Greatest Choice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 12 January 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

শুনিয়া আমার দুঃখ বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
আমা' লাগি' কৃষ্ণে আবেদিবেন প্রচুর ॥

suniya amara duhkha vaisnava thakura
ama' lagi' krsne avedibena prachura

"Hearing of my sorrow, the worshippable Vaishnav will thoroughly pray to Krishna on my behalf."

বৈষ্ণবের আবেদনে কৃষ্ণ দয়াময় ।
এ হেন পামর প্রতি হবেন সদয় ॥

vaisnavera avedane krsna dayamaya
e hena pamara prati habena sadaya

"Satisfied by the Vaishnav's prayer, Krishna will be merciful to this sinner."

When you tell Vaishnavs about your unhappiness and ask them how you can get some respite from it, Vaishnavs will listen to it, and you can get some mercy because they will pray to the Lord on your behalf. However, not everyone turns to the Lord. There is a verse in Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

মন্মনা ভব মদ্ভক্তো মদ্­যাজী মাং নমস্কুরু ।
মামেবৈষ্যসি যুক্ত্বৈবমাত্মানং মৎপরায়ণঃ ॥

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto, mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam, atmanam mat-parayanah

"Always think of Me, be My devotee, always worship Me and offer obeisances to Me. Thus offering yourself to Me and taking refuge in Me, you will come to Me."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.34)

"Those who always think about Me, who are devoted to Me, who worship Me, who pay obeisances to Me—such devotees always attain Me. I am attained by those who take shelter in Me with their mind, body, soul. It is such devotees' prayer that I hear." The Lord does not listen to everyone. Krishna Himself says, "I will listen to those who bow to Me, who take Me as their own, who surrender to Me. I do not listen to anyone else. I know only those who know only Me. Vaishnavs do not know anyone else except Me, and I also do not know, do not recognise anyone else except Vaishnavs."

These are very beautiful words. So, when Vaishnavs appeal to the Lord on our behalf, Krishna becomes very merciful, and He takes pity on such extremely lowly souls as us because a Vaishnav, or Gurudev, prays for us to Him, "Prabhu, please give this soul a break from the burning fire of the material world so that it can start practising Krishna consciousness."

Do you understand the meaning of what I am saying? There is another beautiful verse in Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

অপি চেৎ সুদুরাচারো ভজতে মামনন্যভাক্ ।
সাধুরেব স মন্তব্যঃ সম্যগ্ব্যবসিতো হি সঃ ॥

api chet suduracharo, bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vyavasito hi sah

"If even a very sinful person serves Me exclusively with devotion, he should be regarded as saintly, for his resolve is perfect."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.30)

"Even if someone is very bad, even if they are worse than the worst—the person may have practised much karma, jnana, etc. but if they give everything up and worship Me (even if somebody has committed terrible sins, killed others, etc., but if they surrender to Me), then I will know them to be a sadhu because they now live a good life. I allow such sadhus to listen about Me from My devotees, get their hearts cleaned of all dirt, and then I give them shelter at My holy feet!"

These are very beautiful words. You must read Srimad Bhagavad-gita carefully. Buy a copy, it is a small book, you can carry it with you in a pocket and read it.

So, this is how "satisfied by the Vaishnav's prayer, Krishna becomes merciful to such a sinner as myself."

বিনোদের নিবেদন বৈষ্ণব চরণে ।
কৃপা করি সঙ্গে লহ এই অকিঞ্চনে ॥

vinodera nivedana vaisnava-charane
krpa kari' sange laha ei akinchane

"Bhaktivinod prays at the feet of the Vaisnavas: "Mercifully take this lowly soul with you."

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur prays to Vaishnavs, "Prabhu, please take me wherever you go." If you stay with Vaishnavs, then they will take you wherever they go.

বৈষ্ণবের আবেদনে কৃষ্ণ দয়াময় ।
এ হেন পামর প্রতি হবেন সদয় ॥

vaisnavera avedane krsna dayamaya
e hena pamara prati habena sadaya

"Satisfied by the Vaishnav's prayer, Krishna will be merciful to this vile sinner."

বিনোদের নিবেদন বৈষ্ণব চরণে ।
কৃপা করি সঙ্গে লহ এই অকিঞ্চনে ॥

vinodera nivedana vaisnava-charane
krpa kari' sange laha ei akinchane

"Bhaktivinod prays at the feet of the Vaisnavas: "Mercifully take this lowly soul with you."

There is still time to turn. There are two ways. Do you hanker for material love and happiness or do you hanker for eternal happiness? If you want to have money, wealth, houses, cars and enjoy in this material world forever, then you will not get anything else in this world. If you think about this money, things, property, wealth, houses, cars, etc. in this world, then you can even come to the doorstep of the highest plane, but you will not be able to enter there no matter how much you practise Krishna consciousness (even if you have taken initiation). I have told you that one does not become a disciple just by taking initiation. If you take initiation and use your Gurudev, then this is not initiation.

When you take initiation, you must serve your Guru. Serving your Guru does not mean massaging his feet—serving your Guru means listening to what your Guru says and preaching (practising). "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার): you must preach about the Lord for as long as you have life in this body." Many told me, "It is lockdown now," "It is lockdown now," but I have not stopped speaking Hari-katha. My car goes everywhere, and all temples are running as always. Neither lockdown nor anything else can stop me. I went for preaching before, and I am preaching now too. I give classes online, and I also go outside for preaching.

You must understand that the Lord is the master. You say here in Bengal, "Janma-mrtyu-biye tin Vidhatar niye (জন্ম মৃত্যু বিয়ে তিন বিধাতার নিয়ে)." There are three things—janma means birth, mrityu means death, and biye means marriage—these three things are not in the hand of anybody, they are only in the hands of the Lord, they come through the Lord. So, death and birth are not under your control—can you say when you will be born or when you will die? Somebody asked me, "Oh, you told yesterday during the class that Vyasadev's son, Sukadev, had spent twelve years in his mother's womb, refusing to come out because he did not want to be attacked by the illusory environment, and when he finally appeared, he ran to the forest. How can this be?" The day before yesterday, a cow at our Nrisingha Palli temple gave birth to calf, and when the calf was born, it stood up and began to play around within just half an hour. If a calf can stand right after birth, then why cannot Sukadev Goswami, the son of the great sage Vyasadev, do that? It is necessary to think about these things. When people have children, they start standing up or walking after two years, but it does not take calves, deer and other living entities this long to learn to stand and walk...

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download / listen to the full class
(43.5 Mb, 1 hr 44 min | Bengali)