(3/5) Kirtan Is Not Show

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vrindavan, evening class,
6 November 2019, part 3
Translated from Bengali

When you do parikrama or come to a class, it is not necessary to chant on your beads at that time. When you practise one of the devotional practices, all the other practices are automatically accomplished. For example, when you are cooking and stirring a pot, you are not chanting on your beads at that time – you should chant with your mouths at that time.

'We must associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship Deities with faith. If we chant the Holy Name without offences, we will get the wealth of divine love for Krishna.' We must chant the Holy Name without offences. Actually, our situation is such that the more we chant, the more offences we make, but our gurudev has told us to chant the Holy Name, so we do it, and as we chant and chant, our offences will gradually go away. We should chant kirtan more and more. You can see me during the parikramas – I always chant. Even when I am alone, I chant to myself. I always go on chanting kirtan, and I want to continue doing it for as long as I can. As long as I have life in this body, I want to live chanting kirtan and speaking Hari-katha, preaching.

বৈষ্ণবে আদর কর প্রসাদাদি দিয়া ।
অর্থ নাই দৈন্যবাক্যে তোষ মিনতি করিয়া ॥

vaisnave adara kara prasadadi diya
artha nai dainya-vakye tosa minati kariya

'Honour Vaishnavs with prasad and other remnants. If you have no wealth, then submissively satisfy them with humble words.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 9.32)

You must show affection to Vaishnavs by giving them prasad, and if you have no prasad, how will you show them affection? By talking sweetly to them – by giving them 'sweet words'.

[To a devotee] Where is your **? [He has gone to some temple.] Is he out walking around? He is a new boy, he must come and listen to the class and kirtan. He must learn. I will come again and I want to see how much he has learnt. I will see how many kirtans he can sing. I will test him.

We must practise sravan and kirtan and keep good association. Do not waste your time on material talks. Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

'Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself and give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236-237)

We must serve the Lord with our hearts. Service should not be done to impress others or as an external show. We must serve sincerely, heart and soul. We must worship the Lord and serve the Lord with heart and soul

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

'May I have the same love and attraction to Your holy feet that I now have for material things.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We love our material family (our wives, sons, daughters, friends, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and so on), but that kind of attachment, love and attraction should come towards the Lord.

One time, the pujari who worshipped Sri Sri Radha-Krishna and Mahaprabhu wanted to go to Vrindavan for parikrama. Guru Maharaj asked him, 'Who are you going to leave your children with? Who will look after Them and feed Them? Do you have anybody suitable who can do it?' Always remember such guidance. I have also written much in the Guidance books (volumes one, two and three). I have written why Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math was established, what its purpose and mission are. We have this book both in Bengali and English. The language is quite hard, but I wrote everything nicely there.

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Size: 32 Mb
Length: 67 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Concluding Parikrama
2) Service: Daily Accountability
3) Kirtan Is Not Show
4) Message to Take Away
5) Take Care of Yourselves