(11/12) Service Alertness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav-seva programme in Begampur (Hooghly),
Early February 2019, part 11
Translated from Bengali

I have been recently to Nepal for you all. I went there for preaching. They used to rent some place before, but now they have bought a house and run it as the temple. There are many disciples there and also in South India. If you see the pictures from our recent visit to South India, you can understand what kind of service mood and service eagerness there is behind it. They made very nice arrangements. I am thinking to take you all to South India this year. Those who have the fortune can come with us after Ratha-yatra festival in Puri, we can visit all the places there. Mahaprabhu went to the bank of the Godavari, so there are several temples there. The place at the Godavari is very nice – it is small, but the hearts and love of the devotees are very good. South Indian lady devotees do very much service. They have a strong service drive: they cook and make all arrangements with a great zest. They made two big programmes every day (every evening and in the morning or at noon), so we had twelve programmes during the six days I was there. They arranged everything very nicely; they are preaching well there. They knew we were coming by train, so they arranged for our prasad and we did not have to eat any outside food. Our train arrived very late at night, but all the devotees were waiting for our arrival at the train station. In Nepal also, we had very nice programmes in Kathmandu even though it was very cold there. We do not need a visa to go to Nepal, so it is easy to go there. These are the things arranged now...

Our Gurupadpadma was always alert to serving devotees. He always made all arrangements so that all Vaishnavs would be able to take prasad nicely. 'Chhadiya vaisnava-seva nistara payechhe keba (ছাড়িয়া বৈষ্ণব-সেবা নিস্তার পায়েছে কেবা): Without service to Vaishnavs, you cannot get any relief.'

You have heard about Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj. He did not consider himself a Vaishnav. I tell you about this all the time – never think that you are a Vaishnav. Everybody must pay obeisances to each other, everybody must treat everybody as their gurus. Do you know how is a genuine guru? A genuine guru does not have the mood that, 'I will take service from my disciples' – on the contrary, he can see the Lord and the Lord's devotees within his disciples. That is why Srila Prabhupad would tell his disciples, 'Daso 'smi. I am your servant.' He would pay obeisance to his disciples. When disciples offer obeisances to their guru, the guru will not stay quiet – the guru will also offer his obeisance to his disciples. This mood must always be there.

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

'One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

Even when somebody comes to take initiation, the guru will not think, 'I am making him my disciple to help him.' The guru should think, 'I am making him my disciple to serve him.' Remember this. 'I am serving him' – a guru must have this mood. If you do not have this mood, you will not be able to understand anything. Mahaprabhu begs alms with His own hand to observe Haridas Thakur's disappearance. He made his samadhi with His own hand, He served all the Vaishnavs with His own hand, He distributed prasad to everyone with His own hand. He personally went to Ananda Bazar in Puri and begged for alms from all the shopkeepers. Our mood should be, 'We will serve Vaishnavs.'

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Size: 54 Mb
Length: 109 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Your Sreyo Must Become Your Preyo
2) Joy in Sadness
3) Who Will Understand?
4) Vaishnavs' Dignity
5) Read and Absorb
6) Sincere Self-Realisation
7) Mahaprabhu's Conception
8) Gist of Spiritual Life
9) Prison of Misconception
10) Learn and Live the Ideal
11) Service Alertness
12) Be Attached and Detached