(7/13) ‘Make Teachings of Sri Guru Non-Different from Your Heart’

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata (Jatragachhi), 8 February 2021, part 7

গৌর আমার, যে সব স্থানে,
করল ভ্রমণ রঙ্গে ।
সে সব স্থান, হেরিব আমি,
প্রণয়ি-ভকত-সঙ্গে ॥

gaura amara, ye saba sthane,
karala bhramana range
se saba sthana, heriba ami,
pranayi-bhakata-sange

‘In the company of loving devotees, I behold all the places my Gaura visited during His pastimes.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Mahaprabhu went to so many places. Even if you do not have initiation, you can always come – Gurudev has opened so many temples, and every temple holds many festivals throughout the year. We celebrate Janmastami in one temple, Radhastami in another; we observe the niyom-seva month also. We have a temple in Govardhan, and we celebrate Govardhan Puja there. There are appearance and disappearance days of our Param Guru Maharaj, appearance and disappearance days of our Gurudev. There are many different festivals, and we all have an opportunity to join them. Soon, on 25 February, there will be a festival of Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance.

By the mercy of Gurudev, we have a very big temple in Ekachakra. I will go there five days earlier to arrange everything. Thousands and thousands of people take prasad there every day – during the festival, up to twenty-five thousand(!) people come to take prasad. There are many rooms at the temple. The only problem is that all kinds people come there – all the aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera, darvesh, saki, sahajiya, sakhibheki, smarta, jata-gosani, atibari, chudadhari, gauranga-nagari come. But what can I do? They come and stay in the nat-mandir, but our devotees get a room and stay in rooms. There are many facilities for you all.

Soon is also Gaura Purnima. I have given invitation letters to everyone. Come for Gaura Purnima and do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. For as long as your legs carry you, you must do parikrama – for as long as you have this opportunity, you must come. Do not think, ‘Oh, I have been there twice already’ or ‘three times’ or ‘four times’, and so on. I have done this parikrama thirty times: I have been at the temple for thirty years, and I have been doing this parikrama for thirty years. People ask me if there will be a parikrama in this pandemic situation. I tell them: why will there be no parikrama?! If political meetings can gather hundreds of thousands of people, then who will stop our parikrama? I heard that Modi had come to West Bengal yesterday and so many people gathered in Midnapore. Some say that there were two hundred thousand people (others estimate that there were four hundred thousand people). At our parikrama, some four–five thousand people come, then why will we not be able to do this parikrama? What is the problem?

In Ekachakra, we will have the festival starting from the ekadasi day: everyone will come on ekadasi, and for three days after that we will be distributing prasad. It is a rule of our temple that on ekadasi days, we give prasad only to those who fast on this day. The rice and other things that are offered to the Lord on ekadasi are given to the cows. We do not take rice on ekadasi, and we do not distribute rice to anyone on ekadasi because it is said in the scriptures that if you eat rice on ekadasi, you will be committing the sin of eating cow’s meat. Anyway, can you not live without rice for one day? When you are admitted to hospital, you are given saline solution for seven–ten days – do you think anyone will give you rice there? What choice will you have then? If this is your fate, you have to go through this. Live properly, then you will not have problems.

It is said that ekadasi is the mother of devotion (bhakati-janani), and ekadasi days are the days of the Lord (Madhava-tithi). We observe such days with great care.

মাধব-তিথি, ভক্তি জননী,
যতনে পালন করি ।

madhava-tithi, bhakti janani,
yatane palana kari

‘I carefully observe all holy days related to Lord Madhav – such days are mothers of devotion.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Everyone must observe ekadasi days with great care. You must fast from morning until noon. Gurudev said that if you cannot do that – if you have problems with your health (for example, if you are old and suffer from flatulence if you do not eat) – you can make something plain and take that. I also cannot fast; after I had an operation in 2005 (sixteen–seventeen years have already passed), I cannot skip meals. What to do?… Before I go out on ekadasi days, I take some potato (alu-tarkari) or some fried potato (alu-bhaji). I am busy the whole day outside and then come back in the afternoon to take prasad again. So, I am not telling anything to those who cannot fast – Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that you can take anukalpa (non-grain prasad).

One time, a devotee wrote to Guru Maharaj, saying, ‘I work for a ship-building company and have to handle a ten-kg hammer. How will I work if I do not eat? How can I follow ekadasi?’ Guru Maharaj replied, ‘Then eat ten kg of boiled potato in the morning. What is the problem?’ There are so many kinds of fruit also – there is no lack of anything, especially in our country. There is fruit, there is alu-dum, there are so many plants. There are so many things you can eat.

It is necessary to observe ekadasi. Scriptures say that there are five items that are prohibited because sin stays in those five types of grains. What are these five items? Rice, wheat, barley, pulses and mustard/sesame. You cannot take any kinds of dal (beans, pulses), cereal or muri (puffed rice). You cannot eat anything that is made with or from these five items. Do not use mustard oil (any mustard, white or black). You can take nuts, you can use sunflower oil, peanut oil or ghee. You can cook something simple with that to maintain life in the body in one way or another.

Some do nirjal ekadasi (fast without any water or food). If you can do it, you can fast like that, but if you do it, you must not take a pillow and lie in your room the whole day. You must do service. You must wash the dishes, you must serve the cows, you must serve the Deities and do everything else. You do nirjal ekadasi without even touching water and spend the whole day idle, but who will serve the Deities and work the whole day? It is not good. You cannot stop the Lord’s services. Whatever you do, you must do it for the service of the Lord.

Our family is a Krishna-centred family. Everything that is created in this world is meant for the service of the Lord. If I go somewhere in the car, so many insects are killed under the wheels of the car – am I not committing sins? If I eat rice, if I eat wheat, if I eat cabbage or spinach, do I not cut these plants? Is it not a sin? The difference is that we do not eat anything! Devotees do not eat anything – they offer everything to the Lord and take prasad (remnants) of the Lord. That is why it is said that we must reject everything that is unoffered – we must not take what is not offered to the Lord. When you eat anything, you must remember the Lord, remember gurudev. Remember this. Sometimes, some problem can happen on the road or there can be some other difficulty and you cannot take prasad properly, but you must still observe ekadasi – in such cases, you must get some fruit, remember the Lord, remember gurudev and eat it. This is the rule.

So, as I started saying:

গৌর আমার, যে সব স্থানে,
করল ভ্রমণ রঙ্গে ।
সে সব স্থান, হেরিব আমি,
প্রণয়ি-ভকত-সঙ্গে ॥

gaura amara, ye saba sthane,
karala bhramana range
se saba sthana, heriba ami,
pranayi-bhakata-sange

‘In the company of loving devotees, I behold all the places my Gaura visited during His pastimes.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Come. We will go together with devotees to all the places where Gauranga Mahaprabhu went. We will do parikrama in the association of devotees.

— : • : —

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Size: 40 Mb
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