In Search of Hidden Treasure

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 3 February 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

This Nabadwip Dham is an extremely pure land. So many great Vaishnavs, starting from Srila Prabhupad, stayed here. All the Vaishnavs—Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, many others. Even when Mahaprabhu left, all the devotees did Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama together with Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu. When they did this parikrama, Nityananda Prabhu showed where which place was. Who can understand this?

শ্রীগৌড়মণ্ডলভূমি, যেবা জানে চিন্তামণি,
তার হয় ব্রজভূমি বাস ।

sri-gauda-mandala-bhumi yeba jane chintamani
tara haya vraja-bhume vasa

"Those who always think about Sri Nabadwip Dham, reside in Sri Vrindavan."

Who can understand this Gaura Mandal? Those who were born here cannot understand anything... Thousands and thousands of people from all over the world come here from millions of miles away. Why? What do they want here? Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that there is a "hidden treasure" here. People come from so far—from America, Russia, London—they come and sit here. Why? They come for the hidden treasure (the hidden treasure of the Sweet Absolute) that is kept here. We are forever suffering in the bondage of material suffering, illusory suffering.

মায়াজালে বদ্ধ হ'য়ে, আছ মিছে কাজ ল'য়ে ।
এখনও চেতন পেয়ে, রাধামাধব-নাম বল রে ॥

maya-jale baddha ha'ye
achha michhe kaja la'ye
ekhan-o chetana peye
radha-madhav-nam bala re

Bound in Maya's net, you work in vain. Now, while you are still conscious, chant 'Radha-Madhava'.

Bound in Maya's net, we are sitting here, working in vain, but you have got some consciousness now! Chant the Lord's Name at least once! This life will finish, and we are not as fortunate as Pariksit Maharaj. Will we get notified when we have to die? Death will come one day—we all have to leave this world one day, but what for did I get this human birth? Only to eat, sleep, defend, and enjoy? For money, food, good house and good clothes? No, not for this. We have come here to worship our Supreme Father, the Lord.

গোরা পহুঁ না ভজিয়া মৈনু ।
প্রেম রতন-ধন হেলায় হারাইনু ॥
বিষয়-বিষম-বিষ সতত খাইনু ।
গৌরকীর্ত্তন রসে মগন না হইনু ॥
কেন বা আছয়ে প্রাণ কি সুখ লাগিয়া ।
নরোত্তমদাস কেন না গেল মরিয়া ॥

gora pahu na bhajiya mainu
prema ratana-dhana helaya harainu
visaya-visama-visa satata khainu
gaura-kirtana rase magana na hainu
keno va achhaye prana ki sukha lagiya
narottama-dasa kena na gela mariya

"I did not worship Gora, I did not care for the jewel treasure of the divine love and have lost the chance. I always took the deathly poison of the material world and have never been attracted to the kirtan of Gaura. Why am I still alive? What joy is there? Oh why didn't Narottam das just die?..."

"Instead of worshipping Gaura, I have only being dying..." Mahaprabhu Himself went to Gaya to perform the last rites for his departed father, and when He met His guru there, He said,

সংসার-সমুদ্র হৈতে উদ্ধারহ মোরে ।
এই আমি দেহ সমর্পিলাঙ তোমারে ॥

"samsara-samudra haite uddharaha more
ei ami deha samarpilana tomare"

"Please rescue Me from this ocean of material existence! I am surrendering Myself to you."

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 17.54)

How beautiful this is. "I have given you everything—my body, mind, heart, everything. Please rescue me from this material existence." We must submit ourselves to the Lord's lotus feet.

This abode of Mahaprabhu is non-different from Vraja Dham, and we can stay here only by a very big fortune. Such fortunate does not come all the time. We have to go to so many places, do so many things; we have to go out to preach, but there is no other place that could compare to the purity of this land. This place is non-different from Sri Vraja Dham. Among the nine islands of Nabadwip, the place where we are at present is kirtanakhya-dham—this is an abode of kirtan, so it is necessary to chant kirtan here.

Wake up in the morning, chant kirtans. Try. Practice makes perfect. None of us have come out of our mother's womb and immediately learnt to chant kirtans. [To a new devotee:] Try to chant, even if you make a mistake, there is nothing to be afraid of—there are no tigers, no bears here, nobody will do anything to you. Practise Krishna consciousness, worship the Lord with a free heart here. Stay here peacefully. You do not need to think about food, clothes, etc. here—only chant the Holy Name and serve the Lord, this is your duty, there is no other duty. Only do service attentively. All this is your property—some think I am the owner, but the owner is the Lord, He is sitting over there [at the altar]. He is the proprietor of everything. I am only looking after His property.

I have left Nabadwip Math because they have kicked me out, but I am here now, Gurudev has kept me here. I did much over there, but now they have destroyed everything... Now, here too we have a big building. We had to struggle at first, but I never stopped the parikrama—even when the Deities were not installed yet we still did the parikrama that year, and about 400 people came. Many slept on the floor, the building was not painted properly, but since then we have made more rooms, etc. I have also started the prasadam hall and want to make two-three floors above it for Bengali devotees...

Engage your mind only in service, in the service to your Guru and the Lord. Do what your Guru tells you to do. Otherwise, satisfying the whims of your mind is not bhajan; following the Guru, the Vaishnavs and serving the Guru, the Vaishnavs and satisfying them is what is called bhajan. This is how you must practise Krishna consciousness. We sing every morning,

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

"Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Carefully take shelter of the Name and do your work."

(Gitavali, Arunadaya kirtan, 1.3, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Take shelter of the Holy Name and worship the Lord. These are very beautiful words. I have written books also, read them. Guidance 4 has very, very beautiful things written in it. Guidance 3 also, there are questions and answers there at the end.

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