(2/9) Morning Shows the Day

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 3 February 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

We are very fortunate to be here, in Sri Nabadwip Dham, in Godrumdwip. Devapalli is a very beautiful place. All 330,000,000 demigods always stay here. Lord Nrisinghadev appeared in South India, but He came here and took some rest after slaying Hiranyakasipu.

Even gopis say, ‘Prahlad Maharaj has so much devotion – we do not have that kind of devotion. We have not got there yet.’ Prahlad Maharaj is a very great devotee of santa-rasa. He tolerated so much torture from his demoniac father, Hiranyakasipu, starting from being fed snake poison when he was only five years old… He had to undergo so many tortures: he was thrown into fire, he was thrown into water, he was tied to an elephant’s leg, and so on. Prahlad Maharaj tolerated everything silently and only remembered the Lord.

We must always remember the Lord.

আদৌশ্রদ্ধা ততঃ সাধুসঙ্গোঽথ ভজনক্রিয়া ।
ততোঽনর্থনিবৃত্তিঃ স্যাৎ ততো নিষ্ঠা রুচিস্ততঃ ॥
অথাসক্তিস্ততো ভাবস্ততঃ প্রেমাভ্যুদঞ্চতি ।
সাধকানাময়ং প্রেম্ণঃ প্রাদুর্ভাবে ভবেৎ ক্রমঃ ॥

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango ’tha bhajana-kriya
tato ’nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah
athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati
sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

‘First, there is faith; then, saintly association and practising life. After that, unwanted habits gradually go away, spiritual life becomes stable, and spiritual taste comes. Then comes attachment, feeling and, finally, transcendental love. This is how love for the Lord comes to those who practise Krishna consciousness.’

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.4.15–16)

This is how attachment to service must gradually come. The feeling must come to you, ‘If I do not do my service, I do not feel well.’ Such attachment must come. When will it come? When the diseases that we have inside us go away, then transcendental attachment will come.

What are these diseases? We were just singing in the kirtan: ‘Pancha-roga hata. We are ruined by five diseases.’ These five disease are avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that is against my enjoyment) and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits). Avidya means ignorance, identifying yourself with the gross material body. When you think that you are this body made of five material elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether; pancha-bhautik deha), that is called ignorance. Basically, avidya means attachment to the material world. It is a disease, and until and unless this disease is removed, we will not become detached.

First, it is necessary to have nistha, sincerity: ‘I will do this service, and I will do it every day.’ It means we will wake up early in the morning, come to the mangal-arati, chant kirtans. We will start each day well from the very morning. I remember a poem that we learnt in childhood:

সকালে উঠিয়া আমি মনে মনে বলি,
সারা দিন আমি যেন ভালো হয়ে চলি ।

sakale uthiya ami mane mane bali
sara dina ami yena bhalo haye chali

‘When I wake up in the morning, I tell myself that I must behave well all day…’

(From a children’s poem about good behaviour)

Although this is written in common, material literature, our life should also be like that. When we wake up, we should stand before the Lord and think about the Lord. We must always think about the Lord, we must always do service, always take the Holy Name of the Lord. This is what I do.

We sing:

কৃপা কর বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া, ভজিতে ভজিতে,
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya, bhajite bhajite,
abhimana hau dura

‘Please be merciful, Vaishnav Thakur! May my ego go away by always worshipping you in full knowledge of the relationship.’

‘আমি ত বৈষ্ণব’, এ বুদ্ধি হইলে,
অমানী না হ’ব আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠাশা আসি’, হৃদয় দূষিবে,
হইব নিরয়গামী ॥

‘ami ta vaisnava’, e buddhi haile,
amani na ha’ba ami
pratisthasa asi’, hrdaya dusibe,
haiba nirayagami

‘If I think, “I am a Vaishnav”, I will never stop desiring honour – my heart will become polluted with the desire for prestige, and I will end up in hell.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If I think that I have become a Vaishnav, I will not be able to give honour to others. It is a very beautiful kirtan. If you try to explain it gradually, line by line, you will see how beautiful it is. It is necessary to sing kirtans nicely, in the proper mood and attentively.

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

‘May I have the same kind of love for Your holy feet as I now have for this material world.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We must use everything for the Lord: every single thing must be used for the Lord’s service. This is how you can very beautifully take part in the His service.

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Size: 40 Mb
Length: 81 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Have You Forgotten?
2) Morning Shows the Day
3) Genuine Surrender
4) In Search of Hidden Treasure
5) Humility and Dedication
6) Jnana-Sunya Bhakti
7) Taking a Stand Against Maya
8) Be One-Pointed
9) A Word of Warning