Serve with Care

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 27 January 2020, part 3
Translated from Bengali

You must chant kirtan with your heart. There are many groups—aul, baul, karttabhaja, neda, daravesa, sani, sakhibheki, jata-goswami. What is the point? If you want to go everywhere, to every place and hear from every place, what is the use? I must stay busy with my own practising life—what others are doing, what others are practising or not practising, etc. I must not give my ear in this direction.

বৈষ্ণব-চরিত্র, সর্ব্বদা পবিত্র,
যেই নিন্দে হিংসা করি’ ।
ভকতিবিনোদ না সম্ভাষে তাঁ’রে,
থাকে সদা মৌন ধরি’ ॥

vaisnava-charitra sarvada pavitra
yei ninde himsa kari'
bhaktivinoda na sambhase tan're
thake sada mauna dhari'

"The character of Vaishnavs is always pure. Bhaktivinod keeps quiet and does not associate with those who are envious of Vaishnavs and who criticise Vaishnavs."

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru)

Always keep quiet in such cases. It is not good to hear all kinds of things from all kinds of places. It is unfavourable to spiritual life. Maya Devi sends illusion to the soul to tell the soul bad things, and if you rummage in such filthy, stinking things, then it is nothing but Vaishnav aparadh. You know it:

হরিস্থানে অপরাধে তারে হরিনাম ।
তোমাস্থানে অপরাধে নাহিক এড়ান ॥

hari-sthane aparadhe tare harinama
toma-sthane aparadhe nahiko edana

If one commits an offence at the feet of Lord Hari, he can be forgiven if he chants the Holy Name. But if one offends you, there is no salvation for him.

If you make some offence at the lotus feet of the Lord, there is a way to rescue yourself and get peace; but if you make an offence at the holy lotus feet of a Vaishnav, there is no rescue from this.

Therefore, it is necessary to watch out for seva-aparadha; it is necessary to watch out when you cook for the Lord. You must think, "What will I cook for the Lord? What nice things can I make for the Lord? What can I do for the Lord?" I must always think about this and do whatever is in my capacity. The Lord does not want anything that is beyond your capacity. You know that when Krishna went to Vidura's house, He ate banana skin, but He did not accept raja-bhoga at the house of Duryodhana. You can give an offering on a golden plate, but you have not put salt in the preparations or you put too much salt or spices and spoilt the dish. The Lord will not like it—you must cook with care. You must always be careful and watch out that you do not touch the plate of the Lord with your feet. Serve the Deities with faith.

You come to the temple, you come to take initiation, you come to offer obeisance to the Lord, and the Lord knows everything very well—He knows what you have on your mind and with what purpose you do all that. He can see everything. The Lord may or may not take your obeisance—He may or may not take your service; but our duty must be to serve Him, to worship Him, to glorify Him, to chant His Holy Name. This is what we must always pay attention to. You must never forget this.

We always forget. We forget even who we ourselves are! We do not know ourselves. You have got this human birth as a result of a very great fortune. You have to struggle, you have to suffer. Such is the fate of the souls ruined by Kali. They are suffering so much, floundering in the illusion. Still, they do not even try to escape this material illusory world.

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