(2/5) Detach Yourself from Maya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Sirajpur,
30 November 2020, part 2
Translated from Bengali

We do not even know what is good for us. We only know what is good for our bodies, that is why we are always thinking about money, houses, clothes, food. You can see this mud house here. Those who stay in three-storey houses in the village eat, sleep and live just like people who live in this mud house, but unlike rich people, those who live in this house live very happily. Why? Because they serve the Lord and chant the Holy Name of the Lord. Mahaprabhu gave a very nice allowance for those who live as householders. There is no difference between householders and renunciates as long you practise Krishna consciousness. Even when you live in a house, you must practise Krishna consciousness – do not live serving Maya.

We are born, so we must serve Krishna, the Supreme Lord. But we forget that the jiva soul is an eternal servant of Lord Krishna. Why? Because we are condition souls living in material, illusory bondage. 'My house', 'my son', 'my wife', 'my relative' – how long will all this exist? Many people feel shy to wear tilaks. Women say, 'I wear sindur, I am OK with that.' How long will your sindur stay? Can you say it? Will it be there forever? You wear it today, and after a few days, you will have to wipe it off. Depending on your fortune, your husband can die, and your sindur will be done away with. He puts sindur on your forehead with his hand but then he wipes it off with his feet when the time comes and his body is discarded. [Possibly, there is an old tradition when the wife wipes sindur off her head with her deceased husband's feet – ed.] So, how long will your sindur will be there? But when you wear Tulasi neckbeads and tilaks, they stay with you during your entire life.

When you have a baby at home, is the baby born wearing neckbeads and clothes? But when Gopal was born, He was born from his mother's womb just as you all know Him. When Krishna was born in Kamsa's prison, He was wearing clothes, neckbeads, brahman thread, tilaks, a peacock feather and all the other paraphernalia. Vasudev took Him as He was and brought Him to Nanda Maharaj's house in Gokula. Mahaprabhu was also born like that. He is the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord and a human being is not the same thing. Some people claim, 'I am Bhagavan!' Mayavadis like to do this ('We are God', 'We are Brahman', 'We know everything').

In this way, we have travelled through 8,400,000 species and if, by the mercy of the sadhus and Vaishnavs, some intelligence enters our heads, then we will lament, 'O Lord! I am so fallen, so low! I have been fighting and making so much noise over wealth and property, but how long will all these things be there? They will be there as long as I exist, but I will have to die and leave everything one day!'

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

'Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Continue your life trying your best to take shelter of the Name.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

This life is not eternal, it will pass, and it is full of dangers – so many problems will come. But even amidst all the problems, try your best to take shelter of the Holy Name and carry on your life.

— : • : —

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Length: 31 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Traversing Unconscious Lives
2) Detach Yourself from Maya
3) Escape Parasitic Existence
4) Path of Aural Reception
5) Searching for Maya or the Lord?