(2) Embrace Higher Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bokaro, 3 December 2019, evening, part 2
Translated from Bengali

তব নিজ-জন, কোন মহাজনে,
পাঠাইয়া দিলে তুমি ॥

tava nija-jana, kona mahajane,
pathaiya dile tumi

‘I have fallen into this vile material world, but You have sent a great soul, Your associate, to me.’

দয়া করি মোরে, পতিত দেখিয়া,
কহিল আমারে গিয়া ।
ওহে দীন জন, শুন ভাল কথা,
উল্লসিত হ’বে হিয়া ॥

daya kari more, patita dekhiya,
kahila amare giya
ohe dina jana, suna bhala katha,
ullasita ha’be hiya

‘Seeing me so fallen, he took pity on me and came to me, saying: “Poor soul, listen to this good news, it will make your heart rejoice.”’

তোমারে তারিতে, শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য,
নবদ্বীপে অবতার ।
তোমা হেন কত, দীন হীন জনে,
করিলেন ভব-পার ॥

tomare tarite, sri-krsna-chaitanya,
navadvipe avatara
toma hena kata, dina hina jane,
karilena bhava-para

‘“Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you! He has already taken many poor souls like you to the shore of the ocean of material existence.”’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Lord Sri Krishna is the Supreme Lord, but we have forgotten Him. There are great scientists in this world, even here in your town there are two big doctors who studied at universities and got a degree in medicine. They can cure many diseases, they can do many things, but we have a question to them. All those great scientists have created an atom bomb, have made many great inventions (aeroplanes, and so on), but can they create one simple blade of grass? Can they create a single grain of rice? You all eat rice and rotis made of wheat – can those great scientists, doctors and engineers create a single grain of rice or a single grain of wheat? They cannot. But there is He who can do it and who does everything – this is God. We forget Him. We owe our very existence in this world to Him – it is owing to Him that we can move our hands, legs, we can speak and run around now. We can live and do everything now, but who is behind it all? The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.

Because we forget God, we end up suffering from the blazing agony of the threefold miseries. It is to remind us about God that sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs roam house to house and have come to your door.

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

‘It is the innate nature of great souls to deliver vile fallen souls. Great souls never come to their homes for any personal purpose.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.39)

Why do sadhus come to you? To take your money? To become rich? No. The devotees here have some sukriti, so they have taken so much trouble to make this nice arrangement – why did they do it? They called sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs to extend Hari-katha to you all. The main purpose in life is to practise sravan and kirtan (to listen about God and to glorify God). By the influence of pure devotees' association, all your impurities will be removed and your hearts will become pure.

Gurudev is the very core of the disciple's heart. You can find many kinds of gurus in this world, but you will not find even one proper disciple – there are very few such souls in this world. One does not become a disciple just by taking the mantra. Disciples are those who follow their guru's instruction submissively, with their heads bowed. I know that some of you are scared to take initiation because you have to give up some food (you will not be able to eat fish, meat, onion and garlic). But you are all intelligent people, give up such food – it only harms you anyway. Moreover, eating such things is a sin. For example, tigers or lions will not understand it, they need to eat meat and they cannot give it up, but man is intelligent: if human beings want, they can give up eating fish, meat, onion, garlic. So, try. Try and you will see that you will only gain by that in all respects.

I have told you earlier today that you are struggling and working so hard every day, facing all kinds of difficulties, but one day you will have to leave everything and go away. Do you ever think about your future? You are born as humans now, but this human birth will not come again and again in the future. If you walk down the street, you can see cows, goats, sheep, cats, dogs, snakes, frogs – we are born as humans having crossed all those births before (we, too, were born in all those species before). But if you get this human birth and continue living as dogs, cows, goats, cats, tigers, lions, eating anything and everything, then what is the use? Those who become devotees do not starve – they also take prasad. They take vegetarian food, they fast on ekadasis, they chant the Holy Name – do you see it harm them in any way? You can see this for yourselves. What harm is there?

Then why do you not think about your future? We live at the expense of the Lord and at every moment incur more and more debt because we use His air, light and all the other facilities. The Lord has provided everything for us, and we use it, but we must give something to the Lord, too. What should we give? Money? Wealth? The Lord does not want all this. What does He want? He said, 'Serve Me with a simple drop of Ganges water and a leaf of Tulasi.' You can plant a Tulasi tree and serve the Lord with a Tulasi leaf and a drop of Ganges water. What does the Lord say in Srimad Bhagavad-gita? 'When a devotee serves Me a Tulasi leaf with a drop of Ganges water, I become so indebted to them that can never repay them. I can only clear My debt by giving them Myself.'

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