(6/6) Jewels of Your Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 15 December 2020, noon, part 6
Translated from Bengali

Sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs always come to tell you these things, and you have all come to hear some Hari-katha. Even if just one person hears it and comes to this line, that is sufficient. I have given thousands of lectures, quoted thousands of verses, and if not a single person comes to practise Krishna consciousness, it is very sad. Lord Krishna says to Uddhav Maharaj, 'Acharya mam vijaniyan: There is no difference between an acharya and Myself, so you should know an acharya to be non-different from Me'. The word 'acharya' means 'one who teaches by example'. Therefore, our duty is to practise Krishna consciousness, to go door to door and chant Hari-kirtan (glorify the Lord).

If we say 'thank you' to the motherly devotee who has arranged a programme here today, it will downplay her contribution (it will belittle her). Only thank you is not enough to express our gratitude to her. It is her good fortune that she has taken shelter of a bona fide guru and is practising Krishna consciousness. She has invited devotees and myself and arranged prasad for us, but what is more important than prasad is Hari-katha. Hari-katha is the actual Hari-prasad (mercy of Lord Hari). She has given us an opportunity to speak, and that is the actual maha-prasad – we want you to take this maha-prasad with you. If you just come and eat something, you will pass it as stool the next day. But if you can take with you what I am giving you all now, that is the highest treasure, or jewel, in your life.

When you go somewhere, you spend ten or twenty rupees on the bus or toto fare. In the same way, to reach the Lord, you must also pay some fare. This fare is not money or wealth – this fare is devotion (bhakti). How will devotion come? 'Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (ভক্তিস্তু ভগবদ্ভক্তসঙ্গেন পরিজায়তে): you can get devotion through the association of devotees' (Brihan-naradiya Purana). You cannot buy devotion at the market. When you come to the market, you can buy many things with money, but do you see anybody selling devotion at the market? There are some people in this world who actually sell devotion at the market, but you will not get real devotion from them – they will sell you deceitful devotion (kapata-bhakti). Genuine devotees never sell devotion for money. You have all come here today – tell me, does anybody ask you to give any money? People teach others that you must give some money when you offer obeisances, but this is wrong – there is no such rule that you must give some donation when you offer obeisances. This is a misconception. Many people become upset, 'Oh, I could not give any donation when I offered my obeisance.' There is nothing to be upset about. Yesterday, somebody came to offer their obeisance to me, and as they offered their obeisance, they said to me, 'Oh, I have forgotten to bring it...' 'What did you forget to bring? The biggest thing is that you have come to the Lord. What you have forgotten to bring or to give, that is not a big deal. It is not necessary to give any money. You must give your heart.'

Sadhus come to hijack you. They do not come to hijack your house, car, wealth and property. They come to hijack you. We pray to gurudev, 'Kara more atmasatha. Please hijack me. Please take me away from this material illusory world and place me at the holy feet of the guru, Vaishnavs and the Lord.'

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)

Sadhus come to hijack you – not your money, not your wealth or property. Srila Prabhupad also said, 'I have not come to waste your food.'

[To a devotee who is taking his leave.] Are you leaving? What has happened? [Devotee explains that he has got a phone call from his family asking where he was and requesting him to come back.] This is Maya's pull. That is why Srila Sanatan Goswami said, 'I will go to Vrindavan alone, I will not take many people with me. If I take people with me, I will not be able to follow the pull towards the Lord.' If you feel pulled, attracted to the Lord, you will not even think about anything else – your mind will not become perverted, will not become fickle, and you will not like to hear anything related to material life. These are natural things....

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Trials and Aspirations
2) Strongest Conviction
3) Everything Is His Will
4) Eternal Path
5) Sadhus' Mercy
6) Jewels of Your Life