(4/8) Ask Your Heart

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, noon programme, 28 February 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

One time, somebody asked Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur: Is there difference between service to Krishna, service to Krishna’s devotee and Nama-sankirtan? Srila Prabhupad replied: Although they are different, their purpose is one.

You can often see that when you ask somebody to cook, they say, ‘No, no! I am doing mala now [I am chanting on my beads]!’ They make an offence. The Lord needs service – it is necessary to cook and offer bhoga to the Lord, it is necessary to feed the Lord; if I sit and chant on the beads the whole day, who will cook then? Who will clean the vegetables? Who will wash the dishes? That is why the purpose is one. If you cook for the Lord, you are doing Nama-sankirtan through that. If you serve devotees, you are automatically serving Krishna. What does Krishna Himself say? He says, ‘If you serve My devotee, you will be automatically serving Me.’ If you read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, you can find it there. I am not reciting the particular verse now because you will not understand Sanskrit, but the gist of Gita is this: ’If you serve My devotee, you will be automatically serving Me.’ There is no problem with that. You must remember this. If you serve devotees here today, you are automatically serving Krishna.

There are many good questions and answers in Guidance 3. If we do not read them and do not understand them nicely, we will not be able to do anything. That is why Guru Maharaj said: there is quality, and there is quantity. It is necessary to practise Krishna consciousness yourselves, and do it properly, genuinely. Still, even then, Srila Prabhupad said: among ten million of karmis, you can find one jnani; among ten thousand jnanis, you will find one liberated person; and among ten million liberated souls, you will find only one devotee of Krishna. But even if there is only one devotee of Krishna in the entire universe, that single devotee of Krishna can rescue the entire universe (visva-brahmanda). But our hearts, our minds, our entire beings are not attracted, not drawn to Krishna consciousness. We are not attracted to devotion. Our hearts and minds do not go in this direction.

How many times we have been coming to this world?!

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খ্যকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

‘There are 900,000 aquatic species; 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities (trees, plants, etc.); 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles; 1,000,000 species of birds; 3,000,000 species of beasts; and 400,000 species of humans.’

(Sri Padma Purana, Sri Vishnu Purana)

You have already heard this. I have told it to you so many times. We have been born 900,000 times in water (as fish, crocodiles, sharks and other aquatic species). We have been born as trees, plants, mountains and other non-moving entities 2,000,000 times. We have been born as worms, insects, spiders and other similar species 1,100,000 times. We have been born as birds and flew in the sky 1,000,000 times. We have been born as animals (cows, goats, sheep and all other species) 3,000,000 times. And we have also been born as humans 400,000 times. But:

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari’ kara para-upakara

‘One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

What does ‘benefit to others’ means? This is what we do not understand. We say, ‘Love all souls.’ Are souls only humans? We do not understand what it means to show compassion, love for the soul. Mahaprabhu told Srila Sanatan Goswami,

জীবে দয়া নামে রুচি বৈষ্ণব সেবা ।
ইহা বহি সনাতন নাহি আর ধর্ম্ম ॥

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva
iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

‘Be merciful to the souls, chant the Holy Name happily and serve Vaishnavs. Sanatan, except for this, there is no other religion.’

You must be kind to jivas, you must have taste for chanting the Holy Name, and you must serve Vaishnavs. There is no other religion beyond that. It is necessary to bring the souls who have turned away from Krishna to this path. This is how we must practise Krishna consciousness…

— : • : —

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Size: 19 Mb
Length: 40 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Be Serious
2) Quality Is Not Cheap
3) Tie Your Mind
4) Ask Your Heart
5) Tired of Struggling?
6) Proper Worship
7) Watch the Road
8) Regulated Life