(5/8) Tired of Struggling?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, noon programme, 28 February 2021, part 5
Translated from Bengali

We must practise Krishna consciousness with religious determination and firmness (nistha), but the problem is that we cannot give up small things, cannot genuinely come to the pure path. We blame the Lord, ‘Oh, the Lord is not taking care of me! The Lord is sending me hardships!’ But the Lord wants to take us to Himself – through a little bit of sadness, pain, hardships and suffering, He will wash and clean us and take us to Himself. The more you suffer, the more mercy you have. You will struggle with food, clothes and other things – the more you will call out to the Lord, the more austerity He will give you! You must remember this! You will get austerity! But if you get this austerity and pass all the tests successfully, you can come to the Lord! You can reach your own home!

What do sadhus come to you for? Genuine sadhus come to tell you about all this, and they ask you to bring people to this path. If even only one person comes to this path to practise Krishna consciousness, it brings enormous benefit. Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that instead of making ten million hospitals, instead of tending to ten million patients, you will get ten million times more benefit if you bring to this path just one person who is averse to Krishna. It is necessary to become real sadhus, real devotees. We are living now only thinking about our own happiness and enjoyment.

কৃষ্ণ-বহির্ম্মুখ হঞা ভোগ বাঞ্ছা করে ।
নিকটস্থ মায়া তারে জাপটিয়া ধরে ॥

krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga vanchha kare
nikatastha maya tare japatiya dhare

‘When souls become averse to Krishna and desire enjoyment, Maya, who is always nearby, pounces on them.’

(Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.2, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

Maya is always near, and she slowly, slowly comes and grasps those souls who live enjoying and who desire enjoyment. If you want to enjoy, thinking, ‘What will I eat?’, ‘What will I wear?’, ‘How will I sleep?’, ‘Where will I live?’ (if you always only think about yourselves), then the Lord says, ‘I will not think about you. I will not worry about you. But if you leave everything to Me, I will take care of you.’ That is why it is said:

ষড়ঙ্গ শরণাগতি হইবে যাঁহার ।
তাঁহার প্রার্থনা শুনে শ্রীনন্দকুমার ॥

sad-anga saranagati haibe yanhara
tanhara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

‘Lord Krishna hears the prayers of those who surrender to Him in these six ways.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When Duhsasan and Duryodhan tried to disrobe Draupadi, Draupadi tried to protect herself by pulling on her clothes and trying to resist the assault. The Lord did not protect her. Then, seeing that she could not protect herself, she raised one arm in prayer to the Lord and was still trying to keep her clothes on with her other hand. The Lord did not protect her even then. When she finally became absolutely hopeless, she called out to the Lord with both her hands upraised, letting off her clothes – she surrendered everything to the Lord, ‘Prabhu, You are mine, and I am Yours. Only You can protect me, nobody else’ – then the Lord actually entered her clothes and made so that no matter how much Duhsasan and Duryodhan were pulling and pulling the cloth, it never finished.

The Lord has sent Kali-yuga to this world, and He has also sent Maya. Maya Devi cheats us and keeps us away from the Lord’s service. She removes us and keeps us away from the Lord, but if we become genuinely surrendered, Maya will run far away from us. Krishna created Maya, and it is said:

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি’ সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli’ sei jiva—anadi bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

‘Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

Because we have forgotten the Lord, we are now suffering from the threefold miseries in this world. The only way for us to save ourselves from this suffering is to take shelter at the holy lotus feet of the Lord. ‘Bhagavata pada Vaisnavera sthane, ekanta asraya kara Chaitanya-charane (ভাগবত পড় বৈষ্ণবের স্থানে, একান্ত আশ্রয় কর চৈতন্য-চরণে)! Read Bhagavatam under the guidance of bona fide Vaishnavs and take shelter at Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet!’ (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.5.131) We must read Bhagavatam in the association of Vaishnavs, and we must take shelter of Mahaprabhu’s lotus feet.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

Let us chant some kirtan now.

[His Divine Grace chants ‘Sri Guru-charana-padma’ and continues the class.]

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

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