Amidst Blazing Fire

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri—Worldwide, 26 April 2021, part 4

Question: In Bhagavad-gita, 7.16, Krishna says that there are four kinds of people who are fortunate to worship Him—the afflicted, the seekers of knowledge, the seekers of happiness and the self-realised. Could you tell a little more about the nature of those who come to seek happiness?

Yes, four types of people come to the Lord—arta (আর্ত, the distressed), artharthi (অর্থার্থী, the poor), jijnasu (জিজ্ঞাসু, the curious), jnani (জ্ঞানী, the knowledge-seekers). Somebody comes to the Lord and asks Him to fulfil their material desire, somebody asks for money, somebody comes to know so many things—they want to know who they are, they ask many questions (these are jnani, knowledge-seekers). But Srimad Bhagavad-gita says,

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

"You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you."

(Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

When you come to ask, you must ask honest question—the enquiry must be honest. So, many people come to the Lord for so many reasons and goals, and Krishna says,

কৃষ্ণ কহে,—আমা ভজে, মাগে বিষয়-সুখ ।
অমৃত ছাড়ি’ বিষ মাগে,—এই বড় মূর্খ ॥
আমি-বিজ্ঞ, এই মূর্খে ‘বিষয়’ কেনে দিব ?
স্ব-চরণামৃত দিয়া ‘বিষয়’ ভুলাইব ॥

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha
amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha
ami—vijna, ei murkhe 'visaya' kene diba?
sva-charanamrta diya 'visaya' bhulaiba

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me, desiring material happiness—leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are great fools. I am very intelligent though. Why will I give these fools material things? Instead, I will give them the nectar of My lotus feet and make them forget the material world."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.38-39)

Krishna says, "They worship Me with some material desire within them, but I will not fulfil their material desire—in lieu of that I will give them My lotus feet and they will become very happy." So, many types of people come to Krishna consciousness and if they practise properly, then even those who do not know much (kanistha-adhikari), who have very weak faith (kamala-sraddha), can gradually advance and become devotees. Conditioned souls' nature is to ask for something material, but the more they ask, the more pain they feel—"visaya anale jvalichhe hrdaya, anale badaye anala. A fallen soul burns in the ever-increasing fire of mundanity." If there is a fire and you blow air onto it, the fire will blaze more and more, but if you put water, it will be put out.

বিষয়-অনলে জ্বলিছে হৃদয়
অনলে বাড়য়ে অনল ।
অপরাধ ছাড়ি’ লয় কৃষ্ণনাম
অনলে পড়িয়ে জল

visaya anale jvalichhe hrdaya
anale badaye anala
aparadha chhadi' laya krsna-nama
anale padaye jala

A fallen soul burns in the ever-increasing fire of mundanity. Avoiding offences, chant Krsna's Name. This pours water on the fire.

('E ghora samsare')

When you chant the Holy Name without offences, this is like water coming to put out that blazing fire of material life. This is the effect of pure chanting of the Holy Name. So, we must chant the Holy Name without offence, this is very important.

We all have to leave this world in one way or another, but at present we have got this opportunity to chant the Holy Name, to practise Krishna consciousness, and we must try to do that. We must practise ourselves and we must try to engage others in the service of the Lord. Please be careful in the present situation and chant the Holy Name. This is the main thing in our life.

Jay Srila Gurudev
Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay

— : • : —

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