Dedication to Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, India
29 February 2016

See your own fault. Vaishnavs are adosa-darasi: they do not see others' fault. If you think about yourself, the Lord will not think about you, but if you think about the Lord, the Lord will look after you. I say this all the time.

In this body, there are nine doors, and all kinds of bad things (stool, earwax, mucus, urine, etc.) come from these nine doors, but by the mercy of the Lord, by the mercy of Gurudev we are given a tongue to chant the Holy Name, to chant the glories of the Guru and Vaishnavs, but if we criticise others and tell bad things about others, what is then the difference between the mouth and the other gates? It becomes the same...

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that if somebody is a good speaker, they may not be a proper guru. He said so beautifully, "You can give benefit to the souls by serving them (by engaging them in service of the Lord)." "Satisfying the whims of your mind is not bhajan. Following the Guru, the Vaishnavs and serving the Guru, the Vaishnavs and satisfying them is what is called bhajan."

—Maharaj, I have a prayer to you...

What prayer?

—Could you please give me mercy at Gaura Purnima?

What mercy should I give to you? Do you want to take Harinam?

—Yes...

You should want to serve and must give up other desires...

অন্য অভিলাষ ছাড়ি, জ্ঞান কর্ম্ম পরিহরি,
কায়মনে করিব ভজন ।
সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণসেবা, না পূজিব দেবী-দেবা,
এই ভক্তি পরম কারণ ॥

anya abhilasa chhadi, jnana karma parihari
kaya-mane kariba bhajana
sadhu-sange krsna-seva, na pujiba devi-deva
ei bhakti parama karana

"The topmost process of devotional service is to worship the Lord with body and mind, giving up desires for fruitive activities and mental speculation. One should serve Lord Krsna in the association of devotees without worshipping any demigods."

(Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 13, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Kaya-mane—do you understand the meaning? You must give your body and your mind for the service to the Lord. Body and mind. If you give only your body, it will not do.

Sadhu-sange krsna-seva: you must serve in the association of sadhus and give up other desires. You must accept what is favourable to devotion and reject what is not favourable. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that if you do what is in favour of devotion and at the same time do what is not in favour of devotion, the result will be nothing. You must leave dharma (religion), artha (money), kama (material desires), and moksa (liberation)...

...When you do service, you must always think, "I do not do anything—Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan do everything." Such thinking must always come to you. If somebody says, "I am doing it," when this sometimes comes to their mind, it leads to seva aparadh. The Lord does everything through me. It is not necessary to become an acharya, it is not necessary to become a Guru, and it is not necessary to become a manager. It is those who do service that can get the Lord.

Sri Krishna vijayate sankirtana (the congregational glorification of Sri Krishna is supremely victorious). It is written in the pranam mantra of Mahaprabhu,

নমো মহাবদান্যায় কৃষ্ণপ্রেম-প্রদায় তে ।
কৃষ্ণায় কৃষ্ণচৈতন্যনাম্নে গৌরত্বিষে নমঃ ॥

namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te
krsnaya krsna-chaitanya-namne gaura-tvise namah

"Again and again I offer my obeisance unto You, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, the supremely merciful, golden form of Sri Krishna, the giver of Krishna-prema."

He is sankirtana-dhara, vadanyaya. Vadanyaya means a great donor (দাতা, data). Somebody is a donor because they give one million dollars, somebody is a donor because they give ten dollars, but Prabhupad called Mahaprabhu maha-vadanyaya—the greatest donor. Mahaprabhu did not give one million dollars. What did He give? He gave Krishna to us. He is the greatest donor. Guru can give us Krishna—this is Gurudev's mercy. We must always remember this...

— : • : —

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