Practise More and Better

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Chira-dahi danda-mahotsav in Sripat Panihati Dham
Kolkata-Worldwide, 4 June 2020, part 6

Question: What service can give us humility so that we can ask for forgiveness of our offences?

When you do service, it is possible to commit some seva-aparadh; nonetheless, you must stay within service and always do your service. If you think, "Oh, if I do some service, seva-aparadh (some offence) will come, so I better leave this service and not do it"—this is not good.

As for humility, humility comes through service. It is very important. Sometimes, we do puja and we become proud of it, some ego comes; or we become a temple manager and we get the ego that, "I am the manager!"; and if you become a guru, then even more ego comes—it is a very difficult situation. So, we must always practise humility, tolerance and giving honour to others—we must practise it through service. Any service you do, even if you are cleaning toilets, you must remember this.

I remember Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj and his service. Every year he would come to Nabadwip before Gaura Purnima and clean all toilets himself, it was his service. He would put on a gumcha and clean all toilets. One time, he came to Nabadwip late, and I had already arranged for some sweeper to do that service. When he came and found out about it, he was very angry—he told me, "All right, give me some money to get the toilet cleaning things." He went to the market and bought some phenyle, detergent, and cleaning tools. After that, he again cleaned all the toilets. He is a sannyasi, he always accompanied Srila Gurudev in his world tours, but he did that kind of service.

I also remember Risabdev Prabhu. Gurudev told me that when he was in America, he stayed at his house. Risabdev Prabhu had given his house for all the devotees to stay, and one night, when Gurudev came out of his room to go to the bathroom, he saw Risabdev Prabhu sleeping in the doorway of his room. He asked him, "What happened, Prabhu? Why are you sleeping here?" It turned out that Risabdev Prabhu had given his own room to Gurudev.

So, we can hear so many examples from Gurudev. Gurudev always tells about the qualities and qualification of devotees. I consider myself a very fallen soul, I have no quality or qualification, but Gurudev has engaged me to serve you all—I am trying to do it, and I will keep trying to do it until my death.

Question: How to form detachment and develop love for Krishna on the daily basis?

It comes through practice. Take shelter of a bona fide guru and practise. Practice makes perfect. If you practise, attachment will automatically come. You know, if a baby is born in your family, the more affection you give to the baby, the more attachment gradually comes to that baby. You have your Deities, Radha-Krishna, Mahaprabhu, and you must serve them properly, then affection and attachment will come automatically.

Once, a pujari from Nabadwip wanted to go to Vrindavan. He came to Gurudev to ask him for permission, "Gurudev, can I go for Vrindavan parikrama?" Gurudev asked him, "If you go to Vrindavan, who will take care of your baby? Have you arranged for somebody to take care of your baby?" 'Baby' means Radha-Krishna and Mahaprabhu, the Deities. This is what Gurudev told that pujari.

So, practice makes perfect. It is necessary to practise properly. You must practise and practise every day, with attachment to your service. Also, you must think tonight what service you will do tomorrow and how you can improve and increase that service (how to do more and better). If you do this, then you will get a chance to have proper attachment to service and to Krishna.

Question: What is the importance of chanting the Holy Name in the street?

It is important because through that some people will come. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad went to America alone—he sat under a tree chanting with karatals, and some hippies came to him, he preached to them. This is how the mission started. Also, when you chant kirtan in the street, some trees, birds, etc. can hear that kirtan—that wave of the sound vibration (sabda-taranga, শব্দ-তরঙ্গ) enters their ears and gives them benefit. I saw also when we did street sankirtan in Russia, so many crazy people came to join us, but after that they came with us in the bus to the temple, we preached to them, and they became devotees.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Jay Srila Janardan Maharaj ki jay
All the assembled sannyasi-vrinda ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Jay Sri Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu ki jay
Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay
Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay
Sri Raghunath Das Goswami's danda-mahotsav ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Dandavat.

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