Go Forward

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 26 April 2020, part 6

Question: In Guidance 4, you mention Sripad Prabhu, and I was wondering who is Sripad Prabhu?

[His Divine Grace laughs.] I do not want to mention that name. Gurudev told me one thing—when you give a lecture, you should mention the name, but when you write a book or write anything, you will never mention the name.

Question: What is the proper approach to the Deities' service at home?

Wake up early in the morning, go to the bathrom, brush your teeth, and wear clean clothes. After that, first you will recite the mantra to wake up the Deities (you can find it in Archan-kan), then give some signal by clapping your hands—this is how Deities are awakened. If you have proper Deities, give them the paraphernalia—for example, if it is Krishna, give Him His flute, etc. After that, start the mangal arati. After mangal arati, make an offering—offer some some sweets or anything else, depending on what you have in your house. After the offering, do archan—you can do it at any time in the morning, when you get time. Then, offer bhog at noon, by twelve o'clock. After that it is resting time—when you put your Deities to rest, you must take off their garland, take away the flute, etc. and leave them to rest. In the afternoon, again wake the Deities up (clap your hands), and offer them some fruit. In the evening, do the evening arati and then offer bhog. Cook something and offer it. You must offer all kinds of food, with Tulasi leaves. At night time, [again remove the paraphernalia and] recite the sayan mantra (you can see it in Archan-kan), put the Deities to sleep. This is the whole day programme. This is how you must serve Deities.

Question: Should we do all this in our houses, following all the proper time?

Actually, that is why Gurudev, and I also, say that it is very difficult to keep Deities in your house. It is always a problem because all householder devotees work outside and cannot worship Deities properly. That is why it is better if you can get a picture—if you sometimes cannot do everything properly, it is not a problem because that picture comes from a temple (for example, if you worship Gaura Nitai, these Deities' picture comes from Ekachakra, or if you worship Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda-sundar, they are present in Nabadwip or Siliguri), and every temple worships these Deities every day, so even if you go out to work, even if you go to your relatives' house and sometimes cannot do the offering properly, then there will not be offence. But if you keep Deities in your house, you must do everything every day and following proper time.

[His Divine Grace addresses another devotee:]

I see you are becoming old... You are doing so much garden work—farm work, cows, garden—living there and becoming old... You must make a guesthouse for devotees. OK? This is the main thing—if devotees do not live there, then what is this? Our line is devotees' service, to always serve devotees. Even if you make an ashram, you must build a good guesthouse so that devotees can stay there. That will be good for you.

Question: I am a student and go to university—how can I practise properly? How can I fight against maya in my heart?

Practise sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam (hearing, chanting, remembering, praying and offering obeisances). Keep good association, sadhu-sanga. Chant the Holy Name, Nama-sankirtan. Read books, listen to lectures of our guru-varga. This is how you can practise.

Everybody is now staying at home—what are you all doing? It is necessary to write, to read. You have got this time now—Krishna has given you this time to practise. So, chant the Holy Name, chant all bhajans, kirtans, read books. This is our practising life! If you have some proper service, you can do that service. You can do every single service for the Deities. You can make garlands, you can do Tulasi service, make a Tulasi garden, make a flower garden—do whatever you can according to your capacity. You must give everything to the Lord—you must give yourself to the Lord. Jump to the Lord and give everything to Him!

As for overcoming maya (illusion), if you chant the Holy Name, if you are conscious of it, then you can overcome maya. Actually, you know that "daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya" (দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া, Bg, 7.14)—it is very difficult to control maya, to control material desires, but if you surrender properly to your Guru, to Krishna, the Lord, then maya will automatically run away from you. Also, if you have some bad desires, as soon as you feel some bad desire is coming to your mind, you must nip it in the bud—avoid it from the beginning, from the root.

I am finishing today. I am praying to the Lord that everybody may stay together and in good health and that everybody may practise properly. Always remember our Gurudev's teachings. Remember what Gurudev told and keep it in your mind—you must go forward, you must do service to please him. Dandavat.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay!
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Hari bol. Hari bol.

— : • : —

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