Success, Attachment, Fearlessness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
speaking to the devotees of Veracruz, Mexico,
2 December 2014

Maya Devi always takes our time to engage us for herself. Success in spiritual life depends upon the devotee—how many percent can you give to your Guru, to the Lord? If you can give only 50%, you cannot hope to get more than 50% from Krishna—if you give 50%, you will get 50%, not more than that. Life is like that...

Our devotional activities must be in favour of the Lord, in favour of Gurudev. That is the main things. Whatever we do, it must be always in favour of devotion. Must be. In this way you can succeed in your spiritual life. Otherwise, we may try, and try, and try, but we will not succeed.

আত্মেন্দ্রিয়-বাঞ্চা কৃষ্ণের সুখে কৃষ্ণের প্রীতিতে ভোগ ত্যাগ, atmedriya-vancha Krsner sukhe, Krsner pritite bhog tyag: we have no right to engage or use this property (senses, mind, etc.) for ourselves. Actually, we have no right to either exploit or renounce it (bhoger adhikar nai, tyager adhikar nai, ভোগের অধিকার নাই, ত্যাগের অধিকারই নাই), but you can do anything for the happiness of the Lord, for the happiness of your Guru.

Indian prime-minister now wants to stop the family tradition of inheriting governmental posts. India has been running with the family tradition for the past 60 years: if you are the PM, your son will be the next PM, and after that your grandson will be the PM. Our line is not like that. We are not sahajiya—we follow Srila Rupa Goswami's conception. Sahajiya gurus say that if somebody is a guru, their son will be the next guru, and then their grandson will be the guru—the power is inherited by their own family. We cannot do that.

I was surprised to see how much attachment Gurudev has to the Lord, to the Guru, and to Krishna, and how renounced he is from his family—three days before his disappearance, Gurudev asked me, "Do you remember that the Govardhan land is my name?"

"Yes, I know that. I remember."

"Are you foolish? Why are you not handing that land over to the Math? Why are you not making the papers?"

I made the papers and he signed them. Otherwise, if this land had remained in his own name, then even though he is a sannyasi, his family could have made some problem. In this way, we can understand how much attachment Gurudev has to his temple, to the service to his Guru, and how detached he is from his family members.

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ॥
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me.'

Saranagati, 1

We must keep the faith that Krishna will maintain, Krishna will protect us. When attachment to service, attachment to Krishna comes, day by day you will get more and more joy, pleasure.

It is very close to Gurudev's appearance day. Everybody is saying, "Gurudev, Gurudev," but how many percent are following Gurudev's instruction?

Gurudev's last word was, "Do not see his fault, love him." I do not know how many percent of the devotees follow Gurudev's instruction... What Gurudev told me, I do that. I did not run away. He told me, "Look after my temple, my Deities, and the devotees." I cannot go to foreign countries, but from time to time I send Sripad Tyagi Maharaj to give nourishment to the devotees, and I think he is successful by the mercy of Gurudev. What works I am doing, he is doing it on behalf of me, I think so and I see it also.

Gurudev also told me one abhay vani [অভয় বাণী, encouragement, lit. a message that makes one fearless], "Do not be hopeless—when one door closes, another door opens..."

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