"My Last Word"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
5 January 2020, part 3

You must practise kirtan. Actually, Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that kirtan is not a song. A song is different—a song is what all the cinema actors sing, it is 'gan'. Gan and kirtan is not the same. Mahaprabhu becomes happy through your kirtan. The kirtans we do are devotional songs. Everything is bhajan—every single thing you may be doing can be service. For example, you cook, you do as much as you can, and you make the Deities happy. The pujari only offers bhog, but those who cook take care of what is cooked, etc.—cooking service is more important than even the pujari's service.

We sometimes give service, serve prasadam to others, for example, and some think, "I do not like this person, so I will not take care of him; I like that person, and I will take care only of them." This is not good, this is not service. You must always take care of your service.

Always chant the kirtans—Guru-vandana, Vaishnav-vandana, and so on. When you do kirtans, you can practise rememberance. If you do it, I will be very happy. These are the main things for our spiritual life.

Srila Prahlad Maharaj taught about nava-vidha bhakti (nine types of devotion),

sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam,
dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam

"Hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission..."

What is atma-nivedanam? Atma-nivedanam is surrender. Surrender means you must give everything you have. You must stop thinking about other things, you must not think about your family, your brother, your wife, etc. To be surrendered means, "All I know is my Lord—I only know my Guru, I do not know anybody else. This is my last word."

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