Spiritual Management

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in London
31 July 2011, part 1

I am very happy today. Yesterday was a festival [of Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's disappearance] in Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Nabadwip and all over the world also. I heard that there was a good festival in London, Venezuela, and other countries all over the world. They also made a festival in Russia. The festivals in Nabadwip and Dum Dum Park were good, and I was very happy to hear that.

It was a very auspicious day in our life. I also listened to the previous years' programmes, kirtans, listened to some lecture Guru Maharaj [Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj] gave on that day, etc. You know that this is actually our life—sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission). Sravan and kirtan (hearing and chanting) is our life, our practising life.

Gurudev said that you can live anywhere in this world, it may be a forest, a jungle, or some house, it does not matter—you can still continue your practising life, your Krishna consciousness life. That is good for you. Those who are intelligent, who have some faith in the Lord, faith in Mahaprabhu, faith in the Guru, they can easily understand this. Even a non-devotee also—if they do not know any Krishna consciousness but they have some faith in God, they can understand that this is spiritual life. That is the main thing. Faith, strongest faith, is necessary in our life. There are four kinds of faith—kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, drdha-sraddha, sudrdha-sraddha (delicate faith, fickle faith, strong faith, strongest faith). It is necessary to have sudrdha-sraddha (strongest faith) and drdha-sraddha (strong faith) in our life, then we can easily understand this.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

Service to the Lord, service to our Guru are the main thing for us, and I would like to tell some things today specially for the London devotees.

Actually, our Gurudev (Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) made temples in many places, but Chaitanya Saraswat Math and this London temple was made by our Param Guru Maharaj, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Before, Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also wanted to make a temple here in London, and his desire was fulfilled by Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Later on, in Gurudev's time, everything became established there.

All devotees there in London are very good, they all want to serve. Actually, everybody does not have all qualifications. Gurudev said to me once, "You cannot always get all-rounders, people who know everything, but you must try—you must engage everybody." That is our tradition. In Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time also, somebody said about a new person who had just come to the temple, "Oh, he does not know anything!" but Prabhupad said, "It is you who does not have any qualification! You cannot engage to him to serve the Lord—it is not his fault, it is your fault." So, it is our fault that we cannot engage everybody to serve Chaitanya Saraswat Math, I actually think it is my own fault. We must look for our own fault, we do not see others' fault.

We must think that Chaitanya Saraswat Math in London is one room, one house of Nabadwip. We know that the temple had been sold two times, etc., so we must be careful. Gurudev said about me in Bengali that I do not sell anything, I always buy everything—he said I was not a seller, I was a buyer. Gurudev made this temple, whether it is small or big is not the question. It is a small temple, but it is a remembrance of Gurudev, it is the sriti, memory, of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's and Gurudev's time, and it is a good temple—Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar (Guru Gauranga Radha Shyamasundar) are there, a brahmachari is serving in that temple, I am very happy with that.

Sometimes some devotee does not like somebody, or maybe somebody does not like me, I do not have any problem with that. Gurudev said to me, and my feeling is also the same, "Somebody can leave me, but I do not want to leave them." Somebody may not like me, it is not a question for me, but I like them. Gurudev told me, "Somebody may not like you, but you must like them—you must engage them." This is our service mood. We must engage everybody in service to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. That is our main thing. I do not like somebody, he does not like somebody—it is not a question, we must engage everybody. Chaitanya Saraswat Math is Gurudev's property, Guru Maharaj's property, and we must serve that Chaitanya Saraswat Math together, that is our main thing. It is not somebody's personal property, somebody's things, or somebody's Math. It is not...

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