Service and Karma

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to London devotees
5 July 2015

Sometimes some service comes to you, and you are not satisfied with it, you want to do something else, but here is an example from Gurudev's times:

It happened in Dum Dum Park, Kolkata. Gurudev told one devotee, "You must always sit in front of me at my veranda." The devotee sat there for many days, but he did not do there anything. Sometimes Gurudev gave a lecture and he listened to it, but all the other time he just sat there. Eventually he got a little bit annoyed and started feeling uncomfortable.

One day another devotee came to him and said, "Why are you sitting there? You do not have any service there. Come with me, you can clean the kitchen." He agreed and went with the devotee to clean the kitchen. Five days passed and he did not come to see Gurudev for all these days. When he came to the veranda next time to pay obeisance, Gurudev asked him with folded hands,

"Prabhu, have I made any offence to you? You are not coming to see me any more..."

"No, Gurudev, I was very busy. I have been doing some service with the other devotees."

"Prabhu, you think when you sit by my side it is not service, and when you do some job with the devotees it is service... That is your misunderstanding: you do not know what is service, and what is karma. I told you to sit in front of me, then that is your service. Maybe there is no service there, but that is your service."

From that day he always sat in front of Gurudev...

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