(6/7) Devotees' Character

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami Maha-Mahotsav
Kolkata-Worldwide, 12 August 2020, part 6

Are there any questions?

Question: On festival days like today, should we follow our local time, or is it better to follow the Indian time?

Actually, every country has different time zones. How will you always follow the Indian time? It is better to follow the local time. For example, Janmastami, the appearance of Lord Krishna, takes place at midnight. But it is nine o'clock in the evening here now, and it is eight or ten o'clock in the morning in America (I do not know the exact time there). So, how is it possible for you to follow Indian time? That is why it is better if you use the local time. But Gurudev sometimes told that you can try to follow the Indian time.

How do you follow the ekadasi days? Do you follow them by the Indian time or the local time? For example, if you live in America, you should follow the American time; if you live in London, you should follow the London time. Otherwise, how will you follow ekadasi?

Srila Janardan Maharaj, what did Gurudev tell you all? Do you follow Janmastami or Radhastami? It is better to observe these days according to the local time, is it not?

Srila Janardan Maharaj: Yes, the local time. We are going till midnight according to the local time.

Yes, of course. Gurudev also told to do that.

Srila Janardan Maharaj: And on the Nandotsav day, we do a programme in the morning and then distribute prasad at one o'clock in the afternoon.

Yes, main prasad distribution is at noon.

Question: Can an ordinary devotee appeal to Krishna to help or protect them just as Prahlad Maharaj appealed to Sri Nrisinghadev?

Actually, we do not want to be materialists (karmi), so we will not use Krishna for our own matters. We will not pray for our own matters. Do you understand it? We always want to try to serve Krishna. This is our main vision and conception. We want to serve Krishna under the guidnce of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Srimati Radharani and also Gurudev. We will serve Krishna under their guidance, we will not pray to Krishna, 'You must make my body recover', 'You must see to my problem.' No. We will not use Krishna or Gurudev for ourselves, for our own matters. We will serve them. That is the main vision. Indian people, Hindu people and other people always pray for themselves. They come to Lord Nrisinghadev and say, 'Oh, please remove all my bondage', 'Please do this, this, this.' Sometimes people give much water to Lord Siva and say, 'Please remove my disease.' People do like this, but our character, our mood should not be like that. Actually, we are servitors, and we are eternal servitors, so we must always serve. Just as a mother always serves her child with love and affection, we must serve the Lord out of love, and not because we want something from Him...

Question: If we should never ask the Lord for protection, then what about 'avasya raksibe krsna visvase palan', which is one of the six limbs of surrender?

Yes, we will have faith in this, but we will not ask for this. We have faith that Gurudev will protect me, that Krishna will protect me, but we are not going to ask Him, 'Please help me!'

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Length: 55 min
Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Prayerful Meditation
2) Misconceptions about Lord Krishna's Appearance
3) Entering Another Plane
4) Approaching Krishna's Pastimes
5) Account of Krishna's Appearance
6) Devotees' Character
7) Always Remember, Always Serve