Admirable Service Mood

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, evening class
15 March 2019, translated from Bengali, part 4

[Priya Krishna Prabhu comes in to make the evening offering. His Divine Grace looks at the clock and, pleased, says:]

Look, this is our Priya Krishna Prabhu from Mauritius. I have tried to engage so many devotees in the service here at Sri Nrisingha Palli, but nobody could do it, and he is seventy years old but worships the Deities every day in the two temples here. This is an example for us. You must think about it, and it should make you feel shy. He has been serving here as the pujari of Gaura Nitai and Lord Nrisinghadev for almost one year already, and he always keeps perfect timing—he does mangal arati always at the exact, perfect time, noon arati at a perfect time, etc. He also looks after the temple. I come here only once a month on the way to Krishna Nagar or Nabadwip because I am mostly busy with preaching and do not get to spend much time here—whenever I get time I come to see how he is doing and how the temple is running here. His service is continuous.

Sripad Adhoksaja Prabhu also has just come from Mauritius with his wife—they preach for the temple in their country, and Sripad Tyagi Maharaj went there also a while ago.

You are all householder devotees living here in Bengal, and Priya Krishna Prabhu is also a householder—he has a son, but you can see his son is now brahmachari and drives the Math's car, helping me. Recently, Priya Krishna Prabhu's wife came also to India. She came to see me, to speak to me, but she did not even come here once to see her husband thinking, "He is serving the Lord, why will I go there to disturb him?" They are such great devotees. They do not want to see any harm done to the temple. This is such a high conception, their thinking is so high. She understood that if a wife comes here to the pujari, I would not be happy, and she did not come. I was so happy to know about that. They have such a big heart. How much they sacrifice for the Lord! Recently, she also wrote a letter to me saying, "You have engaged my son in your service and now my husband too. Please forgive my offence, Maharaj, that I have not been able to leave the material world as well." How much humility! She sent me the letter through the devotees who have come from Mauritius—and she wrote to me, not to her husband. Seeing their service mood must make us think. In the meantime, we here cannot give up the attachment to the material life:

বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

visaya chhadiya kabe suddha habe mana,
kabe hama heraba sri-vrindavan

"When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

When will we leave the material world and our mind become clean?...

Priya Krishna Prabhu used to work and now gets pension, and he uses his pension now to buy some flowers for the temple, some sweets for the offering, sometimes some garlands for the Deities, etc. I have asked him recently, "Prabhu, do you need money?" He said, "No, I have, I am managing." The more we can give to the Lord, the more the Lord will love us. How much can we give to the Lord?

Here is also a girl who has come from Nepal. She has been here since Nityananda trayodasi. She lives with her family, but they have not come to this line and none of them likes that she is here. She stays in Nepal, preaching there. When I went there for a week, she would come and cook every day. She would come to wherever we were staying that day, sometimes walking for two hours from her home. She had asked the servitor who cooks for me what I eat and what I like, and she would come and cook every day. She would go to the programmes with us and cook there too. Now she is here and she sells the books at the bookstore. Her name is Nanda Priya Devi Dasi.

We must learn from them and always have such mood. This is their glory. They give their heart to service. They are householder devotees, they work, have a husband, have wealth, etc. but how much they serve! Some also cannot come for the festival, for example I have got a letter from a Muslim country—they cannot come, but they have sent donation. There are so many things to be arranged, purchased, hired, etc. for the parikrama, and it is not an austerity for me, it is a source of joy for me to always run here and there arranging everything.

You should learn from these devotees. You all also live in houses, but you should live in your house without attachment:

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We run after material happiness and become very tired...

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