(4/13) '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 a long time now: by Gurudev’s mercy, I have been coming to this area for more than twenty-five years. And I have been coming to this particular house because the hosts, Gopal Prabhu, his wife (Manorama Devi Dasi) and his 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 the houses of her relatives and other people, and they also gradually came to this path. Then, Manorama Didi’s daughter passed away, it is very sad, but what can we do? 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 one day, 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 in seven days. 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

‘I have fallen into this wicked material world!’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

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

What is the use living for one hundred years? I can live only ten years, but if I can give full time to the service of the Lord, that is sufficient. I keep 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 our material lives, to our family lives. 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 will you say? The scriptures tell us:

'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 a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Your debt to your fathers, mothers, 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 progress 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’ (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.64).

You can often see that somebody took initiation at the temple a short while ago and is progressing in their practice of Krishna consciousness, and there are also some who have been staying at the temple for a long time, but they have not progressed at all. 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 their age. The criterion of seniority is one’s devotion. It can be a small ten-, five- or six-year-old girl, but if she is practising Krishna consciousness – if she pays obeisances to her guru, Vaishnavs and the Lord, if she is devoted to the Lord, chants kirtans, and so on – then you must pay obeisance to her and respect her. On the other hand, you can also see an old eighty-year-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, and so on – she goes everywhere and only talks about her daughters-in-law). In this case, there is no use living for eighty or a hundred years in this world. But if a small ten-year-old girl 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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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Honouring Hari-Prasad
2) Exclusive Path
3) Lord's Messenger
4) 'Managing' Your Life
5) Internal Purity
6) Pray To Be One-Pointed
7) Mahaprabhu's Gift
8) At Vaishnavs' Mercy
9) Spiritual Deposit
10) Lacking Spirituality
11) About Srila Lochan Das Thakur
12) Leave Separate Interests
13) Muddled Minds