Good Association: the Pivot of Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Caracas, Venezuela
26 September 2009

I always tell you and every morning we sing in the kirtan,

ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভাব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

(Saranagati, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"We will accept what is in favour of devotion, and we will reject what is not in favour of devotion." This is main thing. And always do sravanam and kirtanam.

Even if you live in a house, anywhere, sravan and kirtan must be the main thing in your life. I have told many times that if somebody does not have service and they work, work, work the whole day, they must do only sravanam and kirtanam—if you only work, work, work and do not do sravanam, kirtanam, then your life will be full of rust. So, you must try to come here as often as you can, try to join some sankirtan.

Question: Srila Guru Maharaj says that we should see everything that happens to us, whether good or bad, as the mercy of the Lord. We are not great devotees, we do not have that vision, but should we still see things in this way?

Yes, actually everything comes by the will of the Lord, but Krishna puts everything in front of us—He gives stool and He also gives some food—we must understand what we should take. To understand this, good association is totally necessary. Without good association you cannot understand this.

Question: What should be our attitude towards other lines or movements of Krishna consciousness? What should we do not to be offensive against them?

It is not necessary to do anything. Our temple is here, you come here, you follow Gurudev's instruction, and it is not necessary to think anything about others. They can do whatever they are doing, if they want to go to hell, they can go. You can first try to help them, advise them something but if they do not want to hear, then leave them, let them go there. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "Even if Brahma comes to me, I will tell I have no time, I have some service to Gurudev." We have no time to think what others are doing. Do not waste your time, we only have a short time...

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