Authorised Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
15 October 2019, Kolkata, part 2

There can be different kinds of service. I heard from Gurudev that one time Srila Madhav Goswami Maharaj was reading a newspaper, and Srila Jajavar Maharaj, Srila Madhusudan Maharaj, and Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj were sitting together. Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj gave an order to Srila Madhusudan Maharaj, "Bring me the newspaper from Madhav Maharaj, I want to see it." At that time Srila Madhusudan Maharaj was chanting on his beads—so, what will he do? He thought he could continue chanting with his right hand and give the newspaper with his other hand, and he did so—he gave the newspaper to Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj with his left hand. Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj said then, "You think when I am giving you an instruction to bring me the newspaper, it is not service, but when you are chanting on your beads, that is service. When any order that comes from a Vaishnav, that is service." Srila Jajavar Maharaj, Srila Madhav Maharaj, everybody agreed with that—yes, if any order comes from a Vaishnav, that is service. It can be anything—any way you can fulfil the desire of a Vaishnav is service; any way you can fulfil the desire of your Guru is service.

Gurudev also told that sometimes we want to read Srimad Bhagavatam and we do not want to read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, but if you have not got any instruction, any order from your Guru to read it, then even though your are reading Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, such reading without the instruction of the Guru will be equal to reading a newspaper. However, if you get an inspiration from your Guru to read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita or to read Srimad Bhagavatam, then you will be able to understand the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam, the meaning of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita properly. That is the main thing.

Also, when we sing the last song of Siksastakam 'Bandhu-gana! Sunaha vachana mora,' we only sing the half of it—we do not sing the last part, we stop there. Why? Because we have not got the permission from our Guru to do it. Srila Guru Maharaj (Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) said, "You have no right to sing that part." This is anadhikar-charcha (অনাধিকার চর্চা, lit. 'unauthorised, incompetent interference'). That is why our temple does not sing that part.

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