Kali-Yuga's Austerities

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Mahadvadasi
Noon class, 25 March 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

I was reading today about the conversation between the Lord and Prahlad Maharaj. The Lord said, "Prahlad, you are a greatest sadhu, a greatest Vaishnav. On account of your devotional position, you do not have to make any sraddha ceremony for your dead father." Devotees of the Lord are situated beyond all common material rules and regulations. Many ask me, "My father has died, what must I do?" It is written in Srimad Bhagavatam that the Lord Himself said, "Devotees are situated beyond all common rules and regulations, however I am telling to you in particular that you should make a Vaishnav-hom (sraddha) for your father because you will be the next king and, to teach your subjects, you must follow the rules and regulations properly." This is why Prahlad Maharaj did his father's Vaishnav-hom (sraddha ceremony)—he called big brahmans and had them to do a fire sacrifice for his father. And I was reading today what happened with the body of Hiranyakasipu after his death. I was very eager to know it. Hiranyakasipu had touched—had hit—the holy body of the Lord, and when they were burning Hiranyakasipu's body, no bad smell came from it; rather, when it was being burnt, everybody could feel the fragrance of aguru (auspicious herbal fragrance). He was a demon, but because he had got the mercy of the Lord, he had got to touch the Lord's body, he attained the abode of the Lord.

So, coming back to Sri Madhavendra Puri, you probably know that at some point in his life Sri Madhavendra Puri went to Vrindavan and stayed there alone. When we go on the parikrama of Sri Vrindavan Dham, we go to one place called Sri Govinda Kunda. Sri Madhavendra Puri sat on the bank of this Sri Govinda Kunda and chanted the Holy Name in solitude thinking about the Lord. I told you yesterday what kind of austerity and severe yoga Hiranyakasipu practised—he stood on his toes for thousands of years to get a boon from Lord Brahma! He had to suffer so much to make himself more powerful. Moreover, so much fire and heat came from his dreadlocks that even the demigods could not stay near him (they all went to the Lord and prayed to the Lord to help them). Even the demigods had to leave heaven due to Hiranyakasipu's austerity. So, it is very difficult to practise yoga—in Satya-yuga they practised such austerities to get the Lord, they practised meditation, and you can understand from this example how hard it was to do that. However, now in this Kali-yuga, we are given such a simple method—we can get the Lord simply by chanting His Holy Name. The only difficulty is that nobody wants to chant this Holy Name without offences. It is not like nobody can do it—nobody wants to do it.

The other day one lady who had recently taken initiation from me called me early in the morning and said, "You have told me to chant four rounds, but I cannot do that. I cannot manage to chant more than two rounds." I asked her, "Anything else?" She said, "Yes, there is one more thing. We are very poor people, and you told us to eat vegetarian food, but where will we get milk and curd?" I asked her, "Is there no other vegetarian food besides milk and curd? There is so much potato, there are so many vegetables—is that all not vegetarian?" Then, she said, "I have just gone for an operation, my health is not good..." Then I told her, "Oh, you are worrying about your health? So, you are thinking about the Lord so that He can keep you healthy? If you do that, He will keep you healthy, but then you will incur even more sins and suffering, and He will arrange for you to be sent to hell under the weight of all these sins. There is always free place in hell; they always need more people there. You need money to buy fish, but you can use that money to buy vegetables." She said, "No, we have fish here in the pond." [Devotees laugh.] What am I to say? Who sent her to take initiation? When I told her that she had to follow the rules and regulations, I saw that she kept on looking at her husband at that time, and I did not understand it at that time. When I told her strictly that she had to follow the rules and regulations, apply tilaks, etc. she was all dressed up and ready to take initiation, I could not tell her to go away, but when I was telling her that, I saw she kept on looking at her husband. If she had known about it all before, she would have run away. Such initiations are not good. Gurudev said, "You can eat luchi, no problem, but do not take luchi fried in kerosine, you will have a problem with your stomach." I brought somebody to the temple, but Gurudev could understand whether the person would stay or not, so one day Gurudev told me, "I see you like luchi fried in kerosine, do you not?" I learnt all these things from Gurudev. Whatever I am telling you, I have learnt it from Gurudev...

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