(11) Honest Enquiry

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Deities' Manifestation Anniversary festival, Siliguri, 1 May 2019, morning, part 11
Translated from Bengali

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli’ sei jiva—anadi bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

‘Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

We forgot the Lord, and as the result of that we are suffering from the blazing agony of the threefold miseries. This is what we must know. We do not need to know all other things because even if we know it or hear about it, it will not give us any benefit.

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

‘You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you.’

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

If you are to ask anything, it must be honest enquiry. Your enquiry must be sincere and you must enquire with a view to serve. Full surrender, honest enquiry and service mood – there is nothing else we must know. Always remember this.

You have heard about Srila Madhavendra Puripad. When He found Gopal, when Gopal came to him, he arranged a grand annakut mahotsav. You, too, must celebrate like this. Make an annakut, a mountain of rice. Offer bhoga lavishly, like a big mountain.

This is how we must always practise spiritual life. Do not forget the Lord.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli’ sei jiva—anadi bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

‘Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

We forgot the Lord, and as the result of that we are suffering from the blazing agony of the threefold miseries. If you want to get relief from this suffering, the only way to do it is to take shelter at the holy feet of the Lord. Whatever your situation is, wherever and however you live, it does not matter whether you live in a house or in a forest, always call out to the Lord. There is no difference between householder devotees and renounced devotees. Do not show any false renunciation – practise proper, true renunciation.

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana
yatha-yogya visaya bhunja’ anasakta hana

‘Do not show your false renunciation to impress people. Use whatever material things you require, but without attachment.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.16.238)

Always remember this.

I wrote about 'Provincialism and Service to the Lord'. Do you understand what provincialism is? It means you go to the temple and when you see people from your own area, you treat them with more affection and ignore or diss others. I wrote about it in Guidance 3. These are Srila Prabhupad's words. For example, you come from Bangladesh and whenever you meet Bangladeshi devotees, you treat them with affection, but if somebody comes from London, you do not care about them and show no affection. This is not service. This is Maya consciousness. Provincialism has nothing to do with mercy to jiva souls. Mercy to jiva souls (jive daya) means whoever comes, wherever they may come from, you must treat them well.

I told you about how much a soul suffers in the mother's womb. 'Whatever unbearable food the mother takes – bitter, pungent, hot, salty, dry, sour, etc. – becomes absorbed into the body of the jiva soul dwelling within the womb, causing pain in all its body. Surrounded by the uterus and confined carefully outside by the intestines, the child lies with its neck and back bent, head pressed against its chest. The child thus remains just like a bird in a cage, unable to move within the womb. At that time, if the child is fortunate, it can remember all the troubles of its past births. Remember the sinful activities of its past hundreds of lifetimes, it keeps sighing.' When a pregnant woman reaches the seventh month, people usually celebrate what is called 'sadha' (সাধ; similar to a 'baby shower'). There is a reason for this custom: 'When the seventh month starts, the jiva soul gains consciousness, but then it is tossed by the airs that occur to stimulate child birth and cannot remain still in one place, just as the worms that are born in the same womb. During the time when the averse to the service of the Lord and attached to the material world conditioned jiva soul leaves this world, it is afflicted by the same hellish suffering that it experiences in the womb before its birth—suffering continuously from such pain, the soul ends up in hell.' After that, if somebody still will not listen to it, then what can I do, tell me? I wrote these things consulting Srimad Bhagavatam.

'Srimad Bhagavatam (3.30.18–28) shows how the soul bound by material attachments is sent there: Engrossed in maintaining his family, unable to control his senses, a materialist householder becomes anxious seeing his family weeping in deep sorrow—in this state he finally loses consciousness and leaves his body. At death, he sees two fearsome messengers (yamadutas) of Yamaraj, the Lord of Death, come before him, their eyes full of wrath. Grief-stricken at the sight of them, he keeps passing stool and urine. At first, these yamadutas seize the agonising (subtle) body of the man and detach it from the gross body—they throw a rope on his neck and bind him tight. Then, like constables accompanying a criminal, the servants of Yamaraj take the man far away to their own place.'

Take this book and read it at home. I cannot read everything now. The book is quite big, so I cannot read everything to you here. It will take three months. Even if you have little money, find a way to buy it. Think about these things. Everybody talks about hell, so read and see what hellish suffering is like.

We have also reprinted Sri Nityananda Mahimamrita – we have prepared a new edition. Now books are more expensive. Actually, everything is more expensive. I remember when I young, rice used to cost ten–fifteen paise per kilogram. Now it costs over fifty rupees a kilogram...

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