(2/7) 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 lectures devotees give. I like listening to it because I want to see how expert they are at Krishna consciousness and preaching. It is very important to preach. 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 one day he heard a message from Srila Prabhupad in the sky. 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, saying, ‘Have you come to this world only to eat yourself and not share with anyone? Do you think you have taken initiation and you will go to Goloka Vrindavan or Vaikuntha alone 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 later, our Srila Gurudev came. He had very much energy and inspiration, so he started to preach and take Srila Sridhar Maharaj out of Koladwip to various places. They visited the ‘chara-dham’ (the four principal 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, many foreign devotees came to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and took shelter in Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He was actually a little hesitant to accept them, but then he gave everything, including all foreign devotees, into the hands of our Gurudev. This is how our Mission has expanded all over the world. We are 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, because of their financial condition and a very bad situation in the country, many devotees left Venezuela and went to many other countries), but wherever you are, when you go to another 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, they must increase their 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 in various corners of the world… You must read Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad’s biography. He went to America alone, but how big the mission of ISKCON has become now! Read it and you will understand this. It is necessary to try, to make an effort. If you have a great desire to preach, people will come. Srila Prabhupad said that not so many people will come to Krishna consciousness in this world, 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 those books, and they call me, they say that 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. I am still going door to door to this day. I have just returned from one preaching programme, and 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 (Sri Nabadwip Dham Preaching Assembly)? Because he wanted to preach the glories of Sri Nabadwip Dham. Make some small programmes for ten–twenty people, speak about Sri Nabadwip Dham, and if somebody has 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 time 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 and other wrong things – even simply healthwise they suffer so much. In general, people tend to like vegetarian food, but vegetarian food only 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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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Increasing Preaching Scope
2) Distribute Krishna Consciousness!
3) Offering Bhog on Ekadasi
4) Sri Jagadish Pandit
5) Be Strong and Straight
6) Mission's Sustenance
7) Learn to Tolerate