(2/10) Busy Yourself with Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Disappearance festival, Tarakeshwar
16 April 2019, evening, part 2
Translated from Bengali

As I am staying with you all, I am making various temples. I was checking the accounts yesterday, and I saw that there are construction works in seven places now! The works are going on at seven places, and I still have to look after everything – where bricks are needed, where stones are needed, where cement is needed, where what works are to be done, and so on. There are one or two people who are helping now, too, but I still need to give all instructions and go place to place to check everything. Amist all this work, I have come to you all to observe this festival here in Tarakeshwar.

We make this festival every year, but we have just had big festivals in Ekachakra and Nrisingha Palli, and the last time we had a festival in Tarakeshwar was last year, so I thought that we could observe this disappearance festival here this year. It is also not far from Kolkata, so it is convenient for me and also convenient to bring devotees here. Many devotees from Nabadwip can also come here because it is not so far. I know that some left this afternoon and will come again tomorrow in the morning. They told me, 'Maharaj, I am going home, but I will come again tomorrow in the morning.'

Actually, there are many festivals held throughout the year, and we do not get time to visit all places. For example, we have a festival here tomorrow, and after that, on Thursday, I will be leaving for another place, after that I must go to Nrisingha Palli on Friday. Many of you do not know it, but we are opening a preaching centre (part of our Sankirtan Maha-mandala) in the village Mejhiari. We will be installing Deities there this Sunday.

There is a householder devotee of Gurudev living there. Actually, I did not want to make a centre there because the place is near Katwa and Hapaniya (the birthplace of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj). Hapaniya is only ten kilometres from there, so it is not necessary to make anything in that village, but the devotee came to me in Gurudev's time and asked me, 'I have half a million rupees and a piece of land, please take it.' I told him that I did not need his money and that he could throw it into the Ganges for all I cared.

He cried and went back to his house with his money. After some time, I got to hear that he had made a small temple on that land – he built a house, made bathrooms, altar room, and so on. I went there two years ago, and when I came, I saw that he had virtually made a temple there with all the facilities, so I gave him a few instructions what to do to finish it. Then, after a while, his son (he works for the government) called me and said, 'Father has to go for a heart operation, but he does not want to go for it. He says that if he goes for this operation now in his old age and dies, then he will never see the temple completed.' They kept calling me, requesting me with much affection, and in the end, I registered the land in our Math's name two years ago.

After that, I did not have time to arrange anything there, but they kept asking me. I am always busy with one thing or another, so I decided to make the festival this coming Sunday – if we do not do it this Sunday, I will not get time later (Nrisingha-chaturdasi is coming soon, and we will have a festival in Nrisingha Palli). So, we will be inaugurating the temple on this day. I told them that we would come, install the Deity and requested them to arrange prasad for everybody.

Apart from that, I have to go to Nrinsigha Palli, Ekachakra and Uluberia – there are construction works going on there. There are also works going on in Bangladesh and Mayapur. Here, in Tarakeshwar, also, I have made a goshala, but the works have not been completed yet. Soon we will have cows here, so we will be able to offer fresh milk and use fresh milk for Deities' archan. There is a big difference between fresh cow milk and the diluted milk that is sold at the market. Those who stay at the temple should serve cows – it is big fortune to do this kind of service; we must always love this kind of service. You know that when I first came to the temple, there were only four–five cows, but eventually the number increased to one hundred. There are also twenty-eight deer at the temple. They have destroyed all cows, but they could not sell the deer because if you try to sell a deer, you will go to prison...

So, if you want to come Mejhiari this weekend, you are all welcome. You can easily get there by train, it is near Katwa. The festival is on Sunday. If you want to come, I am inviting everybody. At the same time, you must understand though that coming for a festival is not just an opportunity to take prasad – coming for a festival means coming to hear some Hari-katha and get some sadhu-sanga.

— : • : —

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Size: 46 Mb
Length: 96 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Chaste Submission Is Key
2) Busy Yourself with Service
3) Value of Chastity
4) Plan Your Journey
5) Avoid Religious Hypocrisy
6) Fight for Your Aspiration
7) Guru's Care
8) Learning the Ropes
9) Run behind the Lord
10) Gurudev's Abundant Blessing