Service Life—not Leisure

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
22 May 2018, Siliguri, part 3

You have heard this kirtan (I always sing it), "Sukhe duhkhe bhulo nako vadane Harinam koro re." You must chant the Holy Name whether you are happy or sad. Not that you are sad, you call out to the Lord, and when the Lord gives you happiness (gives you a car, a house, money, etc.), then your forget the Lord. After that, when again some unhappiness or difficulty comes, you again remember the Lord. Is this what the scriptures say? It is not.

Just now I received a letter, one of our Maharajs (Sripad Parvat Maharaj), was admitted to hospital diagnosed with blood cancer. He is staying there, chanting the Holy Name. He came to Nrisingha Palli at Gaura Purnima, then went with us for the disappearance festival in Tarakeshwar. He stayed in Kolkata and did a lot of collection. In Gurudev's time also, he would come every year and do the collection for Gaura Purnima. And when he collects, he does not collect some 200 rupees, he collects 10-15,000 rupees from a person, sometimes 1,500-2,000 rupees from a person. This is the kind of collection he does. But when he went back to his country, he got to know he had leukaemia. They do not have the medicine for this even in America, but they admitted him to hospital and they can help him for some time with medication. Anyway, even in such circumstance, does it mean you will stop chanting? There was another Maharaj also, Sripad Vaishnav Maharaj (Srutasrava Prabhu). He too had cancer, but he took sannyas and started travelling country to country and preaching. He said, "Must I lie in my room and do nothing now? Better I go country to country and preach about the Holy Name." Parvat Maharaj also wrote to me saying he was in hospital, remembering the Lord and Gurudev, chanting the Holy Name, and that whether it was today or the next year, he had to die and leave this body any way.

So, "sukhe duhkhe bhule nako vadane Harinam koro re: in happiness or sadness, never forget it, always chant the Holy Name."

Even when you are very sad, will you leave the Lord's service? Will you give up the Holy Name? When I first came to the temple, I heard that my mother had been going to many places looking for me, then she heard that I had taken sannyas and was staying in a temple. She understood she had lost me forever and she cried so much. In the end, she had a heart attack and died. By Gurudev's mercy I could stay in the temple, and so many things happened during that time—when I just came, there were only three buildings there... Recently, after all the atrocities there, I was forced to leave, but I cannot stop my work—I cannot stop my service, I cannot stop the parikrama. They tried to stop me in so many ways. One time, I was told that when I was returning from Siliguri, when I got off Testa Torsa express train, there were some gundas who had tried to shoot me. They got to know that I was on that train, but when they shot the bullets, the bullets did not fire. If I was to die there, it is OK, but because Gurudev protected me, I am still alive. What can I do? Always sit inside a room? Must I not go out now? Must I not chant the Holy Name? Must I not go out for preaching? I have no time. I have got some time and I am using it.

I have come here for the Deity installation anniversary festival; I have promised to go to other places also for preaching and I must go there; later also there is Panihati chira-dahi festival; in July there is Ratha yatra parikrama programme, I must go there. Not so long ago Sripad Puri Maharaj left his body in Puri, it was necessary to make a good festival there, so I went there myself. So, the preaching is always hectic, there is always much to do. There was also Nrisingha-chaturdasi festival recently, I spent there a week arranging the festival. There was Deity installation at the Nrisingha Palli temple there—now the worship and service is running there properly. It is not easy though, there are two temples there—one side there is Gaura Nitai and the other side there is Laksmi Nrisinghadev and Prahlad Maharaj. People sweat to do puja in one temple, and here there are two temples.

I do not think that this is all an austerity. Whatever the Lord sends, it is good. It is not like I will leave my service because of that or will have ego—we must leave our ego...

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