(2/8) Service Arrangement

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Radhapur (Howrah district),
17 November 2020, noon, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Four-five days ago, I went to Panskura (it is on the way to Uluberia, crossing Kolaghat). If you have a strong desire, you can hear about the Lord and you can serve devotees. And there is proof to that. People know that I go for preaching in a car, so many say, 'Maharaj does not go to poor people's houses. He goes to rich people's houses.' But what kind of poor house did I go to the other day? What is the occupation of the people who live in that house? They live by begging, or collecting alms. When they do not beg, they work in people's gardens, taking care of roses and doing other odd jobs. When there is no work, they go begging. They kept calling me on my phone and asking me, 'Gurudev, will you not come to our house?' and I came there.

We have a temple now in Tarakeshwar, but before I only went there for preaching because there was one disciple of Gurudev there.

[Clamour] Please listen carefully, do not speak. You must become 'srutasrava': you must be able to remember everything after hearing it once.

So, in Tarakeshwar, there was one poor lady, a disciple of Gurudev. She went travelling and came to Nabadwip. When she was in Nabadwip, she did the parikrama and heard Gurudev's lectures. She took initiation, and ten–eleven years later, she told me many times, 'I cannot bring Gurudev to my house, but can you come to my house one day?' She kept asking me, so in the end I agreed, 'All right, I will come. When I am in that area, I will come to Tarakeshwar to collect potato.' I came to Tarakeshwar in our Tata Sumo car (that car was crushed), but when we arrived at the house, the driver did not get out of the car. He thought, 'Where is the programme? Where has he brought me?' The veranda and the house were bare and very small. Then, somebody came out and gave us a straw mat to sit on. They told me that the bathroom was in another house – their house did not even have a bathroom, but one of the neighbours had a bathroom, so they took me there. There was no water also – they brought some water from a pond and you would bathe at a tube well. It was winter. We started collecting. Somebody gave five kg of potato, somebody gave ten kg, and in the end we collected twelve sacks of potato. Now, there is a temple in Tarakeshwar, and we collect five–six hundred sacks of potato. There are so many disciples there also.

When I went to those poor devotees' house (in Panskura) the other day, they arranged that programme by begging. I asked them, 'How many people will you gather?' They told me, 'Two hundred fifty or three hundred people.' They rented microphones and made sure our car can come to their house because the roads are very bad in that area. They arranged everything. They did not leave anything out. They arranged for prasad for everyone. They had called a disciple of Gurudev from Sabang (West Midnapore) to cook for the programme.

Therefore, if you have desire, you can serve the Lord.

They tell me, 'Gurudev, we need to do the abhisekh of Gopal...' Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj established a very big mission, ISKCON, and when he was inaugurating the temple in Mayapur (they had a five-katha piece of land, equivalent to 3,66 sq.ft., or 56 sq.m.), he invited all Gaudiya Maths to the ceremony. At that time, Srila Swami Maharaj had just returned from the West and all Gaudiya Maths felt disgusted to take prasad from mlechhas' hands. So, nobody came from Gaudiya Maths, but our Param Guru Maharaj (Srila Sridhar Maharaj) considered Srila Swami Maharaj a saktyavesa-avatar of Nityananda Prabhu and felt happy that Westerner people were coming to chant the Holy Name, so he came to Mayapur together with Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj and our Gurudev (Srila Govinda Maharaj), who was white-clad at that time. When they came, Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked Srila Swami Maharaj, 'Maharaj, you have called us to the inauguration of the temple, but where is the fire sacrifice for the temple inauguration?' Srila Swami Maharaj replied, 'My temple has already been inaugurated. When such a great guru and Vaishnav as you have come, there is no need for any sacrifice or rituals. The temple is automatically inaugurated.' So, when I was in Panskura, I told them, 'You have just offered bhog to Gopal, why do you need to make an abhisekh now? When so many Vaishnavs have gathered here, is it necessary to make any abhisekh?' Wherever Vaishnavs' footdust falls, wherever Vaishnavs come, everything is automatically purified and accomplished.

[Clamour] Do not speak. I have not come to hear you speak here. You must listen silently. No gramya-katha, no gramya-varta. As long as I am here, do not speak about any irrelevant things, and when I leave, you can do whatever you want. Do as I tell you, it will give you benefit. I have told you earlier today – I have not come to waste you rice.

— : • : —

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Length: 63 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Satiating Hunger for Hari-Katha
2) Service Arrangement
3) Humble Service Mood
4) Attaining Unattainable
5) Advent of Govardhan
6) Worship of Govardhan
7) Govardhan-Dhari Gopal
8) Search and Surrender