(2/15) Live in Hari-Katha

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kalarait (Kolkata), 4 December 2020, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Remembering the holy feet of our gurus, Vaishnavs and the Lord, we listen to and speak about the holy instructions emanating from their holy mouths to make them happy, just as when Raya Ramananda spoke to Mahaprabhu about the Lord, he did so to please Mahaprabhu. Why do you come to hear Hari-katha, to hear about the Lord, about Sri Krishna? You come to hear it because the more time you spend listening to it, the more benefit you will get (provided you listen to it properly).

Spend whatever time you get listening about the Lord, then you will see that your heart will become purified. Then, if your heart becomes pure – if all impurities leave your heart – the Lord, or Vaishnavs, will stay in it. For example, you have given us some place to sit here today, but if you had sacks of rice, wheat, flour and other things piled up here, there would be no place for us to sit. It is the same with the Lord. We have much dirt in our hearts: kanak (money), kamini (women), pratistha (fame), kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (illusion), mada (madness), matsarya (envy). Kama means desires: we always want so many things, we always accumulate things and want more, more, more. Krodha means anger. Lobha means greed, avarice: we want to eat more and more, we want to have more clothes, we want to live in a bigger house (first, in a single-storey house, then in a two-storey, in a five-storey and so on). Moha means being captivated by the material world.

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

'May I have the same love and attraction to Your holy feet that I now have for material things.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You love your sons, daughters, wives and other family, but you must have this kind of love for Vaishnavs and the Lord. We must love devotees because the Lord Himself says how you can come to Him. He says, 'If somebody says, "I am a devotee of Krishna," they can never be My devotee. But if somebody is a devotee of My devotee, then I will take their worship.' In other words, the Lord is saying, 'I accept the worship only from servants of Vaishnavs, servants of My devotees; I do not accept anybody else's worship.' Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 'I live in the hearts of My devotees. My devotees do not know anyone except Me, and I also do not know, do not recognise anyone except My devotees.' Many of you say, 'Oh, the Lord does not hear me.' Why will he hear you? What does the Lord say?

ষড়ঙ্গ শরণাগতি হইবে যাঁহার ।
তাঁহার প্রার্থনা শুনে শ্রীনন্দকুমার ॥

sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yahara
tahara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

'Lord Krishna hears the prayers of those who surrender in six ways.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The Lord hears those who have humility, who can surrender to devotees. 'I have much money', 'I have much property', 'I have much wealth', 'I have many cars', 'I have many houses' – this is not humility. Humility means 'I have nothing', 'I cannot do anything', 'I have no power.' We sing in one of the kirtans also:

শক্তিবুদ্ধিহীন আমি অতি দীন
কর মোরে আত্মসাথ ॥

sakti-buddhi-hina ami ati dina
kara more atma-satha

'I have no power, no intelligence, I am very poor. Please hijack me.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'My Lord, I have no power, no intelligence. Please hijack me!' Why do sadhus come to you all? To hijack you. They do not come to hijack your money, houses, cars, wealth. They come to hijack you. You have fallen into material bondage, so sadhus come to rescue you from this material bondage and take you to your own home. You may think, 'I already have my home here. I have my car, my house, my family here.' But when you close your eyes (when you die), where will all that go? Where will your house go? Where will your family go? Think about it. We forgot our own address. This body belongs to this material world, but the living entity who speaks in that body and says, 'This is my house,' is a soul (atma). When we die, the soul leaves the body and goes away.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Demolish Wall of Ego
2) Live in Hari-Katha
3) Do Not Waste Time
4) Waiting—Not Wanting
5) Focus on the Lord
6) Stepping over Liberation
7) Beyond Karma-Misra Bhakti
8) Evading Maya's World
9) Descend of Scriptures
10) Please Come Home!
11) Do Not Live Like Outside People
12) Fruits of faith
13) Pure Sankirtan in Pure Association
14) Covet All, Lose All
15) Kali-Yuga Brahmans