Sincere and Selfless Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham
10 July 2018, part 7

There is much that can be told about Jagadananda Pandit, it would take so much time. I read from Prema-vivarta from time to time,

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।

গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6-7)

These are Mahaprabhu's words, written in Sri Sri Prema-vivarta.

"'Gorara ami, Gorara ami' mukhe balile nahi chale"—when sahajiyas come to do kirtan, you give them so much money so that they can do their twenty-four hour kirtan. There are many of such hired kirtaniyas. Their party comes, sings kirtans, takes money and leaves, but have they even once told you, "Please say 'Hare Krishna'"? Have they? Tell me, have they ever told you this or not? Never! Sadhus, on the other hand, do not come to do kirtan for money. They come to your house so that you chant the Holy Name:

মহান্ত-স্বভাব এই তারিতে পামর ।
নিজ-কার্য্য নাহি তবু যান তার ঘর ॥

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara
nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

"It is the general practice of all saintly people to deliver the fallen. Therefore they go to people's houses, although they have no personal business there."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.39)

They do not come to chant the Holy Name, they come to make you chant the Holy Name!

Devotees: Nitai Gaura Hari bol!

This is what Jagadananda Pandit writes.

You must all remember the siddhanta, the conception. What conception do I mean? Do you remember the pastime that happened in Gambhira? It is described in Chaitanya-charitamrita. For the service of the Lord, you should be prepared to commit an offence. Remember it, I keep telling it to you again and again. And for your own pleasure you cannot do any wrong. For example, you do not have flowers in your garden to offer to the Lord—you can steal it from somebody's garden, there will be no offence because you do it for the Lord. When the Vraja gopis gave their foot dust for Krishna, did they think about what will become of them. Did they think, "We will fall down!", "We will die!", "We will commit sin!"? They did not. They were ready for sin, for ruination, for leprosy, etc.

So what happened at Gambhira was this. One day, Mahaprabhu danced so much that He had got very tired by the end of the day. He walked slowly back to His room and lay down in the doorway. The door to His room is very small (you have seen how small Gambhira is), and you know that Mahaprabhu was 7'6". So, He entered the room and fell right in the doorway—He had no strength to move. Govinda, His servitor, said,

"Prabhu, please move a little, I want to come inside to do Your service."

Mahaprabhu replied, "I cannot move, I cannot do anything."

"But I do this service every day—how will I do it today?"

"That is your matter..."

Mahaprabhu was testing him. This is how the Guru tests his disciple. If you have sincerity, if you are dedicated to your service, then whatever service you do every day, you must do it every day. You pass stool every day, you go to the toilet every day, you eat every day, and you must serve the Lord every day too. You must do your service every day, with sincerity and dedication.

You can ask me now, "Maharaj, I cook the bhog and do everything at home, I offer it to Gurudev and to Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda, but now I have come for Ratha-yatra..." When you are at home, you offer the bhog, but when you are in Nabadwip or in any other temple, they offer the bhog to the Deities there, so there is no offence for you. If you cannot keep Deities [if you cannot maintain the service, if you have to leave the house and there is nobody to look after the Deities], you must keep a photograph of the Deities, then there is no offence. This is what Guru Maharaj said.

So, Govinda thought, "I do this service every day, will I not do it today? But I cannot force Mahaprabhu to move..." Do you know what he did then? He took his upper cloth, spread it on Mahaprabhu's body and crossed Him, then he took whatever dust had fallen on the cloth and put it on his head. Then, he massaged Mahaprabhu's feet and fell asleep sitting.

(There are many people who sleep seated. In Ekachakra, we have a foreign devotee who sleeps while standing. He cannot lie. He serves Gaura Nitai there, his name is Nitaichand. He sleeps while standing or sitting, he cannot lie and sleep.)

So, Mahaprabhu took a good rest and Govinda took a nap while sitting inside the room. Suddenly, deep at night, Mahaprabhu woke up and saw Govinda still sitting there.

"Hey, Govinda, you are sitting here! Did you not go to sleep? Did you not go to take prasad?"

"Prabhu, how will I go? You are lying in the doorway... How can I cross You?"

"What do you mean? But you did cross Me to come inside!"

"Prabhu, I crossed You to come to do Your service, but I cannot cross You for the satisfaction of my senses, to eat and to sleep. For my own self, I cannot make such offence."

— : • : —

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