(3/6) 'I Have an Idea!'

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami Adhivas, Tarakeswar
22 August 2019, evening, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Such is human life.

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

'Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Continue your life trying your best to take shelter of the Name.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We do not prohibit anyone to carry on their lives – continue your lives, continue your work, but always chant the Holy Name of the Lord. Make sure that not a single day passes without service to Vaishnavs and chanting the Holy Name. Always remember this.

I will tell you one very beautiful thing. It is said in the scriptures about Mahaprabhu:

prema vanyaya nadiya bhasaila
nindu-pasandi-gana dhaya palayiya

'He inundated Nadia with a flood of divine love and made all offenders and materialists flee.'

All the offenders and heretics fled, but how far would they actually go? They ran away some distance but ultimately stayed nearby. That is why there are many sadhus in this world now, most of whom are actually bogus sadhus. Such sadhus mislead you and take you down the wrong path. Our bodies of flesh and blood are not perfect, so we easily get swayed and end up doing wrong things. Practise Krishna consciousness! This is what we have come to this world for – for the Lord.

If we do not practise spiritual life, if we do not listen about God, then we will be immediately attacked by enemies: lust (kama), anger (krodha), greed (lobha), illusion (moha), envy (matsarya); eye-enjoyment (rupa), tongue-enjoyemnt (rasa), nose-enjoyment (gandha), ear-enjoyment (sabda), tactile enjoyment (sparsa). When these enemies come and attack us, we feel more and more material desires. To escape this situation, you must always engage yourselves in Hari-kirtan (in chanting the glories of the Lord and in practising spiritual life).

So, coming back to the story I began telling, when Krishna became hungry and sent Balaram to the brahmans who were doing fire sacrifices, Balaram (the Lord Himself!) came and asked them, 'Give us some food! We are very hungry!' But the brahmans chased Him away – they did not understand who it was. He for whose satisfaction they were doing all those fire sacrifices came to them and asked them for a handful of rice, but they could not recognise Him. They were unfortunate, but their wives were fortunate because when Balaram later came to them, they quickly gave Him a lot of curd, butter and many other things. This is how those wives of the sacrificial brahmans (yajna-patnis) received mercy. They were able to serve Lord Krishna.

When the wives of the brahmans told Krishna, 'We will stay with You!' Krishna objected, 'We are kayastha, and you are brahmans. What will people say?' The ladies did not want to hear anything, 'We do not care! We know that You love gopis very much, so if You do not want to accept us, then we will serve gopis!' Then, Krishna said, 'Now you have come to a line that must not be crossed... What shall we do then? Oh, I have an idea! You do not have to stay with Me. You can stay at your homes and serve Me from there: you can serve Me in My Deity-form.' This is how Gopal worship started.

This is the pastime when the Lord personally accepted food from the hands of brahmans' wives. We, too, must try to gain such fortune. We must have this kind of mood when we practise spiritual life. If we can take initiation from a bona fide guru and practise Krishna consciousness in the shelter of a bona fide and bona fide sadhus, then we will get supreme benefit and one day we will be able to take part in the service to the Lord.

— : • : —

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Size: 19 Mb
Length: 40 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Lord's Keen Kindness
2) Taste for Service
3) 'I Have an Idea!'
4) Understanding God
5) Lord Krishna's Inconceivable Glory
6) Esoteric Glory of Rama-Krishna