Clear Vision

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, 21 March 2021, part 2

যাঁহার প্রসাদে ভাই এ ভব তরিয়া যাই
কৃষ্ণপ্রাপ্তি হয় যাঁহা হৈতে ॥

yahara prasade bhai e bhava tariya yai
krsna-prapti haya yaha haite

"Brother, by his mercy we cross over this world and reach Krishna."

How does one get Krishna? Worshipping Lord Gauranga without worshipping Sri Gurudev gets one nowhere. "Guru bada diye Gauranga bhaje, sei papi raurave padi maje: the sinner who worships Gauranga without the Guru will fall into a terrible hell." I have told you many times about this, I have also written about this in the books; if you read my books, you will see it there. One does not become a disciple just by getting the mantra or taking initiation. You may take initiation, but this only does not make you a disciple. Proper disciples will always live and serve following the guidance of their Guru.

There is service (seva) and there is karma. People come to the temple and do many things—they do this, this, that, they do what they want to do, they always do what they like to do. I have seen many devotees like that—they always think about their own benefit. But this is not right. There is karma and there is seva. If you do what Gurudev tells you to do, that will be service, and if you do something that Gurudev did not tell you to do, that will be karma. Karma and seva look the same. Materialists always do karma—they always live following the whims of their minds, they do everything for their own pleasure.

I heard once some sannyasi give a class saying, "Karma is the dharma." No. This is wrong. Karma is not dharma (religion). Mahaprabhu never said that. You did not come here to learn such things. When you do something (some action, or karma) for the Lord, that is called dharma. It is necessary to live for the Lord, then it will be service (seva), not karma (reactionary actions). Service is when you live following the guidance of your Guru and Vaishnavs not for your own pleasure but for the pleasure of your Guru. Service means pleasing your Guru. If you go about trying to satisfy your own self, that will be karma. You must remember this. If your Guru is taking prasad and asks you for some water or salt and you quickly supply what he wants, that will be service. Guru Maharaj gave an example at a lecture. If your Guru says, "I like singara (samosa)," then no problem—you must make some singara or arrange for some singaras to be made. But you think, "No, better I give something sweet to Gurudev." This is not right. If Gurudev says singara, you must give him a singara. Gopal says, "Give me a laddu," then you must give Him a laddu—you cannot give Him a singara instead. You must remember these things. It is necessary to hear what Gurudev wants.

গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য
আর না করিহ মনে আশা

guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya,
ara na kariha mane asa

Make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart, and do not desire anything else within your heart.

We must not have any other desires or expectations. What should we do?

শ্রীগুরুচরণ-পদ্ম কেবল ভকতিসদ্ম
বন্দোঁ মুঞি সাবধান মতে ।
যাঁহার প্রসাদে ভাই এ ভব তরিয়া যাই
কৃষ্ণপ্রাপ্তি হয় যাঁহা হৈতে ॥

sri guru charana-padma kevala bhakati-sadma
vando muni savadhana mate
yahara prasade bhai e bhava tariya yai
krsna-prapti haya yaha haite

"I carefully offer my obeisance to Sri Guru's lotus feet, which are an abode of exclusive devotion. O brother! By his mercy we cross over this world and reach Krishna."

We keep on coming to this material world. Having crossed 8,400,000 species we have got this human birth, and if you do not want to keep on coming and going through all these species, you must do something about it. How many species we have already crossed! It is said in the scriptures that we have crossed 8,400,000 species, but who knows how many more births we have crossed due to our offences. We have got a human birth, and we may not get it again—if we get this human birth and do not worship the Lord, we will have to go back again to all this ceaseless roaming. How many times we come and go, there is no end to this roaming—who can say when it will end? Therefore, you must remember, "Yahara prasade bhai e bhava tariya yai krsna-prapti haya yaha haite. By Gurudev's mercy we cross over this world and reach Krishna." We can attain Krishna! How? By Gurudev's prasad—does it mean you can make it if Gurudev simply gives you his prasad (food remnants)? No. Prasad means mercy. Mercy means service. If Gurudev gives me service, if Gurudev engages me in something, that is his mercy—in whichever way, in whatever work, but if he engages me in any kind of service, that is our highest aspiration.

গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য
আর না করিহ মনে আশা ।
শ্রীগুরুচরণে রতি সেই সে উত্তম গতি
যে প্রসাদে পূরে সর্ব্ব আশা ॥

guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya
ara na kariha mane asa
sri guru-charane rati ei se uttama-gati
ye prasade pure sarva asa

"Make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart, and do not desire anything else within your heart. Attachment to Sri Guru's feet is the best path. By his mercy all desires are fulfilled."

We sing this kirtan all the time, but we do not understand its meaning. We must think about the meaning of kirtans. Moreover, if you for example read or give class on Srimad Bhagavad-gita, this is also not sufficient—you must apply Srimad Bhagavad-gita in your own behaviour, in your own life! For example, it is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita,

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

"Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

Yet we think we must follow mano-dharma, pita-dharma, mata-dharma (we think it is our duty to do what we please, to serve and follow our father, our mother, etc.), this dharma, that dharma—we please everyone, but Gita never told you to do that. Gita says, "Sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja. Leave all religions and surrender to Me!" Gita does not tell you to follow any pita-dharma, bandhu-dharma, brahman-dharma, Christian dharma, Buddha dharma, or your own concocted dharma. "Leave all religions and surrender to Me. I will look after you, there is no sin in that!" This is what Gita teaches, but how many people actually follow this?

Anyhow, I have spoken a lot, we must continue with the kirtans. "Sri guru-charane rati ei se uttama-gati ye prasade pure sarva asa."

চক্ষুদান দিলা যেই জন্মে জন্মে প্রভু সেই
দিব্য জ্ঞান হৃদে প্রকাশিত ।

chaksu-dana dila yei janme janme prabhu sei
divya-jnana hrde prakasita

"He who gave me the gift of eyes is my lord, birth after birth. He manifested divine knowledge in my heart."

Everybody gets a father, a mother, some friends, etc.—when I was a goat, a cow, I had a mother, a father and many friends. Even when I was a pig, I had parents. My parents give me a body, but they do not produce myself—they do not give me birth. They only give me a body, nothing else. They call this a "biological father." Parents give only a body, they do not give me myself. You get parents in every birth, you get friends in every birth, you get family, relatives in every birth, but it is not in every birth that you can get a guru. You can get a guru only in this human birth. If you can practise Krishna consciousness taking shelter of a bona fide guru, you will get supreme benefit. We must think about the benefit of our soul.

We always think about food, clothes, about some temporary happiness, but we do not think about the spiritual benefit of our soul. Even the scriptures say that such souls (who think about their eternal benefit) are very rare. "Out of ten million workers you will get one wise person; out of ten million wise people you will get one liberated soul, and out of ten million liberated souls you will get one devotee of Krishna." There are very few such souls in this world. That is why Mahaprabhu bestows so much mercy on us by coming to this world in Kali-yuga to save such low fallen souls as myself, and He comes in this Kali-yuga together with Nityananda Prabhu.

What more can we say? You have come to do the parikrama of this very holy abode, non-different from Sri Vrindavan Dham, where Mahaprabhu Himself appeared!

The place where you are sitting is called Devapalli or Nrisingha Palli. Lord Nrisinghadev appeared in this world and, having protected His devotee Prahlad Maharaj and defeated Hiranyakasipu, He took rest in this place. People from all over the world come to this place. People come here from thousands and thousands of miles. You can see that this year many could not come because of covid. You know, it is almost night here now, but in some places the sun is only rising, and devotees come from these very far away places and join us. What pulls them to come here? We do not understand this. Because our eyes are blind, we cannot understand the glory of this place. 'Agartala' (আগরতলা) and 'Choukirtala' (চৌকির তলা) is not the same thing! [A Bengali saying meaning where is Agartala, a famous grand city, and where is 'the floor under your bed'?] For some, muri (puffed rice) and murki (chicken) is the same. People think everything is the same, but when they get some sukriti, when the Lord bestows His mercy upon them by the mercy of Guru and Vaishnavs, then they will understand it.

Therefore, try to understand these things. For as many days you are here in this world, try to practise Krishna consciousness and engage in service. Washing dishes, sweeping, cutting vegetables, etc. is also service. Tomorrow is adhivas and so many more people will come to do this Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama. I have been going house to house in many places with Dham Pracharani Sobha, inviting everyone to come. "Please come! Come to this Nabadwip Dham where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared!" We must do this parikrama walking on our heads. We are going to start the parikrama the day after tomorrow, and we must prepare ourselves in this way...

— : • : —

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

• Listen to the audio or download (3.8 Mb, 10 min)