(2/9) Resist Defective Lifestyle

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly district,
1 March 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

ছয় বেগ দমি’, ছয় দোষ শোধি’,
ছয় গুণ দেহ দাসে ।

chhaya vega dami’, chhaya dosa sodhi’,
chhaya guna deha dase

'Please subjugate my six urges, rectify my six defects and bestow the six good qualities upon this servant.'

Apart from the six urges, there are also six defects and six good qualities. The six defects are almost the same as the six urges. I have written about them at the end of our calendars, too – they are what is called thorns on the path of devotion. The unfavourable elements on the path of devotion are the six urges, and the thorns on the path of devotion are the six defects: atyahara (eating too much), prayascha (hoarding), prajalpa (talking nonsense), niyamagraha (superficial following of the rules), laulancha (greed), janasanga (bad association).

[Clamour] The talks have started! I am telling you such nice things to teach you all, but you are talking. If you do not listen now and later I ask you about it, will you be able to reply? I know it is hot today and you have to sit in the sun, but tolerate for one hour.

So, atyahara means eating too much. Prayascha means accumulating too many things and striving too hard to do what is unfavourable to devotion. Prajalpa means talking nonsense, gossiping, village talks (what you are doing now) – any other talks except for talks about Krishna are called prajalpa. You must always speak less, and do not speak about anything except the Lord. Guru Maharaj said that if you spend too much time talking, as the result you will not have the energy to chant the Holy Name. If you talk a lot, your mouths will get tired, and when you try to chant the Holy Name after that, you will not have the strength. In the same way, if you go everywhere to do nonsense, your knees will eventually become hurt – how will you do Tulasi parikrama after that? You will not even be able to walk three times around it. During the arati, you have to stand for ten minutes, but your legs start hurting or your back starts hurting and you sit down. In your next life, you will become frogs! It is said in the scriptures that those who sit during the arati of the Lord must be born as frogs in their next lives. Prajalpa is a waste of time. When you get some free time, you go to tea stalls and sit and gossip there, or you turn on TV and watch series. Is that not true? Women stay at home and watch soapies, and men work the whole day and when they come home in the evening, they go to tea shops – they can come in the evening and do arati, chant kirtans, chant the Holy Name, read holy books about the Lord, but instead they go to tea shops and talk about election, politics and about who is criticising whom. What is it to you? Even if somebody steals money, what is it to you? You do not need to sit and talk about it.

Niyamagraha means having no enthusiasm to practise devotion, but being enthusiastic to practise other things. Jana-sangancha means associating with anybody except pure devotees. You may wonder, 'Oh, but when I go to the market, I have to speak to the seller – I have to ask the price.' This is not association. If you have to ask something or speak about something for the Lord, that is all right. But not more than that.

Finally, laulancha means fickleness. The mind is always fickle. For example, people are talking at the back now, and you get distracted by that; then somebody starts talking in another place, and you get distracted by that. It means that your mind is not settled, it is not focused. Somebody says something, and you accept it; somebody else says something else, and you accept it, too. You hear what Rama Krishna Mission says and think, 'Yes, what they are saying is right.' You come here, listen to Hari-katha and think, 'Yes, what Maharaj is saying is right.' This means that your conception is fickle.

These are the six defects. Both the six urges and the six defects must be given up. They do not leave on their own – if you keep good association and pray to Vaishnav Thakur, then all these faults will go away.

— : • : —

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Length: 64 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Self-Rectification
2) Resist Defective Lifestyle
3) Six Pillars of Devotional Life
4) Leave This World
5) Do Not Poison Your Mind
6) Once Upon a Guru
7) 'My Happiness or Your Head'
8) Price of Peace
9) Pave Your Road to Holy Dham