Temple Management Scheme (2)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking to the devotees in Australia
14 August, 2011, part 3

You must think about it: we have 24 hours, how many hours do we work for our own self and how many hours do we work for our Guru, for the Mission and the Lord, Mahaprabhu? It is necessary to practise. You can read about the practising process in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

We have got some sukriti, but we are losing it... Sraddha (faith) comes from sukriti, but if I do not practise properly, I will lose my faith, and if I lose faith in my Guru, it is not my Guru's fault—it is my fault. You must understand this. That is why everybody must continue spiritual life, everybody must practise. That is our life. You are not maintaining yourself. Somebody can say, "Oh, I am weak, I cannot do that," but you do not do anything—Gurudev engages you to serve the Lord. Try to understand it.

Make a small local committee there and serve properly under a guardian. We are not masters, we are all servants of the Guru. If somebody thinks, "I am the master! I am the temple president!" No, you are not! It is not our quality. If somebody thinks, "I am the secretary," "I am a senior devotee," "I am Sridhar Maharaj's disciple," "I am Gurudev's disciple," "I am Prabhupad's disciple"—that is their ego, and that ego eats everything. Somebody thinks they know everything, they understand everything, they know very much, but it is their fault—it means they lack practising and it means their foundation is very poor and weak. It is necessary to understand this.

That is why I am telling to you all—make a small committee, keep proper accounts, proper receipts, then no one can make problems. Maintain everything properly, maintain proper management. I am praying to everybody that you do it. Gather together like now, sit together, chant. Gather all together once a week, and if some householder devotees cannot come, you can tell them what I am saying, you can distribute my lecture.

Make this committee, make receipt books. You can keep aside at least half an hour salary per day for your Mission. I am not asking for any money from Australia, I am not asking for anything, what I tell to everybody is please do in this way, please make Gurudev's Mission.

Gurudev wanted a temple in Govinda Dham, that is why in his last days he sent me (for the first time and for the last time) to Australia. He made me the acharya and then sent to Australia to expand the temple there. I do not want to be a king, I want to make a king—I do not want to be a Guru, I want to make a Guru. I want to make a leader there, but I cannot keep water in a pot that has a hole. Please understand this. I am telling it very clearly, and I know what I am saying is very heavy.

Make a group of senior devotees who will act as an advisory board and make a group of younger devotees who will be the management committee. Some ladies can keep accounts for the committee...

I am praying to everybody: make this Mission and maintain it properly. Do not think, "Oh, it is A's Mission, he will do it", or "It is B's Mission, he will do it" It is not! It is not anybody's Mission—it is Gurudev's Mission, and we must all work together. If somebody is not happy, what can I do? My position is always, "If somebody criticises me, if somebody says bad things about me, I have no objection"—I always pray to Gurudev, "Please give some good mind, good and clean heart to them." If somebody is wearing black spectacles, they will see black, if somebody is wearing white spectacles, they will see white, and if somebody is wearing blue spectacles, they will see blue—they cannot see white.

This is my prayer to everybody, please try to understand it...

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