Food for Thought

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 March 2015

To be a Vaishnav, it is necessary to chant the Holy Name:

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

"Be humble, tolerant, give honour to others, and leave your ego." If somebody does not have these qualities, they have no adhikar, no right, to chant the Holy Name—the proper Holy Name will not come.

অন্যাভিলাষিতা-শূন্যং জ্ঞান-কর্ম্মাদ্যনাবৃতম্ ।
আনুকূল্যেন কৃষ্ণানুশীলনং ভক্তিরুত্তমা ॥

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which is cultivated for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Krishna, with no desire except to serve Him, and divested of all external attempts such as worldly action, knowledge in search of the impersonal Absolute, or the meditational attempt to become one with God."

By Srila Rupa Goswami

Anya-abhilasa: Srila Rupa Goswami told there is no other way—if you have full chastity, your mind and everything must go one way. This is very important. Your focus must be on the main way, but at present your mind is going in so many material ways. If you give much food to your mind, your mind will become strong. You think your mind wants this and wants that, and you always give food to the mind, then it becomes strong and it can take you away from your service and from Krishna consciousness. That is why you must control your mind, control your tongue.

I have told many times that when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj first joined the temple, for six months he had been taking prasadam with neem leaves. He was training his tongue, "In your life you are enjoying so much, and now I am giving punishment to you. Now, at least for six months you must take neem leaves." He controlled his tongue in this way.

If you give your mind, your heart to material things, these material things, visaya, will always stay with you. Do not give any food to your mind—if you give food to your mind, it will become strong and it can take you away from the service. That is what Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told.

If you do today what your mind wants to do, tomorrow it will be something else, next day again something else—that is why the mind must be controlled. You should practise Krishna consciousness in this way.

Actually, we have five properties: chaksu, karna, jihva, nasika, tvak (eyes, ears, tongue, nose, and skin), and we must use these in a proper way, otherwise if you do not use them in the proper way, they become useless. Your eyes must see only good things, see the Deities' form; your ears will only hear Krishna Nam, Krishna-katha; your tongue will chant the Holy Name and take prasadam, and so on. If you do not take prasadam, you will not be able to control the prapancha—without prasad-seva you cannot control your senses.

প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয়
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva karite haya,
sakala prapancha jaya

By honouring the Lord's prasadam I conquer over all worldly illusions.

'Suddha-bhakata' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

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