(8/13) Mano-dharma vs. Bhagavat-dharma

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 13 January 2021, part 8
Translated from Bengali

In this world, the number of jiva souls in animal species is very large, but the number of jiva souls in human species is very small. Among people, many say they follow the Vedas (somebody says they follow Rig Veda, somebody says they follow Yajur Veda, somebody says they follow Sama Veda, and somebody says they follow Atharva Veda), but even though they say that they follow the Vedas, they do what is prohibited by the Vedas. Does any of the Vedas say that you can kill jiva souls? There are four principal acharyas in the this world (Vishnu Swami and others), and people say, ‘We belong to this movement’, ‘We belong to that movement.’ For example, there is a group called Haribol who claim that they have conquered everything, but they all eat fish and meat. There is also another group, I have seen them in Mathura, who do not eat meat on Fridays (on Fridays, they offer and take vegetables). What is this?! You must chant the Holy Name all the time, constantly, eternally.

‘কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস’—জীব তাহা ভুলি’ গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

‘krsna-nitya-dasa’—jiva taha bhuli’ gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

‘Jiva souls forgot that they are eternal servants of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around their necks.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We are eternal servants of Lord Sri Krishna – we are not servants for only two days, seven days or one hour!

Some people also say, ‘There are many beliefs, so there are many paths (yata mat tata path; যত মত, তত পথ)’ or ‘Serve God by loving others (jive prema kare yei jana sei jana sevichhe isvara; জীবে প্রেম করে যেই জন সেই জন সেবিছে ঈশ্বর).’ They say ‘love others’ and write it on big signboards. It is like somebody puts up a big signboard saying ‘Glass Factory’, but when you go there, you do not find any glass at all. They are liars. They write ‘love others’ on big boards, but if you come inside and see what is happening there, you will see that they eat chicken saying that it is good for health! This is their ‘love for others’. Then, there is this ‘There are many beliefs, so there are many paths (yata mat tata path)’ – what is their idea? They do what they want saying that everybody’s belief is different, so the paths can be different. But this is wrong. We must live according to what the scriptures tell us – we must listen to the siddhanta (conclusions) of the scriptures. We must accept and follow the teachings that are given by the Lord Himself. It is not necessary to create any teachings yourself. If a train goes off the track, it falls over. So, we must follow the real path. Do not get derailed.

That is why it is said that you can find so many gurus in this world. Many say, ‘Eat whatever your soul wants.’ Nonsense! The soul does not want all this. The atma’s duty and desire is to serve Paramatma, and all this food is something that the mind and the tongue want! The soul dwells in the internal world, and the mind dwells in the external world. For example, you are all sitting here at the class, but some of you are sitting and thinking about a movie they have seen, and somebody is sitting and thinking about the money they have kept in their chest. Somebody is going to Vrindavan but in the meantime thinks, ‘I wonder if a goat has come and eaten my lau…’ Mind goes to all these places because it lives in the external world. But the soul dwells in the internal world, and it always wants to serve Paramatma – it always hankers to serve the Lord. And here you get people who say, ‘Eat whatever your soul wants.’ They teach wrong things. I have told you many times – if I were to tell everyone, ‘Come, you can eat meat and fish,’ there would be a huge crowd of people lining up for initiation; and if I say, ‘No, you must give all this up,’ you will see that nobody will come.

When we go to primary school, we study together with many classmates, but when we finish primary school and go to high school, there are fewer pupils there. After that, when we proceed to college, there are even fewer students. In the way, by the time we reach university, we see that only one–two persons from our classmates are there. People fall for the fascinating illusions of the world. It is said, ‘Among ten million workers, you will find one wise person; among ten million wise people, you will find one liberated soul (who feels no attraction to this world); and among ten million liberated souls you will find only one devotee of Krishna.’ Such devotees always think about Krishna:

কি শয়নে, কি ভোজনে, কিবা জাগরণে ।
অহর্নিশ চিন্ত কৃষ্ণ, বলহ বদনে ॥

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane
aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

‘Whether you are sleeping, eating or waking up, incessantly think about Krishna and chant the Name of Krishna with your mouth.’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.28.28)

The Gaudiya Mission of Mahaprabhu (Gaudiya Math, Chaitanya Math) preaches this pure conception. To tell you the truth, there are very few people in this world who preach such things. You can easily find laukik gurus (family teachers), kaulik gurus (ancestral teachers), but you will not find a paramarthik guru (a bona fide spiritual teacher) so easily…

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) An Auspicious Evening
2) An Auspicious Birth
3) Turning Back Home
4) Beyond Perverted Comfort Zone
5) What Are Your Plans?
6) Life In Lord's Family
7) Not So Fast, Not So Cheap
8) Mano-dharma vs. Bhagavat-dharma
9) Eternal Values
10) Ultimate Word of Scripture
11) Guided and Misguided
12) Exclusive Zone
13) Insurmountable Devotion