Self-Deception

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar area, 11 February 2021, part 1

গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক সদা হরি বলে ডাক
সুখে দুঃখে ভুল না ক বদনে হরি-নাম কর রে

grhe thaka, vane thaka sada 'hari' bale' daka
sukhe duhkhe bhulo naka vadane hari-nam kara re

"Stay at home, or stay in a forest, regardless, always call out 'Hari!' In happiness and in sadness, don't forget: chant the Lord's Name aloud."

You must chant the Holy Name when you are happy and when you are unhappy. When you go to hospital, you are sad and call out to the Lord, "O Lord, please protect me." Always chant the Holy Name, when you are happy or unhappy.

মায়াজালে বদ্ধ হ'য়ে, আছ মিছে কাজ ল'য়ে ।
এখনও চেতন পেয়ে, রাধামাধব-নাম বল রে ॥

maya-jale baddha ha'ye achha michhe kaja la'ye
ekhan-o chetana peye radha-madhav-nam bala re

Bound in Maya's net, you work in vain. Now, while you are still conscious, chant 'Radha-Madhava'.

You are bound by the nets of the illusory environment, and you cannot get the Lord through any material activities, through any mystic powers, or through any knowledge. You are bound by the net of illusion and spend your days working in vain. The Lord has created Maya. It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

"My alluring, 'trimodal,' illusory potency is practically insurmountable. However, those who take shelter in Me can overcome this powerful obstacle."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

Maya was created by the Lord and she keeps us away from the Lord. We are all each other's relatives. We are all sons of nectar. We have all come from the Lord, and until and unless we return to our home, we will keep coming to this world again and again. Some time we will get a human birth, some time we will get other births. It is said in the scriptures:

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

"There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are also 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities, such as trees and plants. There are also 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and there are 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species."

(Padma Purana)

I told about it yesterday. Do you remember it? We have crossed 8,400,000 births before we have got this human birth. Among those 8,400,000 births, we have been born as humans 400,000 times. When sadhus give you asirbad (আশীর্বাদ), what does it mean? They give a blessing so that your coming to this world (asir) stops (bada)—so that we do not again become cows, cats, dogs, snakes, frogs, etc. You can be born as a human, but in other species. There are so many species of trees, plants, animals, and sadhus give their blessings so that your coming and going throughout all those species comes to an end. As I said, we have been born 400,000 times as humans, and we have also been born 3,000,000 as animals, 1,100,000 times as insects, spiders, etc., we have been born 900,000 times in water, 2,000,000 times as trees and hills, and 1,000,000 times as birds, flying in the sky. So, we have got this human birth as a result of a great fortune. All scriptures describe this human birth as very rare. There are so many kinds of people in this world, but the number of insects and animals is so much more—the number of human species is very small compared to all the other species. Among these human species, many say they follow the Vedas (some follow Rig Veda, some follow Sama Veda, etc.), but at the same time many say that and do what is prohibited by the Vedas. None of the Vedas say to kill other living entities. Even Muslim people say in the Quran that you can kill a living entity if you can give life to another living entity. Can anyone give life to others? Nobody can. The soul is that which keeps the body alive...

So, we have got this human birth, but this life is coming to an end and it can end at any time ("jivana ha-ila sesa, na bhajile hrsikesa, জীবন হইল শেষ, না ভজিলে হৃষীকেশ: your life is ending, but you have not served Lord Hrisikesh"). Will you get any notice when the time comes to leave? Pariksit Maharaj got a notice that he would die in seven days. You have promised that you will serve and worship the Lord, but I have heard that people come to your house to do kirtan for money. What use is that? We do not come to chant kirtan—we come to make you chant kirtan. In this way, we have been coming and coming to this house, and we have managed to make one person practise kirtan here. Now, this lady here is left. She promised that her son would get married and she would take initiation.

The lady: Yes, when grandchildren come, I will take.

Now grandchildren! Do you think that if you chant the Holy Name, you will not have grandchildren? Do those who chant the Holy Name have no grandchildren?! So many excuses! That is why it is said that people have three hands—these two hands (hata, হাত) and the third one is excuses (aju-hata, অজুহাত). People say, "Oh, I am not able to chant the Holy Name." But the problem is that you do not want to chant the Holy Name, that is why you are not able to chant it. You must try, but the problem is that you do not want to chant the Holy Name.

I told one person, whose health is not so good: come to the temple, your health will be good. If you need money to maintain your family, I will give. There are four floors at the temple, you can stay in one room, you can look after the floor, take care of the cows. But they think, "I will not be able to drink tea there," "I will not be able to smoke there," "I will not be able to eat fish there." They worry about this. If you want to attain great things, you must give up small things...

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