Goloka Is Service Land

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham
28 February 2012

যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি ।
গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায় ॥

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi
grhete goloka bhaya

On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there.

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote this. Where is Goloka Vrindavan? In your house. How is it possible to be in your house? It is possible if you worship the Lord every day, if you serve the Lord every day and take prasadam of the Lord at home. You must offer what you eat to your Guru, that is service. Cook something and give it to your Guru. Do you not cook anything at home? Of course you do.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita is our first, primary book. There, Sri Krishna explained everything to Arjuna. He told him, "Do this, do this, do that," and finally He said,

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

"Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

"Durga puja, Kali puja, Laksmi puja, Ganesh puja, Siva puja, this puja, that puja—whatever I have told you before, give it all up and take refuge in Me; whatever sin you may have, I will take all that." Did Krishna not say it? He said, "You have a debt to your forefathers, your mother, demigods, saints and sages, and I am taking responsibility for all your debts!" You must believe it. Krishna says, "I will take all your burden," and when Krishna takes all my burden, then I can think only of Krishna, what is the problem?

Your family is Krishna's family, so why will you worry about your family? When you cook, you cook for Govinda, for Krishna, so Krishna will manage your family—whatever you need for your family (money, food, potato, spices, water, oil, salt, etc.), Govinda will arrange everything. If, on the other hand, you cook for yourself, why will Krishna manage your family? You are not cooking for Him. If your wife cooks for you, then why will Krishna provide anything for you? If you go to work and think, "I work for my own food and clothes," then why will Govinda arrange money for you? This is actually false ego. "Asatyere satya kari mani (অসত্যেরে সত্য করি' মানি). I take untruth as truth." When the Lord provides, there is not any need, everything is there. Always remember this, OK?

When you stay at home, chant the Holy Name; when come here, you must also chant otherwise when this life is gone, the Lord will take your mouth away—you can be sent to a cow's body, a dog's body, cat's body, then you will not be able to chant the Holy Name.

ভজিব বলিয়া এসে সংসার-ভিতরে ।
ভুলিয়া রহিলে তুমি অবিদ্যার ভরে ॥

bhajibo boliya ese samsara-bhitare
bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare

"You came into this world saying, 'O Lord, I will serve You', but, having forgotten this promise, you have remained in ignorance."

('Jiva Jago Jiva Jago' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You made a promise to the Lord! We sing this kirtan every day. When we were in the mother's womb for nine-ten months (you, I—we all were there, were we not?), we promised to the Lord, "I will serve You," but we forget it. Why? Because we fall into the bondage of the illusory environment, fall into the net of illusory world and we forgot everything. How can you get out of a net while being in the net? You cannot, but if somebody comes and cuts the net, then you can get out. If Maya Devi gives her mercy and opens her net, we will at once be able to see chinmoy dham, transcendental abode.

In the meantime, what is your duty? It is said in the scriptures,

আদৌশ্রদ্ধা ততঃ সাধুসঙ্গোঽথ ভজনক্রিয়া ।
ততোঽনর্থনিবৃত্তিঃ স্যাৎ ততো নিষ্ঠা রুচিস্ততঃ ॥
অথাসক্তিস্ততো ভাবস্ততঃ প্রেমাভ্যুদঞ্চতি ।
সাধকানাময়ং প্রেম্ণঃ প্রাদুর্ভাবে ভবেৎ ক্রমঃ ॥

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya
tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah
athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati
sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning there is faith, then good association, then practising life. After that, the offences gradually go away, faith becomes stronger, taste comes, then attachment, then there arises affection and love. This is how love to God comes to those who practise Krishna consciousness."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.4.15-16)

How does devotion come? First is sraddha, faith. We invite thousands and thousands of people to come for Gaura Purnima, and you can see that only those who are fortunate, who have sukriti, come here. Do you know what sukriti means? Sukriti means the fortune that comes from the service to the Lord. You have some flowers growing in your garden, and somebody else also has some flowers growing in their garden, but are all flowers used for the service of the Lord? (Devotees: No.) Do all people use milk for Govinda? (Devotees: No.) You can take some milk and make sweet rice for Govinda; you can give a handful of rice for the service of Govinda, then the cow or the rice plant does some service to Govinda. Is it not so? Even the soil wants to serve the Lord.

একলা ঈশ্বে কৃষ্ণ, আর সব ভৃত্য ।
যারে যৈছে নাচায়, সে তৈছে করে নৃত্য ॥

ekala isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya
yare yaiche nachaya, se taichhe kare nrtya

"Lord Krishna alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 5.142)

Everybody wants to serve the Lord, including all demigods (Kali, Laksmi, Durga, Ganesh, and others). Not everybody can, but a devotee can use everybody in service of the Lord, even the soil. Is the soil not a demigod? The soil is Kurmadev, and even the soil wants to serve Govinda. Sun God, Moon God, Water God—there are so many demigods, can you serve them all? You cannot, but if you give a handful of rice for Govinda's service, then it becomes possible. Can you not use everything for Govinda's service? You can use soil, water, flowers, trees, etc.

In this way, a soul can get sukriti, and on the strength of this sukriti the soul gets sraddha, faith. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari." (শ্রদ্ধা-অনুসারী ভক্তি-অধিকারী, Cc, 2.22.64): the kind of devotion you get depends on the kind of faith you have: the more faith you have, the more devotion you get. Suppose you got to the market. There is potato for 7 Rs a kilo, and there is potato for 20 Rs a kilo—if you get the 7 Rs potato, when you peel it, you will see you get more peel than potato...

To get devotion you do not have to pay any money. Money cannot buy devotion—you must pay for devotion with faith, this is the price. If it is emotion it means you do something when there is emotion, and when there is no emotion you do not do anything. This is not devotion. Somebody can cry out of emotion, but then their emotion finishes and the tears finish, but when somebody cries out of devotion, they do not want to cry but they cry...

This is your medicine, if you do not listen to this medicine, then,

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

Who will you blame, tell me? You yourself are your friend, and you yourself are your enemy.

We have got his human body by a great fortune—what have we got it for? To chant the Name of Govinda, to do service of Govinda. I never told you that you must leave your family—I am telling you that you can turn your family life into Vrindavan. How? Wake up early in the morning, do the arati, practise and do service. Have you seen how we do the arati here? You can take a photo of the Deities with you and do arati at your house. You may not have all paraphernalia—you may not have the chamar, the peacock fan, etc. but do you not have flowers? You can give some flowers to the lotus feet of Govinda, you can give some Ganges water to the lotus feet of Govinda, can you not? Then?

You can plant Tulasi. Do you need money to plant Tulasi and give some Tulasi leaves to the lotus feet of Govinda? (Devotees: No.) Do you need money to do Tulasi parikrama? (Devotees: No.) You think that to do parikrama you must have a fancy beautiful temple, and if you have just a plant in the soil you cannot do parikrama, but it is not so. Whether you do parikrama around a temple or just a Tulasi in soil, the result is the same! Remember it. The result is the same! "Bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama (ভক্তের হৃদয়ে সদা গোবিন্দ-বিশ্রাম)" The Lord stays where there is service to the Lord. The Lord does not need a four-five storey house, does He? (Devotees: No.)

Do you understand what I am saying? When you return home, follow this, this is your medicine. If you do not take the medicine, the disease will not be cured. If you only say, "Gurudev, Gurudev, mercy, mercy," and only sit and chant, it will not do. You must always do service, you must engage in bhajan, and bhajan means seva (service). This is what you must do all the time.

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