Clear Vision

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 5, translated from Bengali

When there was lockdown, everybody had lockdown, but I did not. My car was going everywhere. I did not have any lockdown—the government had a lockdown, not I. Those who need lockdown, they were in lockdown, but I did not need it. I am a preacher, I go house to house preaching Mahaprabhu's conception to people. Somebody does not want to listen, somebody starts swearing, somebody closes their door, but if they do so, you must go and knock on their door ten more times. This is our work, our duty.

I keep coming and said, "Come, you must chant the Holy Name!" I am a beggar, and this is the alms I want: "Krishna bolo, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai—I am begging you for one thing only: come with us and chant the Holy Name of Krishna!" This is what I come to beg for, and another thing is this: "Please bless me so that I may have devotion to Krishna. I will come to your house ten times, even if you kick me out, I will come; even if you beat me, I will come—even if you beat me with a stick, I will go, and even if you beat me with a broom, I will still come. You must come to this path! You must come!" This is what I come to say. This is how we preach for Mahaprabhu for as long as we are alive. "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার): as long as you have life in the body, you must preach."

When your life is gone, you will not be able to preach, that is why Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that as long as you have life in the body, you must preach. You know, Gurudev spoke so much that he would cough with blood—his servant would be standing by and helping him remove it, but even then he did not stop! If blood comes out of your mouth, you will go to hospital and will be lying down, but when blood came from Gurudev's mouth, he continued speaking. He would lose voice when he sang kirtans, but he would still continue singing. He did not stop speaking about the Lord! Such was my Guru, and I have learnt from him. He gave me his blessings, then I want to be like him—I will not do anything else. I do not think about my health—I have engaged my body, my health in the service of the Lord, then the Lord will take care of my health. One day I have to die anyway. You think somebody can save you, but the Lord will save you. Gurudev gives you life—if he says, "You must stay here," then you will be here, but if he says that you do not need to stay here any more, then you will leave, you will have to leave. Therefore, there is no use sitting in the room. This is how we must preach. You must make your self supremely qualified (uttam) in this way.

This temple and mission are not only mine. How long will I be here? You are the ones who will stay behind, and you must come. You must always keep love and affection for Gurudev, you must always come to the temple from time to time, stay for five-ten days from time to time. What are you so worried about? Why do you need to say, "Gurudev, I am coming this time for seven days." One devotee's daughter came and told me, "I will stay for seven days," and I told her, "Why seven days? Stay for seven years!" If you stay here, your life will be longer. You live in your homes and worry about your sons, about this, that—you do not need to think about all this. Stay here, practise Krishna consciousness, and think about the Lord. You will live longer. Instead of staying at your home and worrying about everyone and everything, come to the temple, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, serve the Lord, and you will live happily. But no, you come for seven days only.

This is your home! Do you think I have built all these rooms and temples for myself?! Do you think I have any brothers, sisters, relatives, or friends? Do I have any family? You are my family! Then why will you not come to stay here? Who will stay here if not you? This is home for those who want to practise Krishna consciousness. My friends, family, etc. are you all.

I have a younger brother from my previous ashram, but I do not even speak to him. He sometimes disturbs me, and I told him, "You are dacoits disguised as family." I told him directly. He calls me to say, "Oh, your honourable father has problem breathing." I said, "Of course, why would he not?" When I studied in grade seven, he gave me one rupee in the morning and told me to get him bidi after school. I walked to school for one hour—there were no proper roads, so I walked down mud roads, wearing half-pants (it was not the era of full pants at that time). When I came to school and started studying, I realised that the rupee he had given me had fallen out of my pocket somewhere on the way. I forgot all about buying bidi or the money, but when I came home, he beat me so much that I 'forgot my father's name'! He smoked all his life, and now he is saying he has problem breathing! I said that it is only natural—he cannot breath, well and good! Why wouldn't he? They have to suffer, it is natural. I am not sad or distressed about it at all. That is why I told my younger brother that they are dacoits in disguise of family. It means that they look like family, but actually they are dacoits. They only think how to take you away from the Lord. That is why they are disguised dacoits. All the relatives and family are disguised dacoits! They come to forcefully steal from you. They dacoits disguised as family. You must always remember this. Devotees of the Lord can never be dacoits—they come and arrange everything for you to give you mercy.

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