(4/13) Detach and Immerse Yourself

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 10 February 2021, part 4

You must accept everything that comes; do not recoil at anything. Obstacles and danger can come. There are things that are unfavourable to devotional life, and you cannot do both what is favourable and what is unfavourable.

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
‘অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ’—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভাব-বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

‘(1) Humility, (2) self-submission, (3) accepting that the Lord is your maintainer, (4) keeping faith that “Krishna will certainly protect”, (5) engaging only in what is favourable to devotion, (6) rejecting what is unfavourable to devotion.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You sing this every morning, but then what happens is that you do what is favourable and at the same time you also do what is unfavourable: talking village talks, listening to village news. Even material textbooks say, ‘Ku-baliba na, ku-dekhiba na, ku-suniba na (কুদেখিব না, কুবলিব না, কুশুনিব না). Do not say bad things, do not see bad things, do not hear bad things.’ I have eyes, but I must not see bad things. Many things can happen to you. You can be going down the street and hear people say many things around you, but you must not listen to it. Do not say bad things, do not see bad things, do not hear bad things. Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

If you want to eat nice things, if you want to wear nice clothes, you cannot practise Krishna consciousness like this. You can see my example. I have been to 120 houses today: 80–90 in the morning and about 30 in the afternoon. My feet are hurting now, and my legs were hurting last night, too, but I still went today. Anyway, it is good to walk for health also. I do not get time to walk, so I am always happy to walk, be it during a parikrama or collection. Sitting all the time in the room and not moving is not good.

We must practise nine kinds of devotion; we must not gossip or listen to gossips; and we must serve Radha and Krishna in our minds – practise Krishna consciousness in this way. Always keep yourselves engaged in spiritual practice. This place here is your home. This is the house of the Lord, so everyone must come here. This is not some man’s property – this is the property of the Lord. This temple is the property of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Madan-Mohan.

As I was saying just now, criticising and gossiping about others is unfavourable to devotion. You chant the Holy Name and at the same time also say all kinds of other, inauspicious things. It is not good. You cannot do both at the same time – if you do, you will be removed from spiritual life and lose your service to the Lord. There are offences to the holy dham, offences to the Holy Name, offences to service, offences to Vaishnavs. It is necessary to know what these offences are and avoid them.

This here is Sri Tarakeshwar Dham, the place of Lord Siva. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur came here. You are staying in this holy dham, but do not take it for granted. ‘Dhama-basi jane pranati kariya magiba krpara lesa (ধামবাসী জনে প্রণতি করিয়া মাগিব কৃপার লেশ)? When will I bow down to the residents of the holy dham and beg them for a drop of mercy?’ You must not give any trouble to anyone. Always remember this, always think about this and practise Krishna consciousness in this way. This is my prayer to you all.

[His Divine Grace then chants kirtans before resuming the class.]

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