Service Quality

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class
5 February 2020, part 1
Translated from Bengali

[His Divine Grace recited Jaya Dhvani, Vandana, and starts the programme with chanting the Guru Parampara kirtan.]

By the mercy of Gurupadpadma, we have again, one year later, united all together here, at this very beautiful place, enchanting environment. Sri Nityananda Prabhu appeared in this land to bestow His mercy upon such fallen, lowly, vile souls as ourselves, who live in this world, who have no qualification to practise Krishna consciousness, who do not know anything, who do not understand anything. He appeared on this earth in a place that is called Ekachakra Dham—later, it was renamed and is now known as Virachandrapur in honour of Virachandra Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu's son, who managed everything here. Sri Nityananda Prabhu Himself left this village at a very young age, when He was only twelve years old—He left with a sannyasi to visit various holy places of India. After that, He met with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, with whom He performed all the pastimes, in Sri Dham Mayapur. Their meeting took place at the temple of Gaura Nityananda—the house of Nandan Acharya. We visit this place every year during the parikrama of Sri Nabadwip Dham.

[A devotee notices ants in the garland of His Divine Grace and takes the garland to shake them off.] Oh God! They do not check the garlands, they do not know what an offence to service (seva-aparadh) this is... Guru Maharaj said, "What a torture it is to be an acharya! They give you a garland, and even that garland bites you." Do you understand? It is necessary to always be alert and make sure there is no defects in your service. When you are giving something to your Guru, you must always see if that thing is clean and neat or not.

You know, I have reprinted Param Guru Maharaj's (Srila Sridhar Maharaj) book Archan Kan, the guidelines for doing Deities' archan. Before we start doing archan, we always check if the chamar (the yuck-tail whisk) is clean or not, if our clothes are clean or not, if the pancha-pradip (the lamp) is clean or not, if the garland is clean or not, if the flowers are clean or not. We make sure everything is clean, but last we should see whether our mind is clean or not. Is your mind clean? To clean our minds, Param Gurudev wrote one very beautiful sloka in Archan Kan. You have put on twelve tilaks, you have made a garland, you have cleaned the asan, you have cleaned everything, but last Param Guru Maharaj wrote the Buddhi-suddhi mantra to clean your mind. I do not know if you read Archan Kan or not, but I saw there that the last sloka is the buddhi-suddhi sloka—after giving all slokas for purifying all paraphernalia, all items, Srila Guru Maharaj wrote a sloka to purify your mind:

দিব্যশ্রীহরিমন্দিরাঢ্যতিলকং কণ্ঠং সুমালান্বিতং
বক্ষঃ শ্রীহরিনামবর্ণসুভগং শ্রীখণ্ডলিপ্তং পুনঃ ।
পূতং সূক্ষ্মনবাম্বরং বিমলতাং নিত্যং বহন্তীং তনুং
ধ্যায়েচ্ছ্রীগুরুপাদপদ্মনিকটে সেবোৎসুকাঞ্চাত্মনঃ ॥

divyam sri-hari-mandiradhya-tilakam kantham sumalanvitam
vaksah sri-hari-nama-varna-subhagam sri-khanda-liptam punah
putam suksma-navambaram vimalatam nityam vahantim tanum
dhyayech chhri-guru-pada-padma-nikate sevotsukas cha atmanah

"Meditate that the Lord's Temple (your body) is decorated with shining tilak, your neck bears a beautiful tulasi-mala, your chest is adorned with the Names of Sri Hari and sandalwood paste, you are wearing fine, new, clean cloth, and in your pure, eternal form, you are at the lotus feet of Sri Guru, eager for service."

"O Lord, I have submitted my mind, heart and everything I have at Your holy feet. From there, You please give me the right, the qualification to perform archan." When I saw this sloka, I thought it was very beautiful. We should pray, "Please give me the right to do Your archan."

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