(5/6) Surrendered Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 11 February 2019, evening, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Soon is Nityananda-trayodasi. After that, there is Siva-chaturdasi – you know that the Deities were installed here on this day. If you want to make a festival, I do not mind it. You can also stay here. I will be busy on that day, but if you can make a festival all together for fifty people or a hundred people, distribute prasad, I do not have any objection. If you spend money on it, if you make some kitchuri and give it to everybody, I have no objection. You can make some kitchuri, chutney and sweet rice; if you need help with cooking, I can send some devotees to help you. You can make a festival on the day the Deities of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Madan-mohan appeared here. Whenever anybody makes a festival and lets everyone, especially Gaura's devotees, take prasad, I feel very happy. I have told this to Ganga Sagar devotees also. They do not get good fruit there, but they still fed thousands of people. I know that the Lord arranges everything anyhow – there is no problem.

I have submitted all my life to the Lord, so I am not looking whether I am gaining or losing.

I have sent a devotee to see if the nearby land gets sold or not. I was told that somebody had come to see the land with a view to purchase it. I said, 'Who will come to buy a land in front of a temple?' So, I sent a devotee today to check if anybody was buying any adjacent land. You know, three devotees called the other day and asked me, 'How much are your expenses for the Gaura Purnima?' Sometimes, I said, 'About a million rupees', sometimes, 'About seven hundred thousand rupees', sometimes, 'About five hundred thousand rupees.' But do you see? Why do I need to go for collection? I could tell one person, and all expenses would be covered. But when I go house to house, I talk to people, I invite them to come for the parikrama, and I engage them in some service. This is why I go for collection. I know that there is no need to collect money, but I still go to collect rice and potato. There is no lack of anything. Somebody has also sent money recently (I saw yesterday that it had come), and I thought what to do with that money – it is not good to leave such money in the bank (the government can notice that there is much money in the account and start hassling). I asked a landowner if he could sell a plot of land to us, but he refused, so I let it.

Those who serve the Lord know no want of anything. I have always seen this. When Gurudev was here, he would give me money for the temple expenses. One day, I suddenly realised that I did not have enough money to run the temple for three–four days before Gurudev's arrival in Nabadwip. I remember I was sitting at my work desk in the office, writing some papers. Then, a girl came to sweep the office, so I moved some papers away and told her to sweep. After that, I decided to check those papers to see if there were any misplaced bills or documents in them. I looked in the papers and found ten thousand rupees! I thought, 'Oh, the money has come!' I have seen many tests like that in my life. The Lord has tested me many times like that, and I never had any problems. The Lord has been taking care of everything. I always think, 'O Lord, everything is Your arrangement. I leave everything to You.'

When I was going to make a temple in Bamunpara, Gurudev's birthplace, there were no big roads – all roads were very narrow. The road leading to Gurudev's birthplace was a mud road, so I knew that it would be impossible to do any works during the rainy season (no car would be able to drive there). So, I went there with a tractor from Nabadwip, taking a few workers. When we arrived, we unloaded the materials, etc., but then the tractor driver refused to go back to Nabadwip the same day, so the only way I could get back is to take the last bus. I started walking to the bus stop. I had walked up to Nadanghat and then a bus came. Before that, I heard that some dacoits had attacked a bus – they broke one man's head, another man's nose, arm, etc. When I saw my bus coming, I stopped it, and the ticket man told me, 'Wait a little, then get on.' After a while, a man came on a bicycle and said, laughing, 'The bus can go! The thieves are gone.' The people on the bus did not understand anything, but I thought, 'How does this man on the bicycle know that the thieves have left?' Then, I opened a window on the bus and sat by its side. Somebody on the bus told me, 'Hey, you are a sadhu who eats only vegetables, where do you have so much strength? Close the window! It is so cold!' I said, 'I will not close it. I have some doubt...' Then, the bus started moving, but after a minute I saw out of the window that there was a tree fallen on the road, and in the light coming from the bus, I saw some thieves running towards the bus. I jumped out of the window and got out of there. I started walking through the field and came to a place near Santosh Prabhu's house (he was not initiated at that time). My bag stayed on the bus – there was just a hundred rupees in it (the thieves took even that!). I also had a handbag with a few thousand rupees, I took the handbag with me. Then, the robbery finished, and I saw that bus coming down the road. I got on the bus again, and somebody asked me, 'Hey, we saw you earlier today! We saw you jump out of the window. Where did you go? We looked for you but did not find you.' I replied, 'I felt like walking...' Another time, when I was going to Bamunpara in that bus, the bus turned over and fell into a ditch! I was unharmed. I was standing in the bus, but I did not have even a scratch on my body...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Spiritual Rules Are Not Rituals
2) Join Service Activities
3) Wise Up
4) Hear, Chant and Remember
5) Surrendered Service
6) Service Disturbances