Cry, Pray, and Serve

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, evening class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

'আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠাশা আসি' হৃদয় দূষিবে
হইব নিরয়গামী ॥

'ami ta vaisnava' e buddhi haile
amani na ha'ba ami
pratisthasa asi' hrdaya dusibe
haiba nirayagami

"If I think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' then I will never stop expecting honour from others—my heart will become polluted by the desire for fame and I will end up in hell."

If I start thinking that I have become a Vaishnav, then I will not be able to give honour to others. We sing in the kirtan, "Gurudev, give me strength so that I can give proper honour to everyone, then I will be able to happily chant the Holy Name and all my offences will go away."

সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি
দেহ' নাথ ! যথাযথ ।
তবে ত' গাইব হরিনাম সুখে
অপরাধ হবে হত ॥

sakale sammana karite sakati,
deha natha! yatha yatha
tabe ta' gaiba hari-nama sukhe,
aparadha habe hata

"O master! Give me the ability to befittingly honour everyone. Then I will sing the Lord's Name happily, and all my offences will be eradicated."

If I can give honour to everyone, my offences will go away—in other words, if I pay a dandavat to someone, then my ego and pride will go away. The person can be younger than me by age, but I should offer obeisance to everyone. When we do Tulasi parikrama, we pray,

বাঞ্ছাকল্পতরুভ্যশ্চ কৃপাসিন্ধুভ্য এব চ ।
পতিতানাং পাবনেভ্যো বৈষ্ণবেভ্যো নমো নমঃ ॥

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

"Again and again I offer my obeisance unto the Supreme Lord's devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy, and wish-fulfilling trees."

Do you understand what I am saying? We must offer obeisances to everyone. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Daso 'smi. I am your servant. You are all not my disciples; rather, I am your servants."

বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

visaya chhadiya kabe suddha habe mana,
kabe hama heraba sri-vrindavan

"When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

When will I leave material world and my mind become clean? When will material desires be removed from me? We must always cry and pray for this. Always cry, "When will material desires go away from me? When will I forget all material desires?" We have lived a family life for so long, so many things have passed. We have been living a material life, a family life for so long—we have crossed 8,400,000 species and have lived in 8,400,000 material families, and more will come. Now you have come to old age, but the older you get, the more you think, "I want to live more and more! I want to enjoy my family life more and more!"

Sometimes you can see ants inside molasses. Nobody puts them there, but they come to enjoy the sweet molasses, and once they come there, they are finished—they will fill their bellies so much that they get stuck in the molasses. Our material life is just like that—we have become entangled in the material life just as ants get stuck in molasses.

I told one lady the other day, "There is nobody to wash the dishes at the temple. The lady who washed the dishes has sores on her hand," but she refused. Next day in the morning she died, and she was rather young, not so old. Did she have any sons? [Devotees say she had two daughters.] Yes, she had her daughters married and stayed alone at home (without any income). I told her, "Why are you staying alone and eating on your own? Stay in Tarakeshwar, serve there." She did not have enough fortune for that... When I started preaching at the time of Gurudev's festival, I told her, "It is winter now and that lady cannot wash the dishes because she has sores on her hands, if I can send you there, it will be good. You can wash the Lord's dishes." She refused, and the next day she died. What will you do? Such is fate. This life is not eternal—we do not know when we will have to leave this world.

We carry on our material life with its happiness and unhappiness, we have become so much entangled in the material world. What happiness is there in it? If only we can throw our life for the service of the Lord! How long, how long more will you sleep on the lap of Witch Maya? Wake up, wake up, brothers! There is no time! Worship Krishna! Loudly chant the Holy Name of Krishna!

উঠরে উঠরে ভাই আর ত সময় নাই
'কৃষ্ণ ভজ' বলে উচ্চৈঃস্বরে

uthare uthare bhai ara ta samaya nai
'krsna bhaja' bale uchchaihsvare

Wake up, wake up, brother, there is no time! Worship Krishna!

Gurudev opened these temples so that we can sincerely serve at the temple, live at the temple...

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (1.5 Mb, 4 min)