of there? There are so many kaulik, laukik gurus in this world, but there are very few bona fide spiritual masters. People get proud, "Oh, I have taken initiation!" but when I asked them why they eat and fish then, they say, "My guru said I can eat it!" Such gurus are bogus. Such gurus are not gurus. They are Guru-Maya. I wrote about this in one of my books. If you read Guidance 4, you will see that this book is mostly about guru-tattva and how to become a disciple. Read it. It is written there what the duty of a disciple is. Initiation is not just taking the mantra. It is necessary to take the mantra, no doubt, but initiation is not only taking the mantra. Remember this. It is necessary to take shelter of a bona fide guru. A disciple will always follow the disciplining of his guru—he always takes the disciplining of his guru on his head.

Do you remember how Nityananda Prabhu gives mercy? Srila Raghunath Das Goswami made the chira-dahi mahotsav and asked Him for His mercy, and Nityananda Prabhu put His legs on his head saying, "Yes, now you have got mercy! You can go now." Sivananda Sen had worked so hard, had done so much, and Nityananda Prabhu got hungry—Sivananda Sen got a little late and did not give Him food timely, and Nityananda Prabhu became angry and cursed Sivananda Sen's sons to die. Hearing this, Sivananda Sen's wife began to cry, "This sadhu has cursed my sons to die! What will happen now?!" But Sivananda Sen came and said, "Prabhu, it is all my fault. I did wrong, because of me You had to suffer," and when Nityananda Prabhu heard this, He kicked Sivananda Sen's head! Sivananda Sen's nephew saw this and got angry, "What kind of sadhu is He?" He went straight to complain about it to Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu understood what had happened, and by Mahaprabhu's influence, Srikantha could not say anything when he came. In the meantime, when Nityananda Prabhu kicked Sivananda Sen, Sivananda Sen began to dance, "I have been serving for so many days, and today I have got the result!" So, if Gurudev chastises you, this is your mercy—he chastises you for your own good. He always thinks about your benefit. He warns you, "You are going the wrong way, this is not the way of devotion." If you are driving a car and start turning the wheel to one side, Gurudev warns you and tells you to turn to another side. You must take it well. When pratistha or some material desires come to you, when your mood becomes bad, you must become very careful at this time—you are in danger. And Gurudev warns you about it. Beware!

Always remember this. I will not take more time now, others will speak now, and I would like to take some rest. I came today together with you in a bus because my car broke on the way, so I managed to catch the last bus and came here with you all. You can see how foolish this is—the driver saw the old car was faulty, he could have taken the new one (what if we could not return from the parikrama?). What would have happened if there were no buses? Anyway, the Lord always takes care of everything. I have faith that whatever danger I face, the Lord always protects me. It was the last bus—the other buses saw my car broke, but they did not stop (they did not think, "Oh, Maharaj is standing on the road, something must have happened"). No matter what danger happens, the Lord protects me—I always see this. My Gurudev is always with me, so no matter what danger comes, nothing will ever happen. I know that when I go, I will feel it is time for me to go, then I will tell everybody and leave. Anyhow, I am finishing here,

বাঞ্ছাকল্পতরুভ্যশ্চ কৃপাসিন্ধুভ্য এব চ ।
পতিতানাং পাবনেভ্যো বৈষ্ণবেভ্যো নমো নমঃ ॥

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

"Again and again I offer my obeisance unto the Supreme Lord's devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy, and wish-fulfilling trees."

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