What Is Good for Me?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Two days before Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's Vyasa Puja
Nrisingha Palli, 30 December 2020, evening, part 9

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of his birth and bring benefit to all other people."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 9.41)

What is benefit to others? Does it mean giving money to others? No, this is not what helping others is. This is only temporary help. If you give somebody winter clothes, will that decrease the person's desires? Give somebody winter clothes, a blanket, today, but a month or four months later, they will come to you and ask for a coat or a jacket! You give somebody 1 kg of rice, but they come to you another day and say, "You gave me rice the other day, can you give me some again?" On Guru Maharaj's festival, I once gave saris to poor people, and next time they came and asked, "Will you not give sari this time too?" People's greed is never satisfied. That is why it is said that we are ruined by five types of diseases (pancha-roga: avidya, asmita, raga, dvesa, abhinivesa). People always hope to get more and more. When there was a flood in Nabadwip in 2000, people stood on the bridge, and the government threw packets of chida (chipped rice) and gur (molasses) to them from a helicopter or a plane. How much people are grief-stricken! The government gives food as it is, ISKCON distributes kitchuri, we also give kitchuri, everybody can get food, but when that helicopter came with food aid, people started fighting so much that three people died in the crowd! Such is the state of this world. Is there any end to people's desires? It is a pandemic time now, and you are distributing 'corona relief'—if you give somebody two or five kg rice, people complain, "Oh, you are giving so little!", "You are stealing from us!", "You are giving bad rice!" So many problems comes. This is the situation in the society now. However, Param Guru Maharaj (Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) said: give this world that by getting which one will not have any desires left— give that by getting which all desires will go away! Our devotees all over the world do not have any desires left—they only know to give, they live by serving Gurudev. They do not take from Gurudev, they only keep giving. They are serving with their entire being. This is how they serve Gurudev, this is how they serve the Lord. With their heart and soul, with their entire being.

When you get taste for good food, you will want to eat it again and again; in the same way, those who have got taste for chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, who have got real taste for practising Krishna consciousness, they will not like to do or take anything else—they will not like to enjoy anything, all material enjoyment becomes trifle for them. You must always remember this.

We turned away from Lord Krishna a very long time ago, but if we really practise Krishna consciousness, then we will have no other desires. Therefore, I am praying to you all: read this book of Guru Maharaj (the Bengali book 'Parama-ananda-maya Dhamer Dhan' [Gift of Transcendental Abode]), take it with you home. It is a small book, we are selling it for ten rupees only. There are also other holy books at our bookstore. What is written in these books is the truth. You will find there what I have spoken about.

How can we get the Lord? We must practise genuine sadhu-sanga. Who did that? Pariksit Maharaj. He received such sadhu-sanga. Pariksit Maharaj was a king. Neither you nor I will get a notice, but Pariksit Maharaj received a notice—he was cursed by a brahman that he would die in seven days. Then, great rishis, great maha-rishis, including Parasara Muni, came to Pariksit Maharaj and started giving him advice. Someone said, "If you do this, it will be good," another person said, "If you do that, it will be good," somebody else said, "Place this person in charge of this," "Place that person in charge of your household," etc. That is what we all do—if a man gets old and knows that he is not going to live long, he divides and distributes his money and property among his children. We all do that, but Pariksit Maharaj did not feel any peace at heart when he heard all the advice of the rishis.

Some time before that, Vyasadev thought, "I have composed so many things—Mahabharata, so many scriptures, so many books, Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda, Garuda Purana, Agni Purana, but I do not feel any peace or happiness inside." After that, Narad Muni came to Vyasadev. We sang today in the kirtan,

কৃষ্ণ হৈতে চতুর্ম্মুখ, হন কৃষ্ণসেবোন্মুখ,
ব্রহ্মা হৈতে নারদের মতি ।
নারদ হৈতে ব্যাস, মধ্ব কহে ব্যাস-দাস,
পূর্ণপ্রজ্ঞ পদ্মনাভ গতি ॥

krsna haite chatur-mukha, hana krsna-sevonmukha,
brahma haite naradera mati
narada haite vyasa, madhva kahe vyasa-dasa,
purnaprajna padmanabha gati

"Through Krishna, Brahma became devoted to Krishna's service. Brahma inspired Narad. Narad inspired Vyasadev. Madhva Acharya is a servant of Vyasa. Thus, the line continued through Purnaprajna (Madhavacharya) and Padmanabha."

Vyasadev received diksa (initiation) from Narad Muni. So, when Vyasadev told Narad Goswami about his feelings, Narad Muni said, "Yes, what you are saying is right. How will you feel happy? You have to distribute everything you have made, but how are you distributing it? Somebody cooks dal, somebody cooks chutney, somebody cooks paramanna, somebody cooks subji, somebody cooks puspanna, etc. but you take everything, mix it together, and give it to people. Will they understand what taste is there? So, you have composed so many different scriptures, but you must compose such a scripture that would be only about bhakti-yoga. For example, you composed Srimad Bhagavad-gita, but there is karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankhya-yoga, bhakti-yoga, etc. There are so many kinds of yoga in it. You must write a scripture about bhakti-yoga only." Many say that Srimad Bhagavatam was written by a man, but it is not so. No ordinary man wrote Srimad Bhagavatam with a pen. How did Srimad Bhagavatam appear? People argue that Srimad Bhagavatam is man-made, there are people who also argue saying what is the proof that Mahaprabhu is God. All the great scriptures explain it. When we are born, are we born wearing clothes? When Krishna appeared, He appeared wearing tilaks, a garland, earrings, etc. Not only that, when Krishna was born, He had four arms, holding a conch, a disc, a club, and a lotus flower. When Vasudev (the father of Lord Krishna in Dvapar-yuga) saw Krishna born in the prison cell in His four-armed form, he understood that the Lord Himself had taken birth, so he paid obeisance to the child, but then Krishna left His four-armed form and appeared as in His two-armed form, and Vasudev felt He was His son. After that, Vasudev took Krishna to Gokula despite the torrential rain that night... Anyway, it is a long story. So, when Narad Goswami told Vasudev (the composer of all the scriptures) to create an exclusive scripture about bhakti-yoga, Vasudev thought, "Who will be able to present this scripture to the world?" Then he remembered Sukadev.

Sukadev stayed in his mother's womb during twelve years. All the rishis told Vyasadev that Sukadev must come out, but when Vyasadev came to Sukadev, who was still in his mother's womb, and said, "Sukadev, come out!" Sukadev answered from the womb, "I will not come out!" Can any of us do that, tell me? "Come out of the womb!" "No, I will not!" "Why not?" "Because if I come out, Maya will attack me." Vyasadev was in trouble. Then, all the rishis told him, "Vyasadev, you have the power to stop Maya. Krishna has created Maya, but you can stop her power." Vyasadev said, "How will I do that? Well, I suppose I can stop her for five minutes..." Then, Vyasadev asked Sukadev again, "If I stop Maya's action for five minutes, will you come out?" Then Sukadev Goswami agreed to come out. When children are born, they can only lie, but Sukadev came out of his mother's womb and ran to the forest! Vyasadev ran after him, "O Sukadev! Listen, listen!" But Sukadev was not conscious of anything. He could not even see anything around him—he knew only the Lord, he did not see anything or anyone else except the Lord. When Sukadev was in the Himalayas, there were some girls bathing naked in the river, but he did not see even them, and the girls too did not feel any need to put on their clothes—they knew Sukadev was like a madman, he had no sense, so they did not even feel shy in front of him; but when they saw Vyasadev coming behind Sukadev, then they quickly covered themselves with clothes...

Then, Pariksit Maharaj's assembly started, and Sukadev came there. When he came, everyone (including Parasara Muni, who was Vyasadev's father and therefore Sukadev's grandfather, and who was a great expert of all scriptures) said, "Pariksit Maharaj, you are very fortunate because Sukadev has come to your assembly. Whatever he says, that is the ultimate news." Sukadev Goswami was only a fourteen-year-old boy, but all the great rishis said, "Whatever he says, we will accept it." When Sukadev Goswami came, he did not give obeisance to anyone, he did not greet anyone—he came and sat on the asan. Then, he asked Pariksit Maharaj, "What do you want to know?" Pariksit Maharaj said, "What is good for me?" He asked only one question: what is good for me? Hearing Pariksit Maharaj's question, Sukadev said, "Yes, there is only one question, and there is only one answer." Those who ask many questions, they want to know so many things, but if you ask just one question and genuinely understand the answer to it, then there is only one question, and there is only one answer. After that, Sukadev Goswami spoke Srimad Bhagavatam—he spoke the entire twelve-canto Bhagavatam at that assembly. Later, when 60,000 rishis gathered at Naimisaranya, they heard this Bhagavatam from Suta Goswami, and then Srimad Bhagavatam was composed (recorded in a book form).

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.
Gaura premanande Hari bol.

[His Divine Grace then chants Hari Haraye Namah Krsna and recites Jaya Dhvani, finishing thus the class.]

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