(2/7) Eagerness to Study

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 26 December 2020, part 2
Translated from Bengali

You must both do service and always study. Always work hard. You are always busy with eating, sleeping, fearing and breeding (ahara, nidra, bhaya, maithuna; আহার, নিদ্রা, ভয়, মৈথুন). The more you increase these four, the more they will increase. For example, when I first came to the temple, I would eat luchi in the evening (there was no rice), and I could eat thirty luchis at a time, but now I cannot eat even two. Now, if you give me two luchis, my stomach gets full and I cannot eat any more. Sleeping is also like that. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says:

নিদ্রালস্য-হত, সুকার্য্যে বিরত,
অকার্য্যে উদ্যোগী আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠা লাগিয়া, শাঠ্য আচরণ,
লোভহত সদা কামী ॥

nidralasya hata, sukarye virata,
akarye udyogi ami
pratistha lagiya, sathya-acharana,
lobha-hata sada kami

'Ruined by laziness and sleep, I am averse to doing anything good and eager to do nothing. I behave crooked desiring prestige. I am ruined by greed and always want something.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You must come for kirtans after the morning and evening aratis. At our temple, we would chant kirtans and listen to a class three times a day. I did not get time to attend all programmes through. They would read Chaitanya-bhagavata in the morning, Chaitanya-charitamrita in the evening and Srimad Bhagavatam in the afternoon (from four to five in the afternoon). When they read Srimad Bhagavatam, I could not understand anything – I did not have the qualification... Anyhow, they chanted and read three times a day; I decreased it and made it two times a day, but you do not do it even two times a day.

Even if you are staying alone, you should chant kirtans alone then. Who will listen to it? I know you do not like to chant when you are alone because 'On my own, I am not getting strength to chant the Holy Name (ekaki amara nahi paya bala hari-nama-sankirtane, একাকী আমার নাহি পায় বল হরিনাম সংকীর্ত্তনে).' Why do we not get strength on our own? You must understand the meaning of these words. Because if you stay alone in some place, your mind can go to some other place. That is why it is necessary to chant nicely. If you chant all together (practise sankirtan), then each of you can chant some kirtans. I am here, so I chanted all kirtans, but when I am not here, each of you can chant one–two kirtans every time. You must practise. Mahaprabhu is pleased by kirtan-yajna, sankirtan-yajna the most.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, the main personality in our Gaudiya line, chose Godrumdwip to stay in. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also stayed here and after some time went to stay in Antardwip (Mayapur). Srila Sridhar Maharaj chose Koladwip, the place of pada-sevanam (service to the holy lotus feet of the Lord), in aparadh-bhanjan-pat... Our Srila Gurudev mostly stayed in Kolkata or abroad.

You must consider the temple as a school or college. Gurudev called it a 'transcendental university'. If you try to cheat – if you think that Gurudev is not here, so you can bunk the lessons and stay in your room, sleeping or wasting time – you will be harming your own self (it will be your loss). I go everywhere, so I cannot stay in one place for a long time, but the rule is that you must wake up for mangala-arati and then sit together and chant kirtans. Chant for one hour and then go to do your service. If you chant only from eight to nine in the evenings, it will not do. You must sit and chant all together in the morning, too. You go back to your rooms after the mangala-arati, but what for? What is your business in your room? You will say, 'Oh, I need to go to the bathroom.' Do you use the bathroom the whole day? Use the bathroom and come out of the room when you finish. You can use the bathroom, there is no objection:

শ্রীহরি সেবায় যাহা অনুকূল ।
বিষয় বলিয়া ত্যাগে হয় ভূল ॥

sri-hari sevaya yaha anukula
visaya baliya tyage haya bhula

'If something is favourable to the service of the Lord, it is wrong to reject it considering it material or mundane.'

(Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's translation of verse 1.2.256 from Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu)

You must take care of your health and body, but it does not mean that you will sleep the whole day and waste time.

নিদ্রালস্য-হত, সুকার্য্যে বিরত,
অকার্য্যে উদ্যোগী আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠা লাগিয়া, শাঠ্য আচরণ,
লোভহত সদা কামী ॥

nidralasya hata, sukarye virata,
akarye udyogi ami
pratistha lagiya, sathya-acharana,
lobha-hata sada kami

'Ruined by laziness and sleep, I am averse to doing anything good and eager to do nothing. I behave crooked desiring prestige. I am ruined by greed and always want something.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Those who cheat and evade service will reap the due result. If you do not wake up for the morning and evening aratis, it is your loss. Why cannot people stay with me? Because they sleep until eight–nine o'clock. I take prasad at nine and leave at nine-thirty. And I am used to studying and reading, so I usually read until eleven-thirty or twelve at night. I am sixty-two now, and even at this age I still study. I want to learn. All my books had been taken away, and I had to get them all again; after some time, again all books were taken, and I again got all the books. I want to learn and know more. It is necessary to have this eagerness to study, to learn and to know things.

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Length: 49 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Serve and Study
2) Eagerness to Study
3) Watch Your Activities
4) Serve with Love
5) Exemplary Service Mood
6) Deep Faith and Service
7) Service Acumen