Sri Guru's Grace

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, Venezuela
29 September 2019, Tarakeswar, part 2

I am very happy to see you all. You are all in my heart.

You are always following Gurudev's instruction facing so much austerity. I know that, that is why I am saying that even though so many austerities have come to Venezuela, you have not left Parama Karuna. Nitai Gaurachandra want to see how much patience, how much tolerance you have—They want to see whether you will run away, whether you will leave Their service or not, whether you will stay or not.

When you do not get anything at the market, you should cut some grass, cook it and give to the Deities with Tulasi leaves. When I was five years old, I remember in my birthplace there was no food in the house at that time, and people would cut some grass, banana leaves, etc., boil it and eat it just like that without salt because at that time, the price of salt was very high (fifty rupees). I saw at that time how much people suffered. There was much rice at our house, but all the village people came and forcibly took everything away.

Anyway, as I have said, you are all in my heart, and you follow Gurudev's instruction. Actually, we will not get service directly from the Deities, that is why Krishna Himself has come to this world in the form of a guru. Gurudev is the embodiment, or incarnation, of the Deity, and Gurudev is very merciful because he will tell you what he likes, he will tell you what he eats, etc., and if you can fulfil his desire, if you can fulfil his happiness, then that will be service, and that is the great mercy of the guru. We sometimes also make some mistake in the service to the Deities, and the Deity will not chastise you, but the Deity's main servitor (Gurudev) can always chastise you. That is his mercy.

We always give obeisance to those who do puja (it can be a brahmachari, a sannyasi, a vanaprastha, or a grihastha, householder—it is does not matter); but we do not give respect to those who cook. It is not good. Cooking is the main service of the Deities, the main service of the temple, and actually those who cook are the best (highest) servitors. So, we like to give obeisance (dandavat) to the pujari, but we do not give proper respect to those who cook, but the cook is the main servitor at the temple. You give Gurudev a garland, but you do not give Gurudev food—Gurudev will not eat your garland.

I have to finish now, but there is one more thing I would like to say. I actually need some help from Venezuela. What help is it? One devotee's name is Ananda Moi Prabhu, this is number one; number two is Snigdha Krishna Prabhu; number three is Nava Krishna Prabhu; and number four is Bhagavan Prabhu—I want these four devotees to come and stay with me for a few months.

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