Distribute Krishna Consciousness!

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 24 January 2021, part 2

"Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার): you must preach for as long as you are alive." I saw some photographs from Singapore yesterday—they had a very nice programme attended by many young devotees, and Sripad Ravindra Krishna Prabhu was explaining the guru-parampara to them. I heard him give the lecture—he was saying, "This line comes from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Narad, from Narad to Vyasadev, from Vyasadev to Madhvacharya," and so on. I like seeing what kind of lecture devotees give, I like to listen to it because I want to see how expert they are in Krishna consciousness and preaching. It is very important because when you take initiation, your spiritual life does not finish there.

Even Srila Sridhar Maharaj at first wanted to live a quiet life without preaching, but then he heard a sky message from Srila Prabhupad one day. Srila Sridhar Maharaj was living in Nandagram, thinking, "Now that my Gurudev has left and I have been ousted from Sri Chaitanya Math, I have come to Vrindavan and will stay here for the rest of my days." Such was his desire, but Srila Prabhupad did not want that. Srila Prabhupad wanted him to preach, so he sent a message from the sky to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, "Have you come to this world only to eat yourself and not share with anyone? Having taken initiation, do you think you will go to Goloka Vrindavan or Vaikuntha without taking anyone with you? There are so many fallen souls in this world, what will you do for them? You must go to Nabadwip, stay there in one place on the bank of the Ganges and start preaching from there." This is how Srila Sridhar Maharaj came to Nabadwip and started the mission of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in 1941. After that, many of his godbrothers found him and came to stay with him.

A few years after that, our Srila Gurudev came—having much energy and inspiration, he started to preach and take Srila Sridhar Maharaj out of Koladwip to various places (the chara-dham, four holy abodes, Sri Vrindavan, and others). Srila Gurudev took Srila Sridhar Maharaj everywhere for preaching. This is how Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math appeared, but now the preaching is going on all over the world by the mercy of Gurudev because after Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad left his body, so many foreign devotees came to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and took shelter of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Srila Sridhar Maharaj was actually a little hesitant to accept them, but then he gave everything, all foreign devotees into the hands of our Gurudev. This is how our Mission has expanded all over the world, and we are all a big family now—a big family of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

I would like to tell something to all the devotees all over the world. It does not matter where you live, for example, many devotees have left Venezuela because of their financial condition, because the situation in Venezuela is very bad—they went to many different countries, but, wherever you are, when you go to some country, you must go there not only to live, sleep, and enjoy! Whatever country you go to, you must preach there. If ten devotees go to ten different countries, then they must increase the preaching, there must be more and more preaching, in those ten countries. It is necessary to do this. Try to understand it.

There are so many villages in this world, so many people live there... You must read the biography of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad—he went to America alone, but how big the mission of ISKCON has become now! Read it and you can understand this. It is necessary to try, to make an effort—if you have a great desire to preach, then people will come. Srila Prabhupad said that in this world not so many people will come to Krishna consciousness, but you must not be disheartened, you are not alone.

There are so many people suffering in this world—they too are searching for the main source, they too are searching for the hidden treasure. They wait for somebody to come and distribute it to them. Go and distribute this hidden treasure to everyone!

Wherever you go, even if you go to the market, to work or anywhere else, keep some books in your bag. You can talk to people and give them a small book. If they read it, they can realise something, they can ask some questions. I see Sripad Sajjan Maharaj distributing small books—people read them and call me, they say they want to see me, they want to join me. You must distribute Krishna consciousness. You cannot sit in one place and only do deity puja—you do only mangal-arati and then sit all day in one place. Go and preach. Whether you are a sannyasi, a brahmachari, or a householder, it does not matter. Go door to door! It is necessary for you and necessary for everyone.

You can see my example—to this day I still go door to door. Tomorrow I am going for preaching again. I go door to door and invite people to come for Gaura Purnima. Why did Srila Prabhupad start 'Sri Nabadwip Dham Pracharani Sobha'? He wanted to preach the glories of Sri Nabadwip Dham. So, make some small programmes for ten-twenty people, speak about Sri Nabadwip Dham, and if somebody has a great fortune, they will come and join Gaura Purnima—and those who come must join Krishna consciousness because once you go for Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama you cannot forget it...

You know, in this age of Kali you can reach your real home just by chanting the maha-mantra. This is a very, very high thing! It is not the age of Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, or Dvapar-yuga! Before, people had to practise so much austerity to reach spiritual perfection, but in this age of Kali, all you must do is practise chanting the Holy Name and preach Krishna consciousness. People suffer so much eating meat, fish, etc.—even in terms of health, they suffer so much. In general, people like vegetarian food, but only vegetarian food is not sufficient—if you can give them some prasadam, then it will give them benefit.

Follow what I am saying, preach in this way, and it will be very nice. You can preach very nicely if you follow this.

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