Adjustment of Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 26 July 2020, part 4

Question: Could you please help me understand the origin of anxiety and how I should properly channel it?

I have told just now that you must place and keep everything—anxiety, selfishness, everything—at Gurudev's lotus feet. Throw everything at your Gurudev's lotus feet. You are the property of your Guru, you are not anybody else's property. So, whatever you have—your anxiety, your heart, mind problems, etc.—give everything to your Guru, place everything at his lotus feet. He will take care of you, do not worry.

Question: Because of the coronavirus, I had to move in with some relatives. They are not devotees, and I do not feel good about living with them.

First you must take care of your own health because the question is not that you moved in with a nondevotee, the main question is that you can be attacked by coronavirus, so if that helps you to cope with the virus, you must tolerate it.

If they are not devotees, you can preach to them, you can practise and chant there. Devotees always practise wherever they go. Others also can see your practice and they can understand something. We also sometimes go for preaching and stay one-two days in some houses. For example, we go for preaching before Gaura Purnima and we stay in some nondevotees' houses—we stay there, do kirtan, speak Hari-katha, and they gradually become devotees.

One time, Srila Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj accidentally went to beg in the prostitutes' quarter. He did not know Kolkata and went there by mistake. After that, he came back to the temple crying. Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked him what had happened, and Srila Bon Maharaj told the truth, he said, "I am lost! I did a bad thing today—I have been to a prostitutes' quarter!" Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarawati Thakur told him, "What problem is it that you went there? You did not go there for your own enjoyment. You went there for collection and we will use the money that these prostitutes gave for the service of our Guru and the Lord. Tell me, am I also doing wrong? I bring so many brahmacharis and sannyasis—they do not come from the sky, they all come from somebody's house, from the house of some material people. I turn them into brahmacharis and sannyasis and then again send them to the houses of materialists to preach to them. Am I doing wrong too?" Then, Srila Bon Maharaj understood it and he felt very happy to hear that from Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

So, if you are staying with some nondevotees for some purpose, you are not going to stay there for a long time, so you can stay there, but you must practise there—you must chant, etc. You can also talk to those nondevotees, you can try to preach to them. What is the problem?

Question: I am twelve years old, how can I be a better devotee and do more service?

Whether you are twelve or three years old, that is not a question. Narayani Devi got Mahaprabhu's mercy when she was only three and a half years old. Direct mercy of Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu came to her as a result of which she got such a son as Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur—Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur was born from her womb. So, try to practise properly, follow what your parents tell you. Serve in this way. Try to practise. You are vegetarian from your birth, you are a great soul, so try to practise, chant the Holy Name.

Are there any other questions?

Question: Because of the coronavirus I lost my job and took a job as a babysitter, but I have to prepare food with meat for the children. I beg your forgiveness. This is the only job I could find right now. What should I do?

What can you do? Try to find another service, then you must leave this kind of service. You can do this type of service right now. I know it is very difficult to get a new service at this moment, in the present situation, so what can you do? You are not doing it actually with heart and soul, you are forced to do this because of this situation, so Krishna will forgive your offence...

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