Our Plight and Plea

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 31 January 2021, part 2

কবে শ্রীচৈতন্য মোরে করিবেন দয়া ।
কবে আমি পাইব বৈষ্ণব-পদছায়া ॥

kabe sri chaitanya more karibena daya
kabe ami paiba vaisnava-pada-chhaya

"When will Sri Chaitanya be merciful to me? When will I reach the shade of the Vaishnavs' feet?"

কবে আমি ছাড়িব এ বিষয়াভিমান ।
কবে বিষ্ণুজনে আমি করিব সম্মান ॥

kabe ami chhadiba e visayabhimana
kabe visnu-jane ami kariba sammana

"When will I give up this mundane ego? When will I honour the Lord's devotees?"

গলবস্ত্র কৃতাঞ্জলি বৈষ্ণব নিকটে ।
দন্তে তৃণ করি দাঁড়াইব নিষ্কপটে ॥

gala-vastra krtanjali vaisnava-nikate
dante trna kari' dandaiba niskapate

"With a cloth around my neck, joined palms, and straw between my teeth, I will sincerely submit myself at the Vaishnav's feet."

We have a chaitya-guru in our heart, and we constantly pray, "When will Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu give some mercy to me? When will I get the shelter of Guru and Vaishnavs?" We cannot reach the Lord (our real home) without Guru and Vaishnavs.

"Kabe ami chhadiba e visaya-abhimana? When will I leave this material ego?" We all have so much ego (abhiman)—everyone has some ego, even I also have ego. Those who have much wealth, property, have ego; those who are very beautiful have ego; those who are very educated have ego. There are so many kinds of ego in this world, and actually we must have ego, but what ego should we have? Our ego should be "I am an eternal servant of the Lord! I am an eternal servant of my Guru and the Vaishnavs!" It is necessary to have this kind of ego. If somebody thinks, "I am a guru!", "I am an acharya!" that is also ego. Srila Narottam Das Thakur says, "Sisya thakibo sarvada. I will always remain a disciple." We always want to be disciples, not guru.

"Kabe visnu-jane ami kariba sammana?" When will I give respect to all Vaishnavs? "Gala-vastra krtanjali"—with much humility; "dante trna kari'"—taking grass into my mouth like a cow; when will I stand in front of Vaishnavs without any deceit (niskapate)?...

কাঁদিয়া কাঁদিয়া জানাইব দুঃখগ্রাম ।
সংসার অনল হৈতে মাগিব বিশ্রাম ॥

kandiya kandiya janaiba duhkha-grama
samsara-anala haite magiba visrama

"Weeping, I will convey my sorrows to the Vaishnav and pray for shelter from the fire of material existence."

We always want respite from family life (from samsara anala, the wild fire of material life). Sometimes, those who do some government service say, "Oh, Maharaj, I will join Krishna consciousness after I retire." And the truth is that when they finally retire they end up more and more involved with their family life. Yet we cry for some respite. What is our sadness? We do not know anything, we cannot worship Lord Krishna properly, we cannot worship our Guru properly, we cannot practise properly, we cannot chant on our beads properly, we cannot chant our gayatri three times a day properly—that is our sadness, and this is true sadness. People become sad worrying, "Oh, I cannot eat properly," "I cannot sleep properly," "Oh, I have this problem," "Oh, I have that problem," "This happened," "That happened"—we always grumble and worry about such things. Yet our real problem, our real sadness is that we cannot get respite from the fire of material existence. That is why, we pray to Vaishnavs. If you approach the Lord directly, the Lord will not listen to what you are saying—the Lord will not accept your prayer. However, if you submit your appeal, or application, to Vaishnavs, if you tell them what your requirement is, then your application will be accepted. Vaishnav Thakur is very merciful—he will pray to the Lord for you.

শুনিয়া আমার দুঃখ বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
আমা' লাগি' কৃষ্ণে আবেদিবেন প্রচুর ॥

suniya amara duhkha vaisnava thakura
ama' lagi' krsne avedibena prachura

"Hearing of my sorrow, the worshippable Vaishnav will thoroughly pray to Krishna on my behalf."

If Vaishnav Thakur accepts my application, he will pray to the Lord for me, and hearing a request of a Vaishnav, Krishna is very kind, He will listen to their prayer. Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that He knows only His devotees, and His devotees also know only Lord Krishna. "Devotees" means Vaishnav Thakur.

So, if Vaishnav Thakur gives us his mercy, the Lord will grant our application.

বৈষ্ণবের আবেদনে কৃষ্ণ দয়াময় ।
এ হেন পামর প্রতি হবেন সদয় ॥

vaisnavera avedane krsna dayamaya
e hena pamara prati habena sadaya

"Satisfied by the Vaishnav's prayer, Krishna will be merciful to this sinner."

বিনোদের নিবেদন বৈষ্ণব চরণে ।
কৃপা করি সঙ্গে লহ এই অকিঞ্চনে ॥

vinodera nivedana vaisnava-charane
krpa kari' sange laha ei akinchane

"Bhakti Vinod prays at the feet of the Vaisnavas: "Mercifully take this lowly soul with you."

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (4.1 Mb, 10 min)