Stay Away from Nonsense

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar area, 11 February 2021, part 3

Karma-misra bhakti means you do some service to the Lord thinking you will get something in return. This is how people turn the Lord into their menial servant. "Lord! Give me a son!", "Give me a grandson!", "Give me a daughter!", "Give me a job!", "Give me a business!" You know, people sometimes get a job by giving a bribe to an officer, and we are also doing this with the Lord—we give the Lord some bananas, some atop rice, some fruit and sweets, and we turn God into a bribe-taker, making Him serve us. Sadhus do not do this. Sadhus say, "Only serve the Lord."

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."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 20.29)

"I do not want wealth, followers, or a beautiful wife. Please only give me sincere devotion to Your holy feet." Those who think like this get the mercy of the Lord—they have a house, a wife, money, they have no problem. They live in their family and worship the Lord. "Grhe thako, vane thako, sada 'Hari' bole dako (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক সদা 'হরি' বলে ডাক), whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out the Holy Name." You can walk down the street and chant the Holy Name. Walk and chant. Do not waste your time. Instead of reading papers and watching TV, series, and news, chant the Holy Name. There is no use watching the news—it is all lies. Today, one country is rebuking the other country, tomorrow the other country will rebuke the first country. He says you are a thief, and you are saying he is a thief. Is that news? All these are lies. All the news are false, it is all criticism and gossiping, what else is there in it? All the newspapers and TV are full of criticism and gossiping about others. Is there any use watching it all? You want to depend on them, it is your matter. You rely on them and make them kings, but they go to Lanka [a Bengali saying: 'only Ravan goes to Lanka']. What will they do for you? You need something to eat, but what will they do for you? If you work, the Lord will provide everything. So, it is no use getting involved with the politics, etc. It is a waste of time.

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 the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krsna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krsna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

You must always practise Krishna consciousness in this way.

You told me that you paid a lot of money to somebody to do kirtan at your house. Even if you do this your whole life (if you make great festivals like this at home, spend thousands and thousands of rupees, etc.), you will not get anything.

কটি জন্ম যদি করে শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন ।
তবু না পায় ব্রজের নন্দের-নন্দন ॥

koti janma yadi kare sravana kirtana
tabu na paya vrajera nandera nandana

"If you practise hearing and chanting for millions of lives, you may still not get the Son of Nanda who dwells in Vraja."

হেন কৃষ্ণনাম যদি লয় বহুবার ।
তবু যদি প্রেম নহে, নহে অশ্রুধার ॥
তবে জানি, অপরাধ তাহাতে প্রচুর ।
কৃষ্ণনাম-বীজ তাহে না করে অঙ্কুর ॥

hena krnsa-nama yadi laya bahu-bara
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe asrudhara
tabe jani, aparadha tahate prachura
krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura

"If you chant this Name of Krishna so many times but still there is no love, there are no tears streaming from your eyes, then as I understand there are too many offences and the seed of Krishna's Name does not sprout."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.29-30)

You must give up offences and chant the Holy Name, otherwise it is will be nothing but letters:

অসাধুসঙ্গে ভাই কৃষ্ণনাম নাহি হয় ।

নামাক্ষর বাহিরায় বটে তবু নাম কভু নয় ॥

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya
namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

"Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

You give them money, and they take your money and sing. They do this to earn money. If somebody reads Bhagavatam for money, you must not listen to such Bhagavatam reading. You will not get any benefit. They sing well, they read well, they give a nice class, but it will not do anything. What is the use? Are they able to bring people to spiritual life through their reading of Bhagavatam?!

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