(8/13) Servants' Wealth

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ganga Sagar, evening class,
Deity Manifestation Anniversary day
12 January 2019, part 8
Translated from Bengali

We have not come here to become managers or temple masters. We do not have any titles or big names. We must always think that we are simple servants of the temple.

Before I went to Vrindavan, a devotee from Govardhan phoned me and said, 'Gurudev, one person has borrowed money from me, but now the manager is another person.' I asked that devotee, 'Oh, so you were the manager? Were you not a temple servitor? You were the temple manager for one day, but you have not even been staying at the temple. All the time you have spent there, you have not even been living at the temple.' Hearing this, he became silent. Have we come to the temple to become managers, masters or servants? We are only servants. This is what we do not get.

We say, 'Our temple!' The problem is that we have an ego (abhiman) of masters before we develop the ego (abhiman) of a servant. We forget that the master is only one – the Lord! So, when you are staying at the temple, you must know that the master, or owner, of the temple is one, and He is sitting over there, in the temple room. If He decides to keep you in the temple, you will be able to stay here; and if He decides not to keep you in the temple, you will never be able to stay here. Everything depends upon His desire. We must have faith in this.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

'Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Your debt to your father, mother, rishis (sages), demigods – all debts are cleared if you serve the Lord.

Therefore, 'Brihat svartha pete haile, ksudra svartha tyaga korte habe (বৃহৎ স্বার্থ পেতে হইলে, ক্ষুদ্র স্বার্থ ত্যাগ করতে হবে). If you want to attain great things, you must give up small things.' It means that you must leave all desires for enjoyment and name and fame and surrender at the holy feet of the Lord. There is no other way in this world except this. If you cannot do that, you will not get any result. No matter how many big temples or buildings you make, you will not get anything. If you cannot become surrendered, you will not come to the Lord.

It is necessary to show mercy to other souls, which means that we must brings to this path the souls who have turned away from Krishna. Why have we taken so much trouble to come here? We take much trouble to come here, but what happiness is there? Our happiness is that a dozen new people have come to this path and will now chant the Holy Name. At least this is what I will be able to tell the Lord, and the Lord will see that I have been going door to door, begging people, 'Krishna bala, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai (কৃষ্ণ বল, সঙ্গে চল, এই মাত্র ভিক্ষা চাই). I am begging you for one thing only: come with us and chant the Holy Name of Krishna!' I do not come to anybody for their rice, money or other wealth. I never come to ask for any of this. We never beg people for this. The only thing we want from others is, 'Bala Krsna, bhaja Krsna, kara Krsna-siksa (বল কৃষ্ণ, ভজ কৃষ্ণ, কর কৃষ্ণ শিক্ষা). Please chant Krishna's Name, worship Krishna and practise Krishna's teachings.' This is what we must practise: we must be able to say, 'I have brought one person to this path. Hearing what I say, one person could also come to this path and take shelter of a bona fide guru.' This is all we can say to the Lord. 'Seeing my service and hearing my words, at least one person has been able to come to take part in the Lord's service.'

When a teacher teaches his students the whole year and then his students pass the exams well, the teacher will feel happy, 'My students have got A+!', 'My students have got 90% score!' In the same way, those who preach about the Lord will feel happy when at least one person genuinely practises Krishna consciousness. If you give me a million rupees, it will not make me happy. There was a devotee who used to stay at the temple. His name was Mustafa. I know very well whom people call Mustafa, so I gave him the name 'Mathura-prasad'. I told him, 'You are giving me some donation, but I am not happy with your money. What I am happy about is that my son has left all those Mustafa things and become Mathura-prasad today. This is what makes me very happy.' Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray, 'Who is rich in this world?' Is the person who has a lot of money rich? No. Ramananda Ray replied, 'Rich are those who have the wealth of Krishna.'

Krishna ate banana skin at Vidura's house. Vidura's wife was so happy that Krishna had come to their house that when she peeled bananas, she unconsciously threw the bananas away and served the peel to Krishna. Krishna laughed and ate that peel. When Vidura came there and saw it, he scolded his wife, 'Are you pulling my friend's leg? What is this? Why are you giving Him peel instead of bananas?' His wife then came to her senses, 'Am I?!' She was so excited that she did not realise what she was giving, bananas or banana peel.

We must always remember these things. We are not masters of anything in this world. Nothing belongs to us here. What is the most important thing for me is that the Lord is mercifully taking my service, nothing else.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 44.5 Mb
Length: 89 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Clean Your Heart and Cultivate Devotion
2) Seva-Dharma and Mano-Dharma
3) Strive for Spiritual Subsistence
4) Where There Is a Will There Is a Way
5) Excreting Visaya
6) Live in Domain of Mercy
7) The Side-Tracked and the Drowning
8) Servants' Wealth
9) Live Thinking about Lord
10) Turtle Consciousness
11) Learn and Practise
12) Sadhu's Duty
13) Internal Asuddha