Analysis Is Paralysis

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, evening class
1 January 2021, part 12, translated from Bengali

I have heard that you are leaving tomorrow for Maya's prison house. Raise your hands, let me see who is leaving. Is everyone leaving? Why are you raising your hands? But why? How many days have passed? Have two years passed already or just two days? What are you going for? What will you do at home?

Devotee: The festival is over, what will we do here?

What will you do? Is there no service to the Lord here? There is so much service! You can make garlands, wash the dishes, listen to kirtans, listen to lectures.

An old devotee: You said that it is an offence to touch your feet. I want to ask forgiveness, I have touched your feet...

No, no. There is no offence for you. It is an offence for me to allow others to touch my feet. That is why I said that we always think of ourselves as lowly. Vaishnavs never tell others to touch their feet—they are always very humble when it comes to them. Just as Vaishnavs must be humble, you also must be humble. You too must be humble—you must think, "I am impure, how can I touch Gurudev? I cannot touch him and make him impure by my touch." This is the duty of a disciple to think in this way. On the other hand, Gurudev must think, "They are servants and maidservants of Krishna, why will they touch my feet? I am a lowly soul." Do you have any other questions?

Devotee: They say that if we observe ekadasi, we can get the result of practising yoga.

You must not think about it. You will not get any result like that.

Devotee: If we fast on ekadasi, do we still have to fast on purnima (full moon)?

You must fast on ekadasi, you do not need to fast on purnima days. Fasting on ekadasi does not mean not eating the whole day. You can take the calendars, everything is written there. Only fast on ekadasi, not on purnima or amavasya. Gurudev never spoke about the result of fasting on ekadasis. You know, there is glorification of Srimad Bhagavad-gita—it is written there just to make people read it. So, because people do not want to fast on ekadasi, there is some glorification of each ekadasi written for them. For us, Gurudev has told to observe ekadasi, so we must observe it. Mahaprabhu told to fast on ekadasi, so we fast on ekadasi. This is all we need to know—it is not necessary to know what result you will get by fasting on this or that ekadasi.

You can take fruit on ekadasi. You must fast until midday, and if somebody cannot fast in the morning, you can take some boiled potato with black pepper or plain potato. Why do we say potato with black pepper? Because if you cook only potato with spices, you will have gas. So, you can make potato with some black pepper. You can also use turmeric, but only if you make it yourself, if you grind the root yourself, do not use the powder that is sold at the market.

Devotee: What about sago?

Well, actually, the matter is like this. We cannot make it purely. Gurudev told that we will take sago at the temple, but large sago often has some contaminants. Sometimes, you bring peanut oil or sunflower oil also. It says on the bottle that it is peanut oil or sunflower oil, but how do you know they do not mix rice oil in it? Everything is mixed, contaminated. We remember the Lord and use some ingredients on ekadasi, this is all there is to it. This is what you must remember. Gurudev told to follow ekadasi, and we follow it. We bring some sunflower oil from the market, but who knows if this is pure sunflower oil or is it mixed with some rice oil or mustard oil? Who will know it? You can see that sunflower oil price is higher now—they are mixing some rice oil or palm oil with it. So, you must not think about sago, etc. Do not think about all these crooked things, do not look into whether there is duplicity somewhere or not. Fast until midday, it is good, and if you cannot, take some boiled vegetables and fruit. You can take milk, curd. Do not buy sweets from the market—make sweets yourself at home. If you are habituated to take sweets, then make them at home. You can make some sweets with sugar and coconut.

If you start looking into everything, you will not eat anything. Have you ever been to a sugar mill? I have been once at a sugar mill in South India (in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh). You think that nice white sugar comes out, but if you know how they make sugar, you will never want to eat sugar again! You know, when sugar comes out of the machine there, they keep it in an open space and crows pass stool on that sugar. Their stool is white, and the sugar is white, so who will say anything? [His Divine Grace laughs.] So, what will you do then? There is no way out. So, it is not necessary to think about all this too much.

When you go to buy potato at the market, they keep potato and onions in the same place, then sometimes onion peel gets into potato. Then, you start making excuses, "Oh, I cannot be vegetarian, it is too hard to offer bhog, you need this, that, etc.!" What is required? If you want, you will offer bhog to the Lord and take prasad, and if you do not want, then you will make excuses, "Oh, I have grandchildren at home," "Oh, I have to keep separate dishes, they will get mixed with the other dishes!" People ask me, "What should I do with the offering plate touches other plates?" If you think so much, you will not eat anything, you will not be able to do anything. Do not overthink it. Only be vegetarian, follow ekadasi, and practise Krishna consciousness. Give up meat, fish, eggs, onion, garlic, masoor dal (lentils).

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