(1/8) Be Serious

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, noon programme, 28 February 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

You only say with your mouths, ‘I am a devotee of Gopal,’ but you do not know what Gopal eats, where Gopal sleeps, where Gopal lives. You think that you will fan Gopal, offer Him some fruit with a Tulasi leaf, and that is Gopal-seva. Many keep Gopals’ Deities at home, but very few treat Gopal with affection. What does it mean to take responsibility for feeding Gopal? You think that Gopal is like your son, but does Gopal eat what your children, husband or wife eat? Gopal does not eat like them. You must give Gopal the things that He likes. You must feed Gopal minimum five times a day – Gopal actually eats 56 times a day (chhapanna-bhoga), but you must feed Him at least five times a day…

Srila Prabhupad explained what is called asat-sanga (inauspicious association). Bad association is the association of those who do not practise even one of the nine practices of devotion. In other words, if somebody does not practise even one of the nine kinds of devotional practices, their association is called bad, or inauspicious.

We are eternal servants of Krishna, but we come to serve Gopal only once a year. You dance with your Gopals today, but the rest of the year – the other 364 days of the year – you forget everything and worship Maya. Where do you think it will take you? Many people chant kirtans, but not many people will come to help others chant kirtans – people chant kirtans, get money for it and go away. The problem is that we do not appreciate Nityananda Prabhu’s devotees, we do not know what Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy is…

If you love your son, you will think about him a lot: you will always pay attention to what he eats, to how he feels, whether he needs any medicine or a doctor, whether he is eating well or not, whether he is sleeping well or not, whether he needs a fan when it is hot or whether he needs warm clothes when it is cold. You will always worry about such things. You do not only say, ‘Oh, I love my son’ with your mouth – you always take care of your son if you really love him. It is the same with the guru. Kali-yuga people, fallen into illusory environment, know very well who their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends and other people are, but they do not know who their guru and who the Lord are.

I see that people mostly call their gurudev ‘baba’ (father), but Srila Prabhupad said to his brother, ‘Baba badha Radha. Seeing Bhaktivinod Thakur as a father is an obstacle to seeing him as Radharani.’ Srila Prabhupad had received all mercy from Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, but one of his brothers thought, ‘I am also his son, so I am entitled to my father’s wealth, too!’ He called Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ‘father’ and knew him only as his father. All this ‘father-mother’ is a relationship of this world, it is mundane, but gurudev is spiritual.

You will get a father, a mother and friends in any birth. When we were born as dogs, sheep or pigs, we did not appear in the world without any parents – we had parents too (as dogs, sheep or pigs). In the same way, when we were born as humans in this birth, we did not come to this world without parents. But parents only give us our bodies – they do not give us that which we are. The problem is that we do not even know who we are – we do not know our actual identity. We become very proud of ourselves: ‘Ahankare matta haina, Nitai-pada pasariya. Maddened with pride, we forget Nitai’s feet.’ Overcome with pride, we think, ‘I am so-and-so Maharaj’, ‘I am so-and-so Ray’, ‘I am so-and-so Chowdhury.’ Jiva souls are eternal servants of Krishna, but the souls who have forgotten everything have no memory or knowledge of Krishna.

You must keep the Lord in centre of your hearts, and it must not be only lip-deep:

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

‘gorara ami, gorara ami’ mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara laile phala phale

‘Just saying, “I am Gora’s! I am Gora’s!” will not do. Only when you follow Gora’s practice and Gora’s conception will you get the proper result.’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

You say that you keep the Lord in your hearts, but you must actually do it, not only say it. How will you keep the Lord in your hearts? You must have space in your hearts for that, but your hearts are full of other things – kanak, kamini, pratistha (desire for money, women and fame), kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (desire for enjoyment through eyes, tongue, nose, ears and skin). All these enemies are there in your hearts. You call gurudev, ‘Can you come to my house, please?’ but if there is no place to sit in your house, where will your gurudev sit? In the same way, you must have some place in your hearts for the Lord, but to do that, you must first clean them. You cannot clean your hearts with a bar of soap or by bathing in the Ganges – you must clean your hearts through sadhu-sanga and through the chanting of the Holy Name.

You cannot only dress as a sadhu – you must become a sadhu. Gurudev said that many people dress as sadhus, but how many people are there in this world who are genuine sadhus? There are many people who dress as sadhus, but we do not see them practising Krishna consciousness. If you are to practise Krishna consciousness, you must surrender at the Lord’s lotus feet.

Many blame the Lord, ‘Oh, the Lord is not taking care of Me!’ Why will the Lord take care of you? The Lord says in the scriptures, ‘I will not take care of you unless you become My devotee. If you become surrendered to Me, then:

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)

You must surrender, you must make honest enquiry… We all have read this in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (although many only pretend that they read Gita), but we do not understand the meaning of what is written there. The ultimate meaning of Gita is this:

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.’ There is a religion of a father; there is a religion of a mother; there is a religion of a friend; there is a religion of a wife; there is a religion of a daughter. The Lord says, ‘Leave all these religions and surrender to Me! I will take care of you!’ But how do you become surrendered? You have already sold your heads in some other place! If you sell your heads to Krishna, if you sell your heads to gurudev, then you will not be able to keep your heads in any other place. You will feel, ‘I have sold my head to Krishna, I cannot give my head to any other person’, or, ‘I have given my head to gurudev, so I cannot give this head to any other person’, ‘I have given my heart, my mind, my body to gurudev.’ You have got these bodies, but what have you got them for? You must practise Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness is not some custom or ritual. You must take it seriously.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 19 Mb
Length: 40 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Be Serious
2) Quality Is Not Cheap
3) Tie Your Mind
4) Ask Your Heart
5) Tired of Struggling?
6) Proper Worship
7) Watch the Road
8) Regulated Life