(1/1) Practise, Preach and Proceed

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Divine Appearance Day, Sri Vyasa Puja
Kolkata—South Africa, 17 October 2020

It is very nice to see you. I am very happy to see all the devotees! What time is it in South Africa now? Oh, 3:30 p.m. It is good time.

Gurudev selected me as his dog and as your servant, and I am always with you all. You are keeping me in your hearts, and I am also trying to keep you all in my heart because you are my best friends. I left my family (my father and mother) thirty years ago, and I have never seen them since then. You are actually my family, and I am very happy with you. Devotees are my big family. I started getting phone calls from all over India and all over the world at the early beginning of the day, from 3 o'clock at night. Just now I have also finished a class for the East and West temples in London, and after you, there is also Colombia and Venezuela still due at 7:30 p.m., Indian time.

Last Sunday, I told everyone that I cannot stop your guru-puja, so you can make guru-puja but I asked you not make festivals. But I see that so many places in India and abroad have still made a big festival. Here, I was afraid to come to any temple or branch in West Bengal or out of Bengal [to avoid making crowds due to the pandemic], but still, I am getting the news that each temple made gatherings for three hundred, four hundred, six hundred people. All right, they did what they did. They are not afraid of corona or any pandemic situation. Actually, this is one Coronasur (Corona Demon) who has come to this world and is demolishing everything financially and economically. Coronasur can stop economical, financial or any other material works, but Coronasur can never stop chanting the Holy Name and chanting the glorification of gurudev and the Lord – it cannot stop the festivals of guru-varga, Krishna's appearance, Vaishnavs' appearance and disappearance days and so on. I saw that all devotees all over the world are making very big festivals today. There were hundreds of devotees gathered in Russia also – they made this festival, too.

Actually, you are giving me very much respect and honour, and that is sufficient for me. I do not have the kind of quality or qualification to be fit for this, but by the mercy of Gurudev, you are giving me much respect, and that is more than sufficient for me; it is too much for me. Gurudev always warned me that pratistha could come, so I always keep pratistha at Gurudev's lotus feet. That is why I do not have any problem. Kanak (money) is for Narayan (Laksmi Devi and Narayan), kamini (women) is for Krishna, and pratistha (name and fame) is for gurudev.

But when it comes to, for example, Madhavendra Puri's pratistha, we always give respect to it. How famous Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami were! But they did not run behind name and fame. In this world, so many people are running behind pratistha (name and fame). Somebody wants to be a prime minister, somebody wants to be a chief minister – people are fighting over this chair. Even in Mahabharata, they fought over a kingdom. But great sadhus, such as Madhavendra Puri, Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami, always run away from pratistha. I wrote about pratistha in my book Guidance 3 (chapter 'The Unrenounceable'). You can see it explained there that even if you have left everything – if you go to a jungle, a forest – you still cannot leave pratishta. 'Oh, I have left everything!', 'I am a renunciate!', 'I am a tyagi!' – this is also pratistha. You cannot avoid it. That is why it is very difficult. But if you leave everything at the lotus feet of gurudev, it will be good for you and for everybody else. This is what I am trying to tell everybody today.

Try to run the temple in South Africa in harmony, all together. South Africa is a big country, and there are two–three centres in the country – what is the problem? There is one centre in Durban, another in Johannesburg, and the third one in Pietermaritzburg. There is some disturbance going on, but we must tolerate everything. Gurudev said that in this Age of Kali, demons will come wearing kanthi-mala (neckbeads) and tilaks – they will come and mix with us, chanting like us, 'Hari bol! Hari bol!' So, 'sarva-jive krsna-adhisthan (সর্ব্বজীবে কৃষ্ণ-অধিষ্ঠান): Krishna exists in all jiva souls' (Gitavali), but you can sometimes see that there are also demons among our devotees. They can be wearing tilaks, neckbeads and saffron clothes, but their behaviour is like that of demons. Whether one is a devotee or a demon depends on the kind of faith one has. Somebody can see Deities and think that They are made of clay, stone, brass, gold or many other materials, but somebody else can see Deities and think that the Lord exists in Them. Whether you see God existing somewhere or not depends on the eyes of the seer.

We must always be careful. We must preach Mahaprabhu's message properly, and we must go door to door distributing His message everywhere. This is the main duty in our lives. Somebody has a big temple – for example, there are big buildings in Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Nabadwip – but what does the word 'Math' mean? We call it 'home', but there is nobody living there – there are no sadhus living there, there are only rats and cockroaches living there... So, you must understand that a temple is meant for preaching. You can have a small temple, there can be just a few of you, maybe only fifty devotees, but you gather together, you worship your guru with heart and soul, you make festivals and give good prasadam, you glorify the guru, sing some bhajans. This is what a temple is about. This is the meaning of a temple. But if you make big buildings, big houses, what is the use if devotees do not live there? So, always preach. 'Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার)': you have life, therefore you must preach Mahaprabhu's movement all over the world. Gurudev did that, Guru Maharaj did that, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur did that, and we are following their path, their way. That is our life. Our weapons are not sticks, guns or any other things. Our weapons are only mridanga and karatals. I have told you about it many times. Preach Mahaprabhu's movement properly. That is the main thing. 'Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara.' If you preach in this way, I will be even happier and even more grateful to you.

I am very happy with you. I am giving you all the power that I have got from Gurudev. Because you are engaging yourself in the service of your guru, you will get all power. So, start preaching more and more and proceed in your spiritual life.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
All the South African devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

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