Tend to Your Foundation

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking to the devotees in London
7 August, 2011, part 7

Question: Do you have any message for the South African temple?

Yes, there are two centres in South Africa, in Durban and Johannesburg. I told the devotees there that they can maintain two centres in their country, and when I go to preach to that area, I will come to South Africa, Mauritius, Turkey, etc. We will come as soon as possible.

There are many devotees in South Africa. Gurudev liked Shyamali Didi—I saw that when Gurudev was very sick, he was remembering her at that time, saying, "Shyamali did so much service for me when I was in South Africa..." Actually, there are so many devotees in South Africa, but there is some small problem—the strongest faith is a problem there...

It is necessary to have the strongest faith. The devotees are going on, but their platform is not so strong. It is necessary to make a strong platform, a strong platform of Chaitanya Saraswat Math. It comes through faith, through the strongest faith. You must have sudrdha, drdha sraddha: one devotee is sufficient—if just one devotee has the strongest faith, they can rescue everybody else.

I hope and send a message to them all: please follow Srila Sridhar Maharaj's instruction, follow Gurudev's instruction. They must follow it. As I was saying earlier, they must stay in the boat where Gurudev is the captain. It is not necessary to jump into another boat to take a shortcut—another boat will not go to the the proper place, it will take you to a wrong place.

Have the strongest faith; through the strongest faith make the strongest platform; with that platform make a good boat, and stay in that boat of Gurudev. Take Gurudev's boat. I have not gone to South Africa, but when Gurudev came there, he did not come there for his own benefit—he came to South Africa to rescue the devotees, and he will rescue those who got a little bit from him—they will go to their own (to Gurudev's) place. Gurudev is waiting for them. But if somebody takes another boat, that boat will not take them to that place...

Question: How do we get this strong platform?

Through practising. Through Gurudev's scripture. Through the preaching movement.

Make a strong platform through faith:

'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)

It is necessary to have the strongest faith. When you have the strongest faith, your platform will be good. If you use good cement, the concrete will be very hard, but if you use duplicate cement (bad quality cement), then the concrete platform will be loose and the building will break. If you want to have a good platform, you must use good, strong cement, and we have that—Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave us strong food, strong conception, and Gurudev also gave us a strong movement, a strong consciousness. We must read it, and we must follow it, then we will have a strong platform. Do you understand it?

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!
Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!
All the assembled devotees ki jay!
Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta vrnda ki jay!
All the worldwide devotees ki jay!
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay!
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta vrnda ki jay!
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Hari bol!

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