Check Who Is Calling Before Taking the Call

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Mahadvadasi
Noon class, 25 March 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

Many do not practise Krishna consciousness properly—they try to practise so much, but it is all Maya consciousness, not Krishna consciousness. If you try to practise Krishna consciousness without strictly following your Guru's order and instruction, then your worship is just worship of Maya.

Even if you are to live only ten years more, but if you can do double service during this time—if you come to the temple, chant the Holy Name, do service, worship the Deities, etc., follow what Gurudev tells you—then at the end sadhus will take your body to the Ganges and you will get supreme benefit. What is your relationship with the previous family? You leave everything but after one-two months they start calling you—yes, Maya Devi will phone you all the time. When I came to stay at the temple, I did not want to be disturbed, so I did not keep any connection with my family for thirteen years. They did not even know that I was at a temple, they actually thought I was dead and performed my sraddha ceremony (a ceremony performed when somebody dies). I had to be very hard. My mother kept crying and came to the temple all the way from a very far away place, but when I saw her coming from the roof (I was doing the construction at that time), I came to the guard and said that a lady (I did not say 'my mother,' I said 'a lady') was coming and she would ask about this person (I told him the name I had in my previous ashram), and I asked him to say to her that there was nobody by that name living at the temple.

I did it for her happiness. I was doing service to the Lord, and when she died she was very happy. She may not have come to this path, but she attained happiness after death. It is written in the scriptures also, I was reading about it just today—the Lord said to Prahlad Maharaj (SB, 7.10.18), "My dear Prahlad, O most pure, O great saintly person, your father has been purified, along with twenty-one forefathers in your family. Because you were born in this family, the entire dynasty has been purified." One must become a devotee for that to happen. If a true Vaishnav appears in any family, then twenty-one generations become purified. We must all try to become devotees like Prahlad Maharaj. You cannot just say that you are a devotee. There are degrees of devotion—there is Vaishnav, Vaishnata-tara, Vaishnav-tama (kanistha-adhikari, madhyam-adhikari, and uttam-adhikari). The greatest Vaishnavs (uttam-adhikari) do not even see anything in this world; Sukadev Goswami was such a Vaishnav. He was a young boy of about seventeen, but he did not see anyone—he came to speak Bhagavatam stark naked. He was not even aware whether he had any cloth on or not. What Sri Sukadev Goswami spoke had not been written anywhere on paper. Vyasadev composed Srimad Bhagavatam based on what emanated from the holy lotus mouth of Sri Sukadev Goswami (the Lord spoke Srimad Bhagavatam through him). Gurudev wrote about the history of Srimad Bhagavatam in his book, you can read it there.

So, if you leave your family, what is your fault? Are you still thinking of your father and mother at this age? How old are you now? Seventy! How long are you going to live? People say, "Oh, I am dying without you!" So, you are still 'dying' because of your wife?! What am I to say to you then, tell me? You think it is better to practise alone, but what is the problem? Live here, follow what the Lord and your Gurudev say—there is no lack of food, no lack of clothes, there is no lack of anything. We tolerate certain things and live at the temple happily. "Tomara sevaya yata haya duhkha, seo ta' parama sukha (তোমার সেবায় যত হয় দুঃখ, সেও ত' পরম সুখ)—All the distress I encounter in Your service is also my greatest happiness." We do service and whatever comes, it is our happiness. But you leave your service and go away... This is material, illusory bondage! Maya Devi cast her net and you think you will go to your home and practise Krishna consciousness there...

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