(2/11) Do Not Pass Your Life in Vain

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, morning class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

I have described to you Sri Nityananda Ray’s qualities and glories earlier. I have told you what Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami also wrote in His glorification.

You all know that we have a temple (a ladies’ ashram) in Kalna. Before making the temple there, I had once done a parikrama of Kalna Dham with a few foreign devotees, and during that parikrama we visited Sri Gauri Das Pandit’s house. When we were in Ambika Kalna, Bardhaman District, a man came up to me and called me, ‘Come here, come.’ He showed me a low wooden stool used for marriages, saying, ‘This is Nityananda’s marriage stool!’ I asked him, ‘Who made this stool? Where have you heard this? Do you think Nityananda Prabhu’s marriage is like any ordinary marriage??’

Nityananda Prabhu accepted Jahnava Devi on Mahaprabhu’s order (I told you about it yesterday). After that, He accepted Vasudha Devi as well. It happened on the same day. You know this story. It was not a wedding as you commonly understand it. Jahnava and Vasudha had been Nityananda Prabhu’s sakti for a long time. When Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu to preach in Gauda-desh, Nityananda Prabhu went to preach in Kalna as part of that preaching. And Mahaprabhu visited Kalna, too.

[Clamour in the audience.]

So much racket… People are talking so much! You come to gossip and talk nonsense and do not allow devotees to speak about the Lord. People come to the dham, but they only make dham-aparadha: without knowing it, they are unconsciously making offences… Those who obstruct Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s glorification commit dham-aparadha. If somebody creates obstruction when somebody is talking about the glories of the holy dham, it is an offence. There is seva-aparadha, nama-aparadha, vaishnav-aparadha and dhama-aparadha. All this is written and explained at the end of our calendars. I have also written in the third volume of Guidance about suffering in hell, where I explained what kinds of hell there are and what suffering living entities undergo in each of the places in hell.

You have come to the holy dham to earn some sukriti – circumambulating this holy dham, glorifying and listening to the glories of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, you can earn some sukriti that will purify your hearts. But if you come here and spend time on idle talks (prajalpa), if you make mischief and disturb, then you have come here in vain. You can find money, food, clothes and a place to sleep in at your homes, so it is not like you have come here only for food and a room. Each of you lives in a house. You are all proud of the places where you stay and call them ‘home’ (‘my house’, ‘my room’, ‘my son’, ‘my wife’). You live comfortably in your houses, but you come here and struggle so much (in some rooms, there are thirty people staying together). If you want this struggle to be worthwhile, you must take advantage of Hari-katha and kirtan. Practise sravanam and kirtanam.

আদৌশ্রদ্ধা ততঃ সাধুসঙ্গোঽথ ভজনক্রিয়া ।
ততোঽনর্থনিবৃত্তিঃ স্যাৎ ততো নিষ্ঠা রুচিস্ততঃ ॥
অথাসক্তিস্ততো ভাবস্ততঃ প্রেমাভ্যুদঞ্চতি ।
সাধকানাময়ং প্রেম্ণঃ প্রাদুর্ভাবে ভবেৎ ক্রমঃ ॥

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango ’tha bhajana-kriya
tato ’nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah
athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati
sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

‘First, there is faith; then, saintly association and practising life. After that, unwanted habits gradually go away, spiritual life becomes stable, and spiritual taste comes. Then comes attachment, feeling and, finally, transcendental love. This is how love for the Lord comes to those who practise Krishna consciousness.’

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.4.15–16)

This is how everything gradually comes. If you do not practise sravan and kirtan in sadhu-sanga (association of saints), your lives will pass in vain. If you talk about anything else, if you have any other thoughts in your minds, in your hearts, then surrender will never come to you. Therefore, I am begging you with folded palms, ‘Only one day is left. Please do not disturb the class.’

— : • : —

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Length: 67 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Supremely Worshippable Day
2) Do Not Pass Your Life in Vain
3) Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness
4) Meaning of Discipleship
5) Ask Yourself, "Am I Practising?"
6) Become Pure
7) Who Is Nityananda Prabhu?
8) How and When?
9) Scattered Heart
10) Learn the Truth
11) What Do You Need?