(7/14) Join Service Festival

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Gurudev's Vyasa Puja Adhivas, Nrisingha Palli
13 December 2019, part 7

[His Divine Grace resumes the class after chanting the evening kirtans.]

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

'The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

We are present here in Sri Nrisingha Palli, which is non-different from Sri Vraja Dham.

Many of you have visited Vridanvan. Do you remember Nandishwar Parvat (Hill)? Nandagram is situated on a high hill called Nandishwar Parvat. Lord Siva who stays there is known as Nandishwar. He is kept there to guard Nanda Maharaj's village from any demons or evil ghosts and to protect Krishna from all evils. This Nrisingha Palli here in Godrumdwip is also known as Nandishwar Hill. So, this place is non-different from Vraja Dham. When there was a big flood in 2000, the water came up to the first floor, but there was no water here. Our Guru Maharaj also said, 'If we had a place in Nrisingha Palli, we could keep cows there.' Now we have a place here, and we have some cows here...

It is our great fortune to come here. By the mercy of Nabadwip Dham and Gurudev, we were given a place here. Tomorrow, together with all the devotees, we will be observing the festival in honour of the holy appearance day of our Gurupadpadma, Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. 'Festival' means doing kirtan, doing service. Everybody should engage themselves in service; it can be any service – somebody can distribute prasad, somebody can cut vegetables, somebody can cook, somebody can wash the dishes. Everybody should engage themselves in service.

What does it mean to get gurudev's mercy? To come to a festival, take prasad and go away? Offering some flowers to gurudev's picture? This is not how you get gurudev's mercy. You must join the festival to do service. There are many kinds of services, and you can do any kind of service. There is no end to service activities. Srila Prabhupad said that even if a thousand people come to the temple, all of them can get some service, and if they do not do it, it is their bad fortune. Somebody can bring water, somebody can bring sweets, somebody can give a class, somebody can chant kirtans, somebody can clean the temple. Many Vaishnavs will be coming from Mayapur tomorrow, and we must serve them. If Vaishnavs are not happy, then the festival cannot be successful.

Vaishnavs come here on invitation, but you are all members of Chaitanya Saraswat Family. We are all one family. It is only due to our bad fortune that we keep ourselves separate, thinking, 'My house is there', 'My room is there', 'My family is there.' When we talk about our family, we think about our wives, husbands, children, grandchildren, and so on. You have some relatives in this world for your own separate interest, and you consider them your family. But they are all false. If they were really your mothers, fathers, children, then they would not leave you and go away. Those who are our real family would never leave us. Se kabhu na haya para (সে কভু না হয় পর). He never leaves me' (Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). Bhagavan Sri Krishna never leaves anybody, just as His representative never does either.

You cannot find God in this world – you cannot get a letter from the Lord because we do not know the Lord's address where to write, nor will we get a reply even if we do write. But if you send your letter to gurudev, gurudev will take it to the Lord. Gurudev is the proxy, or representative, of the Lord in this world. Whatever we can come in touch with from the spiritual world, it can only be possible through gurudev. So, if we try to practise Krishna consciousness bypassing gurudev, we will not get anything. No matter how much you chant and sing, no matter how great a festival you make, no matter what you do, if you bypass your guru, then everything is useless, a waste of time. All your efforts will result only in creating some garbage and disturbance (janjal, জঞ্জাল). It is not possible to practise spiritual life without a guru.

There is only one thing I want to say to all those of you who have genuinely taken initiation and who have a genuine relationship with Gurudev: you must always have chastity.

— : • : —

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Size: 38 Mb
Length: 78 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Golden Time for Golden Purpose
2) Emerging from Darkness
3) Leaving Maya's Shelter
4) Sitting on Two Chairs
5) Deep Chastity
6) Accept and Appreciate
7) Join Service Festival
8) Meaning of Chastity
9) Leave Bargaining Mentality
10) Appreciate and Care
11) Who Is Your Own?
12) Spiritual Determination
13) Spiritual Progress
14) Service, Submission and Purity