(7/8) Great Things Come from Great Mercy

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Radhastami, evening, Siliguri
6 September 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Let me tell you something about varnasrama-dharma. People give much importance to it, but it is said in the scriptures:

চারি বর্ণাশ্রমী যদি কৃষ্ণ নাহি ভজে ।
স্বকর্ম্ম করিলেও সে রৌরবে পড়ি মজে ॥

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje
svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

'Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager or worker) or ashram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life or monk) you belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.26)

Performing his pastimes, Sri Gurupadpadma comes to this material world from the transcendental world to give surrendered souls the joy of association with the worshippable Lord. This guru current has been coming since time immemorial. Just as creation is going on eternally, so do the pastimes of the Lord's and His devotees' appearance are taking place eternally. The Lord performs His appearance pastimes in the form of a guru within the material world to bestow His pure mercy upon the jiva souls. As a result of the mercy and association of Sri Gurupadpadma, tatastha-sakti (marginal potency) is transformed into a spiritual soul, i.e. a jiva soul has no other way except for service to the Lord if it wants to get eternal benefit or real happiness.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥
মালী হঞা করে সেই বীজ আরোপণ ।
শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

'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. As gardeners, they plant this seed and water it with sravan (hearing) and kirtan (chanting, practising).'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151–152)

মহৎ-কৃপা বিনা কোন কর্ম্ম ‘ভক্তি’ নয় ।
কৃষ্ণভক্তি দূরে রহু, সংসার নহে ক্ষয় ॥

mahat krpa bina kona karme bhakti naya
krsna-bhakti rahu dure samsara nahe ksaya

'Without great mercy, you cannot attain devotion through any activities. What to speak of devotion for Krishna, it is not possible to even be relieved from the bondage of material existence.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.51)

It is necessary to get much mercy. We sing in one of the kirtans: 'Yogyata vichare kichhu nahi pai—tomara koruna-sara (যোগ্যতা বিচারে কিছু নাহি পাই তোমার করুণা সার)! I find no quality or qualification within me – your mercy is everything.' 'Considering my own qualification, I am nowhere – your mercy is everything; if you do not give your mercy to me, I will not get anything, I will not have anything. What to speak of devotion, I will not even be able to free myself from my material desires!' Where does that leave us then?...

I was told that somebody wanted to take initiation. Come tomorrow by nine o'clock. Come with us to Vrindavan – let me know who of you wants to come, I will make a list of names tomorrow. Otherwise, if you tell me that you want to come at the last moment, all the tickets will have been booked. From experience, I book two hundred tickets, and all tickets get distributed. There is not much time also. We are leaving on 25 October, and today is 6 September already – only one and a half months is left. So, if any of you have decided to come, let me know as soon as possible.

We do Vrindavan parikrama every year during the Kartik month, and we also go to Puri during the Ratha-yatra festival time. This time when we go to Vrindavan, we will also be visiting Kuruksetra, Jaipur and Karauli. There is Govinda and Gopinath in Jaipur and Madan-mohan in Karauli. There is Brahma Kunda in Kuruksetra – there, Krishna spoke Srimad Bhagava-gita to Arjuna. We will visit and take darshan of these places. If you are coming, come and tell me tomorrow, I will write your names down. We will be leaving from Howrah, Kolkata, taking an evening train on 25 October. Get yourselves ready and come with us, do not worry about anything.

I have been speaking for a long time now. Do you have any questions? What kind of questions should we be asking?

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)

Enquiry must be honest, sincere. It means that we must not be asking about anything except devotion. If you have any questions about how you can attain devotion, you can ask.

Does nobody have any questions? You have been listening past few days, but you have no questions – how will I understand whether you have understood or not what I have been telling you? If you do not understand something, you can ask...

So, no questions? All right. Study the books. When you were small, you went to school and college to study. Now you are old, and you are being told to study again – you are probably not too happy to hear it. 'Oh, Maharaj is telling me to study again at this old age!' Because 'vrddha-kala aola, saba sukha bhagala, pida-vase hainu katara (বৃদ্ধকাল আওল, সব সুখ ভাগল, পীড়াবশে হইনু কাতর). Now old age has come and all happiness has fled – distressed by diseases, I have become miserable' (Saranagati). In your old age, you cannot see well and have to wear glasses; you cannot hear well; your teeth have fallen out. All senses slowly become invalid...

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Size: 34 Mb
Length: 70 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Auspicious Life – Auspicious Deeds
2) Mercy Is the Master Key
3) Soul's Estrangement
4) Guru's Potent Proximity
5) Guru Is All-In-All
6) 'Jay Gurudev!'
7) Great Things Come from Great Mercy
8) Where Will You Run?