(2/8) Quality Is Not Cheap

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, noon programme, 28 February 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Krishna consciousness is not some custom or ritual. You must take it seriously. You think that you wake up at leisure in the morning, offer some flowers and puja at 10 o’clock, go to work, come back home in the evening, blow a conch, and that is puja. This is not Krishna consciousness (Hari-bhajan).

One time, somebody asked Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur a question. (I have written the chapter ‘108 Questions and Answers’ in Guidance 3. If you read it, you can find it there.) Many people blow the conch, put some flowers at gurudev’s feet – is this what Krishna consciousness is about? No, it is not. This is not Krishna consciousness. It is mano-dharma (mental concoction).

‘দ্বৈতে’ ভদ্রাভদ্র-জ্ঞান, সব—‘মনোধর্ম্ম’ ।
‘এই ভাল, এই মন্দ’,—এই সব ‘ভ্রম’ ॥

‘dvaite’ bhadra-abhara-jnana, saba—mano-dharma
‘ei bhala, ei manda’—ei saba ‘bhrama’

‘The conceptions of good and bad are all a mental concoction. Saying, “This is good, and this is bad” is all a mistake.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.176)

‘I have just prayed to the Lord, and now I forget the Lord and worship Maya’ – this is what people think Krishna consciousness is about. But sadhus, gurus and surrendered souls think about the Lord all the time. They may work, run a business or do any other work, but they always think about the Lord.

There is another question also that Srila Prabhupad was asked: What is man’s duty? Srila Prabhupad replied:

Mahaprabhu teaches:

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

‘One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and who gives honour to others without desiring it for themselves is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

Our only duty is Hari-kirtan. If you always, constantly chant the Holy Name, then all other endeavours (enjoyment, search for liberation, and so on) will stop. Unless you always stay on the path of remembering the Lord, you will be enjoying your material life. If you do not know how every single thing is related to the Lord, you will feel no need for divine love. It is the foolish people who pray for material religion, things, money, fulfilment of desires, liberation. In the words of Sri Gaurasundar, these are the basic things taught to children, but what He taught were higher and the highest things. Upanisads and Gita are taught in the infant class, but if you want to enter higher studies, you must discuss Srimad Bhagavatam.

Who can chant kirtan? Those who can sing well? No. Kirtan can be chanted only by those who have the right to chant it. How does one earn this right? Those who can become humble and tolerant and can give honour to others get the right to chant kirtan. Nobody else has this right.

There is also another question: Are Kali, Krishna, Ganesh and others one and the same? No, they are not. One is jagat (world), and the other is Jagannath (master of the world). Jagat and Jagannath are not one and the same. Jagat is the material, mundane world, and Jagannath is the Supreme Lord. How can they be one and the same? You can make yoghurt, curd or condensed milk from milk, but you can never make milk from yoghurt. So, Krishna can become Kali, but Kali, Ganesh or Durga can never become Krishna. You must always remember this.

Many people do not understand this and think that Krishna consciousness is like a fair, a party. When people celebrate Durga-puja, they bring a Deity of Durga, make a four-day festival (sasthi, saptami, astami, navami) and then throw the Deity away. And here they are making Gopal-puja today – you bring Gopals, do puja, and that is it, finished! Devotion cannot come like this. This only destroys devotion. There is no use doing such ‘puja’. Even if you practise this your whole life, even if you practise this for ten million lifetimes, you will not get any result.

Devotees go place to place and turn people into devotees – this is how large nat-mandirs become full. (Have you been to Ekachakra this year? The temple has a very big nat-mandir, but it was full to the brim.) This is how devotees practise Krishna consciousness. They take Krishna consciousness seriously. They give up jungles and come here.

প্রেম বন্যায় নদীয়া ভাসাইল ।
নিন্দুক-পাষণ্ডীগণ ধাইয়া পালাইয়া ॥

prema vanyaya nadiya bhasaila
ninduka-pasandi-gana dhaiya palaiya

‘When the Lord flooded Nadia with divine love, all offenders and faithless people fled at once!’

All faithless people will run away, and those who are pure will stay. It is necessary to give up pretence and insincerity.

— : • : —

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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