Preaching Opportunity

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri—Worldwide, 26 April 2021, part 1

Dandavat. Please accept my humble obeisance. I am very happy to see you all. I have just come back from a preaching programme. I am in Siliguri now. There was a good programme here yesterday. They made the festival in all temples—in Nrisingha Palli, Uluberia, Tarakeshwar, etc. In Nrisingha Palli they invited Mayapur devotees, but many devotees are a little afraid to come because of the pandemic situation, so not so many sannyasis and brahmacharis came—maybe thirty-forty devotees. I made the festival in Siliguri this year, and about four hundred people joined yesterday. Here too people are afraid because of the coronavirus and the pandemic situation. Some shop are closed, there is some partial lockdown sometimes.

Now 350,000 people are affected by coronavirus every day in India, and almost fifteen thousand in Bengal. Anyhow, I am continuing my preaching. After I came back from Vrindavan, I stayed one day in Kolkata and came here in Siliguri on Monday. The festival has now finished, so I will again go back to Kolkata the day after tomorrow. I came here because I have some service here—I could not come to Siliguri for a long time. Every year I come here after Gaura Purnima, but last year lockdown started soon after Gaura Purnima, so I could not come. The devotees here feel some gap, many feel disheartened because I do not come, that is why I thought that I would come here now otherwise when the election results are announced, another lockdown can start and I will not be able to come then. I thought now was a good opportunity to preach here. I am staying here for seven days, giving a class in the temple every day, and a good number of devotees come every day. I am trying to give nourishment to the devotees.

And I am very happy to see you all now.

Devotee: Can I ask you a question?

Last time you asked me why your name was Bimala.

Devotee: Yes, I wanted to ask if there are any other reasons why you have chosen Bimala Devi as my name?

It is not necessary to always think about your name—you must always think about Lord Krishna and Gurudev. It is not necessary to think about your name so much. You must think about the Lord—how to increase your service, how many rounds you chant, how you serve your Guru. This is what you should be thinking about. It is not necessary to think about your name, about the explanation of its meaning, etc.

Devotee: I think she is asking if you could tell something about Bimala Devi.

Oh, Bimala Devi? But why is it necessary?

Bimala Devi is Laksmi Devi. She always serves Lord Narayan, Jagannath. At some point, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur thought that there was so much misconception about Mahaprabhu's teaching, about Vaishnavishm that it was necessary for somebody to come and clean Krishna consciousness from all that misconception. Mahaprabhu, Jagannathdev had to send someone who could clean Krishna consciousness, who could distribute pure Krishna consciousness all over the world. That is why, Sri Bhagavati Devi, the wife of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur went to Jagannathdev's Temple and prayed to Bimala Devi, "Please send someone who can preach Krishna consciousness properly—please send someone who can preach pure Krishna consciousness of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu." Bimala Devi was pleased with their prayer and gave them a son (he was Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's sixth son). Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur named him Bimala Prasad thinking he had come as prasad (mercy) of Bimala Devi. So, Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's previous name is Bimala Prasad, and after taking sannyas his name became Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.

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