(6/13) Higher Purpose in Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bandipur, 15 November 2019, evening, part 6
Translated from Bengali

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes in one of his kirtans:

ধন জন আর, কবিতা সুন্দরী,
বলিব না চাহি দেহ-সুখকরী ।
জন্মে জন্মে দাও, ওহে গৌরহরি,
অহৈতুকী ভক্তি চরণে তোমার ॥

dhana jana ara, kavita sundari,
baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari
janme janme dao, ohe gaura-hari,
ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

'When will I say that I do not want any wealth, friends, family, poetic gift or any other sources of bodily happiness? O Gaura-hari! Please let me have unconditional devotion to Your holy feet birth after birth!'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'O Gaura-hari! Please give me causeless, unconditional devotion to You. May I be devoted to You birth after birth.'

How does such devotion come? ‘Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (ভক্তিস্তু ভগবদ্ভক্তসঙ্গেন পরিজায়তে) – you can get devotion through the association of devotees’ (Brihan-naradiya Purana). If we associate with devotees, we will have devotion. Remember this. It is necessary to associate with devotees.

‘সাধুসঙ্গ’, ‘সাধুসঙ্গ’—সর্ব্বশাস্ত্রে কয় ।
লবমাত্র সাধুসঙ্গে সর্ব্বসিদ্ধি হয় ॥

‘sadhu-sanga’ ‘sadhu-sanga’—sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

‘All scriptures keep saying: ‘Good association’, ‘Good association.’ You can attain all perfection even just by a drop of good, saintly association.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54)

When you associate with devotees, you can automatically practise sravan and kirtan.

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

‘Associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship holy Deities with faith.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.124)

What is the purpose of a human birth? You are born as humans, but if you only eat, sleep, enjoy and do everything else like dogs, cats, goats, sheep and cows, then you will end up in all those animal lives. You have heard the story of Bharat Maharaj. He was a great king, but he worried about a deer, and in his next life he became a deer. So, if you keep thinking about material things, you will keep living amidst material things, and if you always think about the Lord, you will go to the Lord's abode. If you think about Lord Siva, you will go to Lord Siva's abode. If you serve humans, you will be born as a human. If you serve Lord Brahma, you will come to Lord Brahma's abode. But if you think about the Supreme Lord – if you stop worrying about eating, sleeping, defending and breeding and only think about the Lord – you will come to His abode.

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

‘My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleep. It never occurs to me that death is there, waiting right next to me.’

(Sri Kalyan-Kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It never occurs to us that death is always near. Do you know what Srila Swami Maharaj, the founder of ISKCON, say? One time, somebody came to him and said, 'Maharaj, have you heard the news? Jawaharlal Nehru died today!' Srila Swami Maharaj replied, 'Yes, I have heard about it. Now he is born as a dog in Germany.' Great sadhus can say such things...

So, if we live without the association of devotees and sadhus, without serving the Lord, without chanting the Holy Name of Lord Krishna, then what is the use getting this life?

জীবে দয়া নামে রুচি বৈষ্ণব সেবা ।
ইহা বহি সনাতন নাহি আর ধর্ম্ম ॥

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva
iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

‘Be merciful to the souls, chant the Holy Name happily and serve Vaishnavs. Sanatan, except for this, there is no other religion.’

We must be kind to other living entities, we must develop taste for chanting the Holy Name, and we must serve Vaishnavs. This is the purpose of a human birth.

Yesterday I went briefly to Vishnupur. I came to a temple of Madan-mohan to offer my obeisances, and I bought a book there. It is said that the Deity of that temple actually fought in war – He fired a cannon (that cannon is still there, too). The Deity fought in a war! His body still has battle scars. If we get time to go there after Gaura Purnima, I will take you there. I have heard about Vishnupur's Madan-mohan, but I had never been there before, so I decided to visit the place once to have the darshan of Madan-mohan. It was not far from the place where I was, so I took a detour and stopped there briefly. Yesterday I took a shower in the evening and before taking prasad, I was reading the book describing the history of the temple. In Vishnupur, there was a king called Raja Birhambir who took initiation from Srila Srinivas Acharya. When Bargis attacked the temple, Madan-mohan personally fought them. So, a Deity can give witness, a Deity can talk, a Deity can even fight in a battle. What will the Lord not do for His devotees! You must always remember this.

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Length: 76 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Appreciate Your Fortune
2) Fossil Hearts
3) God Is Great
4) Getting in Touch With God
5) God's Message
6) Higher Purpose in Life
7) Service Is Not Abstract
8) Choose the Right Path
9) Purity Comes From Practice
10) Embrace Eternal Life
11) Search for the Eternal
12) Service Comes from Heart
13) Educate Yourself