Coming Out of Maya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, preaching programme,
16 January 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

The Lord comes Himself to grant His Name to everyone (nija nama kari' dana)—He goes door to door and says:

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jaga jiva jaga gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

'Sri Gorachand says, "Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

"Jiva soul! Do not sleep! Wake up! You are sleeping in the illusory bondage!" It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that Maya is created by the Lord Himself:

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

'My supramundane trimodal illusory potency (alluring those who are averse to Me) is extremely difficult to overcome. However, this insurmountable potency of Mine can be overcome by those who exclusively surrender to Me'.

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

The poor souls who fall into material bondage think, "This is my house," "This is son," "This is my wife," "This is my family." Why do they fall into this bondage? Why do they live in this way? Because of Maya. Srila Prabhupad also gave an example: if you place a piece of iron into fire, it will become red-hot, and if you touch somebody with that hot iron, it will burn the person's body. Where does iron get this power? From the fire. In the same way, Maya Devi gets her power from Krishna and removes us far from the Lord's service. As the result, we forget the Lord. "Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna smrti-jnana—souls that are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna."

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

'Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primaeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

Why do we suffer when we come in this world? Somebody does not have money and they struggle. However, those who have millions, they suffer even more. There are three kinds of miseries: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik (আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক)—miseries caused by other souls, by the nature, and by our body. Why do we suffer from all this? Because, as the verse above says, we forget the Lord, and as the result, we suffer in the agony of these threefold miseries. What must you do to get relief from this situation? The answer is also there in the scriptures. Search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful. Search for the Lord! There is a small book that was recently translated into Bengali and called In Search for Original Source. Where is the source of the world and where is our source? Where have I come from? We are the sons of nectar. All of you who are sitting here are relatives of one family because we are all the Lord's children.

We forget that we are sons of the Lord, and we think that we are this-and-this person's son, this-and-this person's wife, this-and-this person's daughter, this-and-this person's friend.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

'Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primaeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

That is why it is said that "Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna smrti-jnana—souls that are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna." Those who turn away from the Lord have no remembrance of Krishna—they only think about their body. Many people rely on their parents, but your parents gave you only this body—they did not give that which you are. Even science can tell you that. However, where does my soul come from? My soul comes from the Lord. I will leave this body one day and I will again get another body. I come, leave, and have to be born again. If you do not want to suffer from this birth, death, old age, and disease (janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi, জন্মমৃত্যুজরাব্যাধি, Bg, 13:9), then we must know what we must do. It is said in the scriptures: "Bhagavata pada Vaisnavera sthane, ekanta asraya kara Chaitanya-charane (ভাগবত পড় বৈষ্ণবের স্থানে, একান্ত আশ্রয় কর চৈতন্য-চরণে): Read Bhagavatam under guidance of a Vaishnav and take exclusive shelter of the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu."

I told you earlier today that there are four varnas and four ashrams, but the scriptures say:

চারি বর্ণাশ্রমী যদি কৃষ্ণ নাহি ভজে ।
স্বকর্ম্ম করিলেও সে রৌরবে পড়ি মজে ॥

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje
svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

"Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager, or worker) or asram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life, or monk) you may belong to, if you do not worship Krsna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.26)

If I become a sannyasi but do not serve the Lord, then I will go to hell. That is why it is important to practise—an acharya is he who practises, and an acharya is non-different from the Lord Himself (acharyam mam vijaniyan). Lord Krishna told Uddhav Maharaj, "You must know acharya as non-different from Myself." Therefore, those who practise can preach in this world. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "We have not come to this world to become brick-layers and carpenters—we are only messengers of the Lord (vani-pion, বাণী-পিওন, lit. postman delivering messages)."

You cannot write a letter directly to the Lord. Does anyone know the phone number of the Lord? You cannot dial a number and talk to the Lord, but you can speak to your Guru. Gurudev is the Lord's close associate. The Lord sends Gurudev to this world, and we can speak to Him. If you try to write to the Lord directly, you will not get a reply, but if you give your letter to the deputy of the Lord (His representative), then you will get a reply. Therefore, we must listen and listen to Hari-katha—we have a chaitya-guru in our heart, and this chaitya-guru will take us to our mahanta-guru.

We will chant some kirtan now. Actually, I have told you before that I have not come to chant kirtan—I have come to make you chant kirtan. If I come and chant the Holy Name, it will not give you much because you will not practise yourself through that. You do not become a disciple just by taking initiation, just as you do not pass the final exam just by getting admitted to a school. Everybody knows that when you are admitted to a school, you must study. After that, the result of the exams will show whether you have studied or not and how much you have studied. Here too, tests will come and it will be proved how much you have practised. There is Chitragupta appointed by the Lord who keeps all record of whether you are truly chanting the Holy Name or not, whether you practise Krishna consciousness or not, whether you are thinking about the Lord or not. He is writing a diary for you. He writes down everything—whether you steal, kill, etc. The master of everything is the Lord, and He knows everything. You must surrender at His holy feet.

First, it is necessary to have surrender.

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

'My supramundane trimodal illusory potency (alluring those who are averse to Me) is extremely difficult to overcome. However, this insurmountable potency of Mine can be overcome by those who exclusively surrender to Me'.

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

The Lord Himself says, "I have created Maya, and it is impossible to overcome her, but still, there is a way out: if anyone takes shelter in Me, if anyone surrenders to Me, then I rescue this soul from Maya and engage them in My service." There is another sloka also 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)

If even a very bad person leaves everything and takes shelter in the Lord, the Lord says that He frees this person from all sins and engage them in His service. These are very beautiful words. If you do not read these things, if you do not understand these things, then what will you get?

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

[His Divine Grace chants kirtans.]

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