(10/14) Spiritual Power

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly district,
26 February 2019, noon, part 10
Translated from Bengali

I was saying yesterday that it is impossible to chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna when you are entangled in anartha (unwanted habits and elements foreign to the soul). Despite that, it is great fortune to be born in Kali-yuga – only fortunate souls are born in this age. Why? Because Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu appear in this world during this age. So, although it is impossible to chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna in Kali-yuga because everybody is entangled in anartha, it is possible to chant Gaura-Nitai's Names even when one is covered by anartha. As you chant and chant Gaura-Nitai's Names, all your anartha will be removed, and then you can get taste for the Holy Name of Lord Krishna.

We chant also in one of the kirtans ('Dayal-nitai chaitanya ba'le'): 'Aparadha dure yabe pabe prema dhan, krsna-name ruchi ha'be ghuchibe bandhan (অপরাধ দূরে যাবে পাবে প্রম ধন, কৃষ্ণনামে রুচি হ’বে, ঘুচিবে বন্ধন). Your offences will go away, and you will get transcendental love for the Lord! You will get taste for Krishna’s Name and your bondage will be removed. Dayal-nitai chaitanya ba'le nach re amar' man' (দয়াল-নিতাই চৈতন্য ব’লে নাচ্ রে আমার মন). Dear mind, dance and chant, "O Merciful Nitai! O Chaitanya!"' So, chant the Holy Names of Nitai-Chaitanya, and your material bondage will be removed – you will get taste for chanting the Holy Name of Lord Krishna, and then 'anayase saphal' ha'be jivera jivan' (অনায়াসে সফল হ’বে জীবের জীবন) – your life will be easily successful!' Do you understand the process? You must always remember this.

All right, much has been said today. If you have any questions, if you want to ask anything, you can ask now. Also, whatever I have said today is written in our books – I have three volumes of Guidance books. There is also Sri Nityananda Mahimarita – especially for those of you who cannot come to the holy dham of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu, we have printed this book; you can find the glories and kirtan of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu there. Every year, we print calendars before Gaura Purnima, but this year it has come out earlier; so, you can take calendars with you. There are many other holy books. The big kirtan books are finished now – we still have some in Kolkata, but we do not have them with us today (whatever we had brought was sold out yesterday). But we have the small pocket-size kirtan books. There is a foreign girl who understands Bengali – taking the recordings of my lectures, she writes down what I say and is making books (Guidance). You can buy those books here today. The third volume of Guidance is a little more expensive because it is thicker.

So, if anybody has any questions or doubts, you can ask me. [Nobody asks anything.] Since you have no questions, let me tell you something. Whatever you do, you must do it for the service to Lord Krishna.

One time, there was a husband and a wife. They lived together in a house and would go begging every day. To be able to collect more, they would go begging separately – the husband went one way, and his wife would go in another direction, to another village. Listen carefully to this story. It reminds me of an expression that I heard from Srila Guru Maharaj, 'Pati lagi' kaila vesyara seva (পতি লাগি' কৈলা বেশ্যার সেবা). To please her husband, she even served a prostitute' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.50.57) In this story, too, the wife had to go to a bad man, and she brought him to this path of devotion to the Lord.

So, the two of them went begging in different directions. The wife was a beautiful woman, so there was one man who always disturbed her very much. He kept asking her, 'Come to my house. Why are you begging walking in this hot sun? Your whole body is getting burnt and becoming black. Come to my house, I will give you a lot of rice, money, whatever you need.' The lady thought, 'This is not a good man, that is why he is calling me to his house.' She did not tell anything to her husband because if she did, her husband would not let her go outside, and it would be a bigger problem. So, whenever the man came to harass her, she brushed him off with some excuse, 'Yes, sure, I will come another day', 'Later, later.' The man often followed her around, and she would tell him, 'Do not worry, I will come to your house some time later, you do not have to follow me around.'

One day, the wife told her husband, 'Go alone today. I will stay at home today – I have a lot of chores to do. I must do the laundry, etc.' So, the husband went out to collect, and the wife stayed at home alone. She was washing the clothes when suddenly, amidst the noise from splashing water, she heard somebody knocking on the gate. She thought, 'My husband is out collecting... Who could it be at this odd time? Nobody would come like this out of the blue. Oh, maybe it is that bad man! He must have heard the news that I am alone at home without my husband. What if it is him?!' She became scared and prayed to the Lord. Remembering her guru, she prayed, 'O Gurudev, please protect me.' As the knocking continued, she thought, 'If I do not open the door, he will break it – as it is, the gate is broken.' So, remembering her gurudev's name, she went to open the door.

When she opened the door, she saw that her gurudev was standing in front of her! She immediately offered obeisances to her gurudev and busied herself welcoming him in. She and her husband were very poor, so they did not have a good chair or any good place for sitting, so she worried, 'Where shall I tell gurudev to sit?' Anyhow, finding some half-broken stool, she offered it to her gurudev, 'Please take a seat.' Then, she thought, 'What will I feed Gurudev? There is no food in the house!' They always cooked and offered to the Lord whatever they brought home after collection, they did not keep anything for another day. So, she gave her gurudev a glass of water and said, 'Gurudev, please drink this. I will fix something for you to eat by the time. Please wait a little, I will be back just now.' She left the house, thinking, 'I have told Gurudev that I will bring something for him to eat, but where will I get it?' Then, it suddenly hit her, 'That man is always calling me to his house! Let me go to his house! Whatever will be will be.' She ran to the man's house like mad.

'You have been calling me to your house, and I have come today,' she said, out of breath.

'Oh? Very good! Come, come. Come in and take a seat!' the man said, excited.

'I have no time to sit. I gave my gurudev a glass of water and left him at home waiting. You said you would give me rice, money, etc. Please give me whatever you can!'

'Wait, take a seat first.'

'I have no time to sit! Please give me quickly whatever you can and I will go back. We will talk later!'

The man gave her a lot of rice, dal, fruit, vegetables, etc. He collected two big sacks full of bhoga for her.

'How will I carry two sacks alone?' the lady asked. 'I can take one, but what about the other one? Oh, why do you not come with me?'

So, she came back home with the two sacks and that man. She quickly prepared some fruit, gave it to her gurudev and went to cook. By this time, her husband came back home.

'I am going to cook,' she told the bad man. 'My husband is back, so go and sit in front of gurudev together with him, listen to some Hari-katha. And do not leave, you must stay and take prasad.'

The man sat and listend about the Lord. Then, he took some prasad. In the end, his bad, naughty mind became good, and he asked the lady, 'Please arrange for me to take initiation from your guru.'

This is the story of Dhanur Das and his wife. I heard it from Srila Gurudev. I remember when I was telling it in Basirhat, I could not remember Dhanur Das's name, and Maha-mantra Prabhu, who was with me, remembered it...

বৈষ্ণব সঙ্গেতে মন, আনন্দিত অনুক্ষণ,
সদা হয় কৃষ্ণ পরসঙ্গ ।

vaisnava sangete mana, anandita anuksana,
sada haya krsna para-sanga

'In Vaisnavs’ association, my heart constantly rejoices and I always feel the association of Lord Krishna Himself.'

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We must always feel joyful in the association of Vaishnavs – we must always happily speak about the Lord in their association. We must always speak about Krishna, always listen about the Lord, always preach about the Lord. Even if it comes to that, you can take a loan to preach about the Lord, about Mahaprabhu, about Gaura-hari, about Gaura-Nityananda Prabhu! When Nityananda Prabhu preached about Gauranga Mahaprabhu, He would always say:

ভজ গৌরাঙ্গ, কহ গৌরাঙ্গ, লহ গৌরাঙ্গের নাম রে
যে জন গৌরাঙ্গ ভজে, সেই আমার প্রাণ রে

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re
ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

'Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga's Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!'

(Sriman Nityananda Prabhu)

Therefore, we always need good association.

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Size: 37 Mb
Length: 76 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Bound and Benumbed
2) Within and Without
3) Think about Your Actual Self
4) Pivotal Difference
5) Forget Me Not
6) Antidote to Material Life
7) Mixing in Adulteration
8) Wholesome Life
9) Devoured by Darkness
10) Spiritual Power
11) Depths of Devotion
12) Guard Your Spiritual Purity
13) Focus on Lord's Happiness
14) Pure Devotees' Pure Hankering