Wrong Worries

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 23 February 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami had come to Mahaprabhu many times, but he could not get Mahaprabhu's mercy. He left everything, all his wealth—his father was a rich landowner in Adisaptagram and earned twenty thousand rupees, which was an enormous sum of money, but Srila Raghunath Das Goswami left everything as if it were stool and urine. When we go to the toilet, we reject stool and urine as something filthy and do not even want to look at it. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami left everything he had in the world in the same way and went to Mahaprabhu, but he could not get Mahaprabhu's mercy. Why could he not get it? Because he had not got Nityananda Prabhu's mercy ("Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha Krsna pabe(নিতাইয়ের করুণা হবে ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ পাবে): when you get Nitai's mercy, you will get Radha-Krsna in Vraja."). That is why, Mahaprabhu sent him back again and again...

[Distracted by somebody's phone ringing:] Switch off your phone. Nothing will happen to you—if you listen to Hari-katha for one-two hours, you will not lose anything. You do not need to call home and answer all the questions ("How are you?", "What are you doing?", etc.)—everything is always all right at the holy dham of Nitai. Nothing will happen to you. Keep faith in that. If you do not have faith, then you will suffer. The less faith you have, the more your devotion will be decreasing. I told you yesterday also,

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

You have a lack of faith. You have no faith, that is why you have no devotion.

Devotion (Bhakti Devi) does not stay where there is no faith—she runs away from such places. Bhakti Devi always wants a clean place. If there is kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (desire for enjoyment through eyes, tongue, nose, ears, and skin), kanak, kamini, pratistha (desire for money, women, and fame), Bhakti Devi will not stay there to suffer. Suppose you host a programme at your house and call a Vaishnav to come; if you do not give any place for the Vaishnav to sit but instead stuff the room with sacks of potato, dal, rice, etc., then where will you seat your Thakur (Lord)? The Lord comes to sit in one's heart, that is why you must first have space in your heart so that the Lord can sit there. Do you know what Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said? Mahaprabhu said, "Prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama sarvatra prachara haibe Mora Nama (পৃথিবীতে যত আছে নগরাদি গ্রাম সর্ব্বত্র প্রচার হইবে মোর নাম). My Name will be spread in every town and village of the world." And Srila Prabhupad said, "No, not in every town and village—this Holy Name must dance in the heart of every man. It is necessary to make a temple in every man's heart." So, the main point is not to make a temple in every village, but we must make a temple in every single person's heart; otherwise, it will not do.

The problem is that every heart is "pancha-roge hata"—ruined by five diseases. These five diseases are 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). Raga is not when somebody gets angry, raga means not being attracted to the Lord. We are afflicted by these five diseases. When our body and heart are full of kanak, kamini, pratistha (desire for money, women, and fame), kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (desire for enjoyment through eyes, tongue, nose, ears, and skin), how will you get the Lord then?

If you want to make a temple in every person's heart, it is necessary to make space for the Lord in their hearts. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes in one of the kirtans,

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া ।
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ॥

kabe nityananda more kari' daya
chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We always worry, "How will I live? How will I maintain my family?" One day you will go away—you will have to leave all this behind...

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