(4/18) Stop Threshing the Husk

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa-Puja Adhivas, Tarakeswar,
Evening, 28 September 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

We must practise sravan and kirtan in strict, chaste adherence to the guru, then some understanding will come to us that 'Gurudev is happy with me.' To attain his pleasure, his favour is the central point of the devotional line. We must be careful not to annoy our guru without offences or sins. If you want to get the grace of your guru, you must surpass the urges of lust, anger, etc. If you can practise spiritual life free from any unwanted habits, then you can realise the glories of the Lord. Just as the doctor knows what disease you have and what medicine you should be prescribed, the guru similarly knows how you can progress in your spiritual life and what can bring benefit to you. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to your guru and enquire from him.

You can practise austerities, worship gods, serve the holy feet of the Lord, try to please Him, try to love Him, try to win His favour, but you will not get any result without the mercy of the guru. You can live in severe austerity – 'I do not wear any clothes!', 'I do not live in a house!', 'I live under a tree!', 'I do chaturmasya!', 'I do the niyom-seva month!', 'I fast every day and subsist only on air', 'I do not engage in sex' – you cannot get the Lord through all this. Fire sacrifices, material activities, knowledge, worship of gods and goddesses, travelling to various countries, going on pilgrimage, serving the sick, helping the poor, and so on – all these things have nothing to do with the worship and service to the Lord.

Do not run to leave your material life and take up the mendicant stuff of a strict renunciate. You cannot come to the Lord by becoming a renounced monk (sannyasi) because you cannot learn to love God or gain entrance to His service by taking up a mendicant's stuff or by practising renunciation and austerities, the same as you cannot attain all this by becoming a householder. If you live enjoying with your wife, sons and daughters, spending your life feeding them and making sure they have a house to stay in, you cannot come to the Lord like that. You cannot come to the Lord by following all rules and regulations prescribed for householder life or by fulfilling all religious duties. 'I read Srimad Bhagavad-gita every day', 'I read Srimad Bhagavatam every single day', 'I study history', 'I come to take the darshan of the Deities', 'I study science' – even all this cannot take you to the Lord. Even if you worship gods – Indra, Chandra, Surya, Varun, Agni, Chandni, and so on – it cannot take you to the Lord.

How then can you come to the Lord? You cannot come to the Lord until and unless you bathe in the mercy dust from great souls' holy feet. Until and unless you get their mercy (until and unless you bathe in the dust from the holy feet of Sri Guru, who is a great soul and the dearest associate of Sri Gaura), it is impossible to attain the Lord.

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)

Surrender, honest enquiry, service, submissive adherence, obedience, listening to and carrying out all instructions – this is how one must live moulding their life according to the guidance of a great soul.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 40 Mb
Length: 83 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Disciple's Dependence
2) How Does Devotion Come?
3) Indispensability of Guru's Mercy
4) Stop Threshing the Husk
5) Disciples' Hypocrisy
6) Strong Desires, Wrong Desires
7) Identifying Yourself with Kirtan
8) Patience Is a Virtue
9) Internal Hypocrisy
10) Unhappy Mind
11) Kirtan Is Not a Show
12) Cook to Perfection
13) Install Gurudev in Your Heart
14) Submission without Resistance
15) Service Is Not a Rite
16) Vaishnavs' Ornaments vs Demons' Ornaments
17) Vaikuntha Vani
18) Absolute Self-Submission