Fundamentals of Service Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, speaking online to
devotees in London (UK),
2 June 2019

I am very happy to see you all. You are practising Krishna consciousness properly and preaching Gurudev's line, Srila Guru Maharaj's line, Srila Rupa Goswami's line properly. We should follow Mahaprabhu's teaching and we should preach it to others—we must practise ourselves and preach it to others also.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said,

পৃথিবীতে যত আছে নগরাদি গ্রাম ।
সর্ব্বত্র প্রচার হইবে মোর নাম ॥১২৬॥

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"My Name will be spread in every town and village of the world."

The Holy Name and Krishna consciousness will be preached in every village of this world, and Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told to make a temple in everybody's heart. Then, we must practise properly in the age of Kali—sravanam, kirtanam, sadhu-sanga, nama-sankirtan, Bhagavat sravan, Mathura vasa, sraddhaya sri-murti sevan [hearing, chanting, good association, sankirtan, hearing Bhagavatam, living in Mathura, serving the Deity with faith]. We must reject what is unfavourable to devotion—chhaya vega dami' chhaya dosa sodhi' [subjugate the six urges: the urge of the mind, tongue, stomach, genitals, speech, anger; rectify the six faults: excessive eating, materialistic endeavours, useless talks, inability to follow instructions, bad association, fickle-mindedness]. Gramya-katha na boliba: do not talk so much nonsense, do not waste your time.

How many years will we live in this world? We can die, we can leave our body at any time. We have finally got a human body, and we must use it for the service of the Lord, but Maya Devi is very strong—she gets her power from the Lord, and she always takes us away from the Lord's service. Maya Devi uses us for her own service, her own seva—she always uses us and makes us follow her own bad orders. We must be always careful. Always avoid Vaishnav-aparadh, seva-aparadh, dhama-aparadh, Nama-aparadh. We must avoid these offences properly—accept what is favourable to devotion and reject what is unfavourable to devotion. These are the main things.

Dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varan—be humble, tolerant, have faith that Krishna will protect us, Krishna takes care of us. We must believe it.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

It is necessary to have the strongest faith. If we practise properly, we can understand these things easily. Gurudev also told this. It is necessary to surrender with the strongest faith. Your devotion depends on how much faith you have.

So, surrender properly to devotees, surrender properly to the Lord. You will not get a letter from the Lord, but when you have an earnest request, you can ask a representative of the Lord (the Guru), and he will submit your request to the Lord. Because the Guru is the dearmost of the Lord, and the Lord is very kind, the Lord will listen to him and fulfil your desire.

Actually, Krishna is Srimati Radharani's property, and Gurudev is nondifferent from Srimati Radharani, so Gurudev can engage you in the service to Krishna. When we do something based on the ideas of our mind, it may not be service, so we must think how to fulfil the desire of Gurudev. We must think how Gurudev can be pleased, what will make Gurudev happy.

We must always think about service, always chant the Holy Name, always hear Hari-katha, class, etc. always engage ourselves in service. Do not waste your time. Time is very short in our life, so be careful with time. Every moment is meant for the service of the Lord, so we must use every moment for the service of the Lord. This is the main thing.

You spent previous lives on sleeping, eating, enjoying, and if you sleep, eat and enjoy in this life also, then what will happen to you next life? As you sow, so you reap—you will get the result, the reaction according to your actions. So, do not use this life for anything except service to the Lord. Take Krishna's prasadam. Offer whatever you want to take or eat to the Lord and take that prasadam. Even if you want to drink a glass of water, you must first think about Gurudev, about the Lord, offer it first to Gurudev, then you can drink that water.

Serve in this way.

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