Paupers and Misers

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, 27 February 2015

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that wherever you stay your duty is to do everything for the service to the Lord.

Once, in Kolkata, Sripad Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj was sent house to house to collect, and suddenly he found himself in a very bad place, a prostitutes' quarter. He was very sad and shy. He was crying, "O Krishna, O Prabhupad, where, what place you have brought me to! I will go to hell..." Then, thinking, "What am I to do now?" he held his uttariya in front and went collecting in that quarter. He got some donation, one-two rupee each place, and he brought that money to Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He cried,

"Prabhupad, today I made a very big mistake... I did wrong, maybe I will go to hell now..."

"What happened? Why are you crying? What place did you go to?!"

He told Prabhupad where he had been to, and Prabhupad replied,

"But what is the problem? I brought you here, made you a sannyasi or a brahmachari, and now I am sending you to the householder people to rescue them from the same position you were in before. If you are doing wrong, it means I am also doing wrong. Do you think I am doing wrong?"

"No, Prabhupad... Now I am happy."

Then you think what condition we were in before, but Guru Maharaj, Gurudev are so powerful, they brought us here and use us now for service. Haridas Thakur also said (humbly referring to his mlechha background), "Who am I? You are giving me so much Vaishnavs' prasadam, that is my great fortune."

What Guru Maharaj and Gurudev gave us is sufficient for us. We are happy and do not want more than that, but it will be good if we continue preaching Krishna consciousness following this line. How much can one do alone? If you help preach and spread Krishna consciousness movement, it is very good. This is very important.

Preaching is necessary, but preaching for whom? Preaching for the Guru. Once, Gurudev told me, Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj went to London and after the trip he wrote a book My First Year in England. He wanted to present the book to Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur on his appearance day, but when Prabhupad saw the name, he did not even touch the book. Later, Prabhupad asked, "Who is Bon preaching for?"

So, we are preaching, but preaching for whom? For myself? Preaching what? Our own things? No, we must preach for our Gurudev, that is vital for our spiritual life—if we preach for our Gurudev, Gurudev will be happy, everyone will be happy, and everything will be a success. It is a simple matter and we can understand it easily.

We must follow what is necessary and beneficial for our practising life. If, however, you do not practise properly yourself and tell others to practise, your preaching will not work: if I do not chant the Holy Name and give the mantra to others, that mantra will not work; if I do not chant gayatri and give gayatri to others, that gayatri will also not work. You must practise yourself first.

নিজে আচারি' ধর্ম্ম জীবকে শিখায়
আচার পর্রচার নামের লইনু কার্য

nije achari dharma jivke sikhaya
achara prachara namera lainu karya

Practise yourself and teach the right path to the souls. Your chanting of the Holy Name will be effective when you practise yourself and preach.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj says that you read books and you have some knowledge, you have some property, jnana-, vidya-sara, and you must distribute it, otherwise you will become a mango tree on a hill: you will be full of mango fruit, but nobody will pick it, not even a crow... So, distribute what you have to other devotees, to the conditioned souls. You will give to others, you will preach, and you will not lose anything, instead you will get more and more. If you can do it, it will be good for you.

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