(1/4) Sincerity in Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ganga Sagar, morning class
12 January 2020, part 1

No matter what happens, you must think, "I have to go to the market to buy vegetables for Gurudev, for the Lord." It does not matter if somebody dies, if somebody leaves, it should not even enter your mind. The only sadness is when devotees leave. Mahaprabhu asked Ray Ramananda, "Of all kinds of sadness, what is the biggest sadness?" Ray Ramananda replied, "I do not see any other sadness except for separation from devotees."

দুঃখ-মধ্যে কোন্ দুঃখ হয় গুরুতব ? ।
কৃষ্ণভক্ত-বিরহ বিনা দুঃখ নাহি দেখি পর ॥

'duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?'
'krsna-bhakta-viraha bina duhkha nahi dekhi para'

"Of all kinds of sadness, what is the biggest sadness?"—"I do not see any other sadness except for separation from a devotee."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.247)

When devotees leave this world, we feel much pain.

There was one devotee who stayed with me some time ago. Something happened between her and foreign devotees here, and she went away to her country. She did not keep any connection with me for a year. Over some time, she had accumulated much money, and when she secured some land, she started building a house. Half of the house had already been built, but then suddenly she had a heart attack. She was taken to hospital, but they did not even have oxygen for patients, so she died on the way. She was fifty years old. This is the situation in this world. They do not keep connection with Gurudev and the mission—they spend thirteen years accumulating money, thinking where they will stay, how they will live when they grow old and stay alone, etc. Where does that all go in the end?

I never say, "I will leave everything and go to live in the jungle!", "There are problems at the temple, I will not stay here!", "I will go to the jungle and practise on my own," or, "I will go to Vrindavan, make one bhajan kutir (a hut) and live there." I tell those who think like this, "You say you will go to Vrindavan to practise Krishna consciousness, but will you leave your stomach behind too or will you take it with you? You will have to take your stomach with you, and because of your stomach, you will have to go begging house to house, crying, 'Jaya Radhe! Radhe! Radhe!' They will give you some roti, and you will sit and chant the Holy Name, living on those rotis. Will that even be the Holy Name? Or will it be 'Pore Pesto, Pore Pesto' instead? On top of that, you will be worrying, 'Oh, my roti is burnt!'"

Gurudev has opened a factory in various places. What is the name of Gurudev's factory? Chaitanya Saraswat Math. There are many employees required at this factory, there are so many jobs that have to be done here. You must come to work at these factories. Do service at these factories—so many workers are needed here! Join Chaitanya Saraswat Math. If you can work here—if you can work at the house of your Guru, if you can serve your Guru, then you will be able to go wherever your Guru goes.

Gurudev is a near and dear of the Lord. You were singing just now in one of the kirtans:

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is considered to be the Lord Himself by all scriptures and sadhus and who is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

Sri Guru is the Lord Himself, and at the same time, he is also a very dear associate of the Lord. In other words, he is non-different from Srimati Radharani, who is the dearmost of the Lord. Radharani is She who worships Lord Krishna most of all—that is why her Name is Radha (aradhana means "worship"). So, who is Gurudev? He is a personality who serves the Lord most.

I have told you many times that you can find many gurus in this world—the number of gurus in this world is very large, but the number of disciples is very small. One does not become a disciple just by taking the mantra. You take initiation, give some flowers, but is that all? I saw yesterday that they run to put a garland on me, but they do not think, "Has Gurudev eaten anything? Does he need anything?" They come to put a garland on me, put some chandan (sandalwood paste) and sit happily. Mahaprabhu would garland devotees and apply chandan paste after giving them prasad! People like to give jay loudly and put a garland on me because then some pratistha comes to them. But they forget to offer their Guru anything to eat, so I end up sitting for the class like that...

If you do service, you must do it properly, listening to what Gurudev says, then you will be a real disciple. A disciple will be able to tolerate Gurudev's chastisement. Gurudev will say, "Go away!" All right, Gurudev is angry, so I will go away, but after that I will come back again in ten minutes. I will come again! I have made a mistake, so Gurudev got angry and told me to go away, but he did not prohibit me to come again. So, I will come again! I will always wait when Gurudev will give me an order, when Gurudev will give me some service. It is necessary to always wait and hanker for this.

You throw some flowers at your Guru's feet, give a garland, say jay, and that's it. No. You must live following what Gurudev says. People come in front of Gurudev and keep saying the words they have learnt by heart, "Gurudev, please give me your mercy", "Gurudev, please give me your mercy", "Gurudev, please give me your mercy", and when Gurudev gives you some service, you do not care about it. You only keep saying, "Gurudev, please give me your mercy." One time, somebody came to me from Tarakeshwar, saying, "Gurudev, please give me your mercy." That man was supposed to take care of the cows at the temple, but what did he do? Cows need affection—you should sometimes give them some fruit, some flowers, etc., but when he came to feed them, he would come threatening or beating them with a stick! What kind of service is that? I chastised him for feeding the cows too little, and he said that if the cows ate more, they would pass more stool! What is this? Guru Maharaj would say that a person can be so mean and angry that when cows feel hungry, they will pass stool out of fear! He thinks that if cows eat less, then he will not have to clean after them. What kind of a servitor is this? They are always busy with their own happiness. They practise Krishna consciousness following the whims of their minds and always think about their own happiness, and in front of Gurudev, they will keep saying, "Gurudev, please give me some mercy!"—they will pretend and shed tears also. These are crocodile tears. This will not do! No. Gurudev has given you service, and you must do whatever that service is.

If I give a room to somebody and put them in charge of cooking, they should think, "What are we cooking today?" It is necessary to have sincerity (nistha)—you must do your duty.

Why does *** come to all the places with me? To distribute books. Another devotee's duty is to play the kartals and the mridanga and to make sure our kartals and mridangas do not get lost. Everybody should do what they are told to do. I have divided service among devotees, but they think, "Oh, how come I am doing more than he?" So what? If you are doing more, it means you have more mercy! More service means more mercy. If you have no mercy, you will not get service. If you do not have much to do, it means that you do not have Sri Guru's mercy—if you are not getting service at the temple, it means you have no mercy. You must remember this. Moreover, what is the reward of service? The result of service is getting more service. Gurudev told that the ball will always come to the feet of those who want to play football. But we are scared to play football and hide inside our room, then how will the ball come to our feet?

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Sincerity in Service
2) Love and Preaching for the Lord
3) Wrong Vision
4) Root of Unhappiness