Away with Animal Ambitions

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Mahadvadasi
Evening class, 25 March 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First of all, I am offering my full obeisance at the holy lotus feet of Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy...

[Clamour in the audience.] Hare Krishna! Have you not heard just now? We were singing, "Visaya-katha parihari mukhe bolo 'Gaura Hari'. Give up material nonsense talks and only say, 'Gaura Hari!' Everyone is fighting and quarrelling, is there any Holy Name amidst that? How long is this road? How long are we going to see each other? We fight with everyone, but we are born one day, and one day we will have to go away from here. I am here for some days, and the main question is what I must do during this time. This is what we must know. We have got this human birth—are we going to spend it on fighting over food and clothes? When a dog or a cow dies on the street, birds, jackals, etc. come and start fighting over the body. When you see them fighting like that, it makes you think that people are just like that too. You go to a clothes shop, there is a line; you go to the market, there is a line; you go to a bank, there is a line; you go to a post office, there is a line—people stand in a line and start fighting, somebody cuts the line and there begins a big fight. People in this world fight one another for some apparent happiness...

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote,

নিজ সুখ লাগি' পাপে নাহি ডরি
দয়াহীন স্বার্থপর ।
পর সুখে দুঃখী সদা মিথ্যাভাষী
পরদুঃখ সুখকর ॥

nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari
daya-hina svartha-para
para-sukhe duhkhi sada mithya-bhasi
para-duhkha sukha-kara

I am never afraid to engage in sinful activities for the sake of my own happiness. I am unkind and selfish. I always tell lies. I am unhappy when others are happy, and happy when others are unhappy.

"I feel pain when others are happy, and I get happy when I see others unhappy." Such is our character. This world is a place where everyone competes for their own interest, but nobody competes to get service to the Lord...

We took shelter at the temple a long time ago and if we end up slacking in our Krishna consciousness life, then it is our fault, it is our disease. When we joined, we had so much enthusiasm to chant the Holy Name, to do the parikrama, to join festivals at the Math, but we are losing this enthusiasm. This is our bad fortune. That longing for service that we had before is diminishing day by day. The longing to chant kirtans (kirtan-sprha, কীর্ত্তন-স্পৃহা), the qualification to do service (seva-adhikar, সেবা-অধিকার) are going away day by day. Service is going away from us. When you lose your service, you must think that there is some deficiency from your side, "The Lord is not taking my service. I am such a great sinner that the Lord is not taking my service! The Holy Name is not coming to my mouth..." You must always think about service. We must always think how we can serve the Lord. We have not come to this world only to realise our own interests.

We only think about money, food, clothes, friends, and family—there are many religions in this world (the religion of serving one's father, the religion of serving one's mother, the religion of serving one's friends), but the Lord has designated four ashrams (brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyasa) and instructed to live accordingly. When you turn fifty, you are supposed to resolve your obstacles, give all charge to your sons and daughters, and go to live in the forest. However, Srila Prabhupad did not tell us to do that. Instead, he made an arrangement for us—by the mercy of Srila Prabhupad, by the mercy of our Sri Gurupadpadma, by the mercy of Mahaprabhu, Vaishnavs open temples and arrange everything for men and women so that they could practise Krishna consciousness and serve the Lord. However, I see that many do not want to come unless they are suffering at home or get jolted in some way. Nobody wants to come unless they are pushed to; it also takes sukriti and, as a result of sukriti, sadhu-sanga.

We must understand this. "What is there in having wealth, youth, sons, and family? E dhana, yauvana, putra, parijana ithe ki achhe paratiti re (এ ধন যৌবন পুত্র পরিজন ইথে কি আছে পরতীতি রে)." People run after wealth and youth, but ladies know, "When I was young, many boys hit on me, and now I have become an old lady and nobody even looks at me."

এ ধন যৌবন পুত্র পরিজন
ইথে কি আছে পরতীতি রে ।
কমল দল জল, জীবন টলমল
ভজহুঁ হরিপদ নিতি রে ॥

e dhana, yauvana, putra, parijana
ithe ki achhe paratiti re
kamala-dala-jala jivana talamala
bhajahu hari-pada niti re

"What is there in having wealth, youth, sons, and family? Life is tottering like water on a lotus petal (it is here, and then it is gone). O mind, serve the Lord's feet."

So, age is not a question here. Mahaprabhu was present in this world for only forty-eight years, Prabhupad was here for sixty-four years. You cannot judge how long one will stay in this world by the age of the person (you cannot think that if somebody is young, they have a long life ahead of them), but for as many days you are here, you must use your time wisely. I keep on telling you in the lectures—even if you live for ten years, it can be sufficient, it not necessary to live a hundred years. If you live for a hundred years and do not practise Krishna consciousness, then you have wasted your life; yet if you live only ten years but you practise Krishna consciousness during this time, then this is the greatest fulfilment in your life.

— : • : —

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

• Listen to the audio or download (2.8 Mb, 7 min)