Devotional Lifestyle

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 10 May 2020, part 1

Hare Krishna!

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra Prabhu ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Sri Shyama Kunda Radha Kunda Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I am very happy to see you all by the mercy of Gurudev. I think that everybody is still in lockdown, or quarantine, in their houses, practising Krishna consciousness properly. I am praying to Gurudev, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Nityananda Prabhu, to please protect all devotees, all our well-wishers. I pray that people all over the world overcome this situation and that it may be good for everyone because this situation actually teaches us patience, tolerance, humility. We can learn so many things if we try to learn.

It is necessary to practise properly and to control all our senses. We sing in the Vaishnav Giti song,

ছয় বেগ দমি' ছয় দোষ শোধি
ছয় গুণ দেহ দাসে ।

chhaya vega dami' chhaya dosa sodhi'
chhaya guna deha' dase

"Subjugate the six urges, rectify the six defects, and bestow the six good qualities upon this servant."

Srila Rupa Goswamipad composed a very good sloka in his Upadesamrita:

বাচো বেগং মনসঃ ক্রোধবেগং
জিহ্বাবেগমুদরোপস্থবেগম্ ।
এতান্ বেগান্ যো বিষহেত ধীরঃ
সর্বামপীমাং পৃথিবীং স শিষাৎ ॥

vacho vegam manasah krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etan vegan yo visaheta dhirah
sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat

"A sober person who can tolerate (1) the urge to speak, (2) the mind's demands, (3) the actions of anger and the urges of the (4) tongue, (5) belly and (6) genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world."

(Sri Upadesamrta, 1)

Those who are dhira (ধীর, who have a good brain, who are highly intelligent, sumedha, সুমেধা) can control, or tolerate, these six urges.

(1) 'Vacho-vegam' means the urge of speech. Is what you are saying related to Krishna consciousness? Is it related to devotional activities? It is necessary to think what you are talking about and to control what comes out of your mouth. You must understand, "Is what I am saying related to Krishna consciousness or is it other, nonsense things?" Try to avoid talking much prajalpa, talking much nonsense. It is necessary to control your speech.

(2) 'Manasa-vegam', or 'mano-vegam' means the urge of mind. Our mind is fickle and always goes everywhere. We can be sitting here, but our mind is wandering everywhere, going here, going there. Sometimes we cannot control our mind—I can be sitting here because of the lockdown, because of the quarantine, but my mind goes to other places. They cannot lockdown our minds—our mind goes everywhere. They can lockdown or quarantine our body, but the mind cannot be quarantined—our minds go everywhere. That is why it is necessary to always control your mind.

(3) 'Krodha-vegam' means the urge of anger. You are sitting here, it is boring, boring, boring, and sometimes you become angry thinking, "Oh, I cannot go out! I cannot do this! I cannot buy that! I cannot go to the market!" Sometimes anger comes, but in this situation you can try to control your anger.

(4) 'Jihva-vegam' is the urge of tongue. Sometimes, the market is open and you think, "Oh, I can buy this, I can eat this, that." I spoke to one non-devotee (they actually come to the temple sometimes, but they do not follow proper rules and regulations, they do some kind of Hinduism), and they complained to me, "Oh, Maharaj, we cannot go to the market!" I said, "Now you are very angry because you are not getting your meat and fish!" These things cause anger. You should control it. Your tongue wants to eat this, this, that, and you cannot control it, but it is necessary to try to control these things.

(5) 'Udara-vegam' means the urge of stomach: you are always hungry, your belly always wants something. And (6) 'upastha-vegam', the urge of genitals, or lust. You know what that it—you must control your lust.

Those who can control, who can tolerate and stop these urges, this kind of influence, who has that kind of symptom in their character—they can control the whole world. That is what Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu said.

Also, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote a poem about it:

গুরুকৃপা-বলে লভ’ সম্বন্ধ-বিজ্ঞান ।
কৃতিজীব হয়েন ভজনে যত্নবান্ ॥

guru-krpa-bale labha’ sambandha-vijnana
krti-jiva hayena bhajane yatnavana

It means that through Gurudev, by the mercy of Gurudev, you get the relationship with the Lord, and if you are a good practitioner, if you always follow all devotional processes, all rules and regulations, then you will take care of your practising life, you will try hard to practise by controlling these six urges.

বাক্যবেগ, মনোবেগ, ক্রোধবেগ আর ।
জিহ্বাবেগ উদর-উপস্থবেগ ছার ॥
এই ছয় বেগ সহি কৃষ্ণনামাশ্রয়ে ।
জগৎ শাসিতে পারে পরাজিয়া ভয়ে ॥

vakya-vega, mano-vega, krodha-vega ara
jihva-vega, udara-upastha-vega chhara
ei chhaya vega sahi krsna-nama-asraye
jagat sasite pare parajiya bhaye

Those who can tolerate these six urges and who take shelter of the Holy Name of Krishna, are always victorious (they can never be defeated) and can control the whole world.

And,

কেবল শরণাগতি কৃষ্ণভক্তিময় ।
ভক্তিপ্রতিকূল ত্যাগ তার অঙ্গ হয় ॥
ছয় বেগ সহি’ যুক্তবৈরাগ্য আশ্রয়ে ।
নামে অপরাধশূন্য হইবে নির্ভয়ে ॥

kevala saranagati krsna-bhakti-maya
bhakti-pratikula tyaga tara anga haya
chhaya vega sahi’ yukta-vairagya asraye
name aparadha-sunya haibe nirbhaye

"When you surrender exclusively and become endowed with devotion to Krishna, when rejecting all that is unfavourable to devotion becomes a part of your life, when you can tolerate these six urges taking shelter in proper renunciation, then you will become free from offences to the Holy Name and fearless."

You must surrender to the lotus feet of the Lord and become Krishna consciousness, become devoted to Krishna, and you must always reject that which is unfavourable to devotion.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur explains Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's verse in this way, it is a very nice expression. I was reading it today.

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