Start from Tongue

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 10 February 2021, part 13

The soul's job is to serve Paramatma. The tongue wants to eat fish, meat, chickens, goats, cats, dogs, etc. Everyone eats whatever they want, according to their fortune. For example, pigs eat stool—they eat what humans discard as filth. In some countries, people eat dogs, snakes, frogs. We eat vegetable pakoras, and they eat cockroach pakoras (in China). Some eat earthworms, some eat snakes, and some eat frogs. Even in our country, many people eat frogs. People eat mice. When I worked in the field, I saw people looking for something in the field—it turned out, they were looking for mice. Such are the people in this world. That is why it is said:

শরীর অবিদ্যা-জাল জড়েন্দ্রিয় তাহে কাল
জীবে ফেলে বিষয়-সাগরে,

sarira avidya-jala jadendriya tahe kala
jive phele visaya-sagare

"The body is a net of illusion, and the material senses are one's enemies; they throw the soul into the ocean of mundanity."

There are material senses of perception and action (karmendriya) and material senses through which we acquire knowledge (jnanendriya): eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, mind, intelligence, ego. The mind always wants something, but you can say, "No, I will not eat fish and meat from today." What is the problem? What loss is there? Nothing. But no, people say, "I will die if I do not eat meat and fish." This mentality is very bad. If somebody has bad intelligence, they cannot control their mind. That is why it is said that the tongue throws you into the ocean of material life. If you cannot control your tongue, you will not be able to control anything. It is necessary to always control your tongue. That is why in Gaudiya Math, first and foremost you must control your food. That is why there are few disciples, few devotees. If I were to say, "Eat whatever you like," a thousand people will come to take initiation. It is no use taking initiation like this. Both those who receive such an initiation and who give such an initiation will go to hell. Always control your food—do not eat meat, fish, onion, garlic, masoori dal (lentils).

Aul, baul, kartabhaja, neda, daravesa, saki, sahajiya, sakhibheki, smarta, jata-gosani, ativadi, chudadhari, gauranga-nagari—you invite them to your house, spend money, you feed people... You do this for name and fame, but Mahaprabhu said:

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং
কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে
ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

"I do not want wealth, I do not want followers, I do not want beautiful women, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could do Your service life after life."

(Siksastakam, verse 4)

You can see here also when you make a festival, so many people come—how many people come to hear the class and how many people come to eat? People are beggars for food (bhojan), not for Krishna consciousness (bhajan)... If you come, listen to the class, come to this line, become vegetarian, following ekadasi, chant the Holy Name, and practise Krishna consciousness, then it is good. But people do not do this. It is said in the scriptures: "Out of ten million workers you will get one wise person; out of ten million wise people you will get one liberated soul, and out of ten million liberated souls you will get one devotee of Krishna." Among thousands of Vaishnavs, there can be only one devotee of Krishna. The number of devotees of Krishna is very small, but even just one devotee of Krishna can liberate the entire universe. The people of this world cannot understand all this. They keep coming to this world, what will you do?

They are told so many times that we are children of nectar and we must go to nectar. We have got this human birth, and it is not certain whether we will get it again or not. If we live this life doing wrong things—eating meat, fish, onion, garlic, masoori dal, etc., then we will have to go down again; we will be demoted. When you work, you can be promoted, and you can also be demoted. If you work well, you get promoted, and if you work bad, you get demoted. Here, it is the same. We have got this human birth from the Lord, having crossed so many births, but if you get this human birth and do not practise Krishna consciousness, then we will have to again go back. Sometimes, people even say that if a girl takes initiation, she will not be able to get married after that. People always make excuses. However, nobody knows when your destiny will call you—when time will come for you to leave this world. You have so many plans: "I will do this," "I will do that," etc., but tomorrow you can go to 'pick patol' (kick the bucket). What will you say then? [His Divine Grace chuckles.] Gurudev told me, "People think they will do so many things, but they can never be sure that they do not go to pick patol (kick the bucket) the next day."

Anyway, much has been said today.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Hari Haraye', recites Jaya Dhvani, and concludes the evening class.]

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