(2/11) Pull of Material Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, Basirhat, noon programme,
14 December 2020, part 2

[Addressing a devotee] What did you cook for the Lord in the morning? Did you cook rice?

Devotee: Yes.

You have fallen into the burning agony of the misery of material life, have you not?... The more material life attacks you, the stronger its hold is.

Devotee: It is said in the scriptures that we must worry about the Lord, then the Lord will take care of everything. But we still have to take care of the family, etc.

[His Divine Grace chuckles.] But the more Maya there is, the more you will suffer: the more attachment you have, the more you will suffer. I have told you one story that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told. You can find this story in his [Bengali] book Bhakti Raksak Harikathamarita.

One sadhu went to Haridwar and met there another sadhu. You know that sadhus in Haridwar worship Siva and take drugs (smoke marijuana, etc.). They wake up in the morning, take bath and then sit outside with tridents and other things.

[A devotee has picked up and about to take the book Bhakti Raksak Harikathamarita to His Divine Grace] It is not necessary to bring the book. I have read all books. I can tell a lot by memory. I read some books more times. My memory was very sharp before, but now I have gone a little old (I am more than sixty already)...

Some missions always say that we must become devotees of Krishna, but we do not do this. We say that we must become devotees of Radharani. Do you understand the difference? They say we must become devotees of Krishna, but where are devotees of Krishna and where are we? What is our identity? Who are we? Mahaprabhu said:

নাহং বিপ্রো ন চ নরপতির্নাপি বৈশ্যো ন শূদ্রো
নাহং বর্ণী ন চ গৃহপতির্নো বনস্থো যতির্বা ।
কিন্তু প্রোদ্যন্নিখিলপরমানন্দপূর্ণামৃতাব্ধে-
র্গোপীভর্ত্তুঃ পদকমলয়োর্দাসদাসানুদাসঃ ॥

naham vipro na cha nara-patir napi vaisyo na sudro
naham varni na cha grha-patir no vanastho yatir va
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramananda-purnamrtabdher
gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah

'I am not a brahman, not a ksatriya, not a vaisya, not a sudra; neither am I a brahmachari, a householder, a vanaprastha or a sannyasi. I identify Myself as a servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna, who is the beloved of the gopis, an ocean of nectar, eternally self-effulgent (self-manifest) and filled with the entire scope of all possible highest ecstasy.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.13.80; Padyavali)

'I am not a sannyasi, I am not a brahmachari, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a brahman, I am not a vaisya, I am not a sudra, I am nothing. I am only a servant of the dust from the holy feet of the servant of the servant of the servant of gopis' servant. I am a servant of devotees.'

They say that we must first become devotees of Krishna, but have we become devotees of Krishna? We have not. What devotees of Krishna have we become? We are not Krishna's devotees. Gurudev also said that. When somebody once asked him, 'Is your Math's name not Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Gaudiya Math?' Gurudev replied, 'We have not become Gaudiya yet. Our Math's name is Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, this is the name Guru Maharaj gave it. We have not been able to become Gaudiya yet.'

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

'If you did not become devoted to the worship of Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna was in vain.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

So, I started telling you the story about two sadhus who were sitting on the bank of the Ganges in Haridwar. It was a sunny day, but they were scared to go inside the river because the river is very cold and the current is very fast – they could get carried away. The Ganges is not deep in Haridwar, you can see stones and rocks at the bottom of the river. Suddenly, they saw something black floating in the water. One sadhu told the other sadhu, 'Hey, look! A blanket is going down the river! Quickly, go into the water and pull it to the shore!' The other sadhu went carefully into the river and caught the blanket, but it turned out that it was not a blanket! It was a bear! The bear had fallen into the river and got carried away by the swift current, so it was struggling in the water trying not to drown. So, when the sadhu came close to it and grabbed it, the bear also grabbed the sadhu. They started struggling in the water together – the bear dunked the sadhu in the water, then the sadhu comes up and dunks the bear in the water, then the bear comes up and again dunks the sadhu under the water. Dunk, dunk; dunk, dunk. They went on struggling. Then, the sadhu who was sitting on the bank cried, 'What is going on? Leave that blanket and come out!' The sadhu who was in the water cried back, 'I have left the blanket, but the blanket is not leaving me!'

I want to leave material life, but material life does not leave me. When Mahaprabhu was going to take sannyas, He also said, 'Ami yai yai mane kari, yaite nahi pari – maha-maya pichanete dhaya (আমি যাই যাই মনে করি যাইতে নাহি পরি – মহামায়া পিছনেতে ধায়)! I have decided that I will leave, but I could not! I want to leave this material world, but Maya is always pulling Me back! Ami yai sadhane, pariba kemane (আমি যাই সাধনে পারিব কেমনে)? I want to practise spiritual life, but how will I be able to do it?...' When I was a little boy, I used to sing these lila-kirtans. I used to sing 'dasakusi' kirtans (দশকুশী; a sophisticated musical tune used in kirtans). So, we want to leave this world, but Maya is always pulling us back.

Illusion (Maya) is created by the Lord. If I put a piece of iron into fire and then touch it to my hand, it will feel hot, and if I keep that piece of iron in fire until it becomes red and then touch it to some cloth, it will burn the cloth. Where does iron get this power to burn? From fire. In the same way, where does Maya get her power? From the Lord. Getting this power from the Lord, Maya Devi keeps conditioned souls away from the Lord – she cheats the souls and, removing them from the Lord's service, engages them in her own service. Maya Devi always uses us in her service. So, when the devotee said that they still had to take care of the family, that is Maya Devi's play. When you stop serving the Lord, Maya uses you in her service. You understand that material life is temporary and untrue, that is why this life is full of suffering.

— : • : —

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Length: 83 min
Language: Bengali

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