Service Foundation

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in Ukraine
July 2015, part 1

When I heard that you wanted to have a class, I could not avoid it—I immediately agreed. I am always available for the devotees, I am always at your service, and I am always happy when you engage me in service. If anybody has some spiritual questions, they can ask me...

Question: This week there is a very big festival, and many devotees would like to participate somehow. We would like to ask you for some advice, or instructions.

Many devotees will come there and you can give a class, you can give some good prasadam to them. Give them nourishment—jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnav seva. Serve the devotees, give them some advice about Krishna consciousness. Also, many new people will come to the festival—you can engage them in service, you can help them get spiritual benefit. These are the main things.

Why are you making a festival? Making a festival means you are inviting many people and you are giving them some prasadam, engaging them in Krishna consciousness—it means practising Krishna consciousness.

Question: I have some particular service, but after some time I feel this service is going away. Should I see it as Krishna's will or maybe something else?

You do not need to understand it. If you actually follow your Gurudev's instruction and practise properly, then if you can ask your heart you will easily understand whether you are happy or not. It does not matter where you are—if you fulfil Gurudev's desire, fulfil devotees' desire, you will be happy.

Question: How can we understand whether this happiness is genuine and not just some sentimental fantasies of our mind? How can we know we actually have some right feeling?

What is the right thing? The mind is always naughty, do not follow it. You must follow the instruction from your Guru, then you can feel satisfied. Do not try to think with your mind, "Am I doing right or wrong?" That is not a question. You must have full chastity and strongest faith in your Guru, then you can easily understand whether what you are doing is right or wrong.

Question: In addition to the programs that we have regularly, we are also trying to preserve some temple standards of our Math. We are trying to chant bhajans and invite guests...

Yes, it is important to have an arati, bhajans, kirtan, offer the bhog. These all are very important for our spiritual life.

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.

Saranagati, 31.6, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

Each of you should do this in your own house too. Make an altar at your home and practise like this every day—it is necessary. You may not be able to come every day to the centre, but you are staying in the family life in a house, and you can maintain this kind of standard there every day. It is good for you.

What do householder devotees do? Householder devotees can practise everything individually at their homes and come to the programme at the centre every Sunday. You eat every day, you go to the toilet every day, and you must practise every day too! You must give an offering to the Lord, the Deities, to your Guru every day. Do not eat anything without offering it—that is not prasad! We must offer bhog to our Guru every day, and take prasad every day.

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