Nurture Exclusive Desire

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Varahadev's Appearance day, morning class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 24 February 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

জিহ্বার লালসে যেই ইতি-উতি ধায় ।
শিশ্নোদরপরায়ণ সে কৃষ্ণ নাহি পায় ॥

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya
sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

"One who is subservient to the tongue and who thus goes here and there, devoted to the genitals and the belly, cannot attain Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.227)

To stop this constant nagging of the tongue, we always chant before taking prasadam,

mahaprasade govinde nama-brahmani vaisnave
svalpa-punya-vatam rajan visvaso naiva yayate

"O king, one whose fortune is meagre never develops faith in mahaprasad, Govinda, the Holy Name, or the Vaisnavas."

sarira avidya-jala jadendriya tahe kala
jive phele visaya-sagare
ta'ra madhye jihva ati lobhamaya sudurmati
ta'ke jeta kathina samsare

"The body is a net of illusion, and the material senses are the enemies; they throw the soul into the ocean of mundanity. Among the senses, the tongue is the most greedy and wicked. It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world."

The material senses are the five karmendriya (instruments—feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth) five jnanindriya (senses—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), there is also mind, intelligence ego. Can you control all these senses? Our eyes always go in a wrong direction; we cannot control our senses, but how is it possible to do it? Why do our scriptures say that we must not eat fish, meat, onion, garlic, masoor dal? Because these things excite senses and make them strong. That is why, scriptures tell that we must take sattvik food (food in the mode of goodness). Our senses always become excited—if they become very strong and we feel too much lust, anger, greed, illusion, etc., we will be removed from Krishna consciousness. Many say, "What is the problem if I eat onion or garlic?" Onion and garlic are very strong—those who ate it before know it. We cannot eat it; otherwise, we will get removed from Krishna consciousness.

That is why Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur explains that accepting what is favourable to devotion and rejecting what is unfavourable to devotion are parts of the six-limb surrender. "Anukulyasya samkalpah, pratikulya vivarjjanam. Accept what is favourable, reject what is unfavourable." (Vaisnava-tantra). Srila Narottam Das Thakur also writes very beautifully,

অন্য অভিলাষ ছাড়ি, জ্ঞান কর্ম্ম পরিহরি,
কায়মনে করিব ভজন ।

anya-abhilasa chhadi jnana karma parihari
kaya-mane kariba bhajana

Serve the Lord with body and mind, giving up all other desires and the pursuit of material benefit and knowledge.

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

There is ananya-abhilas (exclusive desire) and there is anya-abhilas (other desires). Ananya-abhilas means, "I do not know anything or anyone except Krishna. My mind, life, speech, etc.—whatever I have, I have submitted everything at Krishna's lotus feet. I do not know anything except the lotus feet of Sri Krishna, I do not understand anything except Krishna, I do not give my mind to anything except Krishna."

Lord Sri Krishna assumes ten forms. There are many people who like to go to Ayodhya—they compare Rama to Krishna and give preference to Rama. There is a group that always chants, "Rama, Rama." However, Lord Rama, as well as Lord Baladev, is only one of the avatars. Rama is the Lord, but He is not complete Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is Vamanadev, Varahadev and many incarnations—They are all Lords, but They are not Supreme Personalities of Godhead. The Lord assumes these forms (Nrisinghadev, Varahadev, Baladev, Mina-sarira, Parasurama, Buddha, et al.) to perform and enjoy His pastimes. The Lord assumes all these forms for a particular purpose in each age—to slay demons, etc. For examples, Lord Rama defeated Ravana. There was this necessity in Treta-yuga, so the Lord assumed the form of Lord Rama to fulfil His purpose. Varahadev assumed the form of a boar to slay Hiranyaksa. Srimad Bhagavatam describes all this in a very beautiful way. In this way, the Lord again and again comes to this world assuming various forms of His incarnation (avatar). Yet there is an avatar (incarnation) and there is an avatari (source of all incarnations, or avatars). Mahaprabhu is Avatari. We sing in one of the kirtans also, "Avatara sar gaura avatara. Incarnation of Gauranga is the gist of all incarnations."

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

He is the cause of all causes. Everything happens by His wish, everything in this world is created by His wish, so many demigods and demigoddesses work according to His desire, nothing can exist or function without Him, and we are told to take shelter at His lotus feet. In this age of Kali, the Lord takes the heart and halo of Srimati Radharani and comes assuming the form of Golden Lord, Sri Gauranga. He does not come alone—He comes with His alter-ego, Lord Nityananda Prabhu...

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