Service Etiquette

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Dum Dum Park, Kolkata
29 May 2019, part 2

Gurudev always told us to serve devotees—he would always say that rather than serve Krishna it is better if you serve devotees. This is what he taught us.

When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami went to Govardhan after Mahaprabhu and Svarup Damodar left, he was very sad and wanted to commit suicide, but Srila Sanatan Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami told him so many things about suicide, about future life, they told him everything about Krishna consciousness, told him what was necessary for him, and after that Srila Raghunath Das Goswami expressed, "What I have got from Rupa-Sanatan is even more than what I have got from Svarup Damodar and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!"

So, actually we do not know Krishna—we have come to see our Gurudev, not Krishna. Gurudev has made this mission not for earning money, not for enjoyment—we must understand that the temple is for service, for the service to devotees. If devotees do not stay in the temple, then no Deities will stay there—if there are no devotees staying in a temple, then Deities do not stay there, only dolls stay there. These are the main things.

One time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Srivas Pandit's house and asked Srivas Pandit, "I want Krishna's flute! Can you give it to Me?" Srivas Pandit replied, "The Vraja gopis have stolen Krishna's flute (vamsi)!" Hearing this, Mahaprabhu became excited and wanted to hear more, "What happened? What happened? Tell Me more!" Then, Srivas Pandit began describing the Vraja-lila, Vrindavan-lila, Krishna's pastimes, Radha-Krishna's pastimes, Vraja gopis' pastimes, one by one, and hearing these descriptions, ecstasy came over Mahaprabhu—He began to cry and chant, "Sri Radhe! Radhe! Radhe! Radhe!" In the meantime, Mahaprabhu's students came and seeing their teacher's state, they asked, "Why are you saying, 'Radha Radha Radha Radha' instead of Krishna's Name?" When Mahaprabhu heard it, He ran towards them and wanted to beat them!

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not an ordinary man. Many scriptures also say it, Bhagavatam also says it.

Another thing is that, most Indian devotees' character is such that when they come to give dandavat pranam, they always want to touch our feet. This is their samskrti, culture, but it is not Vaishnaviya culture to allow others to touch your feet. Why do we not allow to touch our feet? We tell it to them, but people still cannot understand it and they still want to forcefully touch your feet saying they want to take your feet dust...

I read that one time Mahaprabhu was sitting with His eyes closed, absorbed into thinking about Krishna's pastimes, when suddenly a lady came and touched His feet. Mahaprabhu became very unhappy, very sad—He immediately ran away from there and jumped into the Ganges. Nityananda Prabhu ran after Him and saved Him—He took Him out of the Ganges. This is a lesson for us and we should learn from it. And it is not for only ladies, even any man cannot also touch our feet. This is what Mahaprabhu teaches us. Another time, in Puri, one devotee threw water at Mahaprabhu's feet and when that water went down from the temple (it was Gundicha marjan day), that man drank it. Mahaprabhu saw it and was very upset. He told Svarup Damodar, "What is your gaudiya doing?! I am washing the temple and he puts water on My feet and drinks it! Throw him out of here!" This is Mahaprabhu's teaching...

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