Priority In Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
22 February 2018, Kolkata, part 2

Actually, in the service of Gauranga Mahaprabhu so many obstacle will come in our practising life, so many obstacles will come in our spiritual life, but you see that we do not lose anything.

Sometimes, I have some problem with my mind—I become sad because I cannot go to Nabadwip (I go to Nabadwip, but not to the temple), but then by the mercy of Gurudev I am thinking—this thought comes to my mind—how many temples did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu make? Not even one. He did not make so many temples. He stayed without a house—He started the kirtan movement without anything. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was also like that—later, he made many temples for preaching, he made brahmacharis, sannyasis, etc. We also started in this way, but some people forget it and they cannot realise that jealous mood can destroy everything in our spiritual life. Jealousy is very bad, it can destroy everything.

We are trying day by day, heart and soul... No matter how much we have to tolerate, we are still carrying on.

We sing in a song,

সকল সহনে বল দিয়া কর
নিজমানে স্পৃহাহীন ॥

sakala sahane bala diya kara
nija-mane sprha-hina

"Gurudev, give us such kind of power so that we can tolerate everything, so that we can give respect to others." Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "Nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari—I am not afraid to commit sin for my own interest, for my own enjoyment." That is our nature, but when we are going to do something spiritual, we are always afraid...

This is happening not only at present time, it was happening in Dvapar-yuga also, and it is going on now in Kali-yuga also. In Dvapar-yuga, Rukmini, Satyabhama, even Narad Muni, Lord Siva, Brahma—they were all afraid to give their footdust for Krishna because they were thinking about themselves (they thought giving their footdust for Lord Krishna was very sinful). In this world, in this age of Kali also, this is happening. If you read Chaitanya-charitamrita, you can see that one day, when Mahaprabhu chanted and danced, He fell asleep in the door of His room, in Gambhira, and his servitor Govinda hesitated to cross Mahaprabhu's body for the service to Mahaprabhu. Later, he understood what to do, but at first he said to Mahaprabhu,

"Prabhu, I am serving You every day, I am massaging Your feet, but today it is not possible—should I stop my service? What should I do?"

Mahaprabhu replied, "That is up to you, whether you will do it or not, I do not know, but I cannot move."

After that, Krishna gave him some mercy—Lord Himself, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave him some mercy—and his mind changed. He thought, "Oh, I have to cross Mahaprabhu, but it is not for my enjoyment—I am doing it for His benefit, not for my benefit. That is why if I cross him, it is not a problem, I can do it." And Govinda did it—he put his uttariya on Mahaprabhu's body, crossed Him, put the dust that fell on the uttariya on his head, and then massaged Mahaprabhu. After that, Govinda stayed inside. At midnight, Mahaprabhu woke up and saw that Govinda was still there. He chastised him,

"Why are you still here? Why did you not go to take prasadam? Why did you not go to sleep?"

Govinda asked, "Prabhu, how am I to go? You are sleeping in the doorway..."

"What?! How did you come then? You are asking Me how you will go outside to take prasadam, but how did you come inside then?"

"Prabhu, that time I came for Your service, that is not a problem. If I committed some sin and die, it is not a problem, but I cannot cross You for my own enjoyment—for my sleep or taking prasadam."

That is Chaitanya-charitamrita's siddhanta. In other words,

জ্ঞান-যোগ-কর্ম্মচয় মূল্য তার কিছু নয়
ভক্তির বিরোধী যদি হয় ।

jnana-yoga-karma-chaya mulya tara kichhu naya
bhaktira virodhi yadi haya

"Fruitive activities, knowledge are nothing, they have no value if they are against devotion."

This is said in a kirtan glorifying Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. "There is no value in any karma, there is no value in any yoga, there is no value in liberation or anything else if it is against devotion, if it opposes devotion.

We must understand these things.

For our own benefit, we will not do anything sinful. On the other hand, I have told it many times in my lectures, you may have no flower garden, for example, and you see that there are some good flowers in somebody else's house that are not used for service—you can steal a flower and give it to the Lord, this is not a problem. They may swear you, but what is the problem? You are doing it for the service of the Lord, and some real benefit will come to you then.

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