(3/7) Service Insight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, Sri Gaura Purnima Day,
21 March 2019, morning class, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Many of you do not know it, but Gurudev told us that in his last days, when Srila Sridhar Maharaj was about to leave, he had lost the power of hearing (it was, perhaps, one day before he left). Many of his disciples had come, they were all near him. There was one devotee who had come to the temple at about the same time as Gurudev; he was staying in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's room downstairs, and he was prohibited to come upstairs, but that day he thought, 'Guru Maharaj is going to leave any time. If I come upstairs, he will not know it because he is lying down, and nobody will object at this time...' So, he went upstairs. He came into Srila Sridhar Maharaj's room and put his hand on Guru Maharaj's hand – he put his hand on Srila Sridhar Maharaj's transcendental body – and Srila Sridhar Maharaj immediately moved his hand away. You can see that he was well aware of what was happening around him. He could not see, he could not hear at that time, but he knew who was there, and when that devotee touched him, he moved his hand away. Gurudev would sit down and gently rub Srila Sridhar Maharaj's head, feet and arms. Srila Sridhar Maharaj's arms were very long (ajanulambita-bhuja), just like Mahaprabhu's, reaching below his knees. When Gurudev was sitting down, rubbing Srila Sridhar Maharaj's arm, Srila Sridhar Maharaj pulled Gurudev's hand and put it on his chest. Everybody saw it and understood what was happening...

Always remember this. Following the whims of your mind on pretext of practising spiritual life is not what is called spiritual life. A mere show is not spiritual life. We must always keep this in mind, and we must always think, 'How can I satisfy my gurudev? How can I serve my gurudev?' This is what we must remember at every moment. You always want mercy, you always call me and ask me, 'Please give me mercy.' Gurudev gives you some service, and if you do this service, gurudev will be pleased. Many of you have come today to take initiation. Do not come for adulteration. Do you think that you come to take initiation, get some beads from gurudev and you get everything? No. You must chant on the beads. And if gurudev tells you to stay and do service, you must listen to him. You must live following his instruction. If you get the beads and just go away, your seed of devotion will dry up. Follow what I am telling you, then you will get supreme benefit.

There is no use just taking the initiation externally. There is no value taking initiation like that, and I also do not want such disciples. When one takes a disciple, the disciple must stop whatever sins they have been committing their whole life; otherwise, because of the sins a disciple commits, the guru must suffer all the diseases and misery in this external body. I told you yesterday that I am taking twenty-two tablets every day. Why do you think I take so much medication? Because all these 'disciples' come to me. When they come to take initiation, they say, 'Gurudev, I will not eat fish, meat, onion, garlic, masoor dal, and I will fast on ekadasi,' but when they go back to their homes, they eat fish, meat, onion, garlic, masoor dal, etc. They go to hotels and eat all this. This is an offence. They cannot control their greed. They cannot chant the Holy Name. They live in this wrong way. You must listen to what your gurudev says. Remember this. Always keep this in your heart.

Today is the Gaura Purnima day. Do you think Mahaprabhu is going to be happy today? This is Mahaprabhu's appearance day, but you are leaving His holy abode to go back to your homes on this day! Do you think Mahaprabhu will be pleased with you? On this day, so many gods and demigods come from heaven assuming human forms and bring so many gifts (fruit, clothes, etc.). You can read about it in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. One devotee has brought the papers from home. She thinks about service! She was sitting at home and thinking, 'Gurudev will need those papers with the kirtan on Gaura Purnima day,' so she printed two–three hundred copies and brought it here from home. Her father is Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disciple. I was coming here before Gaura Purnima to rent some rooms, to make the pandals, etc. and I needed somebody to check what else was needed. So, I called her and asked her to come earlier to help with the arrangements. She came with her husband. And when she came, she came with all those xerox copies of the kirtan, thinking, 'Gurudev gives a copy of the kirtan to everybody on the Gaura Purnima day. Where will he get it in Nrisingha Palli?' So, she had made the copies in her village and brought it here. This is what service is.

When we do parikrama, it is hot and I sweat a lot. She knows that I like green mango and kul. On the way, she got some kul fruit and gave it me. That is service. It is not necessary to do something big. At another time, somebody gave me a green mango. I was very happy. It is not necessary to give much – a simple green mango is sufficient to make me happy. You bring so many things, but I do not even take it. This is not service. Those devotees know what gurudev needs, so they try to supply that. I told you yesterday – if Krishna likes laddu, you must give Him a laddu, not singara; and if Krishna asks for a singara, then give Him a singara. It is not necessary to think about anything else. This is what service is. You must always remember this. You can do so much with just some simple small service. Some people are very poor and cannot give anything. There are foreign devotees who have no money, but they bring me a razor blade, or they make a small wooden stool that I can keep my feet on. Kamalendu Prabhu's father sent with a devotee a wooden footstool that he had made with his own hands. These are small things, but this is service. We must understand what our gurudev needs.

When I was repairing Gurudev's room in Nabadwip, somebody told Gurudev that I had broken his whole room. Before Gurudev left Nabadwip, I took the key from his room – I told him, 'Gurudev, I saw that the plaster in your bathroom had cracked. Can you give me the key from your room to repair it?' Then Gurudev went to Australia. It was 1996. When I was in Ekachakra, I left the key from my room with Sripad Niriha Maharaj. When I came there next time, I saw that he had arranged the room very nicely. It gets very cold in Ekachakra, so sometimes we cannot even take a proper bath (the water is too cold), and the socket in my room was broken. I did not tell anything to anyone (I will not tell anyone that I need something). The socket had been broken for a long time, so I would just bathe in cold water (or heat the water outside and bring it). I did not tell anybody or give anybody money to fix it, but when I came this time, I saw that he had fixed everything nicely. All these small things are service. These small things make me happy. But if you do something for your own pratistha or for your own benefit, this is not service.

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 19.7 Mb
Length: 39 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Eternal Faith, Eternal Patience
2) Service Is Privilege
3) Service Insight
4) Service Mishaps
5) Listen and Follow
6) Irreconcilable Difference
7) Entering the Right Current