(1) Our Campaign

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Lord Siva's Temple inauguration,
5 March 2019, evening, part 1
Translated from Bengali

Those who are cutting vegetables must not talk nonsense: only say, 'Krishna, Krishna' and listen to Hari-katha. It is not necessary to talk about anything over there. You are cutting vegetables, so you do not need to use your mouths – cut vegetables with your hands and listen to Krishna-katha with your ears. You are doing service, so I am not telling you not to do it, but listen about the Lord with your ears. Do not talk any nonsense. Mahaprabhu said:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

We must follow Mahaprabhu's instruction. Sivji Maharaj only chants, 'Krishna, Krishna' all the time. He chants the glories of Lord Krishna with his five mouths. So, when Lord Siva chants the Holy Name of Lord Krishna himself and instructs us to do so, then we must do it.

We are present here at this temple on the occasion of Sivaratri and Lord Siva's temple inauguration. Why have we come here? To take something. When you take something, you must also give something, but what will we give? We have nothing to give you all. All we have is our minds, hearts, souls, and we must place them at the holy feet of the Lord to listen about Him. This is what we want to take from you. This is the alms we have come to beg of you. We are going to speak some Hari-katha now. After that, we will chant kirtan, then we will again speak Hari-katha, then again chant kirtan. Sometimes we will speak, sometimes we will chant. Please listen carefully to everything. Actually, we have not come here to chant kirtan – we have come to make you chant kirtan, so that you can chant kirtan yourselves every day. You have done Tulasi parikrama together with me today. If you have place, you can do this parikrama – it is such a great fortune. It is said in the scriptures that when the arati of the Lord is going on, if somebody is lame (cannot walk or have no legs), they can stay seated, but if you have legs and hands and can stand, you must stand during the arati; otherwise, you will have to be born as a frog in your next life. When you are born as frogs, then you will always remained seated during the arati of the Lord and during the parikrama of the Lord's temple. Sometimes people do not know this, it is forgivable, but do not do it consciously, knowing fully well that it is wrong. When the arati starts, you must stand and take the holy darshan of the arati. Join the kirtan – sing and clap your hands. This is what you must always practise. So, let us start the class then.

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

‘The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill – all it takes is mercy from gurudev.’

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the reddish soles of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s holy feet, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him. May he be pleased with us. After that, I am offering my full obeisance to all guru-varga, all my godbrothers, all the listeners, all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul. This is my prayer to you all.

Today is a very auspicious day. It is said in the scriptures that a bad day is not a cloudy day. You can see that it is cloudy today, but a cloudy day is not a bad day. What day is bad? It was going to rain today, but you can see that we prayed to the Lord with all our hearts and it has not rained so far. It rained in many places around today, but not here. Such is the glory of the Lord. So, a bad day for us is the day when we cannot chant the glories of the Lord, when we cannot listen or talk about the Lord. This is a bad day for us. So, today is a very good day for us. We are present here in front of all the devotees and we have got an opportunity to hear and speak something about the Lord. This kind of chance does not come in our lives all the time. So many days are passing minute after minute, second after second.

You know that when demigods fought against demons, a king called Khatvanga Maharaj was fighting on the side of demigods...

[Clamour] Please stop talking! Please listen about the Lord. You talk nonsense every single day:

দিনের মধ্যে আবল-তাবল
কত পচাল পাড়িতে পর
তার মধ্যে কিন্তু তুমি একবার
গোবিন্দ বলিতে নারা

dinera madhye abala-tabala
kata pachala padite para
tara madhye ki ek-bara
govinda balite nara

‘How much nonsense you can talk every day! How many idle talks you have! Can you not say the Name of Govinda even once?’

How much we talk! You think that your mouths are only for eating and talking about anything and everything, but when the Lord takes your mouths away (when He takes away your power of speech), when you are born as cows again, then you will get the chance to only eat, eat and eat with your mouths. You will not be able to talk about the Lord then. So, I am praying to you all: you have got these tongues, so do not eat nonsense things and do not talk about nonsense things. Talk about the Lord; otherwise, talk less. The less you speak, the less wrong you will do. You may think that we have come to you all only to open the temple and go away, but this is not so. Srila Prabhupad said that instead of opening thousands of hospitals and serving millions of patients, it would be much better if you could bring to this path one single soul who turned away from Lord Krishna – that will bring you million times more benefit. We approach you all – we go for collection house to house. Mahaprabhu said,

শুন শুন নিত্যানন্দ, শুন হরিদাস ।
সর্ব্বত্র আমার আজ্ঞা করহ প্রকাশ ॥
প্রতি ঘরে ঘরে গিয়া কর এই ভিক্ষা ।
‘বল কৃষ্ণ, ভজ কৃষ্ণ, কর কৃষ্ণ শিক্ষা’ ॥

suna suna nityananda, suna haridasa
sarvatra amara ajna karaha prakasa
prati ghare ghare giya kara ei bhiksa
‘bala krsna, bhaja krsna, kara krsna siksa’

‘Listen, listen, Nityananda! Listen, Haridas! Make My command known everywhere! Go house to house and beg everyone, “Please chant Krishna’s Name, worship Krishna and practise Krishna’s teachings.”’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.13.8–9)

On the order of our gurus and Vaishnavs, we also go door to door to preach about the Lord. We do not come to you all for any selfish reason. If any of you can come to this path and start practising Krishna consciousness at home, that is all we want. You have heard us chant this kirtan, ‘Grhe thaka, vane thaka, sada “Hari” bale’ daka (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক, সদা হরি বলে’ ডাক). Whether you live at home or in a forest, always call out to the Supreme Lord’ (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). Do you understand it? Whether you live in a house (a thatched house or a three-storey mansion) or in a forest, always chant the Holy Name of the Lord – never forget the Lord.

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