The following is a transcription of a discourse delivered by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in the Netherlands on 25 June 2002 (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology Volume 87)

 

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: We think that this world is very beautiful and attractive, and we want to make our life happy in this world. But only foolish people can think like this. This world is full of misery, suffering, and sorrow.

(Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja speaks to one devotee)

What are you doing, making a disturbance? You should come and hear. They will only take photographs and all these things. They will not hear. That is why they cannot do anything and are always weak and weak. They have no interest in hearing. If there is no interest in hearing, then nothing is there. It is like zero. I will leave, and everything will be spoiled. Try to hear and keep it in your heart, not in that black recorder. That black recorder will not help you — never, never.

Those who want to be happy in this world are really very foolish and ignorant. They think, “I am this body and the relatives of this body — son, daughter, wife, husband, father, mother — these relatives are mine.” They think like this. They think, “We will engage in so much sense gratification in this world, and this is the only aim and object of our lives: to make money and be happy, regardless of whether we are quarrelling with all others. Even if we have no belief in God, we should anyhow be happy in this world.” People who think like this are foolish. They cannot be happy. They are always quarrelling with others. They only have self-interest. They are selfish. We know we came into this world alone and naked.

No one was with us when we were born. It may be that sometimes there are twins in the womb, it may be, but really, we came into this world alone, and we will have to give up this world alone. When we were born, did we have any sons, any daughters, a wife, wealth, or a reputation? Were any of these things there? Nothing. Even our hair wasn’t there, nothing. But now we think, “Oh, he is my child, he is my son, she is my daughter, she is my wife, these are my relatives, and this is my wealth. This house is mine.” But this is all ignorance.

I came for this reason. For this purpose, Kṛṣṇa sends His associates to this world to remind the conditioned souls of all these things. Kṛṣṇa has only given us this human form of life to realise what? What we have forgotten: that we are the eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, and that we have a transcendental form that is now covered by this body. We should know all these things. You know so many histories, like the history of Citraketu Mahārāja and the history of Hiraṇyākṣa’s death. From these histories, we understand no one is our relative or anything like that.

We are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and the eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa. But anyway, we have forgotten this now. Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, causelessly merciful. That is why, for no reason, though you have done nothing to have this human form of life, Kṛṣṇa has given it. When you came into the womb of your mother, you were tasting so much suffering there, in the well of stool and urine. At that time, you promised, “O Kṛṣṇa, let me out of the womb! When I come out of this miserable situation, I will do bhajana of You. I am promising this.”

Then Kṛṣṇa said, “Oh, you should come out of this womb.” But when he came out, he forgot everything that he had promised. He forgot all the suffering and everything. Then he wanted to study and go to university, and here and there. Then he began making money. After that, he married. But he did not marry only one girl. He was not satisfied with one. He married so many new, new, new ones. And he was not satisfied with only one son. He had one son, one daughter, another daughter, another daughter, another daughter, and again one son. But he was not even satisfied with that. He grew old, but he still wanted to engage in sense gratification. I have heard that at the age of one hundred, a Mohammedan did his one hundredth marriage, and after that, he died. But still, he was not satisfied.

So, we made a promise to Kṛṣṇa in the womb of our mother, but now we have forgotten this. Now we are thinking, “This is mine, this is mine, this son is mine, this is mine.” And we are always absorbed in worrying, worrying, worrying about some problems. Why are you weeping if your son has died? Because at first, you had no son. He who gave you a son, He took that son back. I lent you ten rupees, ten pounds, or ten euros. I gave you one hundred euros, and when I told you, “Return my money!” Then you weep.

You are hiding and thinking, “He should not ask for his money back.” At that time, he was begging for some money. “Oh, give me some money; give me a son.” He was praying and praying, and so no one gave him any money. Now, that person is asking for his money back and says, “You should give me my money back, otherwise I will take your house.” Then the beggar weeps. Why are you weeping?

Understand? Why are you weeping? This is not yours. Someone gave you that money, and now you are weeping, not wanting to return the money. Why? It was so cold, and someone gave you a blanket, saying, “You should take it and use it.” Then, the same person who gave you the blanket told you, “Return this blanket to me.” But now you are saying, “Oh, I will not return this blanket. It is mine,” and you weep. Why? We should know all these things.

That is why Kṛṣṇa descends. Then again, Kṛṣṇa descends in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He also sends associates like Rūpa-Sanātana, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja, and our Gurudeva. He also sent me, inspired me, “Go and help them.” They come to hear, but then don’t want to follow. I tell them, “What you have taken, you should return.” Then you say, “Oh, this is mine. I will not return it.” Why are you weeping? Don’t be like that. You should always think:

mānasa, deha, geha, ĵô kichu mora
arpilũ tuwā pade, nanda-kiśora!

Mānasa, Deha, Geha (1)

[“Mind, body, family, and whatever else is mine, I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!”]

But this is also wrong. Nothing is yours — never, never. But because of false ego, we think, “These things are mine, and I am giving them to You.” Who is the doer? Why have you become the doer? Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says this. This false ego should also be gone. It is like worshipping the Ganges with Ganges water. A person who is like this can’t do bhajana. We should have no false ego and think, “This is mine, this is mine, this is mine,” never.

Nothing is yours. This body is not yours. Your soul is not yours. Give up this false ego, chant, and remember. Kṛṣṇa will be yours. Very soon, you can realise your soul and Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, how can you realise these things? This is not the process. Come through the proper process. Someone comes to our classes when so many ladies are present and thinks, “I will select one lady for me.” For this purpose, for this opportunity, someone comes here: to find a wife. They do not come to hear me.

Anyone who hears me will be renounced at once — surely, surely. Understand or not? When our parikramā was finished, the pilgrims would come to seek permission from our Guru Mahārāja to return home. Then our Guru Mahārāja used to tell them, “I have invited you to come and be here in association, but I have not invited you to return, never.” Try to understand all these meanings.

vāsudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ
jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.7)

[“By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.”]

By hearing hari-kathā, if no detachment and no tattva-jñana are coming, then what should we think?

Devotee: That there is no devotional service.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Do you think like this, my friend? Why is detachment not coming? Why? Why is it not coming by hearing all these things? It means that our devotion, our process of hearing, arcana, and everything is not good. We are not doing these things properly. I have come to remind you of all these things, not to give you the ways and processes of sense gratification. I have come to make you detached from worldly desires; if this is done, your life will be successful.

If you are a householder, you should be there. But try to be detached gradually. If you cannot give up all these things suddenly, as Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī did, then gradually you should become detached. I think you have read Jaiva-dharma, which has just been printed. It is very precious, very valuable. You should read it. And when you read any pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, try to go deep. At the beginning of Prahlāda Mahārāja’s history, it is explained that Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa were brothers. Varāhadeva killed Hiraṇyākṣa, and his dead body was brought to the royal palace. Everyone was weeping, everyone, from top to bottom. There was no one there who could console them. Then Hiraṇyakaśipu consoled them. “Why are you weeping? Hiraṇyākṣa is here. Your husband Hiraṇyākṣa is here; your father Hiraṇyākṣa is here. He is only sleeping. You can wake him up and speak with him.”

“Oh, he is not here. He is dead.”

“No, no, no, he is here. The person you knew as your husband, father, son, or whatever, he is here.”

They told Hiraṇyakaśipu, “His soul has gone away.”

“Let the soul go away. He is here; you should speak with him.”

“No, he is not here now.”

“Why not? With whom you did everything, he is here. He is lying on the bed. And if you are really weeping for the soul, then have you seen the soul? Was his soul black or white? How tall was he? Have you seen his soul?”

“Never.”

“Then why are you weeping? The soul is eternal. There is no reason to weep and suffer for the soul. And if you want his body, then his body is here. You can take it. But in a day or two, it will be full of insects and worms. The eagles, dogs, and jackals will all say, ‘This body is mine.’ The father may say, ‘This body is mine.’ The king may say, ‘This is my subject.’ The jackal will say, ‘This body is mine. This body is my property.’ Like this, they are all quarrelling over the body.”

We should understand. Really, you should understand that this world is miserable. We have come to this material world like refugees. Do you know the meaning of the word refugee? They have been driven out of their home country. Our home country is there (the spiritual world), but now we are here (in this material world). Try to realise this and always chant and remember, take shelter of a high-class guru (Vaiṣṇava). There should be some object of our bhajana, and this object is prema to the lotus feet of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Yugala or Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu. This is our only object. No other object should be there. Our life maintenance will be very easy. Kṛṣṇa has promised that to those who do ananya-bhajana (one-pointed worship):

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ
ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

Bhagavad-gītā (9.22)

[“But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.”]

For those who don’t care for anything, who only engage their whole energy in kṛṣṇa-bhajana, Kṛṣṇa has promised, “I will bring whatever is necessary for their maintenance on My head or on My back and shoulders.” We may fail to keep our promise, but Kṛṣṇa never fails — never, never, never. We should have a strong belief in Him. If sorrow, suffering, or anything comes, tolerate it and do bhajana. Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita’s son died while kīrtana was going on, and he told his wife and others, “If you will cry and weep and disturb the kīrtana of Mahāprabhu, I will jump in the Ganges.”

Caitanya Mahāprabhu came there and, anyhow, placed His hand on the boy’s heart and said, “Where have you gone? Wake up at once!” And the boy came back to life. Mahāprabhu asked him, “Why are you not here?”

“I am doing very well there. I don’t want to come back here. It is favourable to do bhajana there. Here, it is not so favourable.” We should realise this and do bhajana. Gaura premānande! Try to remember these things. You have been called here for this purpose.

Some naughty boys have not attended this class. They spent so much money going here and there. They came to hear our classes, but they are still sleeping or doing nothing. From today onward, I will see them here. Especially those who are with us, like Jīva, Śyāmānanda, and so many. Also, Rādhā-ramaṇa Prabhu. Where is your father? Is he still sleeping? He should come and see me. You should all try to attend our classes and go deep into them — one kīrtana.

Source(s): Purebhakti.com, Serve Love – Bhakta Bandhav (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology transcribed and edited by the Bhakta Bandhav Team)

Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org.in, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo and / or Bhaktiart.net

Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)