Jagannath Misra's Festival:
Serving and Honouring Devotees (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
13 March 2017, Sri Nabadwip Dham
Jagannath Misra's ananda-mahotsav,
Vishva-Vaishnava-raja Sabha, part 1

We are very happy today because we are going to celebrate the festival of Jagannath Misra's ananda-mahotsav. Today we are also making a special festival for our best friend Sripad Yudhamanyu Prabhu Seva Vikram.

He left us so suddenly, and that is very sad news for us.

দুঃখ-মধ্যে কোন্ দুঃখ হয় গুরুতব ? ।
কৃষ্ণভক্ত-বিরহ বিনা দুঃখ নাহি দেখি পর ॥

'duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?'
'krsna-bhakta-viraha vina duhkha nahi dekhi para'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, Madhya-lila, 8.247)

"When a devotee leaves us, that is very sad." Mahaprabhu also said, "Haridasa vina sunya haila medini: without Haridas, this world has come to a zero position (this world has become void)."

In Yudhamanyu Prabhu's absence, we can feel this. But what can I do? It is not in our hands. Krishna took him to His own place because He needed him there—maybe Gurudev took him to another place because he needed help there, and he left this place for this reason...

Today is also Jagannath Misra's ananda-mahotsav. When I started the Ekachakra temple, Gurudev told me, "If you want to start the Ekachakra temple, first make a guest house. Name it Sri Hadai Pandi Padmavati Smriti Kunja." If we do not serve Hadai Pandit and Padmavati, we cannot get the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu.

Jagannath Misra and Sachi Mata are very fortunate—they have got Lord Gauranga as their son, and they beat Him, they chastised Him. Who has that kind of power? Do you have the power to chastise the Lord? No, but Jagannath Misra and Sachi Mata have the power to chastise Nimai (Vishvambhar). If you invite Nimai (Gaura Hari), He will not come, but if you invite Jagannath Misra and Sachi Mata, then Sachi Mata will bring Nimai (Vishvambhar). That is why you must serve the devotees first—devotees can give you Krishna. If you do not serve the devotees, then you will not get devotees' mercy.

You know that if you make an offence to the Lord, only Vaishnav can remove your offence, but if you make an offence to a Vaishnav, who in this world will remove your offence? Who will rescue you from your offence?

Once, in Gurudev's time, I was giving a lecture in Ekachakra (at that time there was no temple yet so we made a festival in the field) and said that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj himself wrote the sloka "Gurvvabhista-supurakam" about his disciple, and one devotee (an old sannaysi) stood up on the stage and in front of many thousands of people said, "No, it is a lie!" He took the microphone from me. Later, I asked Gurudev what the truth was, and Gurudev said, "Yes, my Guru Maharaj wrote my pranam-mantra." Gurudev called that sannyasi and said to him, "You must read the nama-aparadh (offences of the Holy Name) and the Harinam-mahatmya properly."

You may be chanting, but it can be nothing. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that you may be giving a lecture, you may be a great speaker but being a great speaker does not give you the qualification to become a guru. Being a great speaker is not the quality of a proper Guru. These are different thing. It is necessary to understand this.

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