Passage 10

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In plain words

The anxiety one has on earth over supporting sons and friends, over trade and talk, the anxiety that always arises over wealth, grain, pleasures, fame and gain: if that anxiety were given on earth, for a moment, to the lotus feet of Nanda's son, what anxiety would there be over the journey to the door of Yamarāja's dread house, O Lord?

However much anxiety a man gives to wealth, grain, pleasures and fame, however much anxiety a man gives to supporting sons and friends and to trade, if in that time he thinks for a moment on the feet of Nanda's son, he is saved from the journey he would have to make to the doors of dread Yama. So this Ānandagiri also taught that for one who has come to know Bhakti for God, or the essence that lies in Viṣṇutva, there is no room for any fear, any anxiety or any sorrow. In this Kali age, people who cannot recognise the value of time are on the increase. The reason is this: for the sake of what is impermanent, what is Asatya, for the sake of worldly ties that are Asatya, they devote all their time and their body, and come to nothing. So whenever they mean to do any small sacred deed, they find no time for it. But in impure pursuits they spend their lives for days on end, weeks on end, months on end. A small example. If any satsaṅga like this is held and you ask, ‘Sir, can you join a satsaṅga for half an hour?’, they say there is no time for half an hour; but they go into clubs and play cards from six o'clock till three in the early morning, and not even sleep comes to them. Not only that: if you say, ‘Sir, do the abhiṣeka of the small sālagrāma in the house with one spoon of water,’ they say, ‘No time.’ But they set about washing and washing buffaloes thoroughly, to make them clean. Such is this fellow's fate. So there is no will at all for good deeds. In bad deeds, great enthusiasm and energy keep arising. That is precisely why I said the other day too: