(1/11) Grave Warning

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, Basirhat, noon programme,
14 December 2020, part 1

Everything except for Hari-katha is nonsense talk. If you cannot control your urge to speak and insult, criticise and gossip about others, you can never progress on the path of devotion. Those who discuss others' character, will get no spiritual benefit – they will not advance on the path of devotion.

It is also said in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata:

কাহারে না করে নিন্দা, ‘কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ’ বলে ।
অজেয় চৈতন্য সেই জিনিবেক হেলে ॥

kahare na kare ninda, 'krsna krsna' bale
ajeya chaitanya sei jinibeka hele

'Those who do not offend anyone and always chant the Holy Name of Lord Kṛṣṇa conquer unconquerable Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.10.312)

If you criticise others, you will not be able to conquer Chaitanya. At the same time, it is easy to get Him. Sri Chaitanya does not give mercy to those who offend others and the universe.

Even thought Jagai and Madhai had commited many sins, but they were not offenders of Vaishnavs (they did not criticise Vaishnavs). Yes, they beat Nityananda Prabhu, but if they had not done this, then Nityananda Prabhu's glory would not have been revealed in this world. Jagai and Madhai were sinners (they harassed people, they raped and murdered), but they did not make any offence to Vaishnavs.

Criticising others destroys devotion and invites a total ruination of one's devotional life. You can chant twenty-five thousand Holy Names, fifty thousand Holy Names, or a hundred thousand Holy Names, but if you criticise somebody with this same tongue, what result will you get then? You cannot chant the Holy Name with this kind of tongue. Even if you chant a hundred thousand Holy Names, it will be only letters, alphabet – not the real Name.

If you eat rice, you feel full, but if you eat some chanachur (snacks) when you are hungry, will it fill your stomach? It will not, it will only spoil your health. This is called mukharochok (মুখরোচক): pleasant to the taste but empty. You eat such things because you like the taste, but if you eat it on empty stomach, it will cause stomachache. So, just as you like the taste of snacks but it never fills your stomach, you also like to hear about others' holes or to see others' holes, but you will never get spiritual benefit because of this. You will only keep going in circles – whatever you get by practising hearing, chanting, etc., will be spoilt. Seeing others' faults destroys everything: it destroys your good qualities, and when you see others' faults, those faults will come to you. Great souls never criticise others, rather they praise Vaishnavs. Great souls never tell Vaishnavs' faults, even if they hear or see some fault, they never speak about it.

Those who themselves suffer from lust, are hen-pecked, mix freely with women and extremely uncontrolled are themselves in a big trouble, that is why they see others' faults and speak out loud about them. Those who have a problem and cannot see their own innumerable faults see many holes in others. Have you ever seen a camel? We had one at our temple in Nabadwip. Camels eat plants that have thorns. Their tongues bleed, but they do not stop eating. In the same way, hearing and speaking about others' faults is inauspicious, but people still continue talking about it and listening to it. They do not think that it is harming them – like camels, they continue eating thorns and do not care that their tongues are bleeding.

I wrote this example in Guidance, Volume 4. I personally wrote this book, please read it. I have not told you those things before. When I wrote it, I often stayed up until twelve or two o'clock at night, writing. When my hand was bad, it was painful to write, but now it is better, so I can write. Before, my hand would tremble, and I could not bear it. Now my hand is better, so I can write myself. I write a few words, my hand starts paining – I take some rest and start writing again. I am actually looking for a Bengali person now. I am gradually getting old, and I would like to go out less. So, I want to find a Bengali person who would stay near me and would be able to write in Bengali. If I do not find such a person, it is not a problem: some foreigners have now learnt Bengali, they can also do it.

So, just as camels eat thorns and cannot stop eating even though their tongues bleed, people come to practise Krishna consciousness, but they cannot stop criticising others, insulting others – such people are hopeless, they will never get any spiritual benefit. Practitioners must proceed on the path of devotion very carefully. If you cannot heed this warning and roam around criticising others, you are chopping off your own leg. Hole-searchers and fault-finders happily walk around criticising others left and right.

Many say, 'We see that he is stealing prasadam. I am telling the truth, what fault is there in saying it?' The fault is in telling this truth – it is the fault of speech. Who ate it will get the result, but because you go around telling about his fault to everybody, you will be harmed even more. Even if you see somebody do wrong, you must not talk about it (they eat it, so they will get the result – it is not your business to tell others about it).

Even if such fault-finders take shelter of a bona fide guru and keep good association, they will not get the result – they will just go in circles, ending up in the middle of nowhere. They become cheated, deceived in their lives. You must not see others' faults, you must not hear about others' faults – and even if you see or hear about somebody's faults, you must not speak about it. Somebody steals food from the storehouse. Are you the controller? 'I saw him steal, I have told the truth, what is my fault?' The fault is in telling this truth – this is what leads to ruination and the downfall of the practitioner. Whatever good thing you do, no matter how much you chant the Holy Name with this tongue, you will get no benefit. You will only move forward down the path of inauspiciousness, trouble and death. Those who do not heed this warning are very unfortunate. You must heed this warning.

If you take shelter of an ancestral guru or a false guru, then there is nobody who can save you from the hands of inauspiciousness. However, a bona fide guru gives a danger signal – he gives the right advice at the right time. If you listen to the advice or guidance of your guru, you will be benefitted. Those who do not listen to it fall down. Suppose lust, anger arise in your mind and you become disturbed – no matter how much you practise devotional activities, you will be falling down. Lust makes one lose all Vedic, or devotional, knowledge. I see also that even highly educated people fall prey to lust. I feel shy to say this about Indian people. There was recently a court case in Madras. Overcome with lust, a brother impregnated his own sister, and the court ruled that they had to live as a married couple now. This is the family life of this material world. When lust arises, people lose their minds and behave like madmen. I saw in the newspaper just one–two days ago that a wife went to the market with her husband, and when she came back, seventeen drunk boys caught her and raped her one by one. This is what is happening... When lust arises, people become mad – they only think whom to beat, whom to kick, whom to chastise, whom to kill. No matter what you tell them, they will not see the light.

When lust and anger arise in your mind and you become disturbed – no matter how much you practise devotional activities, you will be falling down. You can see how many good qualities one has, how much service one does, but if you criticise others, the result will be your falldown. If you speak about another person's hole, that fault will come to you and it will be a hundred times stronger. Be very careful and follow what a bona fide guru prescribes.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Grave Warning
2) Pull of Material Life
3) Awakening Inner Longing
4) Private Service Stays Private
5) Universal Religion
6) On Others' Offences
7) Unburden Yourself
8) Benefactor's Gift
9) Exclusive Path
10) Behind Closed Doors
11) Unbending Stance