Protect the Mission, Protect Yourself

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, India
24 July 2013

...Actually, they took initiation from Gurudev, but it is not enough to only take initiation. Initiation means

দীক্ষাকালে ভক্ত করে আত্মসমর্পণ ।
সেইকালে কৃষ্ণ তারে করে আত্মসম ॥

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana
sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

"At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts them as His very own."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192)

Initiation (diksa) means you surrender to Gurudev, it means atma-samarpan, surrender. But what they are doing is not surrendered mood. I am saying it very strongly—it is not surrendered mood. It is like you are saying, "My father is very nice, my father is very nice," but you are not giving food to your father. This is not surrender. Your father is hungry and you are giving him a garland. Gurudev said, "I am very hungry now, and you are giving me a garland?! What is this? Shall I eat the garland now?"

They do not worship the Deities properly, they do not do their service properly, they are not protecting their Mission. It is dangerous to say it but I am very sad about it. Devotees are hiding—they go to family life and enjoying so much with their family life. How long are they going to do this? This is not the real initiation. You only come to Gurudev, take a prescription from him but you are not taking the medicine. What is the medicine? The medicine is service. Gurudev said, "If you have service, you have mercy; if you have no service, you have no mercy."

I see how many people are serving now. They serve from far, but this is not right. You must come, you must join the programmes, you must arrange a class, you have so many senior devotees there, so many devotees are there. You think, "I can worship my Guru in my room," but this is not our line, this is not Prabhupad's line. This is not what Gurudev left you here for. What did Gurudev leave you here for? So that you can tell about Gurudev and his mission everywhere. It is prachar, preaching. Preaching is necessary. Jive daya (giving mercy to the souls) is necessary.

If you only sit in your room—if you work all day and sleep all night; if you only sleep and eat, as Gurudev said, this is a "pocha grihastha's" life (পচা গৃহস্থ, rotten householder's life). It is necessary to come to the Mission, protect the Mission—protect Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. You must not have ego thinking, "Oh, I cannot become the manager!" Gurudev says that if you want to reach your destination, if you want to be a good devotee, it is not necessary to be a manager, it is not necessary to be an acharya, it is not necessary to take a big position in the temple—you may have no position in the temple, but you can do service. Everybody is welcome to serve there. What is the need to have ego? Ego takes you away from service. It is very difficult for us, and for everybody also.

You must cry to Nityananda Prabhu:

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

"When will Nityananda give mercy? When will my material desires be removed from my heart?"

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া ।
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ॥

kabe nityananda more kari' daya
chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"Material illusory environment is attacking me, all these things are attacking me—when will it be removed from my heart?" You must all pray to Nityananda Prabhu and I am also praying for that. We must come, we must join the mission.

Also I am thinking that most people do not take prasadam... It is said,

প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয়
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Prapancha means pancha jiva himsa (five kinds of violence). How will this prapancha finish if you do not take prasadam—if you only eat outside or cook for yourself? Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita says, "If you cook for yourself, you are eating the things stolen from Me, but if you cook for Me, then that food is not stolen. If you take prasadam, all kinds of sins will be removed."

I think most of the devotees do not do this—they do not practise properly, with full consciousness. Gurudev's last word is wherever you live, you must maintain your spiritual life, your practitioner's life, but I doubt that everybody is following it. We must follow Gurudev's instruction. We must join the mission and practise properly. Take devotees' association, sometimes make some sankirtan, that is good for you.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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