(3/13) Lord's Messenger

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Singur (West Bengal), 5 February 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

The Lord sometimes comes Himself and sometimes sends His associates as the guru. Krishna told Uddhav Maharaj, ‘Acharyam mam vijaniyan (আচার্য্যং মাং বিজানীয়ান্). Know the guru (acharya) to be non-different from Me.’ Acharya is a person who practises (achar) and preaches (prachar), and acharya is non-different from the Lord.

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

‘I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all scriptures to be no doubt the Supreme Lord Himself, and considered to be such by pious souls, but who is also no doubt the Lord’s dear associate.’

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

We chant this kirtan written by Srila Visvanath Chakravarti every morning:

সংসার-দাবানল-লীঢ়-লোক-
ত্রাণায় কারুণ্য-ঘনাঘনত্বম্ ।
প্রাপ্তস্য কল্যাণ-গুণার্ণবস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-
tranaya karunya-ghanaghanatvam
praptasya kalyana-gunarnavasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

‘I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is an ocean of good qualities and auspiciousness and who, as a thick rain cloud of mercy, brings relief to this world devoured by the forest fire of material existence.’

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

The only way we can save ourselves from this material existence is to take shelter at the holy lotus feet of Sri Guru. Only if he saves us and engages us in the service of the Lord can it be possible for us to get relief. At the same time, we must make an effort on our part – we must try. You cannot do nothing and think that the guru will do everything for you. Always be alert and careful so that you may not be removed from Krishna consciousness at any time.

We must serve Sri Hari, guru and Vaishnavs. True religion consists of three aspects: jive daya, Name ruchi, vaishnava-seva (being kind to other souls, having taste for the Holy Name and serving the Lord's devotees). Jive daya means we must be kind to other jiva souls – it means that we must bring the souls who are averse to Lord Sri Krishna to this path. Such souls have forgotten the Supreme Lord – they have forgotten their own father and address – and have fallen into illusory bondage.

We keep coming to this world again and again – life after life, we stay in some hired place, and life after life, we are forced to leave one rented place and go to stay in another rented place. Somebody rents a place for fifty years; somebody, for thirty years; somebody, for eighty years – for as long as you stay in a rented place, you will not know any peace or happiness. What happiness is there in such a life? If you have no place of your own, if you keep on renting places to stay in (you stay in some place for six months, one year or two years, and then keep moving from place to place), one day you will think that it is better to buy your own land and live in a thatched hut rather than keep on moving like that. We too – every single one of us – are staying in this rented place here, but we must try to reach our own home. Our home is in Goloka Vrindavan, where the Lord resides and where we all come from. We left our home and have been wandering throughout 8,400,000 species, or even more than that: 8,400,000 species is minimum because if somebody is unfortunate, they will wander through even more species before finally getting this human body.

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari’ kara para-upakara

‘One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

Brahma took initiation from Krishna and created this material universe according to the realisation that he had got from the Lord, and we now anyhow live in this world: somebody worships Durga, somebody worships Kali, somebody worships Laksmi, somebody worships Vishnu, somebody worships Narayan, so many people worship various gods and goddesses. However, it is said in the scriptures:

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)

Even if you follow the four varnas (brahman, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra) and four ashrams (brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyasi), you will still have to go to hell again and again. I have written in the third volume of Guidance about how much suffering we undergo in hell. We suffer here in so many ways, but sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs are very merciful: they come right to our doors. These close associates of the Lord come and try to send us back to the Lord…

— : • : —

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Length: 108 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Honouring Hari-Prasad
2) Exclusive Path
3) Lord's Messenger
4) 'Managing' Your Life
5) Internal Purity
6) Pray To Be One-Pointed
7) Mahaprabhu's Gift
8) At Vaishnavs' Mercy
9) Spiritual Deposit
10) Lacking Spirituality
11) About Srila Lochan Das Thakur
12) Leave Separate Interests
13) Muddled Minds