(4) Blind and Selfish Existence

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening preaching programme,
13 March 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

So many things have happened – so much suffering, so much sadness. You keep coming to this world, you keep leaving this world, but you do not gain anything. Sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs approach you all to help you.

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

‘It is the innate nature of great souls to deliver vile fallen souls. Great souls never come to their homes for any personal purpose.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.39)

If it is a genuine sadhu, they do not approach anybody for their own interests – they come to actually help others. They do not come to rob you of your material possessions. Sadhus come to beg, but what is their vision? You work very hard to earn a living, and the Lord keeps some of His wealth with you. You should use at least some of that wealth in the service of Lord Govinda (even if it is just ten rupees or fifty rupees), so (genuine) sadhus come and forcefully take it from you to utilise it in the service of the Lord.

You work hard to grow a few rice paddies or a few potatoes, but have you ever thought what it takes to do it? Every single day you live you kill millions of living entities. You studied Bengali at school, so you know the proverb, 'Itati marle patkale khete haya (ইটটি মারলে পাটকেলটি খেতে হয়). If you hit a brick, you will get hit by a brickbat.' In English, they say, 'Tit for tat.' Any action you make entails some opposite reaction. So, when you kill millions of living entities every single day, you have to reap the result for that – it is absolutely certain. What is the solution then? How can we get out of this situation? The solution is given by Srimad Bhagavatam.

পৃথিবীতে যত কথা ধর্ম্মনামে-চলে ।
ভাগবত কহে সব পরিপূর্ণ ছলে ॥

prthivite yata katha dharma-name-chale
bhagavata kahe taha paripurna chhale

’Bhagavatam says that whatever is going on in this world in the name of religion is complete cheating.’

(Based on Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.1.2)

We breathe in and out every second – we inhale so many living entities that then die inside our bodies. When we eat rice and rotis, we kill so many paddy and wheat plants. We cut spinach and so many kinds of vegetables – this is also killing. And outside people who use non-vegetarian food eat fish and meat – they kill goats, cows, chickens, etc. In some countries, they also eat snakes, frogs, earthworms, and so on. Everybody is killing something. What is the solution to this life of killing? How can it be stopped? For example, I came here today by car. I did not use the car for my own pleasure (I did not come to get food, clothes, money or anything else) – I used it to come here to talk about God. When somebody hears these discourses, they can become attracted and attached to the Lord – they can feel irresistibly pulled towards Him and surrender to Him.

You forget who created you, who you come from. It is owing to Him that you have a house, a room, a wife, a son, a daughter, money, but out of pride you enjoy everything as if it was yours. Who allows you to live in this world? Who allows you to have children in this world? Who gave you your wives and husbands? The Lord wished for it to happen, so it happened. The Lord may not give you anything, the Lord may give you everything, or when He gives you something, He can also take it all away. The problem is that you got so many things from the Lord, but you forget Him. As the result of this forgetfulness you are now suffering in this burning agony of the threefold miseries: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik (আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক) – miseries caused by other souls, by the nature or gods and by our own bodies and minds. So many people die suffering mentally in so many ways...

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e dosa dibe kare bhai?

‘Coming and going, coming and going, you never learnt anything! You have been eating your own brain – who will you blame for this, brother?’

This is what we cannot understand...

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