(6/14) Servant's Stance

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ishwarpur, 19 January 2019, part 6
Translated from Bengali

'"Ami ta vaisnava" e buddhi haile amani na ha'ba ami ('আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে অমানী না হ'ব আমি). If I think, "I am a Vaishnav," then I will never stop expecting honour from others.' We did not come here to become Vaishnavs – we came here to become servants of Vaishnavs, to serve them. This mood must be there. 'I want to serve Vaishnavs' – we must live with this understanding, accepting everyone. Whether somebody has become a big guru, has taken sannyas or is a brahmachari, we must respect and listen to everybody. Never discriminate devotees by the colour of their clothes. Never think, 'Oh, I wear saffron clothes, so I am a big Vaishnav, and he wears white clothes, so he is a small Vaishnav.' When we become removed from service (when we cheat ourselves out of service line), then such differentiation comes. Our goal is to serve the Lord, but when we lose this goal, then we start discriminating, 'Oh, he is a householder!', 'Oh, he is doing this!', 'Oh, he is doing that!' Never do this.

Anyhow, we have got an opportunity to do some actual vaishnav-seva and bhakta-seva in honour of the departed Prabhu. He stayed in this world as long as it was allotted to him by the Lord and he served as much as he could. That is why you are making vaishnav-seva in his honour. To make proper vaishnav-seva means to live following Vaishnavs' words and to arrange some prasad for them, and this must be done from heart. Srila Prabhupad said that vaishnav-seva is not done with money. You know that when Mahaprabhu came to Sridhar Prabhu's house, He would drink water from a glass that had a hole; when Krishna came to Vidura's house, He ate even banana skin! We must always remember this.

First, we must become devotees of Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, and only after that can we become devotees of Krishna. We sing in one of the kirtans:

রাধিকা দাসী যদি হোয় অভিমান ।
শীঘ্রই মিলই তব গোকুল কান ॥

radhika-dasi yadi haya abhimana
sighrai milai taba gokula kana

'Those who pride themselves on being maidservants of Radhika will quickly come to meet Gokula Kan (Krishna).'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'Radhara dasira Krsna sarva-vede bole (রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে). Krishna is the property of the maidservants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this.' Remember this.

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

'If you did not become devoted to the worship of Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna was in vain.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Unless you become attached to service to Srimati Radharani, you cannot worship Krishna.

Question: What kind of abhiman (pride, ego) is meant there (radhika-dasi yadi haya abhimana)?

It means 'I am a servant of Radharani, and I can serve Radharani's servants.' This is the pride we must have. In this sense, it is necessary to be selfish (svarthapara, স্বার্থপর). This selfishness must be genuine – it is not the selfishness that people have when they want money or some things. We are souls (atma), so our selfishness is that we must think about the benefit of our selves (our souls). Srila Prabhupad said that we must have proper selfishness: you must think about your self (your soul, not your body). You must think how you can improve yourself, how your soul can get benefit. At the same time, you must never think, 'I have become a Vaishnav.' Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, 'Dusta mana tumi kisera vaisnava (দুষ্ঠ মন ! তুমি কিসের বৈষ্ণব). Naughty mind, what kind of Vaishnav are you?'

We all think, 'Oh, I have become a devotee of Krishna!' One time, one man from another mission came to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to take sannyas. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told him, 'You are a devotee of Krishna, so I cannot give you sannyas. First become a devotee of Radharani, then I can give you sannyas.' He explained Srila Prabhupad's conception in a very beautiful way. This is Mahaprabhu's main conception – viraha-lila, or vipralambha-lila (pastime of separation).

We cannot say like Mirabai, 'I have got the treasure of Krishna-prema!' She said things like that, but Bhagavan Himself – Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – said, 'I have not got any Krishna-prema!' Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur also said, 'Apana bhajana-katha na kahibe yatha tatha (আপন ভজন-কথা, না কহিবে যথা তথা): Do not tell anyone and everyone about your own bhajan, service and practice.' We must keep our bhajan (internal service) hidden; we must not tell others about it. How can you walk about telling everyone, 'Oh, I have seen Krishna!' When I went to Nepal, a schoolboy asked me, 'Have you seen Krishna?' I told him, 'I may not have seen Krishna, but I know the road to Him, and I am going down this path. How much is left for me to walk is left to be seen, but if you also take to this road, you will also reach Him.' Whether you have seen or not have seen Krishna, you cannot tell others about it left and right – private bhajan should be kept private.

So, somebody may preach, 'Become a devotee of Krishna,' but we do not say this. We say, 'Become a servant of Krishna's servant.' Krishna Himself says, 'Those who say they are My devotees are not My devotees. My devotees are those who are devotees of My devotees.' Whom does Krishna belong to? 'Radhara dasira Krsna sarva-vede bole (রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে). Krishna is the property of the maidservants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this.' Krishna belongs to the maidservants of Srimati Radharani. That is why Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says:

রাধিকা দাসী যদি হোয় অভিমান ।
শীঘ্রই মিলই তব গোকুল কান ॥

radhika-dasi yadi haya abhimana
sighrai milai taba gokula kana

'Those who pride themselves on being maidservants of Radhika will quickly come to meet Gokula Kan (Krishna).'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We must know and understand this. We cannot think that we are devotees of Krishna, neither do we preach it. This is Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's and Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's siddhanta. None of us has come to become a devotee of Krishna – we are only servants of Krishna's devotees. If we can serve His devotees, that is our greatest benefit. That is why Srila Prabhupad even told his disciples, 'I am your servant (daso 'smi).' And he would sometimes also say, 'I have not taken you as a disciple. I have given you these beads to serve you. I do not consider you my disciple – I am your servant.' This should be the mood of any guru who takes disciples. 'I am your servant.' If this mood is not there, then there will be guru-abhiman, acharya-abhiman, vaishnav-abhiman. This is very bad, and this is the main sign of one's downfall.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Dearth of Hari-katha
2) Follow without Imitation
3) Higher Conceptions
4) Pursuit-Free Devotion
5) Dasya-Abhiman, not Prapya-Abhiman
6) Servant's Stance
7) Internal and External Mood of Servants
8) Highest Vaishnavs and Pseudo Vaishnavs
9) Example of Vaishnav Quality
10) Action and Reaction
11) In Search of Reality
12) Cutting Illusory Bondage
13) Love for Lord, Love for Yourself
14) Come to Serve Devotees