(1/10) Power of Mindful Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ganga Sagar, morning class,
Deity Manifestation Anniversary day
12 January 2019, part 1
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

'The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

Sri Sri Guru Gaura Nityananda and Gandharva-Govinda-sundar manifested Themselves at this temple on this day today. Therefore, we have all assembled here today. The Lord manifests Himself in the heart of a pure devotee – He clasps His pure devotee's hand and comes down. He is not a deity. If you see Him only as a Deity, then He will become a mere doll. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, 'If you worship Deities with the desire to get something – if you take money to worship a Deity – then the Deity is just a doll.' If you walk down the street, you can see many people worshipping Deities, but this bogus worship – they call this 'debal thakur puja' (দেবল ঠাকুর পূজা; deity worship performed by hired brahmans). This is not worship because the priests take money for their 'worship'. It is necessary to have faith and worship Deities with faith.

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

'Associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship holy Deities with faith.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.124)

When you take initiation, I tell you to read the book about the ten offences to the Holy Name carefully. Many have read it, but if I ask them something, they cannot answer my questions, so I wrote some questions and answers for you. For example:

There are sixty-four limbs (practices) of devotion (bhaktyanga), how is it possible to practise all of them? The answer is that if you can dedicate yourself one-pointedly to practising just one of them, then all sixty-four practices are accomplished. They are not practised all together simultaneously. At the same time, it can also be possible – suppose you are cooking or doing some other things with your hands, you can be chanting the Holy Name with your mouth at this time. Instead of talking, you can chant the Holy Name – at least it may come out as namabhas. It is very difficult to chant the Holy Name purely, with all your heart; you know it yourself. Those of you who have taken the pancharatrika diksa (the second initiation) know how difficult it is to steady your mind to recite the gayatri mantras only ten times.

[Clamour coming from the kitchen] Please do not speak so loudly. If you have to speak, do it quietly – you are right in front of the Deities, you must speak softly. You must learn this. It is a seva-aparadh (offence to service) to shout in front of the Deities. It is not necessary to speak about anything in front of the Deities.

You can practise all sixty-four limbs of devotion by practising one of them attentively. You can often see that people sit and chant on their beads during the class. Are they listening to the class or chanting at this time? When you chant on your beads, you must do it attentively, heart and soul, but when you sit at a class, you must listen to the class with your heart, too. Then where does your mind go? You have only one mind, only one heart – where will you apply it? Those who chant during the class do neither actually – they neither listen to the class, nor chant on their beads.

For example, when we are cooking something, we should cook attentively, thinking about the Lord, chanting the Lord's Name, and if we do not think about the Lord when cooking (if think about other things), then we can make a mistake – we may or may not put salt, things can get burnt and spoilt, and so on. Absent-minded service is not good.

So, you can practise just one thing, but by practising just one thing properly, you can be automatically doing a hundred other practices at the same time.

— : • : —

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CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 25 Mb
Length: 50 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Power of Mindful Service
2) Service Is All About Mood
3) Help Yourself and Others
4) Beyond Body and Bondage
5) Do Not Cheat Yourself
6) Your Life, Your Escape
7) Keep Internal Purity
8) Embrace Devotion to Lord Krishna
9) Know Where You Belong
10) Result of Sadhu-Sanga