(5/15) Focus on the Lord

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kalarait (Kolkata), 4 December 2020, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Param Guru Maharaj wrote the pranam-mantra of Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur:

নিখিল-ভুবন-মায়া-ছিন্নবিচ্ছিন্নকর্ত্রী
বিবুধবহুল-মৃগ্যা-মুক্তি-মোহান্ত-দাত্রী ।
শিথিলিত-বিধি-রাগারাধ্য-রাধেশ-ধানী
বিলসতু হৃদি নিত্যং ভক্তিসিদ্ধান্ত-বাণী ॥

nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chhinnavichchhinna-kartri
vibudhabahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-datri
sithilita-vidhi-raga-radhya-radhesa-dhani
vilasatu hrdi nityam bhakti-siddhanta-vani

'He slashed to shreds the illusion of the whole material universe, putting a stop to scholarly speculations and conceptions of liberation; he eased the strict rules and regulations, bestowing the conception of natural loving worship of the Divine Love—may the devotional teachings of this Sri Bhaktisiddhanta play eternally in your heart.'

(Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

Srila Prabhupad relaxed the strict rules and regulations. For example, people used to fast for three days on ekadasi (the day before, the ekadasi day and the day after), and mostly ladies were forced to fast. Srila Prabhupad said, 'No. Fast until midday, after that you can take anukalpa. You do not need to fast without any food and water (nirjala). If you can fast and do your service, then you can fast; otherwise, leave it and take anukalpa.' That is why it is said that Srila Prabhupad relaxed the strict rules. He also declared a totalitarian war against Maya. You can ask, 'How can sadhus be fighting?' Yes, they can! Who do they fight against? Against Maya, illusory environment. How do they fight? Their weapons are the Holy Name and kirtan, their associates (sangopanga) and drums and karatals. Rescuing those who have fallen into material bondage, they fight to take these souls to the Lord. That is why it is said that this world is a battlefield. Through Harinam-sankirtan, we fight to bring people to this path. Such sadhus' kirtan is not some asta-prahar kirtan or some sahajiya kirtan where people come, sing for some money and go away. Why do we come to people's houses? We come to chant kirtan so that kirtan stays in the house. For example, devotees chant kirtan and offer bhog at this house, so this house has been turned into a temple. Always remember these things.

Anyhow, I have spoken a lot. Let us chant some kirtan now. Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Sri Guru-charana-padma', 'Sri Krsna Chaitanya Prabhu daya kara more', 'Ohe Vaisnava Thakura dayara sagara', 'Nitai-pada-kamala', 'Emana durmati', 'Jaya Radha Madhava' and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

দিনের মধ্যে আবল-তাবল
কত পচাল পাড়িতে পর
তার মধ্যে কি একবার
গোবিন্দ বলিতে নার ?!

dinera madhye abala-tabala
kata pachala padite para
tara madhye ki eka-bara
govinda balite nara ?!

'How much nonsense you can talk every day! How many idle talks you have! Can you not say the Name of Govinda even once?'

How much people talk... You must only chant the Holy Name. Mahaprabhu said,

যদি আমা'-প্রতি স্নেহ থাকে সবাকার ।
তবে কৃষ্ণ-ব্যতিরিক্ত না গাইবে আর ॥

yadi ama'-prati sneha thake sabakara
tabe krsna-vyatirikta na gaibe ara

'If you have any love and affection for Me, then only say "Krishna"—do not say anything except "Krishna".'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.28.27)

But we wake up and spend the whole day talking only about food and clothes. The Lord says, 'I have given you a tongue and a mouth only so that you can chant the Holy Name, but you are not doing it! I will send you into a body where you can only eat! I will send you to the family of cows (goru-kula): you will become a cow and only eat grass the whole day.' So, stop all your idle talks and only chant the Holy Name of Krishna. Say together with me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

When any other talks start, say, 'Krishna, Krishna'.

দিনের মধ্যে আবল-তাবল
কত পচাল পাড়িতে পর
তার মধ্যে কি একবার
গোবিন্দ বলিতে নার ?!

dinera madhye abala-tabala
kata pachala padite para
tara madhye ki eka-bara
govinda balite nara ?!

'How much nonsense you can talk every day! How many idle talks you have! Can you not say the Name of Govinda even once?'

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

'My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We sing every morning also:

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

'Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Continue your life trying your best to take shelter of the Name.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We do not prohibit you to do your work (to carry on your life). There are different kinds of devotion. There is karma-misra bhakti, jnana-misra bhakti, jnana-sunya bhakti and jnana-sunya suddha-bhakti. Karma-misra bhakti is better than worshiping various gods and goddesses. In this world, people worship gods, but there are 330,000,000 gods – how many can you worship? Maybe eight, ten or fifteen. Is it not so? People worship Shani, Manasa, Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Saraswati, Visvakarma and so on.

একলা ঈশ্বর কৃষ্ণ, আর সব ভৃত্য ।
যারে যৈছে নাচায়, সে তৈছে করে নৃত্য ॥

ekala isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya
yare yaiche nachaya, se taichhe kare nrtya

'Lord Krishna is the only supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.5.142)

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

'Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

If you worship Krishna, you do not have to worship anybody else because if you worship Krishna, the worship of all other gods is automatically accomplished.

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Language: Bengali

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