'Managing' Your Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Singur (West Bengal), 5 February 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

I have been preaching in Hooghly for many days now—by Gurudev's mercy I have been coming to this area for many years (more than twenty-five years now). I have been coming to this particular house because the hosts, Gopal Prabhu, his wife (Manorama Devi Dasi) and mother-in-law were initiated many years ago by Srila Gurudev, so I have always felt that I must come here on that account. When I started coming, Manorama Didi would take me to different houses of her relatives and other people, and they would gradually also come to this path. Then, Manorama Didi's daughter passed away, it is very sad, but what can be done? Everybody has their lifespan written for them, so everyone lives as long as they are meant to live. This is how it happened so that the daughter passed away and the mother stayed alive...

We are all here in this world only for a short time. We all have to leave this world, and nobody will come and tell you, "You are going to die tomorrow." You will not get any notice. There are some fortunate souls like Pariksit Maharaj who had got an advance notice that he would die after seven days; and hearing this, he did not waste time on any gramya-katha, gramya-varta—he did not worry how this family and household would run after him. This is actually how you all must live, but you cannot. That is why, we chant every day,

এমন দুর্ম্মতি সংসার-ভিতরে
পড়িয়া আছিনু আমি ।

emana durmati samsara bhitare
padiya achhinu ami

"O Lord! This wretched soul has fallen into this material world..."

('Emona Durmati' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Even when people retire from their material life, they do not stop worrying about their families... I have told Gopal Prabhu today, "What is there for you in this family life?" He said, "I am managing the household." I said, "Who are you to manage anything? The Lord is the manager!" Now he should understand it—the Lord has taken his wife too, but even now he cannot dedicate his full time to serve the Lord. I told him to come to the temple, to stay there, chant the Holy Name and do service. Even if he comes and only makes flower garlands, that is also service. You can understand it yourself too—when you stay at the temple, you can give full time to service, but is it possible to do that when you are staying at home? Never. You have to look after your cows and goats, sons and daughters, this and that. I am giving you an opportunity—I have opened many different temples where even old people can come and practise Krishna consciousness full time.

What is the use living for one hundred years? If I live just ten years but give full time to the service of the Lord, that is sufficinet. I keep on telling you this, but you tell me, "Who will look after my cows, calves and goats? Who will look after my children?" The Lord is the only master, but we have forgotten Him—we only give our full time to the material life, to the family life. I have seen many people who come and practise Krishna consciousness at first, but then they fall into material bondage and leave to serve their old parents. What can you say? The scriptures say,

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

Your debt to your father, mother, rishis (sages), demigods—all debts are cleared if you serve the Lord. I tell it to you time and time again. Because we have no faith in this we are not able to process along the path of devotion. Your devotion depends on your faith. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari (শ্রদ্ধা-অনুসারী ভক্তি-অধিকারী): the quality of devotion depends upon the quality of one's faith." (Cc, 2.22.64)

You can often see that somebody took initiation at the temple a short time ago and is progressing in Krishna consciousness practice, and there are some who have been staying at the temple for a long time, but they have not progressed. Why is it like that? There is no question of seniority or juniority in devotion. You cannot judge one's seniority or juniority based on anyone's age. The criterion is one's devotion. It can be a ten-, five-, or six-year-old small girl, but if she has been practising Krishna consciousness—if she pays obeisance to the Guru, Vaishnavs, the Lord, if she is devoted to the Lord, chants kirtans, etc.—then you must pay obeisance to her and respect her. On the other hand, there can be some eighty-year-old old lady, but you will only hear gramya-katha (village talks), gramya-varta (village news) and other nonsense talks from her mouth (what her daughter-in-law has done to her, what this daughter-in-law did, what that daughter-in-law did, etc.—she goes everywhere and only talks about her daughters-in-law). If that is the case, then there is no use living for eighty or a hundred years in this world. Yet if it is a small ten-year-old girl but she only practises Krishna consciousness, chants the Lord's Name and serves the Lord, then you must pay obeisance to her and have much respect for her.

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