Sri Krishna Janmastami:
Service Festival

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in the Philippines
22 August 2011, part 1

Today is a very auspicious day, a very good day for our spiritual life—Sri Krishna Janmastami maha-mahotsav. Krishna appeared in Dvapar-yuga in Mathura and after that Vasudev took Him to the house of Nanda Maharaj and Yasoda Mayi. We actually consider Krishna a son of Nanda Maharaj and Yasoda. They are very fortunate—they got the Lord as their son. Mother Yasoda beats Him, chastises Him, Nanda Maharaj also chastises Him with so much affection. They are very fortunate.

If we invite Krishna, Krishna will not come to us, but if we invite Yasoda Ma (Mother Yasoda), she will bring Lord Krishna to you—it is not necessary to invite Lord Krishna separately. That is why we always pray and serve to Lord Krishna's devotees—Yasoda Ma, Radharani, Nanda Maharaj and others. If we serve Yasoda Ma, then we can easily get mercy from Krishna. Then, you can easily understand that we should actually be more affectionate with Nanda Maharaj and Yasoda.

How did Srila Sridhar Maharaj please his Guru Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur? He wrote a poem about Srila Prabhupad's father Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur (Bhaktivinod-viraha-dasakam), and he pleased Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur in this way. So, if you pleased your Guru, if you please Krishna's devotees, Krishna will be even more pleased. Also, Gurudev told me, "If you love me, you must love my dog. It is not necessary to love me directly."

For example, suppose you invite a big man, a big minister or judge to your house and while he is at your house you do not give proper respect or nourishment to his driver. When the judge goes back in that same car, he will ask his driver, "Did you get any food at that house? Did the people who invite me give you anything?" and the driver will say, "No, they did not give me so much nourishment." Then, no matter how much nourishment you may give to the judge, he will not be happy because you do not give nourishment to his driver or his servant. This is how we must be. If you want your Guru to be pleased, you must please his servant.

If you want to please Krishna—if you want to have love and affection to Krishna—you must first have love and affection for Radharani, for Nanda Maharaj, Mother Yasoda, and so on. If you have love for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you must love Nityananda Prabhu. You cannot have love and affection for Gauranga Mahaprabhu only—no, you must love Nityananda Prabhu as well, otherwise Gauranga Mahaprabhu will not be happy. In the same way, if you do not have love and affection for Sachi Mata, Jagannath Misra, Mahaprabhu not will be happy.

So, if you want to make Krishna happy, you must make Nanda Maharaj, Mother Yasoda happy. We want to make Nanda Maharaj happy, that is why we make a festival for him—Nanda Maharaj's maha-mahotsav. Tomorrow is actually the main day—today we are fasting for the Lord, but tomorrow we are making a festival for Nanda Maharaj. What for? To please Nanda Maharaj, Yasoda Mayi. In this way we have to do that. In this way we have to please them.

Krishna always plays and always gives so much anxiety to Mother Yasoda—Mother Yasoda is always worried about Krishna; so, if you all give much nourishment to Mother Yasoda, Krishna will be very happy.

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