Genuine Benefit

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav Seva Programme, Bangaon,
31 January 2021, part 9

মায়ারে করিয়া জয় ছাড়ান না যায় ।
সাধু-গুরু কৃপা বিনা না দেখি উপায় ॥

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya
sadhu-guru krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Maya, the illusory environment, is very strong. We fell into the bondage of this illusory environment and forgot Krishna—we have forgotten our Supreme Father. We are all sons of nectar. You, I, all of us sitting here—we are all one family. Somebody may be from America, somebody may be from Bengal, somebody may be from Uluberia, somebody comes from Kolkata, somebody comes from this area. This all is not our true identity. We are all sons of nectar—we come from the Lord, and we must go back to the Lord.

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

"There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are also 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities, such as trees and plants. There are also 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and there are 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species."

(Padma Purana)

We have been born in water 900,000 times (as fish, crocodile, shark, etc.); we have been born as trees, plants, mountains, etc. 2,000,000 times; we have been born as worms, insects, spiders, etc. 1,100,000 times; we have been born as birds, flying in the sky, 1,000,000 times; we have been born as animals (cows, goats, sheep, cats) 3,000,000 time; and we have been born as humans 400,000 times. But:

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of his birth and bring benefit to all other people."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 9.41)

'Benefit to others' means giving Krishna consciousness (the consciousness of Krishna) to the souls who forgot Krishna. This is why when Nimai came to the ashram of Keshav Bharati and took sannyas, His name became Sri Krishna Chaitanya. In the time of Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami, there were four more goswamis:

জয় রূপ সনাতন ভট্ট রঘুনাথ ।
শ্রীজীব গোপালভট্ট দাস রঘুনাথ ॥

jaya rupa sanatana bhatta raghunatha
sri-jiva gopala-bhatta dasa raghunatha

"All glory to Sri Rupa, Sanatan, Raghunath Bhatta, Sri Jiva, Gopal Bhatta, and Raghunath Das!"

Today is actually Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami's appearance day. He composed a book called Sat Kriya Sara Dipika (for the sraddha ceremonies) and other important scriptures. He was a great scholar. He wrote how Vaishnavs must be worshipped. The appearance and disappearance days of Vaishnavs are one and the same. In this world, people either live or die, but for Vaishnavs, there is no difference between appearance and disappearance. Appearance (avirbhav) and disappearance (tirobhav) is one and the same. When pastimes are completed in this world, then we say it is tirobhav, and when pastimes begin in this world, then we say it is avirbhav; however, both days are the same—we must worship Vaishanvs on both their appearance day and their disappearance day.

Since time immemorial we have been averse to the Lord Krishna, and as the result of forgetting the Lord, we are not burning in the agony of three-fold miseries (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik, আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক: miseries caused by one's body, by the nature, and other souls). There are three types of suffering in this world. You think you have no money and you suffer, but those who have money suffer even more! There is no happiness, there is no peace! People are enjoying miseries. If they surrender to the Lord, they will not like anything in this external world any more. Yet we are unfortunate:

দুর্লভ মানব জন্ম লভিয়া সংসারে ।
কৃষ্ণ না ভজিনু দুঃখ কহিব কাহারে ॥

durlabha manava janma labhiya samsare
krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare?

"I have got a very rare human life in this world, but I have not worshipped Lord Krishna. Whom can I tell of my misery?"

সংসার সংসার ক'রে মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala
labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

"Time has passed as I have been busy in my material life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened."

কিসের সংসার এই, ছায়াবাজী প্রায় ।
ইহাতে মমতা করি' বৃথা দিন যায় ॥

kisera samsara ei chhayabaji praya
ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya

"What sort of world is this? It is like a trick, a show. While I affectionately take it as my own, days pass by in vain."

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje, nisa nidra-vase
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe vase

"My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me."

Pariksit Maharaj was very fortunate—he got a seven-day's notice that he would leave his body in seven days. Many sages, many great scholars came to him and started giving various advice, but nothing touched him—the dirt in his heart did not go away by hearing all that. However, when Sukadev Goswami told him about the path of genuine benefit, and Pariksit Maharaj listened to it all at one go—he did not even think about his food, clothes, sleeping, etc.; he left everything behind. In this way, Pariksit Maharaj listened to Srimad Bhagavatam from Sukadev Goswami for seven days. There was no such book as Srimad Bhagavatam at that time—what Sukadev Goswami spoke later was written down and became known as Srimad Bhagavatam. Sukadev Goswami spoke about the genuine benefit, which is exclusive devotion. We hear about this kind of devotion in Srimad Bhagavatam.

— : • : —

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

• Listen to the audio or download (1.8 Mb, 5 min)