(5/5) Old Service, Spoilt Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 16 December 2020, morning, part 5
Translated from Bengali

It is necessary to preach about our gurudev, about his glories and qualities. This is what we come to speak about. Apart from that, we must always remember what is unfavourable to devotion: prajalpa (idle, empty talks), anya-abhilasa (other desires).

অন্যাভিলাষিতা-শূন্যং জ্ঞান-কর্ম্মাদ্যনাবৃতম্ ।
আনুকূল্যেন কৃষ্ণানুশীলনং ভক্তিরুত্তমা ॥

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

'The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krishna, free from the coverings of any pursuits, such as action or knowledge.'

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, 1.1.11)

অন্য-অভিলাষ ছাড়ি', জ্ঞান কর্ম্ম পরিহরি',
কায় মনে করিব ভজন ।
সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণ সেবা, না পূজিব দেবী-দেবা,
এই ভক্তি পরম কারণ ॥

anya-abhilasa chhadi', jnana-karma parihari'
kaya mane kariba bhajana
sadhu-sange krsna seva, na pujiba devi-deva
ei bhakti parama karana

'Serve the Lord with your body and mind, giving up all other desires and the pursuit of material benefit and knowledge. Serve Lord Krishna in the association of sadhus and do not worship any gods or goddesses. Such devotion is the highest process.'

(Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

The first and foremost enemy of devotion is para-charcha (gossiping about others), para-ninda (criticising others), and prajalpa (idle, empty talks). For example, you see somebody steal prasad at the temple. The person who steals commits a sin, but if you talk about it, it will be your sin, or fault. You must not speak about it. You may hear something, but if you go and tell others about it, that will be your fault. There is even a common verse in Bengali, 'Your scorn burns like straw both those who do wrong and those who overlook it (anyaya ye kore ar anyaya ye sahya, tava ghrina yena tare trnasama dohe; অন্যায় যে করে আর অন্যায় যে সহে তব ঘৃণা যেন তারে তৃণসম দহে).' Therefore, do not talk about others, do not criticise or gossip about what others are doing or not doing. Even Mahaprabhu Himself said:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

'Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself and give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

Gramya-katha means any talks except talks about Krishna. Greed means wanting to eat well, wanting to dress well. This is how one becomes deha-rami (দেহারামী): your body (deha) enjoys comfort and relaxation (aram), and you start indulging yourself in sleep and laziness (nidra-alasya).

When you go for preaching, you roam around the whole day, and when the evening comes, you feel so tired that you fall asleep when you sit down. But we do not roam around. We go for preaching – we must preach Mahaprabhu's message in this world. Mahaprabhu has given this life to speak about Him, to preach about Him in this world. If He wants to keep us alive, He will keep us alive, and if He thinks that it is not necessary to keep us here anymore, then He will take us away from here. As the saying goes, 'Janma-mrtyu-biye tin Vidhatar niye (জন্ম মৃত্যু বিয়ে তিন বিধাতার নিয়ে). Birth, death and marriage – these three things are not in anybody's hands, they are only in the hands of the Lord.' 'Marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tohara (মারবি রাখবি—যো ইচ্ছা তোহার): whether you keep me or kill me, it is up to You.' If He wants to keep us alive, He will keep us alive, and if He wants to kill us, He will kill us.

Whatever the situation is, you must always give up what is unfavourable to devotion. Suppose you are doing a fire sacrifice: if you put in the fire a spoon of ghee, then a spoon of water, and then again a spoon of ghee and a spoon of water, you cannot do a fire sacrifice like that. You want to drink milk to get nutrients and you also eat tobacco – you will not get any benefit like that. You take initiation and practise everything, but you cannot become vegetarian. I see people in this world – when there is a lot of fish, they cook it. They cannot live without fish. I was at a house the other day. The man who stays there is very old now: his wife eats vegetarian food and when she was in Nabadwip, she took initiation. She serves a Deity of Gopal and does many things. I told her husband, 'You will not be alive for a long time.' He said, 'Yes, I know that I do not have much time left to live.' I asked him, 'Then why are you eating fish? You are old now, but you are still eating fish. Give it up now.' He was silent. Mamsa (meat) means 'mam' (I, me) and 'sa' (it): if I kill something in this world, it will come to kill me in my next life. It is necessary to understand this. You are thinking now, 'Whatever, I will see what happens when the time comes. For now, I will eat what I want.' Do not do this. People learn wrong things!

People told me, 'Why have you come to the temple at this young age? Why do you not get married and live your own life? You left your family and work, you have made a mistake.' I told them, 'You do not need to teach me wrong things!' What they said was absolutely wrong.

You come to this line at an old age, but if you had been able to come earlier, you would have been able to to chant the Holy Name and practise Krishna consciousness more. When a girl is young, everybody likes and admires her, but when she grows old, nobody looks at her. In the same way, you think, 'I will practise Krishna consciousness when I am old,' but when you become old and try to practise Krishna consciousness, the Lord will not like it. Do you understand what I am saying? I know you may not like to hear this, but I am telling it to you straight. When you are old, you cannot cook nicely: you cannot remember if you have put salt or not, so you end up putting salt three times, or you put too many chillies, too much spices. You cook and then cannot eat it. When you are old, you cannot cook nicely. If you do not learn to cook from the beginning, you will not be able to learn to cook nicely in your old age. Therefore, it is no use coming to Krishna consciousness in your old age – come when you are still young.

How long will you live in this world? Sixty years? Seventy? Eighty? How many people live to one hundred years? People are dying at every moment.

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)

Anyhow, much has been said. We have to leave now to attend another programme. I am inviting you all to the temple for Srila Gurudev's appearance festival. [To the host of the programme] You cannot come because you have to cook bhoga, but try to keep somebody here and come to the festival for a few days.

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Length: 30 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Change of Mood
2) Baladev's Care
3) Mahaprabhu Settles in Puri
4) Spread Gurudev's Mercy
5) Old Service, Spoilt Service