(3/5) Stay Away From Nonsense

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar area, 11 February 2021, part 3

Karma-misra bhakti means that you do some service to the Lord thinking you will get something in return. This is how people turn the Lord into their menial servant: ‘Lord! Give me a son!’, ‘Give me a grandson!’, ‘Give me a daughter!’, ‘Give me a job!’, ‘Give me my own business!’ You know, people sometimes get a job by giving a bribe to an officer, and we are also doing this with the Lord – we give the Lord some bananas, some atop rice, some fruit and sweets and turn God into a bribe-taker, making Him serve us. Sadhus do not do this. Sadhus say, ‘Only serve the Lord.’

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

‘O Supreme Lord (Master of the Universe, Jagadiswar)! I do not desire any wealth (religion, money or material desires), any followers (wife, sons, servants or maidservants) or material knowledge (beautiful poetry). My only prayer is that I may birth after birth have pure devotion to You, devoid of seeking any result.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.20.29)

‘I do not want any wealth, followers or a beautiful wife. Please only give me sincere devotion to Your holy feet’ – those who think like this get the mercy of the Lord. They have a house, a wife, money, and they have no problem – they live in their families and worship the Lord. ‘Grhe thaka, vane thaka, sada “Hari” bale’ daka (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক, সদা হরি বলে’ ডাক). Whether you live at home or in a forest, always call out to the Supreme Lord.’ You can even walk down the street and chant the Holy Name. Walk and chant. Do not waste your time. Instead of reading newspapers and watching TV, series and news, chant the Holy Name. There is no use watching the news – it is all lies. Today, one country is criticising the other country, tomorrow the other country will rebuke the first country. He says that you are a thief, and you are saying that he is a thief. Is that news? This is all lies. All news are false, it is all criticism and gossiping, what else is there in it? All newspapers and TV are full of criticism and gossips. Is there any use watching it? If you want to depend on them, it is your matter. You rely on them and make them kings, but they ‘go to Lanka’ [a Bengali saying: ‘only Ravan goes to Lanka’]. What will they do for you? You need something to eat – what will they do? If you work, the Lord will provide everything. So, it is no use getting involved with the politics, economics or society. It is a waste of time.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

You must always practise Krishna consciousness in this way.

You told me that you paid somebody a lot of money to do kirtan at your house. Even if you do this your whole life (if you make great festivals like this at home, spending thousands and thousands of rupees), you will not get anything.

কটি জন্ম যদি করে শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন ।
তবু না পায় ব্রজের নন্দের-নন্দন ॥

koti janma yadi kare sravana-kirtana
tabu na paya vrajendranandana

‘Even if you practise listening and chanting for millions of lives, you will not get Krishna, the Son of King of Vraja.’

হেন কৃষ্ণনাম যদি লয় বহুবার ।
তবু যদি প্রেম নহে, নহে অশ্রুধার ॥
তবে জানি, অপরাধ তাহাতে প্রচুর ।
কৃষ্ণনাম-বীজ তাহে না করে অঙ্কুর ॥

hena krsna-nama yadi laya bahu-bara
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe asrudhara
tabe jani, aparadha tahate prachura
krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura

‘If you chant this Name of Krishna many times but there is still no love stirring within you, there are no tears streaming from your eyes, then you should know that you are making too many offences and the seed of Krishna’s Name does not sprout in you.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.29–30)

You must give up offences and chant the Holy Name; otherwise, your chanting is will be nothing but letters:

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 cannot be chanted in bad association: it may certainly sound like the letters of the Name, but it can never be the Name proper.’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1, Srila Jagadananda Pandit)

You give them money, and they take your money and sing. They do it only to earn money. If somebody reads Bhagavatam for money, you must not listen to such Bhagavatam reading because you will not get any benefit. They can sing well, they can read well, they can give a nice class, but it will not produce any result. What is the use then? Are they able to bring people to spiritual life through their reading of Bhagavatam?!

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Length: 22 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Self-Deception
2) Think About Lord
3) Stay Away From Nonsense
4) Delay No More
5) Pastimes of Lord Siva