(12/12) Do Not Bottle Yourselves Up

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's
appearance day, Hooghly district
24 February 2019, morning, part 12
Translated from Bengali

When you drink milk, you become nourished, but if a snake touches some milk and you drink it, that milk will kill you. If you chant the Holy Name, you will get benefit, but if you listen to offences to the Holy Name, it will bring inauspiciousness (spoil your lives). People sing lila-kirtans and pala-kirtans for money, they sign a contract and come to do kirtan or read Bhagavatam for seven days. You must never go to listen all this. It will destroy the sprout of your devotional creeper. It will destroy everything in your lives. Buy our books instead. Steal some money from your husbands and buy books – if you read them, you will get benefit. What I am telling you is written in them.

Please take care of yourselves. Does anybody have any questions? You have been listening to me for so long, do you have any questions? I have been coming here for a long time, but not even one or two people are ready to come to the Lord's feet. Your problem is that you cannot sacrifice small things...

I know that there are some ladies who want to take initiation but their husbands do not want to come to this line, so they think, 'How can I take initiation?' If there is no way out, then you can cook for your husbands. It is a sin, no doubt, but when you offer bhoga to the Lord (you have to cook it separately) and prasad comes, you should secretly give your husbands or children some prasad subji, rotis or whatever they will eat. You will see that gradually when they start taking prasad, their addiction to fish and meat will go away. 'Prasada-seva karite haya sakala prapancha jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়). The entire material world can be conquered by honouring the Lord’s prasad' (Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). Everybody must honour prasad. Always remember.

There are also many who worry, 'Oh, but I will be touching onion, fish, meat, how can I chant the Holy Name like that?' This is not an obstacle.

প্রভু কহে,—"কহিলাঙ এই মহামন্ত্র ।
ইহা জপ' গিয়া সবে করিয়া নির্ব্বন্ধ" ॥

prabhu kahe—kahilan ei maha-mantra
iha japa' giya sabe kariya nirbandha

'Always chant the Holy Name – there is no obstruction, no binding, you can chant this Holy Name at any time.'

ইহা হৈতে সর্ব্ব-সিদ্ধি হইবে সবার
সর্ব্বক্ষণ বল' ইথে বিধি নাহি আর

iha haite sarva-siddhi haibe sabara
sarva-ksana bala ithe vidhi nahi ara

'By doing this, you will attain success in all respects. There is no other rule but to chant it at every moment.'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.23.77–78)

You can chant the Holy Name when you are eating, lying down, sitting down, or even when you are passing stool! There is no such obstacle or circumstance that can stop you from chanting the Holy Name. You can chant the Holy Name even when you are passing stool [without the beads]! You are taking a shower or sitting on a toilet pan – instead of thinking about other things, chant the Holy Name. You know, many people get a stroke when they are passing stool, is that not so? They sit and think, 'What should I do? How will I live?' and as they worry about all that, they get a stroke. Instead of that, chant the Holy Name loudly, 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.' Are you afraid of what others will think? Even if your family or outside people say that you have gone mad, let them say whatever they like.

Practise Krishna consciousness in this way. Serve the Lord sincerely, with heart and soul. You must take shelter of a genuine guru. A genuine guru is whoever gurudev declares and establishes in this position. A guru receives a certificate from his guru. So, search for those who become a guru in the parampara line and take initiation from them. There are many gurus in this world who only seek gratification of their desires and name and fame. They become gurus to get fame, disciples and service from everybody. This has to be put an end to.

I am praying to all those of you who have already come to this genuine path: please do not think about all those trifles. There is no restriction, there is nothing to worry about if you want to practise spiritual life – you can practise at any time. When you are sitting on the toilet pan, chant the Holy Name loudly, 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.' Chant loudly! If you chant loudly, the Lord will take care of you, and you will see that your heart will be strong, your brain will be strong, your health will be strong.

The day before yesterday I went to one village for a programme, and there is one devotee who always chants the Holy Name on his beads silently, in his mind. Srila Sridhar Maharaj says that if you chant silently, without saying it with your tongue, this is called finger-exercise. Why? Because you sit and count the beads and at the same time talk about other things. Somebody came and that devotee asked him, 'Oh, where are you coming from? When did you come?' and all this time his fingers continued going through the beads. Is this the Holy Name? It is not! Some also chant silently. It is also not good. You must chant out loudly, pronouncing the Holy Name with your tongues and mouths. Be open. If you get angry or feel some grudge and keep it all inside, you will end up having a brain stroke. If you keep something inside for a long time and do not say anything to anybody, it leads to a stroke. Always be open. Do not keep things inside. Keep your hearts always open, then you can come to the Lord.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Size: 44 Mb
Length: 92 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Inaugurator of Gaudiya Sky
2) Preceptor Born of Prabhupad's Feet
3) Saving Mahaprabhu's Line
4) Srila Prabhupad's Renown
5) Spreading Prabhupad's Glory
6) Ekadasi Rules
7) Vultures' Curse
8) Demolish Deceitful Devotion
9) Breaking Free
10) Spiritual Sacrifice
11) Seek Genuine Guru
12) Do Not Bottle Yourselves Up