Core of Mission's Heart

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bengali/English lecture on Sri Vyasa Puja Day
29 September 2019, Tarakeswar, part 13

[A devotee reminds His Divine Grace about a story.]

We can tell stories all day, but sometimes it is also necessary to speak about more serious things that we must realise within our hearts...

There are many missions in this world that promise to give benefit to your mind, your body and intellect, but this is not the purpose of our Math. The purpose of this Math is satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, i.e. service to the Lord. I have written in the third volume of Guidance (Sri Upadesh) why this Math has been created and what its aims are. Read it. It is written in difficult language, but read it many times.

The very meaning of our life is Krishna consciousness. Srila Sridhar Maharaj named our society (sangha) 'Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Krishna-anusilana Sangha'. A society can be called a 'sangha' when Krishna consciousness is practised in it. A society does not become a sangha by running a sraddha-bari (a house that holds ceremonies for the dead relatives). A sangha is a place where there is no question of enjoyment, where nobody fights and quarrels for the sake of personal enjoyment. Remember this. Those who do such things can never attain Gurudev's wealth.

What is 'Gurudev's wealth'? A temple, a big building, etc.? A prince thinks that just because he is a son of the king he will get the king's wealth—in the same way, people think that just because they have taken initiation from a Guru, they are entitled to inherit his wealth. Srila Prabhupad once wrote to his brother named Lalit Prasad, "Baba badha Radha." Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur had many sons. Bimala Prasad (Srila Prabhupad) was his sixth son, and one of the other sons was Lalita Prasad. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur did not see Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur as only his father—he saw him as his Guru, or Radharani's close associate; but Lalita Prasad thought, "Bhaktivinod Thakur is my father too, so if Bimala Prasad gets his temples, wealth, etc., I must also get a share!" But Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Your seeing Bhaktivinod Thakur as a father is an obstacle to getting Radharani." Gurudev is not only a 'father.' He is supremely worshippable, he is one of the Lord's very own. Many cannot understand this.

It is written here that only if we can serve Gurudev can we gain the right for Gurudev's wealth. What does 'the right for Gurudev's wealth' mean? It means getting the divine love of Gurudev, the love and affection of Gurudev. What we see with our material eyes—temples, great buildings, etc.—is not Gurudev's wealth. Because we cannot understand this we keep fighting for all these worldly things. Is it not so?

I am not in Dum Dum Park, I am here today, and everybody has come here, but even if I went to the street and made a pandal somewhere under a tree, you would go there too, would you not? For example, we are going to Vrindavan soon—we will have to get to many places on foot, sometimes we have to stay at some outside houses, but you just go wherever we go. We will always stay wherever Gurudev is. Only common people look at big buildings, nice rooms, etc. Devotees do not look at these things, neither do they discriminate, "Oh, he is that Guru's disciple, and I am that Guru's disciple." They do not say proudly, "Oh, I am Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disciple." I have heard also disciples say to me, "Oh, I am a godbrother of your Gurudev!" This is mundane mentality—such people do not know anything about devotion. These are Srila Prabhupad's words, it is not my words.

Some decide not to get involved with any missions and go away to practise on their own. Many are like this, even among my godbrothers also. Some go to stay at Radha Kunda in Vrindavan... However, in present day and age such secluded practice is not possible—it is now impossible to practise the example that was shown by Srila Rupa Goswamipad, Srila Raghunath Das Goswamipad in Mahaprabhu's time. In present day and age Krishna consciousness is not practised like that. Considering the present age, our guru-varga comes and establishes temples to arrange for a facility for the jiva souls to practise Krishna consciousness. This is their great contribution.

The very core of the Mission's heart (প্রাণকেন্দ্র, prana-kendra) is satisfaction of the Supreme Lord—service to the Lord, to the Guru and Vaishnavs. Therefore, we must be careful that we may never lose our guru-varga. If you take life away, is there any value in the body? The same is true for our spiritual life—if you remove Guru from your spiritual life, you remove life from your body.

If you remove service to the Lord from a temple, if there is no service to the Lord in a temple or a Mission, if instead of serving the Lord, the temple serves common people, then this temple loses its very life. The Lord cannot stay there—the Lord is not satisfied with that kind of 'service'. If you cook nicely only when there is some sraddha ceremony, and on other days you only give dal and rice, this is not service to the Lord. Service to the Lord must be eternal, it is every day service. People make sraddha ceremony once a week, they think it removes their sins, then they sin again and make a sraddha ceremony again. But true devotees of the Lord serve the Lord at every moment, at every second. Remember this.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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