'Where There Is a Will There Is a Way'

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 28 March 2020, part 4

Question: How should we act if somebody offends us?

Tolerate it. The only medicine is tolerance and patience, then you will get the result. Tolerance and patience are the main things. If you do not have tolerance, how will you be a devotee? Patience is necessary, tolerance is necessary. If somebody says something bad to me, swears me, it is OK—if they are happy, they can do it, it is not a problem for me. If somebody is happy to provoke me, to say something mean to me, it is OK, they can do it more and more, but no reaction will come from me. We must not show any reaction—this is not Vaishnav religion to do it. Vaishnav religion does not say that if somebody bites you, you must bite them back.

Question: How can we concentrate our mind when chanting?

Chant loudly, then your mind will concentrate on service.

Question: You said that ego is our main obstacle, how can we get relief from ego?

You can get relief from your ego only by paying obeisance to everybody. When you see a devotee, always pay obeisance to then. Always bow down your head at the lotus feet of devotees, then your ego will be removed. I told you that if you have a fifty kg sack on your head, how will you get rid of it? You must bow head down, then your fifty kg sack will fall down. Do you understand what I am saying? Mahaprabhu told also that even if Raghunath Das Goswami saw one Vaishnav ten times during one day, he would pay obeisance to him ten times that day.

Question: I have a child, how should I instruct him?

Actually, your child will learn that which you teach him from the beginning, so you should teach him good things from the beginning—teach him to pay dandavat, to pay obeisance, to engage in devotional activities. Keep him engaged in learning, keep teaching him, that is good for you. On the other hand, there is also a problem. I have seen in Mahabharatha, in Srimad Bhagavatam that even in Satya-yuga devotees' sons do not always become devotee—sometimes devotees' sons also become demons. So, those who are fortunate souls, get some good association, some sadhu-sanga, and through that they learn and understand something.

Question: How can we develop sincerity and enthusiasm in our service?

Through practice. Actually, you must understand one thing, I will give one example to you all. Enthusiasm (utsaha) is a good symptom, it is necessary to have a great desire to serve, it is necessary to serve with love and affection. If you want to serve the guru, you need to have desire. Suppose a cat wants to take its kitten somewhere—it takes the kitten by its mouth. Some disciples, or devotees, say, "Oh, I am folding my hands and will follow whatever the Lord tells me." They wait for the order, wait for their Lord to come. "I am suffering from so much cold—it is not a problem, I will just cry, and my mother will take me to a warm place." A kitten cries and its mother takes it by its mouth and carries it to some good place. That is one example. Another example is that of a monkey. A baby monkey does not think like that. A baby monkey is very enthusiastic, very eager to go with its mother, so it catches and holds onto its mother, and the mother takes it to some place. So, what will we do? We can say that we will be like the baby monkey, but Gurudev says that we will be neither like a baby monkey, nor like a kitten—we will be like Mother Yasoda. Mother Yasoda thinks, "I will tie my son with the rope! By hook or by crook, but I will tie Him!" She tries, tries, and tries for so many hours, she keeps on trying, in the end Krishna automatically thinks, "Oh, My mother is so tired!" and He comes Himself to her, "Here, mother, tie Me!" It is necessary to have this kind of desire—try, and try, and try. Sometimes you think, "Oh, I cannot do it," but no, we will not say, "I cannot do it," we will say, "I must do it!" That is the strongest desire. It may be difficult or impossible, but I must do it!

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