Breaking Free from Maya's Nest

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Mahadvadasi
Evening class, 25 March 2021, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Having listened to Hari-katha, King Suvarna Sen eventually gave up worshipping Maya and started worshipping Gauranga. You too must practise Krishna consciousness. Even if you live at home, you must maintain your practising life. Practising means following bhaktyanga.

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

Serve at home—associate with sadhus and engage in Nama-sankirtan. These five practises (above) are the main practices among all sixty-four types of devotion, and Nama-sankirtan (congregational chanting of the Holy Name) is the main among those five.

তার মধ্যে সর্ব্বশ্রেষ্ঠ নাম-সঙ্কীর্ত্তন ।
নিরপরাধে নাম লৈলে পায় প্রেমধন ॥

tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana
niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana

"Of the practising processes, the best is Nama-sankirtan. If you chant the Holy Name without offence, you will get the wealth of divine love."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.71)

There was one devotee. He said, "My mother died, and now I am as if without legs and arms!" He used to live at the temple and do service, but then his mother passed away, he was very sad, and I told him to go and settle everything (do all the last rites for his mother). He went home saying he would come back, but he cheated his guru and did not come back. He said that after the festival in Ekachakra, he would come to the temple in Mahadia and stay there, but he ran away from Ekachakra. Do you think I do not understand why he ran away? I have got power from Gurudev, do you think I will not understand it when somebody cheats and runs away? He thought I would forget about it, but I remember that he said he had nothing to stay for at his home after doing the last rites for his mother—his children would take care of everything; but now he is living at home and serving his daughter-in-law. This is Maya. It is said in the scriptures also that if you make one step towards Maya, she will grasp and bind you even more—she will keep pulling you back and not letting you go. You think that you will have your son married and come to stay at the temple, but then grandchildren come and, just like witchy ghosts, they will hold you back—you will think you must take your daughter-in-law to the hospital, do this, do that, then the child is born and you will start looking after the child, etc. Then, the grandchildren will not let you go and you will have to go everywhere with the small child. This is the state of family life. As you live amidst all that, your time will be gone—you will end up in 'Gita's samsar' (one man went to Haridwar to read Gita, but ended up having a very big family).

বৃদ্ধকাল আওল, সব সুখ ভাগল,
পীড়াবশে হইনু কাতর ।

vrddha-kala aola, saba sukha bhagala,
pida-vase ha-inu katara

"Then old age came, and all happiness fled. Subjugated by disease, I became distressed."

(Saranagati, 6.3)

We become miserable and sick as days pass. Many worry, "I cannot leave home, who will take care of my cows?" Gurudev told me, "If you serve devotees, Krishna will personally serve you." And I see that despite so many difficulties, I have nothing to worry about. Where will I eat? What will I wear? I do not think about all these things. There are foreign devotees who always take care of it. One devotee phoned me from Spain today asking what service they could do. I told what service they could do. I know them and I know they have some capacity to help with money, that is why I can tell it to them; whereas, although I cannot tell you to give much money, I can give you other service.

You know, I am going for the parikrama tomorrow, I have to take insulin, and if I go without eating anything, my blood sugar can fall very low, that is why they will wake up at two o'clock at night tomorrow and cook something for me. Will your wife cook for you at two at night? Some go to work without eating anything in the morning because there is nobody at home to cook. We have a security guard—he comes early in the morning; he says that nobody at his home wakes up so early to cook anything, so he comes without eating anything. What kind of wife is that? They cannot even cook at eight in the morning. They wake up when all the cooking is done by other family members—they come out of the room rubbing their eyes and go outside with a toothbrush. It is very rare to get a good wife. There is a man in Kolkata who was telling me how hard his life was, and he was asking me for help. I said, "What will I do? You did not listen to me. Your son was 48 years old and you brought him a twenty-two-year-old girl to marry. Do you think a young girl will stay with a 48-year-old man? She will find another husband and run away! You have made a mistake. Why did you have to get him married? I told you not to do it. You are getting pension, your son is working, I told you it was not necessary to get him married. Did you listen to me? Now your son is saying his wife has left him. Of course she will leave him. Do I have to teach you all these things?"

So, practise Krishna consciousness while you are still young, while you still can.

এদেহ পতন হ'লে কি রবে আমার ।
কেহ সুখ নাহি দিবে পুত্র পরিবার ॥

e deha patana ha'le ki rabe amara?
keha sukha nahi dibe putra paribara

When this body drops dead, what will remain ‘mine'? Upon death neither my sons nor my family will give me any satisfaction.

They will take your body to the Ganges and leave it there...

There is another person also. He does service for the temple, but he cannot take initiation. He says, "There are so many obstacles!" What obstacles? He will say that he will have to become vegetarian and his wife will not cook for him separately twice a day. I know it. I know why he is not taking initiation—because his wife will not come to this line. She is worshipping Kali, Durga—they have all these Deities in their house, they make a museum of Gods in their house. I told somebody else, "Take the Holy Name," and he said, "I have small children, they will want to eat meat, nobody will cook for me separately." What obstacle is that? How does it stop you from taking the Holy Name? Go to the market, buy vegetables and tell your wife, "Eat what you want, and I will eat vegetarian food." But then they say that the wife will say she cannot cook two types of meals. What is this? We have a devotee who stays upstairs in his house and his wife downstairs, and he cooks his own food. He does not talk to his wife, does not interfere with her life, does not even see her face. He treats her as a guest in the house. His sons came to this line too. They bring water from downstairs, cook something, offer bhog and take prasadam. I told him he could come and stay at the temple not to struggle so much, but he says he cannot leave his business. Such is the strength of material desires.

So, when people try to come to this path, it is either a wife who does not let them, or a husband, or a parent. This is Maya's samsar (family of illusion). That is why there is so much trouble and unhappiness in families. Many think, "But I live very happily in my family," but then I say to them, "Ask yourself—how many of you really have a happy family life?"

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