Seeking Respite

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 12 January 2021, part 5
Translated from Bengali

কাঁদিয়া কাঁদিয়া জানাইব দুঃখগ্রাম ।
সংসার অনল হৈতে মাগিব বিশ্রাম ॥

kandiya kandiya janaiba duhkha-grama
samsara-anala haite magiba visrama

Weeping, I will convey my sorrows to the Vaishnav and pray for shelter from the fire of material existence.

How can we get respite from the fire of the material world? We keep coming and going, coming and again, again and again, burning in the fire of miseries of this world. Today you are born as a dog, tomorrow as a cat, another time as a sheep, hen, human, as a Russian, Indian, Japanese, Bangladeshi, Pakistani. Everyone is born in various situations, or families, in this world. Even when we were born as a dog or a pig, we were born in some family, and now we are born in a family of humans. You can understand what an agony it is to live in the material world. We keep suffering from all sorts of austerities, difficulties and pain. On top of that, this life is not eternal:

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

"Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Carefully take shelter of the Name and do your work."

(Gitavali, Arunadaya kirtan, 1.3, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Do what you have to do, but in the meantime take shelter of the Holy Name. Taking shelter of the Holy Name means taking shelter of the Lord because the Lord and the Lord's Name are non-different from each other. The Name is Hare Krishna, and He who bears the Name is Krishna. They are the same; there is no difference. Therefore, we must take shelter of the Name and the bearer of the Name (Nama and Nami) and surrender to Their holy feet; otherwise, we will keep coming and going.

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

Whose fault is it? My own. I have many faults, it is not your fault that I am born in this world and live in this world, the fault is mine. This world! What is this world like?

সংসার সংসার ক'রে মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥
কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি' বৃথা দিন যায় ॥
দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala
labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala
kisera samsara ei chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya
dina yaya michha kaje, nisa nidra-vase
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe vase

"Time has passed as I have been busy in my material life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened. What sort of world is this? It is like a trick, a show. While I affectionately take it as my own, days pass by in vain. 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."

(Kalyan-kalpataru)

We never think that we can leave at this very moment. We are making a three-storey house, hoping to stay there nicely, but we can leave and never even see that house. I have seen many people like that.

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina jaya 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.

('Durlabha manava labhiya samsare' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We never think that I can leave this world this very moment. That is why it is said in the song that we are singing now:

কাঁদিয়া কাঁদিয়া জানাইব দুঃখগ্রাম ।
সংসার অনল হৈতে মাগিব বিশ্রাম ॥

kandiya kandiya janaiba duhkha-grama
samsara-anala haite magiba visrama

Weeping, I will convey my sorrows to the Vaishnav and pray for shelter from the fire of material existence.

We pray, "My Lord, when will I get some respite? When will I get some respite from this material world?" Many of you think, "This life is so difficult, I will commit suicide." You think you can take your life and get some respite, but this is not so. You will get no rest—instead, you will end up amidst even more suffering because you will get a worse birth. Not only that, until the sraddha ceremony is conducted for you, you will live as a ghost in the no man's land. Do you understand what 'no man's land' means? For example, India borders with China and Nepal, and there is a place at the border that both countries have no right for. So, when somebody commits suicide, they stay in such a position, neither in the sky, nor on earth—for fourteen days (until the sraddha ceremony), they roam everywhere in the air, sometimes taking shelter under some tree. After that, they get another body, but they do not get a good body—they have to reap the result of past actions (karma). They become insects, spiders, animals, birds. So, you think you will get relief from all the pain, but this is a misconception: your pain will only increase.

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