(3/15) Coming Out of Maya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, preaching programme,
16 January 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

The Lord comes personally to grant His Name to everyone (nija Nama kari’ dana) – He goes door to door and says:

জীব জাগ জীব জাগ গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jaga jiva jaga gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

‘Sri Gorachand says, “Wake up, souls! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?”’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

‘Jiva souls! Do not sleep! Wake up! You are sleeping in illusory bondage!’ It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that Maya is created by the Lord Himself:

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 poor souls who fall into material bondage think, ‘This is my house’, ‘This is my son’, ‘This is my wife’, ‘This is my family.’ Why do they fall into this bondage? Why do they live in this way? Because of Maya. Srila Prabhupad also gave an example: if you place a piece of iron into fire, it will become red, and if you touch somebody with that hot iron, it will burn the person’s body. Where does iron get this power? From fire. In the same way, getting her power from Krishna, Maya Devi removes us and keeps us far away from the Lord’s service. As the result, we forget the Lord. ‘Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna-smrti-jnana (কৃষ্ণবহির্ম্মুখ জীবের নাহি কৃষ্ণস্মৃতি-জ্ঞান). The souls who are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna’ (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.123).

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

krsna bhuli’ sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-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)

Why do we suffer when we come to this world? Somebody struggles because they do not have money, but those who have millions suffer even more. There are three kinds of miseries: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik (আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক) – miseries caused by other souls, by the nature or gods and by our own bodies and minds. Why do we suffer from all this? Because, as the verse above says, we forget the Lord, and as the result, we have to suffer the agony of these threefold miseries. What must you do to get relief from this situation? The answer is also there in the scriptures. Search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful. Search for the Lord! There is a small book called In Search of the Original Source that was recently translated into Bengali. Where is the source of the world and where is our source? Where have we come from? We are sons of nectar. All of you seated here are relatives of one family because we are all children of the Lord.

We forget that we are God’s children and think that we are this-and-this person’s son, this-and-this person’s wife, this-and-this person’s daughter, this-and-this person’s friend.

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

krsna bhuli’ sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-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)

That is why it is said that ‘Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna-smrti-jnana. The souls who are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna.’ Those who turn away from the Lord have no remembrance of Krishna – they only think about their bodies. Many people rely on their parents, but your parents gave you only these bodies – they did not give you that which you actually are. Even science can tell you that. So, where do our souls come from? Our souls come from the Lord. One day we will leave this body and get another body again. We come, we leave, and we have to be born again. If we do not want to suffer from these births, deaths, old age and diseases (janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi, জন্মমৃত্যুজরাব্যাধি; Srimad Bhagavad-Gita, 13.9), then we must know what to do. It is said in the scriptures: ‘Bhagavata pada Vaisnavera sthane, ekanta asraya kara Chaitanya-charane (ভাগবত পড় বৈষ্ণবের স্থানে, একান্ত আশ্রয় কর চৈতন্য-চরণে). Read Bhagavatam under the guidance of a Vaishnav and take exclusive shelter at the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’ (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.5.131).

I told you earlier today that there are four varnas and four ashrams, but the scriptures say:

চারি বর্ণাশ্রমী যদি কৃষ্ণ নাহি ভজে ।
স্বকর্ম্ম করিলেও সে রৌরবে পড়ি মজে ॥

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje
svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

‘Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager or worker) or ashram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life or monk) you belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.26)

In other words, even if you become a sannyasi, if you do not serve the Lord, you will go to hell. That is why it is important to practise – an acharya is he who practises, and an acharya is non-different from the Lord Himself (acharyam mam vijaniyan, আচার্য্যং মাং বিজানীয়ান্). Lord Krishna told Uddhav Maharaj, ‘You must know acharya to be non-different from Myself.’ Therefore, those who practise can preach in this world. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, ‘We have not come to this world to become brick-layers and carpenters – we are only messengers of the Lord (vani-pion, বাণী-পিওন, lit. “postmen delivering messages”).’

You cannot write a letter directly to the Lord. Does anyone know the phone number of the Lord? You cannot dial a number and talk to the Lord, but you can speak to your guru. Gurudev is the Lord’s close associate. The Lord sends gurudev to this world, and we can speak to him. If you try to write to the Lord directly, you will not get a reply, but if you give your letter to the Lord’s deputy (His representative), then you will get a reply. Therefore, we must listen and listen to Hari-katha – we have a chaitya-guru in our hearts, and this chaitya-guru will take us to our mahanta-guru.

Let us chant some kirtan now. Actually, I have told you before that I have not come to chant kirtan – I have come to make you chant kirtan. If I come and chant the Holy Name, it will not give you much because you will not practise yourselves through that. One does not become a disciple just by taking initiation, just as one does not pass the final exam just by getting admitted to a school. Everybody knows that when you are admitted to a school, you must study; after that, the result of the exams will show whether you have studied or not and how much you have studied. Here, too, tests will come, and it will be proved how much you have practised.

There is Chitragupta appointed by the Lord who keeps all record of whether you are truly chanting the Holy Name or not, whether you are practising Krishna consciousness or not, whether you are thinking about the Lord or not. He is writing your diary, and he writes everything down – whether you steal, kill or do anything else. The master of everything is the Lord, and He knows everything. Therefore, you must surrender at His holy feet.

First, it is necessary to have surrender.

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 Himself says, ‘I have created Maya, and it is impossible to overcome her, but still there is a way out: if anyone takes shelter in Me, if anyone surrenders to Me, I rescue such souls from Maya and engage them in My service.’ There is another sloka also in Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

অপি চেৎ সুদুরাচারো ভজতে মামনন্যভাক্ ।
সাধুরেব স মন্তব্যঃ সম্যগ্ব্যবসিতো হি সঃ ॥

api chet suduracharo bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah samyag vyavasito hi sah

‘If even a very sinful person serves Me exclusively with devotion, he should be regarded as saintly, for his resolve is perfect.’

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.30)

If even a very bad person leaves everything and takes shelter in the Lord, the Lord says that He frees this person from all sins and engages them in His service. These are very beautiful words. If you do not read these things, if you do not understand these things, what result are you going to get?

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

[His Divine Grace chants kirtans.]

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Length: 120 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Where Does the Lord Stay?
2) Mahaprabhu's Advent and Gift
3) Coming Out of Maya
4) Make Yourself Qualified
5) Six Limbs of Surrender
6) Sincere and Deep Prayer
7) Lend Me Your Heart
8) Follow the Footsteps of Great Souls
9) Suspicion Leads to Suspension
10) Only One Question
11) We Are Neither Enjoyers, Nor Renouncers
12) False Ego's Folly
13) Be Sincere and Studious
14) Remembering Mahaprabhu's Sannyas
15) Way Out