At Vaishnavs' Mercy

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Singur (West Bengal), 5 February 2021, part 8
Translated from Bengali

কবে শ্রীচৈতন্য মোরে করিবেন দয়া ।
কবে আমি পাইব বৈষ্ণব-পদছায়া ॥

kabe sri chaitanya more karibena daya
kabe ami paiba vaisnava-pada-chhaya

"When will Sri Chaitanya be merciful to me? When will I reach the shade of the Vaishnavs' feet?"

কবে আমি ছাড়িব এ বিষয়াভিমান ।
কবে বিষ্ণুজনে আমি করিব সম্মান ॥

kabe ami chhadiba e visayabhimana
kabe visnu-jane ami kariba sammana

"When will I give up this mundane ego? When will I honour the Lord's devotees?"

কাঁদিয়া কাঁদিয়া জানাইব দুঃখগ্রাম ।
সংসার অনল হৈতে মাগিব বিশ্রাম ॥

kandiya kandiya janaiba duhkha-grama
samsara-anala haite magiba visrama

"Weeping, I will convey my sorrows to the Vaishnav and pray for shelter from the fire of material existence."

What does it say here? We must pray to Vaishnavs. If you send a letter to the Lord, you will not get a reply. However, if we send our letter or call to a close and dear associate of the Lord, then we will get some news from the Lord. The near and dear of the Lord will tell you about the Lord—they will give you the news about the Lord, they will tell you where the Lord stays, what the Lord eats, what the Lord likes to eat, where the Lord sleeps, how He eats—they can answer all your questions. It says here, "Kandiya kandiya janaiba duhkha-grama samsara-anala haite magiba visrama." When will I get respite from this ocean of material existence? This is not only this life—how many lifetimes we have passed! How many families we have changed! When will I get relief from this material life? After death we must go to another life, and before that we have also had so many lives, so many families—we have gone through a cow's family, a goat's family, a sheep's family, a cat's family, etc.

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

"There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are also 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities, such as trees and plants. There are also 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and there are 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species."

(Padma Purana)

We have passed 900,000 aquatic species, we have passed through 2,000,000 immobile species (trees, hills, etc.), we have been born 1,100,000 times as all kinds of insects and bugs! We flew 1,000,000 times in the sky, and we were born 3,000,000 times as cows, goats, sheep, cats, pigs, etc., and we have gone through 400,000 human species. You know that there are such human species who even eat human meat; there are human species who eat dogs' meat; there are humans who eat goats', pigs' meat, who eat snakes, frogs. You know, if you go to China and want to eat a pakora, they will give you cockroach pakoras! Just as they eat fish fries here in Bengal, they eat cockroach fries in China, and it is expensive too. Somebody also eats earthworms, snakes, etc. There are such places (Nagaland, for example). There are places where they eat dogs' meat, cats' meat. We have gone through such species of humans, but now we have got this clean birth in India... We can come to Vaishnavs and pray for a relief from this material life. What will Vaishnav Thakur say then? Vaishnav Thakur will appeal to the Lord on my behalf. If I submit my application directly to the Lord, my appeal will not be granted. We must submit our application to Vaishnavs, then it will be sent upstairs, considered, and if they decide that this person is OK, they will sing it and order to give us a grant, otherwise the 'bill' will not be passed.

শুনিয়া আমার দুঃখ বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
আমা' লাগি' কৃষ্ণে আবেদিবেন প্রচুর ॥

suniya amara duhkha vaisnava thakura
ama' lagi' krsne avedibena prachura

"Hearing of my sorrow, the worshippable Vaishnav will thoroughly pray to Krishna on my behalf."

বৈষ্ণবের আবেদনে কৃষ্ণ দয়াময় ।
এ হেন পামর প্রতি হবেন সদয় ॥

vaisnavera avedane krsna dayamaya
e hena pamara prati habena sadaya

"Satisfied by the Vaishnav's prayer, Krishna will be merciful to this sinner."

So, we will pray to Vaishnav Thakur, then Vaishnav Thakur will send our prayer to the Lord—hearing Vaishnavs' appeal, Krishna becomes very merciful, He will take pity on such fallen lowly soul as myself and fulfil my desire. Without Vaishnavs' appeal on our behalf, the Lord will never fulfil our heart's desire. In this way, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur prays,

বিনোদের নিবেদন বৈষ্ণব চরণে ।
কৃপা করি সঙ্গে লহ এই অকিঞ্চনে ॥

vinodera nivedana vaisnava-charane
krpa kari' sange laha ei akinchane

"Bhaktivinod prays at the feet of the Vaisnavas: "Mercifully take this lowly soul with you."

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