Beware Bogus Life

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

You will get such 'gurus' and 'sadhus' in this world who will tell you that you can eat meat, you can eat fish, you can do whatever you want—"I have given you initiation, give me a ten-rupee or fifty-rupee donation, and that is it." There are many of such obeisance-taking and donation-taking gurus in this world. They open their shops, dress up as 'sadhus' and sit there waiting for 'customers.' However, you will not find many true, bona fide sadhus in this world who would be practising Krishna consciousness—who practise what they teach... I was telling you just yesterday about Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's poem 'Vaishnav Ke?'—it is said there, "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার): as long as you have life in this body, you must preach."

You can see the example of Srila Haridas Thakur. He may not go out for preaching himself--he only went with Sri Nityananda Prabhu a few times, and then Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip and Srila Haridas Thakur left for Puri. Yet when he came to Puri, he followed Mahaprabhu's order and stayed at Siddha Bakul chanting the Holy Name loudly—whenever anyone came to him, they saw him chanting. And this is not a matter of just four rounds—he chanted 300,000 Holy Names every day, which is 10 million Holy Names in a month.

Practise Krishna consciousness. This is your only duty—there is no other duty in this world. Some of you already have a family, and some do not have one thinking they still have time, but I wish I had left my family and come to practise Krishna consciousness earlier. It is necessary to practise Krishna consciousness from youth. Some say, "We will chant the Holy Name when we get old. Why will we do it now when we are still young?" Look at the example of Prahlad Maharaj, look at the example of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatan Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami. How did they practise Krishna consciousness? Srila Raghunath Das Goswami lived amidst so much opulence like that of the king of heaven, but he left all his money, all his wealth like stool and urine and went to practise Krishna consciousness. We also came like this. We came leaving behind all money, wealth, cars, houses, family inheritance, etc. People will never stop fighting because of all this. All this family are dacoits disguised as your well-wishers—no matter how much you give them, the more you give, the more they will want; their desires will never be satisfied. They will take everything from you and suck your blood to the last drop.

That is why, I am telling to you all—take shelter of a bona fide guru, and those who have already taken this shelter must practise well.

We all understand the relationship we have with our parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends, girlfriends, etc., we know them very well and understand them, but we do not know our Gurudev so well. So many devotees stayed at home during lockdown, but how many of them called their Guru to get some news? How many of them called their Gurudev to see how he is? Maybe twenty-fifty people called, but there are so many disciples—they did not call to ask if their Guru was even alive or dead. This is not what a relationship with your Guru is. Gurudev is your own—he has shown you this path, he has bestowed knowledge and made your ignorant eyes see. What is there to be afraid of? That he will scold you? If you call and your Guru tells you, "Quiet! I will talk to you later!" What is the problem? If you get scolded, it is good—this is your fortune. Who is a disciple? A disciples is the one who can tolerate chastisement. Did you not hear yesterday how much honour a disciple has? Prahlad Maharaj told Lord Nrisinghadev, "You want to give me a boon, but You do not show as much affection to Brahma, Siva, Indra, or even Laksmi Devi as You are showing towards me! You have actually taken me on Your lap, but even Laksmi Devi does not get this kind of honour! You do not place Your lotus feet on Brahma, Siva, Indra, Laksmi Devi's head, but You have placed Your lotus feet on my head." How many people have this kind of fortune? So, if you get chastised, it is your fortune. You must think, "If Gurudev chastises me, it is his blessing." Chastising is a blessing, not a curse.

[Referring to one of the devotees who survived a car accident.] ...Why did the Lord keep you alive? To sit in your family house and offer arati to your wife? He saved you to serve the Lord, not to worship your wife. You are wearing saffron clothes and sitting at home, what are you doing there? What keeps you there? What is there that you need so much? What nectar do you find there? What kind of nectar is pulling you to stay there? You think, "I know better, what does Gurudev understand?" "Marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tohara (মারবি রাখবি—যো ইচ্ছা তোহার): If He wants to kill you, He will kill you, and if He wants to keep you alive, He will keep you alive." My Gurudev never let me go back to my home. When they were selling my father's property, I could get two million rupees for it (now the worth of that money is similar to five million rupees). When I told Gurudev about it, he asked me how many days it would take me to settle it, I said seven days, and Gurudev said, "All right, I can give you this money right now. You do not need to go there." Then I understood that Gurudev did not agree that I would go to my previous home—what if they stopped me there and Maya did not let me go? Gurudev always wants to keep us engaged in the service of the Lord.

There is another person also—they say, "Oh, I have given you everything," but in the meantime they keep the key with them. They asked forgiveness for their offence now. I said, "What offence? I told you one thing and you did the opposite. You are not practising Krishna consciousness. You are practising Maya consciousness because you are not doing what your Guru tells you." When I die, then you will remember what I told you. When I die, then you will understand it.

There was also another man—he convinced Gurudev that he wanted to stay at the temple, that he would take all responsibility, but then he became a vantasi (a 'vomit-eater')—he left his saffron clothes and went into family life. His daughter is now twenty-one already. He behaved bad at the temple too, and Gurudev told him, "If you cannot stop your nonsense, better go back to your house and get married!" This is what he did. He has left everything; he does not even chant the Holy Name now...

Time is going, days are passing... Gurudev told me, "Vinod, if you want to get great things, you must give up small things." I always remember this, and I always tell it to others. If you want to get great things, you must give up small things.

Your parents force you to get married and you live a pig's life with all your children. Is that a life, tell me? This is not life. There are very few people who live in family and practise Krishna consciousness. I am telling such devotees—practise properly. There is no difference between sannyasis and grihasthas. I have no objection if you want to live in a family, but practise Krishna consciousness in purity.

প্রভু কহেন,—‘কৃষ্ণসেবা’, ‘বৈষ্ণব-সেবন’ ।
‘নিরন্তর কর কৃষ্ণনাম-সঙ্কীর্ত্তন’ ॥

prabhu kahena,—'krsna-seva', 'vaisnava-sevana'
'nirantara kara krsna-nama-sankirtana'

"Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, 'Without cessation continue chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna. Whenever possible, serve Him and His devotees, the Vaishnavs."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 15.104)

গৃহস্থ বৈরাগী দুঁহে বলে গোরারায় ।

“দেখ ভাই নাম বিনা যেন দিন নাহি যায়”

grhastha vairagi duhe bale gora-raya
"dekha bhai nama vina yena dina nahi yaya"

Gora Ray says to both householders and renunciants, "Brothers, see to it that a day does not pass without chanting the Name."

Make sure that not a single day passes without Vaishnav-seva and chanting the Holy Name. This is the advice Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave to all householders. Do not live in a family only serving Maya.

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