(12/12) Plant and Take Care

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Lord Siva's Temple inauguration,
5 March 2019, evening, part 12
Translated from Bengali

Lord Siva has come here to bestow his mercy upon us. May he be pleased with you all – may you get devotion to Lord Krishna. We chanted in one of the kirtans:

কৃষ্ণ সে তোমার কৃষ্ণ দিতে পার
তোমার শকতি আছে ।
আমি ত কাঙ্গাল 'কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ' বলি
ধাই তব পাছে পাছে ॥

krsna se tomara krsna dite para
tomara sakati achhe
ami ta' kangala 'krsna krsna' bali
dhaitava pachhe pachhe

'Krishna is yours, you can give Krishna – you have such power. I am very poor – calling out, "Krishna! Krishna!" I am running after you.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Did you hear this kirtan? We must chant it. We must always chant kirtans; never forget it. We must practise Krishna consciousness.

We have books here, buy them. There are also calendars – you can get them and see when there are festivals at our temples; you can see when the ekadasi days are. You can find there all the rules of following ekadasi and the paran times (when to break the fast the next day) – everything is written there nicely. Please come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. Tomorrow in the morning we will go for a short parikrama here in the village. We will start out at nine o'clock and come back in one or one and a half hours. Everybody must come. We will go to chant some kirtan. There will be a van with the microphone, so we will walk and chant the Holy Names of Lord Krishna.

Those who are diabetic go for a half-an-hour walk every day, so you can do both things at the same time: you can chant and walk. If you walk every morning, it is good for your health; and if you chant Krishna-kirtan, it will do you good, too. Walking is good for health. Those who walk one hour every day live ten–twenty years longer, and they will not suffer from so much pain. Unfortunately, we are not getting time to walk. There is not enough time. I am not even getting time to write books properly. But when we go for parikrama in Vrindavan, we walk 28–30 miles every day during seven–ten days. During Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we walk twenty miles; sometimes I stand on the cart for one and a half hours, chanting... Other than that, Gurudev has 140 temples, and I have to visit them – one day I go here, another day there. Sometimes, I spend a few days at each place. We are having this festival here today, and after that I will go to Birbhum, from there to Ekachakra, and in the evening the same day I will go back to Kolkata. I have to do some things in Kolkata, and the next day I will go to Nrisingha Palli. I do not have any spare time. Time is very short.

Let us chant some kirtan now. They will be offering bhoga to the Deities soon.

[To a devotee] Are you running away? Are you not going to take prasad? Take the Lord's prasad. 'Prasada-seva karite haya, sakala prapancha-jaya (প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয় সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়). By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions' (Saranagati, 31.5). By honouring prasad, the five material diseases will go away: avidya, asmita, raga, dvesa, abhinivesa (ignorance, false identification, misdirected love, aversion to anything that goes against your enjoyment, being unable to give up unfavourable habits). Eating vegetarian food is nothing. You must offer bhoga to the Lord and take His prasad. Always live like this.

Keep Tulasi at home. Do Tulasi parikrama, offer obeisances to Tulasi, bow to her. When you see devotees and Vaishnavs, offer obeisances. Do not criticise anybody, do not gossip. Never do this.

I have told you so many things during these two days – do you not have any questions? If you have any questions or doubts in your mind, you can tell me. Do not be afraid, do not be shy. Take me as a child of your house, ask me as your own.

In the morning, one lady asked me what to do when a Tulasi leaves her body, if she could plant another one. I told her that, of course, she could. Take the dead tree out and plant a new one. And do not cut Tulasi trees so much – do not destroy or damage them; if you do it, you will have a problem. One time, when I went to one village for preaching, I went to a house. There, a lady came and told me, 'Maharaj, Tulasi does not grow at our house anymore... What should we do?' They tried to plant Tulasi, but all Tulasis died. It turned out that they used to have a big Tulasi garden, but when they started breeding geese, they removed the garden and built a house for the geese. I told her, 'You have made a big offence, that is why Tulasi will not grow at your house.' Later, when I was returning from Nabadwip, I brought one Tulasi tree and planted there. The lady told me after some time, 'You planted that Tulasi at our house, and now we have a full Tulasi garden!' So, do not disturb Tulasi trees. Tulasi is very sensitive.

যাঁকো দরশে পরশে অঘনাশ হোই
মহিমা বেদ পুরাণে বাখানি ॥
নমো নমঃ তুলসী মহারাণি, বৃন্দে মহারাণি নমো নমঃ
নমোরে নমোরে মাঁইয়া নমো নারায়ণী ।

yako darase parase agha-nasa hoi
mahima veda purane vakhani
namo namah tulasi maharani,
vrnde maharani namo namah

‘By seeing or touching you, all sins are destroyed. Your glories are sung in the Vedas and Puranas. O Tulasi Maharani, O Vrinda Devi, I offer my obeisance unto you again and again. O Narayani, I offer my obeisance unto you again and again.’

(Sri Chandrasekhara Acharya)

Seeing Tulasi or touching Tulasi removes all sins. Do not pick Tulasi leaves on dvadasi days – you can pick them on the ekadasi day and keep.

Devotee: When is the next ekadasi? Are the dates the same everywhere?

Take the calendars and see. Listen, mostly all the dates are the same everywhere, but one–two days can differ. We compile our calendars using various sources and careful calculations. Somebody gives wrong dates and times, but we consult several sources and calculate the right times and dates. Sometimes, ekadasi falls on the dvadasi day. For example, there is going to be Vyanjuli mahadvadasi. We fast on this day and break the fast on the trayodasi; there is no fast on ekadasi. So, there are some subtleties. Everything is there in the calendars; you can see them and you will know the right dates. If you cannot buy the calendars, you can always check it here at the temple. When it is written 'fast', then you should fast.

So, nobody has any questions? Nobody is asking anything...

যেই ভজে, সেই বড়, অভক্ত—হীন, ছার ।
কৃষ্ণভজনে নাহি জাতি-কুলাদি বিচার ॥

yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta—hina, chhara
krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vichara

'Only a nondevotee can be considered as worthless and abominable: anyone who takes to devotional service is great—there is no consideration of class, caste or any other status for those who have taken up service to Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.67)

কিবা বর্ণী, কিবাশ্রমী, কিবা বর্ণাশ্রমহীন ।
কৃষ্ণতত্ত্ব-বেত্তা যেই, সেই আচার্য প্রবীণ

kiba varni, kibasrami, kiba varnasrama-hina
krsna-tattva vetta yei, sei acharya pravina

‘Anyone who knows Krishna’s nature is an expert acharya, regardless of whether they belong to some religious and social order or not.’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 11.16, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

‘Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151)

You must plant in your hearts the seeds that you get from your guru. If you keep listening to all these things, your hearts will become clean. Following these things, and you will get benefit. Let us chant a few kirtans now.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Length: 71 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Our Campaign
2) Pointless Life and Pointed Life
3) Uncertainty Is Not the End
4) Do Not Be Proud Zeros
5) Spiritual Leprosy
6) A Test of Chastity
7) Mahaprabhu's First Lesson
8) 'Come and Eat'
9) Capital Defeat
10) A Practical Lesson
11) Learn to Love God
12) Plant and Take Care