Pray To Be One-Pointed

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Singur (West Bengal), 5 February 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

[His Divine Grace chants kirtans.]

গুরুদেব!
বড় কৃপা করি’, গৌড়বন-মাঝে
গোদ্রুমে দিয়াছ স্থান ।
আজ্ঞা দিল মোরে, এই ব্রজে বসি’,
হরিনাম কর গান ॥১॥

gurudeva!
bada krpa kari', gauda-vana-majhe
godrume diyachha sthana
ajna dila more, ei vraje vasi',
harinama kara gana

Gurudev! Bestowing a great mercy on me, you have given me a place in Sri Godrumdwip amidst the forests of Gauda. You ordered me: "Reside in this abode which is non-different from Vraja and chant the Lord's Name."

কিন্তু কবে প্রভো, যোগ্যতা অর্পিবে,
এ দাসেরে দয়া করি’ ।
চিত্ত স্থির হবে, সকল সহিব,
একান্তে ভজিব হরি ॥২॥

kintu kabe prabho, yogyata arpibe,
e dasere daya kari'
chitta sthira habe, sakala sahiba,
ekante bhajiba hari [2]

But when, O master, will you mercifully grant this servant the qualification to do this? When will my heart become steadfast? When will I tolerate everything and serve the Lord exclusively?

Our mind, our heart is always fickle. Our mind and heart cannot sit still—we are not able to concentrate them on the Holy Name. Mind is always fickle—as soon as there is some disturbance, we say, "I will give up chanting!" Many live in their family and when some trouble comes (somebody died, somebody got sick, this problem, that problem), they do not feel like chanting the Holy Name and they give it up. They cannot tolerate anything. But do you remember Prahlad Maharaj? How much austerity Prahlad Maharaj got! He was thrown into fire because he was chanting the Lord's Name! His worshippable father (Pita Thakur) threw him into fire because he was serving the Lord! He tied Prahlad Maharaj to an elephant's leg! He threw Prahlad Maharaj from a ten-thousand-feet mountain! He threw his ten-year-old son into water! This is the kind of austerity Prahlad Maharaj had been getting from five years old, and he tolerated everything. Does anyone give us so much austerity? No. Nobody throws us into fire, nobody throws us from a mountain, nobody ties us to an elephant's leg. If a five-year-old boy could tolerate all this, then why cannot we tolerate a little? We must learn from his example.

We pray, "My heart will become fixed, and I will tolerate everything." You know, there is a Bengali saying, "Bend the bamboo while it is green—if you try to bend it when it matures, it will crack (কাঁচায় না নোয়ালে বাঁশ, পাকলে করে ঠাস ঠাস, equivalent to English 'strike the iron while it is hot"). Learn from a young age, otherwise you can bend the bamboo when it is green, but if you try to bend it when it is mature, it will not bend—it will break. Somebody says, "I will practise Krishna consciousness when I am old." Do you think you will be able to? When you get old, your health will be bad, your legs will pain, your back will pain. You think will you chant the Holy Name when you are old, but when you grow old, your fingers will pain. So many kinds of pain and problems will come in old age, how do you think you will practise then?

How beautiful these words are—"When will my heart become steadfast? When will I tolerate everything and serve the Lord exclusively?" When will I be able to concentrate my mind and make it one-pointed? It is necessary to become an one-pointed, exclusive devotee—the mind must be fixed at the lotus feet of the Lord, at the lotus feet of Sri Guru. We pray that we may understand well who the guru is. We understand well who our mother, father, brother, friends are—in the same way, we must understand our relationship with the Guru and the Lord.

শৈশব-যৌবনে, জড়সুখ-সঙ্গে,
অভ্যাস হইল মন্দ ।
নিজকর্ম্ম-দোষে, এ দেহ হইল,
ভজনের প্রতিবন্ধ ॥৩॥

saisava-yauvane, jada-sukha-sange,
abhyasa ha-ila manda
nija-karma-dose, e deha ha-ila,
bhajanera pratibandha [3]

In my childhood and youth, I always indulged in material happiness and I have become habituated to bad things. Because of my own sins, this body has become an impediment to spiritual practice.

I was small, then I grew up, but I never woke up for the arati, I ate in the afternoon and again went to sleep—I must wake up in the afternoon, offer some fruit to the Lord, but I do not do all this. Those who do puja must be alert—they cannot eat and sleep till the evening. It is necessary to wake the Deities and give Them bhog at four in the afternoon. In this way, from a very young age we have got into bad habits under the influence of bad association, and now this body has become an obstacle to spiritual practice. This body is not favourable to devotion life, rather it has become unfavourable. This is all our own fault—this is the result of our own actions. If I had come to this path from childhood, if I could practise Krishna consciousness from an early age, then my body would not have become like this. If I had been waking up for mangal arati from my childhood, if I had been doing service from my childhood, then my habits would be good. Man is a slave to his habits. If our habits are bad, then what will become of us? We find ourselves amidst all kinds of bad habits, and now we pray to Gurudev... We have become ruined by the five kinds of diseases:

বার্দ্ধক্যে এখন, পঞ্চরোগে হত,
কেমনে ভজিব বল’ ।
কাঁদিয়া কাঁদিয়া, তোমার চরণে
পড়িয়াছি সুবিহ্বল ॥৪॥

vardhakye ekhana, pancha-roge hata,
kemane bhajiba bala'
kandiya kandiya, tomara charane
padiyachhi suvihvala [4]

Now aged, I am afflicted by five-fold diseases. Tell me, how shall I serve? Crying incessantly, I have fallen at your feet, utterly bewildered.

— : • : —

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