Price of Independence

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

[His Divine Grace continues chanting the kirtan Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu.]

মৃদঙ্গবাদ্য,শুনিতে মন,
অবসর সদা যাচে ।
গৌর-বিহিতকীর্ত্তন শুনি'
আনন্দে হৃদয় নাচে ॥৪॥

mrdanga-vadya sunite mana
avasara sada yache
gaura-vihita kirtana suni'
anande hrdaya nache [4]

My heart always begs for the opportunity to hear the sound of the mrdanga. Hearing the kirtan prescribed by Sri Gaurasundar, my heart dances with joy.

যুগলমূর্ত্তি,দেখিয়া মোর,
পরম আনন্দ হয় ।
প্রসাদ-সেবা,করিতে হয়,
সকল প্রপঞ্চ-জয় ॥৫॥

yugala-murti dekhiya mora
parama-ananda haya
prasada-seva karite haya
sakala prapancha jaya [5]

Beholding the Deity forms of the Divine Couple, I feel the greatest joy. By honouring prasad, I overcome the entire material illusion.

You must honour prasadam. How will you conquer the material world? Prapancha (the material world) means there are five (pancha) diseases: avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that goes against one's enjoyment), and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits).

Devotee: What does 'asmita' mean?

Asmita means ignorance: it means not knowing that I and this body are not the same. It means not knowing who I am. If I ask you, "Who are you?" You will say, "I am so-and-so Haldar," "I am so-and-so Ray," "I am so-and-so Chaudhry." This is all false; this is not our identity. All these names are our body's identity. Often, people live in some place, and they get named after the place. You are known by this name in this world, but once you leave your body and leave this world, nobody will call you by this name any more. Is it not so? Therefore, this is not our identity. Our real identity is that we are a jivatma, a soul. That which makes this body talk, walk, etc. is the soul. When this understanding comes, it is called knowledge, and everything else is ignorance (avidya). Spiritual truth related to the Lord is knowledge (vidya), and this is what we must understand.

Srila Sanatan Goswami asked Mahaprabhu, "Who am I? Why am I suffering?" Why are we burning in the agony of the three-fold miseries? There are three kinds of suffering: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik (আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক)—miseries caused by other souls, by the nature, and by our body. Adhibhautik means the Lord has created all the jiva souls in this world, but you can see that your mother beats your father, you can see parents beat their children, husbands beat their wives, people fight with each other, snakes bite people, snakes eat frogs, frogs eat moths and mosquitos, cows eat grass, milk, etc.—everything in this world is killing or torturing one another. This is called adhibhautik-jvala (the agony caused by other bodies). You can feel mosquitoes biting now—this is also adhibhautik-jvala. Adhidaivik-jvala means the suffering brought about by demigods. You may have heard that so many people died recently in Joshimath due to a glacial burst, this is an example of adhidaivik-jvala. Sometimes, there is a heatwave, sometimes torrential rains, etc. It is all adhidaivik-jvala. Finally, adhyatmik-jvala means mental suffering (there are many illness). Many people do not have money and they suffer because of this, but you can see California—when children are born, they get ten cars each as their birthday presents. The people are so rich there. However, the suicide rate is said to be the highest in California. Why? Do they have a lack of money? They have no lack of anything, but they still suffer—this is called mental suffering (adhyatmik-jvala).

Why do we suffer from these three-fold miseries?

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117)

We have forgotten Krishna, that is why we are suffering in this world so much. We must think, "Everything happens by the will of the Lord—everything happens for the best. If something happens, it is well and good." We must always remember this. If somebody dies, it is good—it is the will of the Lord. Nobody can know about birth and death—do you think somebody will come to you and give you an advance notice that you have to die to day or tomorrow? Nobody will do that for you. Birth, death, old age and disease are there, and that is why we suffer mentally, and the reason why we suffer in all these different ways is because we have forgotten the Lord.

— : • : —

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