(10/13) Fighting Misconception

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata (Jatragachhi), 8 February 2021, part 10

What does the song ‘Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu’ say next?

মৃদঙ্গবাদ্য, শুনিতে মন,
অবসর সদা যাচে ।
গৌর-বিহিত, কীর্ত্তন শুনি’,
আনন্দে হৃদয় নাচে ॥

mrdanga-vadya, sunite mana,
avasara sada yache
gaura-vihita, kirtana suni’,
anande hrdaya nache

‘My heart always begs for a chance to hear the sounds of the mridanga. Hearing the kirtan prescribed by Gaura, my heart dances for joy.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You can hear so many kirtans in this world, but it is necessary to hear the kirtan that was authorised by Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

What does it say next?

যুগলমূর্ত্তি, দেখিয়া মোর,
পরম আনন্দ হয় ।
প্রসাদ-সেবা, করিতে হয়,
সকল প্রপঞ্চ-জয় ॥

yugala-murti, dekhiya mora,
parama ananda haya
prasada-seva, karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

‘I rejoice to see the holy Deities of the Divine Couple. By honouring Their prasad, I conquer all material illusions.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Yugala Murti means Radha-Krishna – They are the Ones who must be worshipped. If you honour prasad, material diseases will go away from you. I have told you what avidya means. Another material disease is asmita, false identification with the body. You think, ‘I belong to myself’, ‘This is my son’, ‘My house’, ‘My room’, ‘My wife’, ‘My family’, ‘I have done this’, ‘I have done everything.’ The Lord says that you do not do anything. Who does everything and who makes everyone do everything? He does everything. He is the master of everything, but you have forgotten Him.

When somebody dies at a house, everything continues running, but people do not water Tulasi trees. They continue eating themselves, but they do not water Tulasi. What is this? I went to Bardhaman for collection recently. They would usually give 50 kg rice, but this time they said that the father of the family had died, so they could not give any alms. I asked them, ‘Where is it written in the scriptures that you cannot give alms when somebody dies at the house?’ At another time, they say, ‘Oh, it is Thursday, Laksmi Devi’s day, so I will not give you any alms today.’ Who does Laksmi Devi serve? She serves Lord Narayan. So, when devotees come to you for the service to Krishna, do you think Laksmi Devi will prohibit you to give them anything? Devotees come to serve Laksmi Devi’s husband, and they say they will not give them alms on the day of Laksmi Devi (Thursday)! And when one’s father dies, all the family continues eating, all the children are fed as before, but when somebody comes for the service of the Lord, they say, ‘Oh, my father has died, we cannot give you anything.’ What do people learn? They continue doing everything, but they do not give water to Tulasi Devi! They eat, sleep, watch TV, but they will not water Tulasi Devi or serve the Lord! These are their rules – who taught them such rules? In which scripture does it say to be like that? I am telling what is written in Hari-bhakti-vilas – this is the scripture that contains all the rules and regulations. Where does it say there that you cannot water Tulasi if somebody dies? People do not even die, they only leave one body to take another body. I am wearing these clothes now, but tomorrow I will wake up and wear new clothes. If you eat in the clothes, you cannot worship the Lord in these clothes, so you change your clothes. Just as I change my clothes all the time, I also change my bodies. Today, I have a human body, and tomorrow I may have a cow’s body, or I may become a cat, a goat, a pig, a monkey, a snake, a frog, and so on.

Srila Guru Maharaj told one thing. You are hungry now, but when you were elephants, how many banana trees did you devour? You were also pigs once. If you tell a pig, ‘We have some nice paneer rasa today,’ will the pig eat it? It will not. But if you give it a bucket of stool, it will eat it happily, thinking, ‘What nice food!’ When you pass stool, you do not even want to look behind – you hold your noses. When it was inside your stomaches, you did not care, but once it comes out, you hold your noses. You know Srila Raghunath Das Goswami from Adisaptagram – he left everything like stool and urine. Just as you pass stool and urine and do not even want to look back at it, he gave up all material things, all material attachments like stool and urine and left. Srila Sanatan Goswami left his minister’s job and went to Mahaprabhu. We have also come to this line and to Srila Gurudev’s lotus feet leaving everything, and we never think about all the things we left behind.

'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 father, mother, rishis (sages), demigods – all kinds of debt are cleared if you serve the Lord. Many said about me, ‘Oh, he has left his parents’ service and went away!’ But I have read in the scriptures that if you serve the Lord, then all your debts become cleared (all debts to your father, mother, sages, demigods, and so on are cleared). Can you serve all 330,000,000 demigods? You cannot. Even if you can serve ten–fifteen demigods, the rest will still be unhappy. If you serve Krishna, then all worship of demigods is automatically accomplished – you do not have to worship anyone else! You must always remember this.

All right, let us chant now. I will speak again later. [His Divine Grace continues singing ‘Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu’.]

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Length: 84 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Practise Devotion
2) Land of Religions
3) Seva Vidya
4) Conditioned Souls' Inaptitude
5) Choose Your Association
6) Lost and Languid Souls
7) "Make the Teachings of Sri Guru Non-Different from Your Heart"
8) Price of Independence
9) "Come Back to Your Home"
10) Fighting Misconceptions
11) Goloka at Your Home
12) Ekadasi: Devotional Practice
13) Stay Connected