Krishna Conscious Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 23 February 2021, part 8
Translated from Bengali

Read what the sixty-four types of devotion are. The main practices are,

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

There is also nava-vidha bhakti, nine aspects of devotion: sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, archanam, pada-sevanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering, worshipping, serving lotus feet, offering prayers, engaging in service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission).

First, sukriti must come. You cannot come to this line without sukriti accumulated from the previous births. Sukriti means using His things for His service (tad vastu tadiya sevaya)—using the Lord's things for the Lord's service. If you plant a flower tree, you must pick the flowers and offer them at the lotus feet of Govinda, or make garlands from the flowers and offer it onto Govinda's neck. This is how the flower tree can get some benefit. This is how it works—His things for His service. Everything that is created in this world exists for the Lord's enjoyment, but we become proud and try to use things in our own service.

We are alive in this world at the expense of killing so many jiva souls. Each day we live, we live by killing other jiva souls—we eat rice, dal, vegetables, etc. Even in water, there are living entities. The only way out of this kind of life is to turn your whole life into Krishna conscious life. You must make your life Krishna conscious life. "Krsnera samsara kara chhadi' anachara. Abandon sinful behaviour and dedicate your family life to Krishna." It means that you will cook, you will work in the field, you will run business, you will go to work, you will do everything, but you will do it for the Lord.

If you eat something without offering it to the Lord, it is stealing and you will be committing a sin. Do you understand it? That is why, it is said, "Prasada-seva karite haya, sakala prapancha-jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়)—"by honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions." (Saranagati, 31.5) You must honour (serve) prasadam, then all diseases will go away. There are five material diseases—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); if you honour prasadam properly, all these diseases will go away. Do not eat paneer rasa [tasty food]. Take prasadam. Do you understand what it means? Eating paneer rasa is not taking prasadam [if you eat something and think it is paneer rasa, this is not prasad-seva; prasad-seva means realising that whatever you have been given is the mercy of the Lord in the form of remnants of the Lord's food; this is what you must honour, or take].

Anyhow, you have heard all these things from me for many years. Today, I will speak about the glories of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu...

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