(2/5) 'Wake Up!'

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Midnapore, 8 December 2020, evening, part 2
Translated from Bengali

'Vardhakye ekhana upaya-vihina ta'te dina akinchana (বার্দ্ধক্যে এখন উপায় বিহীন তা'তে দীন অকিঞ্চন): now aged, devoid of any means of deliverance, I am poor and worthless' (Saranagati). Many people say that they will chant the Holy Name when they get old, but when they are young, they want to wander here and there, wasting time. We sing in one of the kirtans:

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 are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Our days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. Maya keeps attacking us. She is created by the Lord:

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

'My supramundane trimodal illusory potency (alluring those who are averse to Me) is extremely difficult to overcome. However, this insurmountable potency of Mine can be overcome by those who exclusively surrender to Me.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

The Lord says, 'I am the Supreme Master of Maya. I have created Maya.' If you put a piece of iron into fire, it will become red, and if you touch something with that piece of iron, the iron will burn it. That piece of iron had no such power before, so where does it get it? From fire. In the same way, Maya gets her power from the Lord, and she can affect others with it. Her job is to remove us from the service of the Lord and turn us into her servants and maidservants. We always live as servants of Maya. Becoming her maidservants, we become removed from the service of the Lord. Sadhus and gurus come to us and tell (you have heard in one of the kirtans):

মায়াজালে বদ্ধ হ'য়ে,
আছ মিছে কাজ ল'য়ে ।
এখনও চেতন পেয়ে,
রাধামাধব-নাম বল রে ॥

maya-jale baddha ha'ye achha michhe kaja la'ye
ekhana-o chetana peye radha-madhava-nama bala re

'Bound in Maya's net, you work in vain. Now, while you are still conscious, chant the Holy Names of Radha-Madhava.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We become tangled in Maya's net and end up spending our days on useless things. You have got some consciousness now, so chant the Names of Radha and Madhav! Always chant the Holy Name.

Listen. Sadhus keep telling:

জীবন হইল শেষ, না ভজিলে হৃষীকেশ ।
ভক্তিবিনোদ-উপদেশ, একবার নামরসে মাত রে

jivana ha-ila sesa na bhajile hrsikesa
bhaktivinod-upadesa ek-bar nam-rase mata re

'Your life is finished, but you have not served Lord Hrishikesh (the Lord of the senses). Bhaktivinod instructs: Become mad with the Name's nectar just once.'

(Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

How many days, how long I have been telling you this, but you are overcome with the greed of your tongue and only want to eat anything and everything, that is why you cannot come to this line. But as you sow, so you reap. What answer will you give later? When you leave this body, this body will stay here, but you have not searched out your own home – you think that this here is your home. You must find your own address. Find the place where you have come from. Back to God, back to home. We come from the Lord, and we must come back to the Lord. We have all lost our home, we have lost our Father. 'Krsna mata, krsna pita, krsna prana dhana (কৃষ্ণ মাতা, কৃষ্ণ পিতা, কৃষ্ণ প্রাণ ধন). Krishna is my mother, Krishna is my father, Krishna is my very life and wealth.' We have forgotten Him and have fallen into illusory bondage, but sadhus and gurus come to us and remind us about Him. 'Krishna bolo, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai (কৃষ্ণ বল, সঙ্গে চল, এই মাত্র ভিক্ষা চাই): I am begging you for one thing only: come with us and chant the Holy Name of Krishna!' Money, wealth, cars, houses – nothing will go with us. We will have to leave just as we came: we came with nothing, and we will have to leave with nothing. The saddest thing is that we have got this human birth, but we are not practising Krishna consciousness (we do not serve and worship the Lord).

ভজিব বলিয়া এসে সংসার-ভিতরে ।
ভুলিয়া রহিলে তুমি অবিদ্যার ভরে ॥

bhajibo boliya ese samsara-bhitare
bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare

'You came into this world saying, "O Lord, I will serve You," but, having forgotten this promise, you have remained in ignorance.'

(Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You promised that you would serve the Lord, but what did you do instead? You did not do it! Then, as you sow, so you reap. You have got this fleeting lifetime, this fleeting human birth, so please worship the Lord genuinely, think about the Lord. You always think about yourself, then how will your problems get resolved? You worry about yourself, you do not surrender to the Lord. The Lord Himself says in Gita, 'I do not know or recognise anyone except My devotees, and My devotees also cannot see or know anyone except Me.'

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

'Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

'Leave all religions and only surrender to Me.' There is a religion of householders, religion of friends and many other kinds of religion. People do so many things in this world. Our own, our natural religion is service to the Lord, service to Vaishnavs. This is jaiva-dharma (religion of the soul). This is the main thing, do not forget it. You have time now – if you do not practise Krishna consciousness, you will not get anything, you will simply waste your life and chance!

We keep falling into material bondage. To get out of it, we must come to sadhus.

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

'You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

Surrender fully, make honest enquiry, and you must have service mood.

We must always remember these things. Because we always forget this, we keep falling prey to Maya and keep suffering...

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Length: 42 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Road to Home Is Paved with Hari-Kirtan
2) 'Wake Up!'
3) Appeal of Spiritual World
4) Search for Reality the Beautiful
5) Faith Is Not Idleness