"Come to Learn, Come to Serve"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to devotees in Durban, SA
10 November 2019, part 1

I am very happy to see you all, it is very nice that everybody is happy there. By the mercy of Gurudev, we came back from Vrindavan yesterday. We have just finished Vrindavan-Govardhan-Jaipur-Kurukshetra-Karauli parikrama and now have come back to Dum Dum Park, Kolkata.

Sometimes I think that you also must join the parikrama—there is Gaura-mandal parikrama (Nabadwip parikrama), there is Purushottama parikrama at Ratha-yatra time, and Vraja-mandal parikrama during the Kartik month. If you can join these programmes, it will be good for your spiritual life. Always keep in touch with Krishna-katha, always practise Krishna consciousness through sravan (hearing), kirtan (chanting and practising), sadhu-sanga (good association)—that is good for a devotee. For example, if you have a mobile phone but do not charge it, after a few hours or a few days it will stop working. Our spiritual life is also like this—we must charge ourselves from time to time with sravan, kirtan, with Krishna-katha, with good association. These things are necessary for our spiritual life.

Gurudev started these parikramas in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's time, and after that I have been doing them since Gurudev's time, for more than twenty-five years now. I have been arranging Nabadwip Dham parikrama, Puri Dham parikrama, and Vrindavan-Govardhan parikrama every year. If you can come and join these parikramas, it will be good for you. You can learn more and more, you can engage yourself in the service of the Lord. Always engage yourself in Krishna consciousness and also always avoid illusory environment, always avoid material works. These are the main things.

You can learn Vaishnav culture, Vaishnav etiquette more and more, you can learn more about Mahaprabhu's conception, Srila Rupa Goswami's teachings, Srila Sanatan Goswami's teachings, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami's teachings, Srila Guru Maharaj and Srila Gurudev's teachings, you can get some experience of how they continued their spiritual life. So, I am inviting you all—try to come from the next year. You must join these parikramas sometimes, it will be good for you, and at other time, when you stay in your house and live a grihastha life (householder life), you must all from time to time listen to the skype lectures, to the lectures from the website, and chant the Holy Name, engage yourself in the service of the Deities, of the Lord, in Vaishnav service—that will be good for you.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told grihastha (householder) devotees, "Vaisnav-seva chhada dina nahi yaya—make sure that not a single day passes without service to Vaishnavs." Service to Vaishnavs means you must follow Vaishnavs' instruction, Gurudev's instruction. You must always follow Gurudev's instruction. "Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya (গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য)—make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart)." You must always keep what comes from the lotus mouth of Gurudev in your heart. That is the main thing. If you can keep it in your heart, then it will give you supreme benefit. So, engage yourself in Vaishnav-seva and chant the Holy Name. There are no rules and regulations concerning chanting—you can chant all the time, even when you are working, you can also chant the Holy Name at this time, then your practice will be more perfect. The more you practise, the more perfect you will be.

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