Niskam Bhakti

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
8 March 2020, part 4, translated from Bengali

[To a devotee coming to the front to pay obeisance.] You should not pay obeisances in front of everybody to impress everyone. Call out to Gurudev in your heart, in your mind. It is not necessary to say anything out loud. If you come to tell this to me in front of everyone, it means you want everyone to know it. I also call out to my Gurudev, but I do that in my heart.

I always think about everyone's benefit, I always want the best for you all.

Once, there was a scorpion on the bank of the Ganges which was about to fall into the water. In the meantime, there was also a sadhu sitting nearby, chanting the Holy Name on his beads. Seeing the scorpion heading to its death, the sadhu kept his mala to the side and went to save the scorpion. When the sadhu picked up the scorpion, it bit him. Having kept the scorpion in a safe place a little far from the water, the sadhu went back to chanting the Holy Name, but the scorpion again went towards the Ganges. This repeated many times, and the sadhu kept saving the scorpion from its death. Some boy saw this and asked the sadhu, "O sadhu, what do you get by saving this scorpion? If it dies, what is it to you?" The sadhu replied, "If this scorpion does not change its nature, why must I change mine? My nature is to be kind to jiva souls, to save jiva souls, and its nature is to bite and harm." So, if somebody bites me, I will not bite back in return. I always want the best for everyone, I always want some good intelligence to awaken in everyone. May you all keep well. Always practise Krishna consciousness properly. Most of the time, instead of Krishna consciousness people put on a show and pretend. That is why it is said that there is niskam bhakti (selfless, unconditional devotion) and there is sakam bhakti (selfish devotion mixed with material desires)—unconditional service is not the same as conditional service.

I have told you this story many times. Once, a gentleman gave Gurudev two cheques for twenty-four lakhs rupees (2,400,000 rupees—at that time, it was worth much more than now). Gurudev turned the cheques and saw it was written there how he was supposed to spend that money—a certain sum for Bamunpara, a certain sum for Nabadwip, a certain sum for Hapaniya, and a certain sum for Puri. Having seen this, Gurudev tore both cheques, threw it in front of that man and told him to leave. I was there at that time, and I actually brought that man to Gurudev. I knew that the man had given a lot of money for Dum Dum Park, but after the story with those two cheques, Gurudev told him not to ever come to him again. Our Gurudev was like that. He threw away twenty-four lakhs rupees as something trifle because he knew, "He is giving me this money, but with some conditions. He is giving this money for the Lord, and it is my business how I will spend it."

Many of you are doing service, sometimes some of you want to give some land to the temple, but you have some conditions. That is conditional service, and that is not good. It is not service. This is sakam bhakti (devotion mixed with other, selfish desires). "O Lord, I have given you ten rupees, and I want to get something in return." This is a business transaction between a shopkeeper and a customer. Therefore, if you give something to your Guru and Vaishnavs or you do something for them, it is not necessary to say anything about it, to do anything about it, etc. Remember this relationship.

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