(6/6) Service Disturbance

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 11 February 2019, evening, part 6
Translated from Bengali

When I cultivated the land, there were also difficulties. The local government are Muslim people, so they cut the water supply to our land and refused to restore it. I went to the police and complained. In the end, I got a powerful transformer and got the water to the field. I said, 'I do not care about your rules. I have a big land, and I will cultivate it.' In those days, there were no mobile phones. Somebody brought one of the first mobile phones for Gurudev from abroad, and Gurudev gave it to me. It was the size of a brick. So, one day, when I was busy supervising workers planting mustard in the field, the phone suddenly rang. Gurudev told me, 'Vinod, come here immediately.' I came running from the field straight to the main road to get to the temple. At that time, three men came from behind the room that I had next to the field, carrying a bomb! They saw me running away and ran after me, but as they were running, the bomb exploded in their hands! Two men died on the spot, and one man lost his arm. When this man sees me now (I sometimes see him when we do Nabadwip Dham parikrama), he pays me obeisance with his one arm... He works at a flour mill now. When he sees me, he pays obeisances to me now. Two men died, but one Hindu man survived, but he lost his arm.

So, 'marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tohara (মারবি রাখবি—যো ইচ্ছা তোহার): You can kill me, You can keep me, You can protect me, that is Your matter, it is up to You' (Saranagati, 1.11). If He wants to kill, He will kill, and He wants to save you, He will save you. And if the Lord wants to save you, nobody can kill you. We must always remember this. If we do not remember it all the time, we will not have a favouable life. Whatever happens happens by His will. Always rely on Him, always remember Him, then you will attain great benefit.

Those who have the qualification (the right) to do service must do their service according to their capacity. What is the problem? There is no problem at all. I cannot do anything behind servitors' backs.

I have told you so many times that I would arrange for a cow for the temple here. When Delhi devotees sent three million rupees, I decided to get a cow for the temple here in Tarakeshwar. But when I got a cow, the devotees said that it was necessary to make a wall otherwise the cow would be stolen. I thought, 'Gees, another problem now.' I will make a boundary wall now, but if I buy more land, I will have to make another wall. You know that Krishna always loves cows, so if you serve cows, it makes Krishna happy. You can use milk in Govinda's service, then the cows will get a chance to serve also. In Ekachakra, the man who serves the cows does not speak to anybody. He is not mute, but he is just disturbed. When he lived in Nabadwip, he did a lot of service. Later, he went to Vrindavan and served there a lot, too. But somehow he became disturbed at the temple. At first, he did blindly whatever he was told to do, without any judgement or objection, and he would go to all the nearby houses and speak to the people, but now he does not even eat at the temple – he cooks something (some rice and boiled potato with salt or just rice with salt) himself, offers it to my picture and eats that. When I saw him a year ago, he would go people's houses, collect some rice or money and buy some things (soap, toothpaste, etc.) with it. He used to wear saffron clothes. I asked him if he needed clothes, he showed me that he had two or three sets of clothes. When the pujari went to give some food to the cows, he became angry, so I told the pujari not to go there again, not to disturb him – he is doing his service, so let him be. He does his service, he is looking after the garden there also – he plants cabbage, cauliflower and other vegetables. He is doing a lot of service. He has collected about two hundred kilograms of rice recently. I told him that I would use it for the festival there because we use a lot of rice during the festival. He is a good boy – he has a service mood, and he is doing some service. It is necessary to have service mood...

It is necessary to have a service mood when you do service. It is said in the scriptures also:

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

'You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

It is necessary to be fully surrendered, make honest enquiry and to have service temper. The main thing is to have service mood. Always remember this. We must always have service mood towards the Lord's holy feet.

The day of Siva-chaturdasi is coming soon. You know that outside people fast on this day. If you can fast on this day, you can do it, it is not a problem. I know that some devotees at the temple fast on this day to please Siva Thakur. We have a temple of Lord Siva at the temple in Nabadwip, and I know that they not only fast the whole day there but also stay awake the whole night – they sit at the temple and chant kirtan the whole night; sometimes they also offer bhoga at night. They not only stay awake but actually chant kirtan (the Hare Krishna maha-mantra) the whole night. Do many people come here on this day? [Devotees say that a lot of people come.] Last year you made a festival the next day. I saw this year that the dates of Siva-chaturdasi in our calendar and in the general calendar do not coincide. We should follow our calendars, this calculation is proper.

If you come for festivals, it is always good. Always do service. Do not waste your time.

[His Divine Grace chants evening kirtans, concluding the class.]

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 36.9 Mb
Length: 75 min
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