Everything depends upon the association. If you may go on associating with worldly people, worldly aptitude will automatically come. Nobody can check it. And if you go on associating with bonafide shuddha bhakta (pure devotees) then aptitude to do bhajan (devotion) will automatically enter in your mind and you will have encouragement to do so. Everything depends up association. If we do not think about this then our life will be futile. For that reason our Param-aradhyatam Paramguru-padpadma, our Gurudev and Guruvarga have established so many Maths. For what purpose (did they establish)? For getting (proving the opportunity for) the association of sadhus, to hear about Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and His personal associates, so that we can have always, the remembrance of eternal truth. And if we think about the non-eternal things always then we will be attracted and attached by those things. That will be cause of bondage.

I am going to speak one instance from Bhagavatam. Sukadev Goswami was speaking to Parikshit Maharaj, ‘govinda-bhuja-guptayam dvaravatyam kurudvaha avatsin narado ‘abhiksnam krishnopasana-lalasah.’ Sukadev Goswami is addressing Parikshit Maharaj as ‘kurudvaha—the chief or well reputed decedent of kurus-vamsa or Chandra-vamsa. The origin of kuru family is Chandra, the moon.

Narada Goswami stayed always (continuously, without any interruption) at Dwarka Puri, Govinda’s transcendental realm, protected or defended by the arms of Govinda. For what purpose he stayed continuously there? He stayed there only to worship Sri Krishna, with having excessive desire to worship Him. Desire for worldly things will take us to worldly things. Desire to worship Krishna His devotees will take our mind to them, our object of worship. We should have excessive desire. So Narad Goswami stayed (resided, dwelt) at the transcendental realm, Dwaraka, defended by Govinda’s arms, with the greediness to worship Krishna. Greediness is bad but when it is for the worship of Krishna, it is good.

In Gita it is said, ‘trividham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah kamah krodhas tatha lobhas tasmad etat trayam tyajet.’ These three vices (you may say cardinal vices), kama (lust, sex passion), krodha (anger) and lobha (greed), are the door ways to hell, complete destruction (sarvanash). (There are total six vices, kama, krodha, lobha, moha (illusion), mada (false pride) and matsarya (enviousness), out of which the first three are mentioned here.) These three are chief enemies responsible for our destruction. So we have to give up these three. Any activity which tends to the satisfaction of my own gross and subtle senses is termed as kama. And any activity which tends to the satisfaction of Krishna and His devotees is prem (love). This is diametrically opposite. We should not miss the target. Our target (mark) should be correct. If you miss the target then that time will be spoiled. You have to dedicate your life for the worship of Lord, sad-guru, vaishnavas, at least externally. We should try sincerely. We should have excessive desire (constant desire) for the worship of Sri Krishna, without any interruption. If any interruption or any break is there then we lose that time. So there should not be any break. Narada Goswami used to stay in Dwarka dham for that purpose, always.

Viswanath Chakravarti Pad has raised one question in his commentary. Daksha Prajapati, the son of Brahma cursed Narada Goswami that he would not stay at one place. But here, Sukadev Goswami is saying to Parikshita Maharaj that Narada Goswami stayed constantly (perpetually) at Dwaraka Dham. How can we reconcile this? Viswanath Chakravarti Pad has raised the question and he himself is giving the answer for that. Because Daksha Prajapati’s curse will have dominance (influence or applicability) in Brahmand (material universe), only. Daksha Prajapati is the son of Brahma. So his place of stay is this brahmand, so his curse will be effective only in brahmand, not beyond that. Dwaraka Puri is transcendental realm. If anybody commits crime in America and if he crosses the border and goes to Mexico or any other country then will the laws of America be applicable to him in that country? As he has crossed the border so the laws of America will not be effective on him. America may send one prayer to the other country for extradition, so that they can punish the person. But that decision will depend upon the discretion of the government of that country. There is no compulsion. The country may accept the prayer or may not. When that person crosses the border, the law jurisdiction of that country in which he has committed the offense finishes. For that reason when Narada Goswami has cross the jurisdiction and gone to Dwaraka Puri, the curse of Daksha Prajaprati will not be effective.

Now, why have I raised this topic? There is a purpose behind it. Daksha Prajapati is ordered by his revered father Brahma, that you should increase the creation, for fourteen worlds not only for this world. Brahama is the owner of these fourteen worlds so he has to think about from where all the beasts, birds, humans, and other species will get created to fill up these fourteen worlds. He ordered Daksha Prajapati, “I am been given this charge so I am ordering you to produce children to increase creation. Daksha Prajapati accepted the order and produced ten thousand sons. It seems to be a huge number but ten thousand persons if sent to this Seattle, here the population is 3 million, so ten thousand in the whole fourteen worlds is nothing, not a drop even but he has created. When they grown up, Daksha Prajapati told them, “I have got this order to increase creation, to fill up the whole fourteen worlds. Whether you have understood it or not but you should do this” They replied, “Yes, we shall try to obey your orders.” Daksha Prajapati, “This is dharm (duty) to obey the orders of the superior. My father, Brahama, has ordered me, so I am ordering you. A son should obey the orders of the father. This is the greatest duty. You have to worship Supreme Lord Sri Krishna; If He desires He can do anything. He is All-mighty. We are not all-mighty. As it is the order of Narayan, my father, Brahma is giving it importance. He is your grandfather, so you should also perform penance to increase creation.”

They made prostrated obeisance to the father and asked for blessings. They were very obedient sons. They went to forest and started penance. Narada Goswami is omniscient; he came to know that ten thousand sons of Daksha Prajapati have gone to one place. He thought, “Let me go there.” Sons of Daksha Prajapati were performing penance as per the instructions of their father. Narada Goswami went there. He has white beard, tall figure and veena—musical instrument in his hand. On seeing him, the young boys paid their obeisance to him and said, “Please bless us. As per the direction of our revered father, we have come here. If we get the blessings of the sadhu then we shall be successful in the objective for which we have come.”

Knowing everything well, Narada Goswami asked, “What for have you come?”

“We have come to increase creation. It is the order of our revered father. We want your blessings.”

“You have come to increase creation. By increasing creation what benefit will you get?”

“We do not know what benefit we will get but we are been ordered.”

“You should know. Listen to me. By increasing creation you will give immense miseries and all kind of distress to living beings. You yourself will be in the fire of afflictions and throwing others in the fire of afflictions.”

“What sort of fire? It is the order of our grandfather and our father as well. What are you saying?”

“Sit down. Listen to me. To increase creation you will have to create living beings. When the child is born, first he will be in his mother’s womb with stooping head. Worms will byte him there. He has very soft skin that time. Have you forgotten? Have you had these troubles? Every baby when he will be in his mother’s womb will have tremendous sufferings. Even a young man, with a strong body and with thick and strong skin, if he is fasten with a pillar or a tree and if red colored poisonous aunts are thrown to him which starts biting him then what will be the plight of that person? As he is fastened, he cannot do anything. These sufferings are more tremendous than death. You will not die but you will have burning sensation and ultimately you would want to die. And for soft bodies of the babies, when worms bite them and they cannot do anything, what sort of miseries do they undergo? You want to do creation for giving these miseries to the living beings? There is no sense in doing so.”

They were thunder struck. Such a great personality has come and he is saying like this. They are small boys. What can they say? Some fortunate human beings, those who have got previous good deeds, they cry in the womb thinking, “Oh! Supreme Lord, this time when we shall be born we shall not forget you. We shall worship you. This I promise you. I cannot tolerate this.”

And after birth, they get the affection of parents and other relatives, whatever he has given words, promise, he forgets and as long as he remains in this world, he is in the mixer of happiness and sufferings. Threefold sufferings will be there; adhyatmik, adibhautik and adidaivik. Every corporal person (who has got the body) will have these sufferings.

Adhyatmik, it includes the pain and sufferings because of any disease. It is said in the scripture, sariram vyadhi mandiram — this body is the temple of sufferings (store house of sufferings)’. Now are days we see so many diseases. I have seen two persons with cancer disease; a very healthy person becomes very week. They have tremendous sufferings, they do not die easily. It is unbearable to even see their sufferings. So many diseases are there. Adhyatmik — separation grief will always be there. Because this body is temporary, either we should go early or our relatives go early. Therefore, separation is inevitable, separation from husband, separation from wife, separation from children and others. So separation grief is there from kith and kin. That is also a distress, mental agony, tremendous sufferings.

And the other suffering is adibhautik, the troubles you get from other living beings, insects, mosquitoes, flies. If you go to Sri Dham Mayapur, you will be surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes. They will come and sing the glories of Krishna! If you do not use mosquito curtain then you will have malaria fever and etc. If you go to India, you have to take mosquito curtain, compulsorily. We can supply but not possible for all. In Kolkata, you have fewer mosquitoes. In New Delhi, you will not find mosquitoes in the area where we have our Math, Pahar Gunja. But in other area, they are there, everywhere. There are birds, beasts etc. which can harm you. You can save yourself from them but now are days you cannot save yourself from your own species that is human beings. They have become more ferocious than beasts and birds. They have become hypocrites. They come to you as friends and may kill you. Sometimes you do not even know them who they are. To fulfill their political purpose, they blasts the bogies of the trains to put the government in difficulty. So much heinous crime they are doing, even beasts and birds are laughing on their acts. They kill someone for their livelihood not for anything else. Human beings have become most ferocious now are days. They have lost all judgment, discriminating power between good and bad. They are up to anything. This is adibhautik-taap, afflictions caused by other living beings.

The third is adidaivik-taap. All this committal of sins causes severe reaction such as earthquakes, inundation, infectious diseases such as plague etc. All these will come. This prakriti (nature) does not lose balance, everything gets balanced. If you commit sins then there will be reaction. Prakriti will take away. By earthquake lots of people get killed at a time. That is called affliction caused by the demigods or natural calamities. And if you remain near the dying person you will find him to be under tremendous suffering on the verge of death. They do not want to die, but they are getting tremendous suffering. Birth suffering, death suffering will be there as long as we remain. Narada Goswami continued, “And you want to be the cause their sufferings by creating more jivas. Then you will also suffer in reaction. You will also be born again and again. This is not good. Have you learnt anything? I shall take three classes in the morning, evening and night. If you get any questions you can put them.” Their father, Daksha Prajapati, was not there so they accepted the teachings of Narad Goswami.

Guru and Vaishnavas take different forms at different times. There is no difference between Bhaktivinod Thakur and Narada Goswami. In this Kaliyug, Narada Goswami has appeared as Bhaktivinod Thakur or Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Thakur. What he is saying in Bengali, it is not ordinary Bengali. These are transcendental words. Guru Maharaj made me understand in Sarbhog. I did not want to say that. Bhaktivinod’s writing is not an ordinary person's writing. Narad Goswami and Bhaktivinod Thakur are the same. What he said — durlabha mānava-janma labhiyā saḿsāre,kṛṣṇa nā bhajinu-duḥkha kahibo kāhāre. We have got this precious human birth after so many difficulties, after 80 lakhs of births, after getting so much distress and suffering. Scarce, rare birth. Uptill now I have not worshipped Krishna. For worshipping Krishna you have got this human birth. What am I doing? Only eating, sleeping, defending and mating. Beasts and birds are also doing the same thing. You are doing the same thing. Why has God given you this chance? Why has He given precious human birth? By creating human being, God is satisfied because human being can worship Him. If you don't do this, then there is no meaning of getting human birth. (If you do not utilize it properly) You will have to go to birds and beasts species, again tremendous suffering. Up till now I have not worshipped Krishna, who should I express my mental agony to? ‘saḿsār’ ‘saḿsār’ ko’re miche gelo kāl, lābha nā koilo kichu, ghaṭilo jaṣjāl — I have spoiled my whole time thinking about this worldly, earthly relations and worldly pleasures etc. By giving energy to this, I am increasing rubbish things, garbage. You are filling up the garbage. Garbage means rubbish. Janjal means rubbish. You are not getting any benefit out of this. ‘saḿsār’ ‘saḿsār’ ko’ri — any moment theses temporary relations will be finished, what will remain with you? Whatever you doing in this world will remain in this world, nothing will go with you. Only krishna-bhajan will go with you and you have no time to do bhajan. You are spoiling your time and any moment you may die. And if you die now what will go with you? You have to think. While doing something I die there, what will go with me? If I think of Seattle (the name of the city where this harikatha was spoken) then I will be born in Seattle. What you think at the time of death, like that you will be born. So it is said, ‘kiser saḿsār ei chāyābāji prāy,ihāte mamatā kori’ bṛthā dina jāy. What is worldly life? It is having non eternal relations. It is like a magic lantern. Now you have got TV. This whole world is like TV. What are we seeing in TV? This world is practical TV. By watching TV we are imbibing these ideas and increasing them in our mind to force us to remain in this world. External potency tries her best to keep everyone in her domain and does not allow anybody to go to Vaikuntha. So she attracts all and tries to keep them permanently in this world. kiser saḿsār ei chāyābāji prāy —this world is like one magic lantern show (it is shadow not real), you see from birth up to this age, so many friends you have got, so many friends you have lost. Ultimately our body will be finished here and we shall go leaving all our relation here. Can you remember anybody of your previous life? Your previous parents, relatives? You had parents as per scriptural evidence. There are 84 lakhs of births, of them, 80 lakhs other species and 4 lakhs human species. Can you say in your previous birth who was your father? (In this birth) You are thinking this is my actual relation. When you die and be born in another place, this will be effaced from your heart. Even in this life, if I ask what did you do at the age of five? Can you tell? Can you tell what have you done 10 years ago? Can you tell what have you done 1 year ago? Can you tell what did you do 7 days ago? You have forgotten of this life itself and after leaving this body when you enter in another body, how can you remember the previous life? Everything will be effaced; all these relations will be effaced. The only relation that will remain is with Supreme Lord. He is eternal and the soul is eternal. Relation with Him is eternal. He further says, saḿsār’ ‘saḿsār’ ko’re miche gelo kāl, lābha nā koilo kichu, ghaṭilo jaṣjāl—all the time is spoiled uselessly and we have not gained anything. Only we have filled up the garbage. Kiser saḿsār ei chāyābāji prāy,ihāte mamatā kori’ bṛthā dina jāy — all these non eternal relations seem to be real but they are false. By increasing our attachment to these things, our time is spoiled. E deho patana ho’le ki ro’be āmār,keho sukha nāhi dibe putra-parivār — when this body will perish, what will remain with me? Can I take this house? Can I take wife? Can I take all these things with me? I did not bring anything when I came, mutthi bandhe aaya—came with clenched fists, and I shall go leaving everything here only. Did you bring any property with you? No, nothing. You will get something and when you leave this body, haath pasare jayega — you will go with open palms. When I shall die, these relations, son, family nobody will give me peace, bliss or happiness.

Gardabher mata āmi kori pariśram, kā’r lāgi’ eto kori nā ghucilo bhram — I am working like a dunderpate, dunderhead, donkey and I do not even know for whom am I am working so hard? I am surrounded by so many illusions. I have got relation with Krishna. I have got no time to think about Krishna. Only I am thinking about my own bodily comfort and others bodily interests. It will be broken at any moment. This illusion will get broken at any moment. Nothing will go with us. We have got no time to worship Krishna. We have got time to devote to other things, unnecessary rubbish things. What is the proof that you have understood that your life is meant to worship Krishna? Can you show your proof? If you have conviction then your life will be such. Always think that any moment you may leave this world. That moment will come. When you shall perform bhajan? When? After death? Dina jāy micha kāje, niśā nidrā-baśe, nāhi bhāvi-maraṇa nikaṭe āche bo’se. During daytime, we have to do this, that, watch TV, breakfast, lunch dinner, go there, and all these programs are there. There is no connection with Supreme Lord. And whole night is spent in sleeping only. When will you perform bhajan. We do not think that death is imminent before us and after death whether we shall be born again as a human or not, there is no guarantee. You will find evidence of this in the Fifth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam in the story of Mahārāja Bharata, in which he became a deer. But we have personally seen an instance of this in in Gowalpada. The population was comprised of both Hindus and Muslims, the wealthy people coming mainly from the Muslim community. There were generally no quarrels between Hindus and Muslims and they lived peacefully side-by-side.

They had love for each other. One Hindu man had to arrange for the marriage of his daughter, but was in need of money for this. No Hindu could possibly lend him so much money, so he went to a wealthy Muslim for help. In that small town, everyone knew everyone else.

“Why have you come?” the Muslim man asked.

“I have come to borrow some money,” the Hindu man explained. “I have to arrange for my daughter’s wedding and I have no money for this. I will pay it back.”

“How much do you require?” the Muslim asked and the Hindu told him. The Muslim knew that the Hindu would never be able to pay him back, as he was very poor.

With no expectation of repayment, he said, “Your daughter will be married! Here, I shall give you the money. You are my neighbor.”

The marriage took place and no one in the village knew where the Hindu man had gotten the money. After fifteen years, the Hindu man died. The Hindu man also had a son, who, by God’s grace, managed to become a well-to-do person. One night, the man’s son had a dream.

In the dream, his father came to him and said, “You do not know the circumstances of your sister’s marriage. I borrowed money from the Muslim [whom he mentioned by name] but I was unable to pay him back, even though I gave my word. Because of this, I was born as a dog in the Muslim’s house. You must pay back the money [he told him the amount] and I shall be delivered from this birth.”

The son woke from the dream and was astonished. He thought, “My father never said anything about going to that person for money.” The Muslim was renowned throughout the village. He went to the Muslim’s house and inquired,

“Perhaps, my father at some time borrowed something from you?”

“Go, go, go!” the Muslim protested. “You should not think about this!”

“What was the amount?” the son asked.

“Why are you worried about this?” the Muslim asked. But after some persuasion, he told the son what the amount was.

Then the son asked, “Is there a dog in your house?”

“Yes,” the Muslim answered. “How do you know this?”

“May I see him?” the son asked.

The Muslim called the dog out to them. The dog, seeing his son in human form, started to weep. The son then said, “You must take this money!” He gave back the money to the Muslim, and the dog promptly died. This is fact. It is not just a story.

What is the guarantee that we shall have this human birth again? There is no guarantee. Nobody can give guarantee. There are other cases also that you may find in newspapers in India. Any moment this body may perish and then again we shall get human birth, again we shall get sadhusang, it is not so easy. Bhālo manda khāi, heri, pari, cintā-hīna, nāhi bhāvi, e deho chāḍibo kon dina. We think about what we shall take in the morning (breakfast), in lunch and all those preparations. We do not think about our eternal benefit, eternal welfare. We do not think that any moment we may lose this chance. And again there is no guarantee of getting this birth. When we have got this birth why should we lose this chance and spoil this time. Is it wise? You will get human birth the next time and then you will perform bhajan. Why? You have got it now, why are you losing this? Why in future? What for? This is foolishness. You have got human birth, you have got company of the vaishnavas, you have got Guru, everything you have got and you are losing the time. It is unwise, stupidity. Deho-geho-kalatrādi-cintā avirata, jāgiche hṛdoye mor buddhi kori’ hata. We are always thinking about our body but we cannot keep it permanently. We shall die. And we think about building a house and remain there. We also think about wife, children etc. My intelligence and wisdom has been finished. This (temporary) surrounding and non-eternal relations have finished my intelligence. I have lost everything. Hāy, hāy! nāhi bhāvi-anitya e saba,jīvana vigate kothā rohibe vaibhava. We are not thinking that all these relations are non-eternal. When my life will perish, I will have to give up all this wealth and property. I will leave this place without taking anything with me. śmaśāne śarīr mama poḍiyā rohibe, bihańga-patańga tāy bihār koribe. This beloved body will be taken to cremation grounds and it will be burnt. And all the birds and flies will move around it. Jackals and dogs get a scent of the dead body. They all will become happy thinking that they are lucky that they have this body to feast upon. Mahotsava koribe āmār deho lo’ye. je deher ei gati, tā’r anugata, saḿsār-vaibhava ār bandhu-jana jata. This body’s ultimate end is such. Ultimately it will be finished. By thinking about this body and bodily relations we have destroyed our fortune to worship Krishna. This is most unfortunate. Ataeva māyā-moha chāḍi’ buddhimān, nitya-tattva kṛṣṇa-bhakti koruna sandhān. You are infatuated by the energy of Supreme Lord. You should give up this infatuation. Start worshipping Krishna immediately.

By continuously saying this, the mentality of 10000 sons of Daksh Prajapati changed. They thought that we will not enter into worldly life. We should not marry. They all became ascetics. They did not enter into married life. Daksh Prajapati got enraged, that the sadhu has brainwashed all my sons. He tried to curse but he got afraid as he is dearest to Krishna. If he gives the curse then there would be some bad consequences. Again he created 1000 sons to carry out the order of Brahma. This time he was careful. He told them to perform penance to carry out the order of Brahma and fill up the fourteen planets. He instructed them to go to such a place where sadhu cannot come. He told, “You should not hear to anybody.” Narad Goswami got to know that 1000 sons of Daksh Prajapati have gone to such a place to perform penance. He thought let me go. This sort of sadhu is very dangerous. When they saw Narad Goswami, as they were born in a high family, they cannot disrespect a sadhu so they bowed down. Narad Goswami asked them why have they come there? They said they came to increase the creation as their father has ordered them to do so.

Narad Goswami asked, “By increasing the creation what benefit you will get?”

“We do not know what benefit we will get.”

“You will get no benefit.”

“But this is the order and we should do our duty.”

“What you understand your duty is? Come, Who are you? You are not this body. Nobody considers this body to be the person. As long there is consciousness in the body so long is the body. That is atma. It has eternal existence. You have forgotten your eternal master.”

Like that he continued to explain, “You are entangled in this world and by creating living beings, you will give troubles to others. By worshipping you will do good to your parents. Your parents will get emancipation. God will be satisfied. You can payback the debt of your parents. And if you do not worship then you cannot pay back your debts by increasing the creation by earning money and all. What you have heard from you father is wrong. Sit here and listen to me. I shall take class in the morning and evening.”

“Allright.”

They cannot ignore him as he is such an exalted person. He is a saint. So they heard him continuously. Narada Goswami asked, “Have you understood.”

“Yes.”

“What have you understood?”

“We should worship Krishna.”

“By worshipping Krishna you will be benefitted and you father and grandfather will be benefitted. Brahma will be benefitted. If you do not serve Krishna, you cannot serve anybody. Whatever you have heard from your father is wrong.”

They got converted. And they did not enter into married life. All became ascetics. They started bhajan. Daksh Prajapati became very enraged this time. Again this happened, “I cannot obey the order of my father? What is this? I curse you that you will not remain in one place.” Narada Muni said very good, “I was speaking in one place, now I shall sing the glories of Supreme Lord throughout the Brahmand.” Now do you see why Daksh Prajapati cursed like this that you cannot remain in one place, “If you remain in a place for long time, by continuously hearing from you my sons changed. Nobody was there. No worldly person was there.”

So when a bonafide sadhu comes, you should not keep him for a long time. Keep only for one or two days. Bonafide sadhu, not like me. I may remain for months together. But if a bonafide sadhu comes then it is dangerous. Keep him for only two-three days, not more than that in the year. Rest 362 days you engage in your worldly life. This is how you can have sadhusanga as well as your worldly life. If you go on taking sadhusang for a long time then everything will be disturbed. Isn’t? Sometime you may have gap of two years, then after that again for two-three days, not more than that. For that reason Daksh Prajapati cursed so, he is intelligent. He has not committed offense to Narada Goswami. Only this curse you will not remain in one place. The implication of this, you understood?