(4/5) Helpless and Blind

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Narottam Das Thakur's Disappearance
18 October 2019, Nrisingha Palli, part 4

There is one saranagati question: who is our protector?

Devotee: Gurudev?

Gurudev is the protector? You think and say that gurudev is your protector, that gurudev protects you, that the Lord protects you, but do you really have faith in that? You should ask yourself this question. Do you have that kind of faith?

When you think that you have no protector, when you feel no faith that there is anybody to protect you, at that time so many enemies will come and attack you. If you always keep the strongest faith, 'Gurudev and the Lord are my protectors,' then no one can demolish you, no one can do anything to you. Srila Prabhupad says, 'The moment we lose our guardian, the enemies surrounding us will attack us. Our protector is Hari-katha from the mouths of real devotees.' We ourselves are our enemies, and we ourselves are our friends.

There are so many enemies within us:

কাম-ক্রোধ আদি ছয় বাটপাড়ে দেয় ভয়
অবসান হৈল আসি বেলা

kama-krodha-adi chhaya, batapare deya bhaya,
avasana haila asi’ bela

‘I am harassed by the six highway robbers (lust, anger, etc.). And now my time has come to an end.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Srila Narottam Das Thakur writes, too:

ঠাকুর বৈষ্ণবগণ ! করি এই নিবেদন,
মো বড় অধম দুরাচার ।
দারুণ-সংসার-নিধি, তাহে ডুবাইল বিধি,
কেশে ধরি’ মোরে কর পার ॥১॥

thakura vaisnava-gana! kari ei nivedana,
mo bada adhama durachara
daruna-samsara-nidhi, tahe dubaila vidhi,
kese dhari’ more kara para

‘O worshippable Vaishnavs! I am submitting this prayer to you. I am very lowly and wretched. Providence has dunked me into this vast ocean of material existence – please grab me by the hair and pull me out to the shore!’

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

বিধি বড় বলবান্, না শুনে ধরম জ্ঞান,
সদাই করম-পাশে বান্ধে ।
না দেখি তারণ লেশ, যত দেখি সব ক্লেশ,
অনাথ কাতরে তেঁই কান্দে ॥২॥

vidhi bada balavan, na sune dharama jnana,
sadai karama-pase bandhe
na dekhi tarana lesa, yata dekhi saba klesa,
anatha katare tei kande [2]

'Providence is very strong – I refuse to listen to what is right and what is wrong, always struggling in the noose of material life. Not seeing any means of deliverance anywhere – wherever I look, there is only misery – this orphan is crying in distress.'

কাম, ক্রাধ, লোভ, মোহ, মদ, অভিমান সহ,
আপন আপন স্থানে টানে ।
ঐছন আমার মন, ফিরে যেন অন্ধজন,
সুপথ বিপথ নাহি জানে ॥৩॥

kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, abhimana saha,
apana apana sthane tane
aichhana amara mana, phire yena andha-jana,
supatha vipatha nahi jane [3]

'Lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and ego tear me apart, pulling me each in a different direction; so, my mind wanders like a blind man who cannot tell the right way from the wrong way.'

The mind is blind, it does not know anything. A blind man cannot walk in the street alone and cannot cross the street alone – somebody always has to come and help him. In the same way, my mind is also blind like that. My mind does not know what is good and what is bad – somebody has to come to help me to control my mind. It is necessary to have good association, to have somebody who can change my mind, who can control my mind. That kind of helper is necessary. Do you understand it?

We have been saying these things for so long, but we still cannot understand it. Why is it so that proper things cannot enter our ears? Because our hearts, our minds, everything are covered with the illusory environment, covered with material attachment and material enjoyment. Kanak (money), kamini (women), pratistha (fame). That is why Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's advice and Srila Raghunath Das Goswami's advice does not enter my ears. Sometimes it may enter my ears, but it goes in one ear and out the other...

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Length: 35 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Remembering Srila Narottam Das Thakur
2) Intertwined Glory of Guru and Disciple
3) Aural Darshan
4) Helpless and Blind
5) Drops of Nectar