(2/8) Clear Vision

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, 21 March 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

যাঁহার প্রসাদে ভাই, এ ভব তরিয়া যাই,
কৃষ্ণপ্রাপ্তি হয় যাঁহা হৈতে ॥

yanhara prasade bhai, e bhava tariya yai,
krsna-prapti haya yannha haite

‘Brother, by Sri Guru’s mercy we can cross this material world and can come to Krishna.’

(Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

How does one get Krishna? Worshipping Lord Gauranga without worshipping gurudev gets one nowhere. ‘Guru bada diye Gauranga bhaje, sei papi raurave padi maje (গুরু বাদ দিয়ে গৌরাঙ্গভাজে সেই পাপী রৌরবে পড়ি মাঝে). The sinner who worships Gauranga bypassing the guru falls into a terrible hell.’ I have told you many times about this. I have also written about it in the books. If you read my books, you will find it there. One does not become a disciple just by getting the mantra or taking initiation. You may take initiation, but this only does not make you a disciple. Proper disciples always live and serve following the guidance of their guru.

There is service (seva), and there is material activity (karma). People come to the temple and do many kinds of things – they do this, this, that, they do what they want to do, they do what they like to do. I have seen many devotees like that. People always think about their own benefit. But this is not right. There is karma and there is seva. If you do what gurudev tells you to do, that will be service, and if you do something that gurudev did not tell you to do, that will be karma. Karma and seva look the same. Materialists always do karma. They always live following the whims of their minds, and they do everything for their own pleasure.

I once heard a sannyasi give a class saying, ‘Karma is the dharma.’ No. This is wrong. Karma is not dharma (religion). Mahaprabhu never said that. You did not come here to learn such things. When you do something (some action, or karma) for the Lord, that is called dharma. It is necessary to live for the Lord, then it will be service (seva), not karma (reactionary actions). Service is when you live following the guidance of your guru and Vaishnavs, not for your own pleasure but for the pleasure of your guru. Service means pleasing your guru. If you go about trying to satisfy your own selves, that will be karma. You must remember this. If your guru is taking prasad and asks you for some water or salt and you quickly supply what he wants, that will be service. Guru Maharaj gave an example at a lecture. If your guru says, ‘I like singara (samosa),’ then no problem – you must make some singara or arrange for some singaras to be made. But you think, ‘No, better I give something sweet to gurudev.’ This is not right. If gurudev says a singara, you must give him a singara. Gopal says, ‘Give me a laddu,’ then you must give Him a laddu – you cannot give Him a singara instead. You must remember these things. It is necessary to hear what gurudev wants.

গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য, চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য, আর না করিহ মনে আশা ।

guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya,
ara na kariha mane asa

‘Make the teachings from Sri Guru’s lotus mouth one with your heart and do not desire anything else.’

(Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We must not have any other desires or expectations. What should we do?

শ্রীগুরুচরণ-পদ্ম, কেবলভকতিসদ্ম,
বন্দোঁ মুঞি সাবধান মতে ।
যাঁহার প্রসাদে ভাই, এ ভব তরিয়া যাই,
কৃষ্ণপ্রাপ্তি হয় যাঁহা হৈতে ॥

sri-guru-charana-padma, kevala-bhakati-sadma,
vando muni savadhana mate
yanhara prasade bhai, e bhava tariya yai,
krsna-prapti haya yannha haite

‘I carefully offer my obeisance at Sri Guru’s lotus feet, which are an abode of exclusive devotion, by whose mercy, brother, we can cross this material world, and through whom we can come to Krishna.’

(Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We keep coming to this material world. Having crossed 8,400,000 species we have got this human birth, and if you do not want to keep on coming and going through all these species in the future, you must do something about it. How many species we have already crossed! It is said in the scriptures that we have crossed 8,400,000 species, but who knows how many more births we have crossed due to our offences. We have got a human birth now, but we may not get it again because if we get this human birth but do not worship the Lord, we will have to again go back to this ceaseless roaming. How many times have we come and left? There is no end to this roaming. Who can say when it will end? Therefore, you must remember, ‘Yahara prasade bhai e bhava tariya yai krsna-prapti haya yaha haite. By Sri Guru’s mercy we can cross this material world and can come to Krishna.’ We can get Krishna! How? By gurudev’s prasad – does it mean that you can make it if gurudev simply gives you his prasad (food remnants)? No. Prasad means mercy, and mercy means service. If gurudev gives me service, if he engages me in some activity, that is his mercy. In whichever way, whatever work it may be, but if he engages us in any kind of service, that is our highest aspiration.

গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য, চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য,
আর না করিহ মনে আশা ।
শ্রীগুরুচরণে রতি, সেই সে উত্তম গতি,
যে প্রসাদে পূরে সর্ব্ব আশা ॥

guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya,
ara na kariha mane asa
sri-guru-charane rati, sei se uttama gati,
ye prasade pure sarva asa

‘Make the teachings from Sri Guru’s lotus mouth one with your heart and do not desire anything else. Attachment to Sri Guru’s holy feet is the highest path: all aspirations are fulfilled by his mercy.’

(Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We sing this kirtan all the time, but we do not understand its meaning. We must think about the meaning of kirtans. Even if you read or give a class on Srimad Bhagavad-gita, this is also not sufficient because you must apply Srimad Bhagavad-gita in your own behaviour, in your own lives (not only speak about it or give a class about it). For example, it is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

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)

But we think that we must follow mano-dharma, pita-dharma, mata-dharma (we think our duty in life is to do what we want, to serve and follow our fathers, our mothers, and so on), this dharma, that dharma. We try to please everyone, but Gita never told you to do that. Gita says, ‘Sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja. Leave all religions and surrender to Me!’ Gita does not tell you to follow any pita-dharma, bandhu-dharma, brahman-dharma, Christian dharma, Buddha dharma or your own concocted dharma. ‘Leave all religions and surrender to Me. I will look after you, there is no sin in that!’ This is what Gita teaches, but how many people actually follow this?

Anyhow, I have spoken a lot. We must continue with the kirtans.

চক্ষুদান দিলা যেই, জন্মে জন্মে প্রভু সেই,
দিব্য জ্ঞান হৃদে প্রকাশিত ।

chaksu-dana dila yei, janme janme prabhu sei,
divya jnana hrde prakasita

‘He who has given me eyes and revealed divine knowledge in my heart is my Master birth after birth.’

(Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Everybody gets a father, a mother, friends and everything else. When I was a goat or a cow, I also had a mother, a father and many friends. Even when I was a pig, I had parents. My parents give me a body, but they do not produce that which I am. They do not give me birth; they only give me a body, nothing else. That is why such parents are called ‘biological parents’. So, you get parents in every birth, you get friends in every birth, you get a family and relatives in every birth, but it is not in every birth that you can get a guru. You can get a guru only in this human birth, and if you can practise Krishna consciousness taking shelter of a bona fide guru, you will get supreme benefit.

We must think about the benefit of our souls. We always think about food, clothes, about some temporary happiness, but we do not think about the spiritual benefit of our souls. Even the scriptures say that the souls who think about their eternal benefit are very rare. ‘Out of ten million workers, you will find one wise person; out of ten million wise people, you will find one liberated soul, and out of ten million liberated souls, you will find one devotee of Krishna.’ There are very few such souls in this world. That is why Mahaprabhu bestows so much mercy on us by coming to this world in Kali-yuga to save such lowly fallen souls as ourselves, and He comes in this Kali-yuga together with Nityananda Prabhu.

What more can we say? You have come to do the parikrama of this very holy abode, which is non-different from Sri Vrindavan Dham, where Mahaprabhu appeared.

The place where you are sitting now is called Devapalli, or Nrisingha Palli. Lord Nrisinghadev appeared in this world and, having protected His devotee Prahlad Maharaj and defeated Hiranyakasipu, He came to this place to take some rest. People from all over the world come to this place. People come here from thousands and thousands of miles away. Unfortunately, this year many also could not come because of covid. You know, it is almost night here now, but in some places the sun is only rising, and the devotees come from these very far-away places and join us. We do not understand what pulls them to come here because our eyes are blind. We cannot understand the glory of this place. ‘Agartala’ and ‘Choukirtala’ is not the same thing! [A Bengali saying meaning where is Agartala, a famous grand city, and where is ‘the floor under your bed’?] For some, muri (puffed rice) and murki (sugar-coated puffed rice) is the same. People think everything is the same, but when they get some sukriti (when the Lord bestows His mercy upon them by the mercy of the guru and Vaishnavs), they will understand that it is not like that.

Try to understand these things. For as long as you are here in this world, try to practise Krishna consciousness and engage yourselves in service. Washing dishes, sweeping, cutting vegetables, and so on are also service. Tomorrow is adhivas and so many more people will come to do this Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. I have been going house to house in many places with Dham Pracharani Sobha, inviting everyone to come: ‘Please come! Come to this Nabadwip Dham where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared!’ We must do this parikrama walking on our heads. We are going to start the parikrama the day after tomorrow, and we must prepare ourselves in this way…

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1) Keep Your Guard Up
2) Clear Vision
3) Cries of a Fallen Child
4) Exclusive Current
5) Mahaprabhu's Teachings
6) Practise What Is Preached
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