(7/10) Servants' Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, evening programme,
22 February 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

There are missions that sometimes preach wrong conceptions – they mostly preach the right things, but sometimes they forget the conception of the Gaudiya line. Actually, all Vaishnav missions come from Gaudiya Math, from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, but some are now preaching, 'Become a devotee of Krishna!' But Krishna Himself said, 'Those who say that they are My devotees are not My devotees. My devotees are those who serve My devotees. So, we must want to become devotees of the Lord's devotees. In other words,

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)

You cannot worship Krishna without worshipping Radharani. Gauranga Mahaprabhu is overwhelmed with the separation mood that Srimati Radharani experienced when Krishna left for Mathura – if we worship Him, such mood of separation can come to us. 'Where am I to go to find Kanu? 'Where am I to go to find Krishna?!' This kind of mood must come to us.

Always remember and keep in your hearts what you have heard, then you will get supreme benefit. Sadhus come and always preach about all these things – they keep coming and explaining these things to you. The problem is that right after we hear these things, we forget everything. We must not be like that. We must always worship the Lord. We must always serve our guru and Vaishnavs. You can never become a devotee without service to devotees. Service to devotees will bring us the greatest benefit. We must always try to serve devotees.

'Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha Krsna pabe (নিতাইয়ের করুণা হবে ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ পাবে). You can come to Radha-Krishna in Vraja if you get Nityananda Prabhu's mercy.' If you get Nityananda Prabhu's mercy, you will get Gauranga Mahaprabhu's mercy – and if you get Gauranga Mahaprabhu's mercy, you will get the highest darshan of Sri Radha-Krishna. At the same time, those who have seen the Lord will never say they have seen Him. There was one Mirabai who said, 'Oh, I have got the jewel of Krishna-prema!' but Mahaprabhu said, 'I have not got a trace of devotion to Krishna!' So, our line is not about becoming a devotee of Krishna – we must aim to become servants of Krishna's devotees. What is our identity? We are servants of the servants of the servants of gopis' servants. Always remember this.

নাহং বিপ্রো ন চ নরপতির্নাপি বৈশ্যো ন শূদ্রো
নাহং বর্ণী ন চ গৃহপতির্নো বনস্থো যতির্বা ।
কিন্তু প্রোদ্যন্নিখিলপরমানন্দপূর্ণামৃতাব্ধে-
র্গোপীভর্ত্তুঃ পদকমলয়োর্দাসদাসানুদাসঃ ॥

naham vipro na cha nara-patir napi vaisyo na sudro
naham varni na cha grha-patir no vanastho yatir va
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramananda-purnamrtabdher
gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah

'I am not a brahman, not a ksatriya, not a vaisya, not a sudra; neither am I a brahmachari, a householder, a vanaprastha or a sannyasi. I identify Myself as a servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna, who is the beloved of the gopis, an ocean of nectar, eternally self-effulgent (self-manifest) and filled with the entire scope of all possible highest ecstasy.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.13.80; Padyavali)

If you want to give something to the Lord, all the wealth in the world has no value – you must give yourself. Money, property or any other 'wealth' is nothing – you must place yourselves in charge of the Lord, you must place yourselves at the holy feet of the Lord.

— : • : —

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Length: 56 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Service Greatness Is Not External
2) Srivas Pandit's Ideal
3) Sadhus' Dacoity
4) Short-Sighted Minds
5) Food for Thought
6) Quitting Maya's Play
7) Servants' Service
8) Lord's Arrangement
9) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice
10) Sacrifice, Surrender and Succeed