(4) Come Back Home

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bokaro, 3 December 2019, evening, part 4
Translated from Bengali

How much can you enjoy? Do you think there is a limit to enjoyment? Do you think you can enjoy and feel completely satisfied? You cannot. Enjoyment has no limit. You will always want more, more and more. Whether somebody gives you a good house, whether you live in a nice building or in a mud house – no matter where you live, you will still sleep the same and stay alive. Stray dogs have no home, but they sleep on the street. Street cats have no home, but they find some veranda and sleep there. Snakes or frogs have no homes, but they sleep anyhow on the street. So, no matter what our situation is, our lives continue. But the main thing is that if we get a human birth but do not practise spiritual life (do not serve and worship God), then our lives are simply wasted.

I pray to you all: please practise Krishna consciousness. Come and join us. All newcomers, all new devotees who have just joined, must come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama every year. I tell all the time that you can bring fifty, a hundred or two hundred people with you to Nabadwip, what is the problem? Come and do parikrama for four days. Come and circumambulate Sri Nabadwip Dham and you will get sukriti, you can get relief from circumambulating this material world (samsara-parikrama). Take a holiday for four days. You think, 'Oh, how can I leave home and go away? I do so many chores...' But if you get very sick and go to hospital, you can stay there for one or two months getting saline drips. Who does all your chores and work instead of you at that time? Somebody else will do it. Do you think that if you are not there, then everything will collapse? And what happens when you die? Everything will go on as previously. So, take four days off and come to do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. You do not need to even spend much money to get to Nabadwip from here. Nityananda Prabhu's festival is also coming soon. Come to Ekachakra as well. I am inviting everybody.

We must always think how to utilise this human birth properly. If we can take shelter at the holy feet of a bona fide guru and practise Krishna consciousness, then our lives will be successful. It is necessary to take shelter of a bona fide guru.

You can practise Krishna consciousness even living at your home. ‘Grhe thaka, vane thaka, sada “Hari” bale’ daka (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক, সদা হরি বলে’ ডাক). Whether you live in a house or in a forest, always call out to the Lord (always chant the Lord’s Name).’ You can serve the Lord even while living at your house. The only thing is that you must turn your household into Krishna's household. We are not masters. You think, 'Oh, if I become a sadhu, who will take care of my wife and children?' You think that you are their guardian, that you take care of them and maintain them, but none of you are guardians. The only guardian is Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. You must realise this. Our problem is that we forgot this guardian.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli’ sei jiva—anadi bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

‘Forgetting Krishna, the soul turned towards the external illusory world in primeval times. As the result, illusion (Maya) gives such a soul various material miseries.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.117)

We forgot who our guardian is. So, to make us remember Him, sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs come to your doors. I have heard that there are programmes of Hari-katha held every week here. Come every week and listen to Hari-katha carefully. Observe ekadasi, chant the Holy Name, follow all the rules and regulations. What is the problem? Why cannot you do it? What is there to be afraid of? I know that the only problem is food. You cannot give up certain food... But you must not worry. Call out to the Lord. You are alive because of Him, you are here in this world because of Him, you have got everything because of Him, but you are not worshipping Him. You must serve the Lord.

All right, let us chant some kirtan now, after that I will speak again. You must chant with me. I have not come here to chant kirtans myself – I have come to make you all chant. We also have books, including in Hindi. Take these books and read them. Chant kirtans. It is not necessary to be able to sing well because the Lord knows who is calling Him. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This it the Lord's Name, and in this Age of Kali you can come to the Lord through this Holy Name.

One time at the beginning of Kali-yuga, sixty thousand rishis had done a great fire sacrifice for one thousand years in a forest called Naimisaranya. Despite their efforts, they could not find peace, so they were sitting and meditating on what they can do. What was their final decision? If you chant the Holy Name of the Lord, then you can find peace. The Lord has provided a solution. Therefore, we pray to you all that you chant the Holy Name. In this Age of Kali, you can come to the Lord by chanting His Name. You think that this is your home here, so you do not want to leave it, but how long do you think you are going to be at this home here? You must come back to your real home. Back to God, back to home. Come to your home, come back to the Lord. Repeat after me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Let us chant guru-vandana now. At the end, we will do Tulasi parikrama.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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