(7/8) Turn Yourself into Servant

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Mejhiari, evening, 20 April 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

We always think, 'My, my, my' and turn God into our servant. When people in this world worship Kali, Durga, Laksmi, they say, 'Please make me rich (dhanam dehi)', 'Please make me clever (vidyam dehi)', 'Please make me beautiful (rupam dehi)', 'Please give me a nice wife (bharyam dehi)', 'Please make me a great poet (kavitam sundarim dehi).' We always want something, and in this way we turn God into our servant...

We turn the gods who are to be worshipped and revered into bribe-takers. You think that you can give them some money and get something from them in return. In this world, if you want to get some government job, you can give a bribe to a minister and get a job. In the same way, we turn worshippable gods (Kali, Durga, Ganesh, and so on) into bribe-takers, 'O Lord, O Devi, I am giving this rice and money to you, please do me this favour.' This is not service to the Lord. Service must be without any desires – do not come to worship or serve the Lord because you want something. We have come to this world to serve the Lord, this is our only duty, but if we forget about it, then all is lost.

The scriptures give one example when explaining the position of the Lord. You have 1 — If you put two zeros next to 1, you get 100; if you put three zeros next to it, you get 1,000, and so on; there is value only because there is 1 at the beginning, but if you take 1 out, then all becomes void, zero. A zero without one has no value.

We must be always conscious of this. Because we forget the Lord, we are suffering from this agony of three-fold miseries. The only way to get relief from this pain is to take shelter at the holy lotus feet of the Lord. There is no other way! We must always remember this. Do not ever forget this. Every time we forget it, we have to face ruination.

We must always practise Krishna consciousness: we must serve and worship the Lord. It is not necessary to leave your family for that. You can stay in your family, live at your home and practise Krishna consciousness there. 'Kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachara (করিয়া কৃষ্ণের সংসার ছাড়ি' অনাচার). You must make your family Krishna's family and give up all unwanted and unfavourable habits.' Live at home, but give up bad habits. If you cannot do that, you will not get any result. You must reject what is unhealthy and embrace what is healthy.

It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that if you eat something without offering it to the Lord, you are stealing and incurring sin as the result. Cook whatever you have for the Lord – even if it is only some spinach with salt, cook whatever you can get. Offer everything to the Lord and then take His prasad. This is the rule we must always follow in our lives. If you do not live like this, it will not take you anywhere.

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Length: 62 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Arise from Oblivion
2) Embrace Conscious Living
3) Our Misery-Fraught Slumber
4) Unhealthy Condition
5) Sincere Worship
6) Troubled Souls
7) Turn Yourself into Servant
8) Whom Will You Tell?