(1/6) Daily Duty

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ganga Sagar, evening class
12 January 2020, part 1

It is necessary to take guidance. Those who are staying at the temple have an advantage—they are staying near Gurudev and can follow Gurudev's guidance well. One time, Sivananda Sen asked Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, we are householder people. What is our duty?" Mahaprabhu said, "Nama sankirtan and Vaishnav seva: chanting the Holy Name and serving Vaishnavs. Make sure that not a single day passes without chanting the Holy Name and serving Vaishnavs." What is service to Vaishnav? Does it mean feeding them? No. Service to Vaishnavs means living following their words. You must make sure that not a single day passes without Vaishnav seva.

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, and serve the Vaishnavs. Sanatan, besides this, there is no other religion."

It is necessary to be kind to other jiva souls, to chant the Holy Name and serve Vaishnavs. You must bring jiva souls who are averse to Lord Krishna to this path. It is necessary to know the proper relationship. "Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna smrti-jnana—souls that are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna."

As soon as we become removed from the service to the Lord, removed from the service to our Gurudev, when we think, "I have no guardian; I cannot protect myself, and there is no one to protect me," then all kinds of enemies that are staying all around us will come to attack us—Maya Devi will pounces on us. Therefore, make sure that not a single day passes without service to Vaishnavs.

We call out to the Lord when we find ourselves in danger, but what does Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur say? "Sukhe duhkhe bhule nako vadane Harinam koro re (সুখে দুঃখে ভুলো নাক, বদনে হরিনাম কর রে ): in happiness or sadness, never forget it, always chant the Holy Name." We must call out to the Lord when we are happy and when we are unhappy. "Maya-jale baddha ha'ye achha michhe kaja la'ye (মায়াজালে বদ্ধ হ'য়ে, আছ মিছে কাজ ল'য়ে)—bound in Maya's net, you work in vain." I also tell you from time to time that you work so hard from early morning to evening, but have you ever thought that if you close your eyes, everything will stay behind and we will have to leave this world. We have not come to this world to stay here for a long time. This human birth is not for a long time. "As many days I have, I will serve you, my Lord. Prabhu, I will think about You"—we must be like this. We are not as fortunate as Pariksit Maharaj (we will not get any advance notice that we must leave this world).

[His Divine Grace notices somebody absent.] Is ** sleeping? So many people sleep while sitting... It is necessary to develop a habit. It is necessary to have sincerity—we must wake up and come to the mangal arati early in the morning; do parikrama and listen to the reading of Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata; at noon, we must come to sing the bhoga arati, we must help the cooks in the kitchen; later, in the afternoon, offer bhoga again and in the evening, come to do arati, listen to Bhagavatam, chant kirtans. As much as kirtan means singing with the kartals and drums, hearing and speaking about the Lord is also kirtan. Wherever there are discussions about the Lord taking place according to the precepts of the scriptures, that is also Hari-kirtan. People think that kirtan is only playing and dancing to the harmonium, dotara, setara and so on. This is music perfomance and bodily perfomance, but this is not the real Holy Name.

অসাধুসঙ্গে ভাই কৃষ্ণনাম নাহি হয় ।

নামাক্ষর বাহিরায় বটে তবু নাম কভু নয় ॥

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya
namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

"Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

The Holy Name can never be chanted or found in unholy association.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Daily Duty
2) Unfaltering Determination
3) Live Within Service
4) Clouded Intelligence
5) Play of Maya
6) Answers to Many Questions