(4/9) Genuine Worship

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Midnapore, 23 April 2019, evening, part 4
Translated from Bengali

Instead of talking about material things, about this and that, from dawn to dusk, if whenever you have time you spend it beautifully engaging yourself in the service to the Lord, it would be very good. Each one of you can come here and take part in service. For example, we have many temples abroad – there, many devotees do not stay at the temple but they come every day; some come for the mangal-arati, some come for the noon or evening arati. Whenever they get time, they come to do some service. You, too, can do that. You can come to the temple all the time and do service. The Lord, or Gurudev, has given you this opportunity – he has opened this temple and made all arrangements for eternal daily service. Sri Sri Radha-Vallabha are staying here and taking service. If you only give some money, what use is that? You should come and help – you can sweep, take care of Tulasi, wash the dishes, do some cleaning, etc. This is Radha-Vallabha's house, and you come and do something at Their house, otherwise where else will you get this chance? Also, if some devotees come here and you take care of them, then the Lord will be even happier. It is said in the scriptures, and Gurudev put it plainly, 'If you love me, love my dog.'

Gurudev told one example to illustrate it. Suppose a High Court judge comes to the temple. You welcome him and take him to a room, feed him nicely, etc. But this judge came in a car with his driver – do you take any care of the driver? When the judge goes back to his car, he will ask his driver, 'Have you had anything to eat?' The driver will say, 'Nobody told me anything.' Then whatever hospitality you have shown to the judge will be wasted.

'Radhara dasira Krsna sarva-vede bole (রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে). Krishna is the property of the maidservants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this.' Who does Krishna belong to? Krishna belongs to Radharani. And who is Radharani? She is non-different from gurudev. You chant in the morning kirtans composed by Sri Visvanath Chakravarti:

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

'I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all scriptures to be no doubt the Supreme Lord Himself and considered to be so by pious souls but who is also no doubt the Lord's dear associate.'

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

The guru is the Lord Himself! Why do we always forget this? On the one hand, the guru is the Lord Himself; and, on the other hand, he is the dearmost associate of the Lord. Who is the dearest associate of the Lord? Srimati Radhika. She belongs to Krishna, and She is non-different from the guru. It is the guru who can give you the right to serve Supreme Lord Krishna.

You must not carry everything on your own shoulders. The Lord does everything. This kind of mood must come to us. You can see a very old man staying at the temple, but he offers arati with so much joy, dancing for joy – he feels joy coming from his heart, and this joy makes him dance. Everybody laughs at him, but he does arati and feels so happy that he dances.

That is the point.

We do not know anything – when we come to feed the Lord, it is not necessary to recite so many mantras or do so many things. We must feel, 'I do not know any mantras, I do not understand anything.' You know the pastimes of Srila Raghunandan Thakur. He fed the Lord without any mantras, and the Lord accepted his offering; even Raghunandan's mother was taken aback. That Deity is still there at Sri Narahati-pat, Sri Khanda. To this day, they offer the Deity half of sweets. Why? Because when Raghunandan came to offer bhog to the Deity at noon, the Deity ate everything, and when his mother came home, she did not believe her son, 'No. I offer bhog to the Deity every day, and the Deity does not eat it – we always take His prasad. You must have eaten it yourself!' Raghunandan cried, 'No, I did not eat it! Please believe me! The Deity has eaten everything!' Then, to test Raghunandan, his mother again sent him to offer some bhog (some fruit and sweets) in the afternoon. Raghunandan told the Lord, 'Please eat!' The Lord replied, 'No, I ate earlier at noon, I cannot eat again.' But Raghunandan insisted, 'If You do not eat, Mother will not believe me! If You do not eat right now, I will hit You!' The Lord submitted, 'Oh, please do not beat Me! I will eat everything!' Hearing Raghunandan speaking in the altar room, his mother came to the door, and when she saw the Lord eating, she fainted. That was Raghunandan, the son of Mukunda – he was a very dear devotee of Mahaprabhu. He lived in Sri Khanda. Although he was a small boy who did not know anything – who did not know any mantras or rules – he told the Lord, 'O Lord, eat! Eat it!' and the Lord ate. This is an example for you.

It is not necessary to know any mantras or anything – all you need to do is love the Lord with all your heart. If you have pride in your heart, then no matter how many mantras you recite, it is of no use. There are many brahmans who go house to house and do puja for money. Is that real worship? You hire a band to sing kirtans for two hours and pay them five hundred rupees, but they come to sing for money. Do you think their singing will bring you any benefit? It will not. These so-called brahmans worship Kali, Durga, Manasa, Santarang and other gods, and they come to chant a few mantras at your house to get money from you. This is not the worship that is offered with heart and soul – such worship does not come from their hearts. They run house to house only to earn money: they come, quickly recite one–two mantras and run to the next house because the more houses they visit during the day, the more money they collect. This is not worship. Worship must come from the heart.

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Length: 81 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Whose Servant Are You?
2) Preaching Expansion
3) Our Preaching and Life
4) Genuine Worship
5) Give Your Heart
6) Use Your Time Wisely
7) God Exists for Those Who Have Devotion
8) Service Enthusiasm
9) Awkward Excuses