(5/5) Live Sincere Devotional Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Betur area,
Evening, 25 January 2021, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Only fortunate souls can chant the kirtan of the Lord.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

‘Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151)

Roaming around the universe, we somehow, by some fortune, have come to the holy feet of our gurudev. Devotees come here from so far, travelling thousands and thousands of miles. There are now 140 branches of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and Srila Gurudev would often say, ‘The sun never sets on Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’ (when the sun is setting here, it is rising in other branches). I have been to places where there is no night. They have daytime the whole day – the sun sets only for ten minutes and then rises again. And when I went to that place again in the winter, I saw that they had only night the whole day – the sun does not rise in the winter, so it is dark the whole day (the night lasts 23 hours 45 minutes). There is a six–ten-feet layer of snow on the streets that is cleared by machines so that cars can go; the ocean gets frozen, and people walk on it; and when the temperature is below zero, it is so cold that when you breathe, your breath comes out and turns into ice in the air. We have a temple even in such a place. The whole world is flooded with Mahaprabhu now.

Mahaprabhu said:

পৃথিবীতে যত আছে নগরাদি গ্রাম ।
সর্ব্বত্র প্রচার হইবে মোর নাম ॥১২৬॥

prithivite achhe yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

‘My Name will spread to every village and town on this earth.’

class="source" (Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu)

Mahaprabhu predicted this, and our guru-varga turned it into reality – going to each and every country, they gave the Holy Name to all those people who did not understand anything, and now even people from our country do not know as much as they do. You could see that during the arati just now somebody came wearing shoes – people cannot understand anything… When they worship Saraswati or Kali, they make a disco party in front of the Deities and dance to music. Is this how Deities are worshipped? When you worship a Deity, you must do it selflessly, with heart and soul – not to impress others.

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

‘gorara ami, gorara ami’ mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara laile phala phale

‘Just saying, “I am Gora’s! I am Gora’s!” will not do. Only when you follow Gora’s practice and Gora’s conception will you get the proper result.’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

You have seen that we offered obeisances, offered arati, and so on. We have been doing this for so many years.

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।
গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari’
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

‘You put on tilaks and show the whole world that you serve Gora, but secretly you do outrageous things. Gora will catch you out, thief (hypocrite)!’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

You show off that you wear tilaks, neckbeads and sadhu clothes – it is very easy to dress as a sadhu, but it is very hard to become one. In this world, most people are only dressed as sadhus. That is why we are told that it is impossible to recognise a sadhu with your eyes – you must see the sadhu with your ears. It is necessary to listen with your ears to what the sadhu or the guru says. Only saying, ‘I have become a devotee’ will not do. Moreover, if somebody says, ‘I have become a Vaishnav!’ then this person is not a Vaishnav. Vaishnavs always say, ‘I am your servant.’ That is why we always call each other ‘Prabhu’ (‘Master’). We address even an uninitiated child as ‘Prabhu’. Even if I am eighty years old and some small boy took initiation yesterday, I must give him respect and address him as ‘Prabhu’ because the Lord resides within him. The Lord is our Lord. How should I see you? I must not see you as human beings – I must see you as souls, particles of the Lord. You are only born in these human bodies. Your bodies grow slowly, slowly, become old, and then one day you leave them to get other bodies. We get one body after another. It is necessary to give honour to the soul. That is why we give honour and pay obeisances to each other.

কাম-ক্রোধ আদি ছয় বাটপাড়ে দেয় ভয়
অবসান হৈল আসি বেলা

kama-krodha-adi chhaya, batapare deya bhaya,
avasana haila asi’ bela

‘I am harassed by the six highway robbers (lust, anger, etc.). And now my time has come to an end.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Our six enemies are lust (kama), anger (krodha), greed (lobha), illusion (moha), madness (mada), envy (matsarya). ‘Mada’ (‘madness’) means ego, or pride: people are proud of their wealth, knowledge, family or friends, beauty, merits, and so on. Everybody has some ego. That is why it is said: ‘Ahankare matta haina Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kari mani (অহঙ্কারে মত্ত হৈঞা নিতাই-পদ পাসরিয়া অসত্যেরে সত্য করি' মানি) – maddened with pride, I forgot Nitai’s feet and accept untruth as truth.’

সংসার সংসার ক'রে মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥
কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি' বৃথা দিন যায় ॥
দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

samsara samsara kari michhe gela kala
labha na haila kichhu ghatila janjala
kisera samsara ei, chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya
dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-vase
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

‘I have wasted all my time on material life and family and have got nothing but garbage as the result. What kind of life is this? It is only a trick, a show. I have wasted time taking this world and the people around me in it as my own. My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleep. It never occurs to me that death is there, waiting right next to me.’

(Sri Kalyan-Kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari’ yatane tumi,
thakaha apana kaje

‘You must know the main truth that this life is not eternal and full of various dangers. Carry on your life but try your best to take shelter in the Holy Name.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

I wish everyone lived without pain and sadness. I am thinking that farmers work so hard to grow potato, but they are not getting a good price to sell it now because people from other places sell it at a much cheaper price (nobody wants to pay a higher price for the local produce). They work so hard to earn a living, but it is all in vain:

হরি হরি ! বিফলে জনম গোঙাইনু ।
মনুষ্যজনম পাইয়া রাধাকৃষ্ণ না ভজিয়া
জানিয়া শুনিয়া বিষ খাইনু ॥

hari hari! viphale janama gonainu
manusya-janama paiya, radha-krsna na bhajiya,
janiya suniya visa khainu

‘O Lord! My life has passed in vain. I have got a human birth but have not served Radha-Krishna. I have been consciously drinking poison (I knew it, I heard about it from others, but I still drank it).’

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

People consciously drink poison – they know it is poison, they have heard that it is poison, but they are still taking it… We must practise Krishna consciousness.

There is a festival at our Betur temple tomorrow, please come. I will speak there like today from 10 a.m. Please come, I am inviting everyone. There will be kirtan and Hari-katha from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., then there will be bhoga-arati and the arati of the Deities, after that, everyone will be given prasad. The cook is coming from Nabadwip, so prasad will be cooked very nicely. There is a lot of cabbage in the winter, so they will cook cabbage with potato, some cauliflower rasam, sak, patol, chutney and sweet rice. Everyone will get this prasad tomorrow. ‘Prasada-seva karite haya, sakala prapancha-jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়) – the entire material world can be conquered by honouring the Lord’s prasad’ (Saranagati). Please come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama also – you will like it very much, you will see.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

[His Divine Grace chants ‘Hari Haraye Nama Krsna’, recites Sri Jaya Dhvani and concludes the evening class.]

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Religion of This Age
2) Know Thyself
3) Qualification for Chanting Holy Name
4) Come for Nabadwip Dham Parikrama
5) Live Sincere Devotional Life