(5/8) Search Beyond Maya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, Basirhat, evening,
14 December 2020, part 5

কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি' বৃথা দিন যায় ॥

kisera samsara ei chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya

'What sort of world is this? It is only a trick, a show. While I affectionately take it as my own, days pass by in vain.'

এদেহ পতন হ'লে কি রবে আমার ।
কেহ সুখ নাহি দিবে পুত্র পরিবার ॥

e deha patana ha'le ki rabe amara?
keha sukha nahi dibe putra paribara

'When this body drops dead, what will remain "mine"? Upon death neither my sons nor my family will give me any satisfaction.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We had a programme yesterday. One old lady devotee passed away, and we did her last rites nicely according to Vaishnav rules, about a hundred and fifty people took prasad. In the evening, when I was giving a class, I was amazed. The old lady had a son who was married to a woman. That woman, her daughter-in-law, never visited the old lady, and she actually killed her husband (the old lady's son). Why did she kill him? How would she mix with another man if she did not get rid of her husband? I am not shy to say this. She killed her husband to mix with another man. The old lady treated her well. In the beginning, she had given her and her son a separate room, she cooked and gave her prasad, but they never got along. When that woman, the daughter-in-law, came to the class I was giving yesterday, she kept disturbing me, 'Give me this', 'Give me that'. I told her, 'You have just sat down. Not even a moment has passed, but you want to do this, that, that. Chant the Holy Name and sit quiet.' She said, 'Then give me the beads!' I told her, 'Your mother-in-law had given you so many beads.' She continued arguing. Then, some relative who lived upstairs came back from work. They began fighting and did not let me give class. I told them, 'I am clasping your feet – please give me half an hour to give the class, and you can fight all you want after that.'

So, 'When this body drops dead, what will be mine?' What to speak of when this body drops dead, even before that, when the father is alive, his children will keep nagging him, 'Father, give me this,' and when the father dies, the children kick the mother out to the street. They anyhow get their mother to make a will ensuring they get all the property, and after that they kick her out. So, long before your body drops down dead, this kind of situation comes about. When people die with some rings on their fingers, family members cut the fingers off to take the rings! I have seen this. When some sadhus from our temple left their bodies and we went to the cremation ghat, I saw people fighting there: one person says, 'I will take this ring!' and another person quickly says, 'And I will take that ring!' When I saw them fight like this, I thought, 'Disaster! This is what you call love.'

This is the situation in material families... I see such things in every family. It is not only ladies' fault – men are also at fault. Women have to tolerate so much. Very few can tolerate their husbands' atrocities. Some husbands drink alcohol and beat their wives. They buy lottery tickets, win some money, buy alcohol with that money, and if they do not win any money, they keep selling things from their house to get money for alcohol. So many women commit suicide in such families. So, 'When this body drops dead, what will be mine? Upon death neither my sons nor my family will give me any satisfaction.' None of our family members will give us any happiness. We work like asses the whole life:

গর্দ্দভের মত আমি করি পরিশ্রম ।
কার লাগি' এত করি না ঘুচিল ভ্রম ॥

gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama
kara lagi' eta kari, na ghuchila bhrama

'I toil laboriously like a donkey. For whom am I doing this? Still my illusion has not been dispelled.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Who are we doing all this for? When we leave, all this will stay behind. All these cars, houses, wealth, property – we struggle to amass so many things, but who are we doing it for? Everything will be gone, and we will be left with nothing.

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.'

ভাল মন্দ খাই, হেরি, পরি, চিন্তাহীন ।
নাহি ভাবি এ দেহ ছাড়িব কোনদিন ॥

bhala manda khai, heri, pari, chinta-hina
nahi bhavi, e deha chhadiba kona dina

'I eat, see and wear whatever I fancy without any thinking and never think that one day I will leave this body.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The whole day we only keep working and working like asses, and at night we sleep. We pass all our time like this, never thinking that we will have to leave one day. You know, when the old lady I told you about died, her body remained lying dead in the room for two days. Even when the body started rotting and stench started coming from her room, nobody came to check on her. After two days, a devotee went there and found her dead. She had so many relatives, but nobody even checked on her. They fought so much over the property, but the lady had to rot in the room for two days when she died... She had a stroke and died at night. The devotee had to break the door to get into the house. Such is her fate. But her fortune is actually good because she chanted the Holy Name, she gave prasad to Vaishnavs, that is why she will get some peace. Only her body suffered...

So, it says here, 'I eat, see and wear whatever I fancy without any thinking and never think that one day I will leave this body.'

দেহ-গেহ-কলত্রাদি-চিন্তা অবিরত ।
জাগিছে হৃদয়ে মোর বুদ্ধি করি’ হত ॥

deha-geha-kalatradi-chinta avirata
jagichhe hrdaye mora buddhi kari hata

'Constant thoughts of my body, home, wife and other things arise in my heart and ruin my intelligence.'

শ্মশানে শরীর মম পড়িয়া রহিবে ।
বিহঙ্গ পতঙ্গ তায় বিহার করিবে ॥

smasane sarira mama padiya rahibe
bihanga-patanga taya vihara karibe

'My body will be left at a crematorium, and birds and insects will heartily enjoy it.'

কুক্কুর শৃগাল সব আনন্দিত হ’েয় ।
মহোৎসব করিবে আমার দেহ ল’েয় ॥

kukkura srgala saba anandita ha'ye
mahotsava karibe amara deha la'ye

'Dogs and jackals will happily have a great festival with my body.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When the body is thrown away at the crematorium, so many insects and worms will come to eat it, and if somebody dies in an accident, dogs and jackals will come to eat it (nobody will even find the body after that). This is what happens to the body. What do intelligent people do? They understand that they are not this body, so they give up material illusion and search for devotion to Lord Krishna.

যে দেহের এই গতি তার অনুগত ।
সংসার বৈভব আর বন্ধুজন যত ॥

ye dehera ei gati, tara anugata
samsara-vaibhava ara bandhu-jana yata

'This is the fate of my body, its effects, material wealth, and all of my companions.'

অতএব মায়া মোহ ছাড়ি বুদ্ধিমান ।
নিত্যতত্ত্ব কৃষ্ণভক্তি করুন সন্ধান ॥

ataeva maya-moha chhadi buddhimana
nitya-tattva krsna-bhakti karuna sandhana

'So, intelligent souls! Abandon Maya's illusion and search for the eternal truth: devotion to Krishna.'

You must search for devotion to Krishna! 'Where must I go to find devotion to Krishna? Who can I approach to get devotion to Krishna? Who should I approach to get devotion to Gauranga Mahaprabhu?' You must search answers to these question and go there.

Lost, we are now crying in the middle of the street. If my driver does not know the way, he will not be able to deliver my body to the destination. The driver must know which place he must go. Gurudev is the captain, the helmsman who takes us across this material world, and if we allow him to take us to his destination, we will be able to get there, too. Therefore, you must take shelter of a bona fide guru! There are many gurus roaming in this world – there are many clan gurus, ancestral gurus, but there are very few spiritual gurus who will give you pure guidance. In this world, you will find many pranam-taking and pranami-taking gurus (gurus who will readily take your money and worship)...

[A devotee comes and very loudly offers a garland to His Divine Grace. Interrupted, His Divine Grace then changes the subject.]

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Subdue Your Tongue
2) Surrender or Suffer!
3) Eternal Benefit
4) Family Matters
5) Search Beyond Maya
6) Mining Innermost Humility
7) What Is Your Substance?
8) Live and Learn