(5) Take Care of Yourselves

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vrindavan, evening class,
6 November 2019, part 5
Translated from Bengali

One time, Mahaprabhu read a verse composed by Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu. He was surprised, 'Oh! Who has written this verse?' Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu was shy to say that it was him because Mahaprabhu was his guru, and he could not say it in front of Him. So, he hid himself. But Srila Haridas Thakur knew who composed it and he told Mahaprabhu about it. As Mahaprabhu read and read that verse, He became overwhelmed with divine feelings.

The verse was this:

তুণ্ডে তাণ্ডবিনী রতিং বিতনুতে তুণ্ডাবলীলব্ধয়ে
কর্ণক্রোড়কড়ম্বিনী ঘটয়তে কর্ণার্ব্বুদেভ্যঃ স্পৃহাম্ ।
চেতঃপ্রাঙ্গণসঙ্গিনী বিজয়তে সর্ব্বেন্দ্রিয়াণাং কৃতিং
নো জানে জনিতা কিয়দ্ভিরমৃতৈঃ কৃষ্ণেতি বর্ণদ্বয়ী ॥

tunde tandavani ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye
karna-kroda-kadambini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham
chetah prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim
no jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi

'When the holy name of Krishna descends and captures the tongue and lips, it controls them so strongly that it engages them in chanting the holy name as if the lips and tongue have gone mad. In this way, the power of the name descends in them, and one feels that only one tongue and one mouth are not enough; thousands of mouths are necessary to taste the name. Then the holy name of Krishna enters the ear with such a great force and current that the ears are captured, and one thinks that only two ears are insufficient; he wants millions of ears to attend to the sweet current entering the ears. Two ears are nothing to him; he wants millions of ears. The nectar of the holy name is coming like a flood through his ears, pushing its way within the heart. It is so sweet that as it goes to capture the heart, the center of all senses, everything is paralyzed. Wherever that sweet aggressor touches, the whole thing is captured with such intensity that everything else is ignored. Rupa Goswami writes, "I don't know, I can't say, I fail to express how much nectar there is in the holy name of Krishna. These two syllables contain so much sweetness, and such a high quality of sweetness. And this sweetness is so aggressive that it captures everything."'

(Vidagdha-Madhava, 1.15; quoted from The Search for Sri Krishna)

There is also another similar verse:

মধুরং মধুরং বপুরস্য বিভোর্মধুরং মধুরং বদনং মধুরম্ ।
মধুগন্ধি মৃদুস্মিতমেতদহো মধুরং মধুরং মধুরং মধুরম্ ॥

madhuram madhuram vapur asya vibhor
madhuram madhuram vadanam madhuram
madhu-gandhi mrdu-smitam etad aho
madhuram madhuram madhuram madhuram

'Krishna's body is nectarean, nectarean. His face is nectarean, nectarean, nectarean. His sweet smile emanating the fragrance of honey, is nectarean, nectarean, nectarean, nectarean.'

(Sri Krishna-karnamrita, 92)

'The Holy Name of Krishna is so sweet! It is the sweetest of the sweet! I am chanting this Holy Name with one mouth, but one mouth is not enough! I want to have millions of mouths! I can hear the Holy Name with my two ears, but these two ears are not enough! I want to have more ears!'

Reading this, Mahaprabhu asked, 'Rupa, how can you know My heart so well?' Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu replied, 'I have received Your mercy.' Mahaprabhu never said that He had given mercy to anybody, but when it came to Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu, He admitted, 'Yes, I have given him mercy.' He could not deny it. Then, He added, addressing all the devotees present at the time, 'But this is not sufficient! You must all give mercy to him!'

This is what happened.

Please practise Krishna consciousness. Praying for the mercy of sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs, practise sravan and kirtan (always listen about the Lord and chant the Lord's Name and glories). Chant bhajans, kirtans, the Holy Name. Serve sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs. If you can live in this way, you can get the supreme benefit.

Soon is Gaura Purnima coming. Come for the parikrama. Wherever I am staying at that time, come and join us. You do not have to travel so far – you can reach Nabadwip by taxi, bus or train. It does not cost as much as coming to Vrindavan, where we have to rent buses, buy train tickets, and so on. Please remember that our train is tomorrow. We are leaving after taking prasad in the morning. There will also be prasad on the train in the afternoon and in the evening. The day after tomorrow is ekadasi...

Let us chant some kirtan now. I have spoken a lot today. Please take care of yourselves. Always chant kirtan, learn them by heart when you go back to your homes. And come again, come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama.

Question: When are you going to Ganga Sagar?

We come there for the anniversary festival, some time after the mela. We do not go there during the Ganga-Sagar mela time because there are too many people there at that time, and you are all old people, it is hard for you all to manage amidst such crowds. We used to go there during the mela time and leave quickly, but it is not necessary to do it anymore.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Sri Guru-charana-padma', 'Sri Krsna Chaitanya Prabhu daya', 'Ohe Vaisnava Thakura', 'Nitai-pada-kamala', 'Emana durmati', 'Radhe jaya jaya Madhava', Sri Damodarastakam, 'Jaya Radhe Jaya Krsna'.]

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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