(7/7) Service Acumen

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 26 December 2020, part 7
Translated from Bengali

If I knew, 'Gurudev is resting now,' I would not call at that time. I would call him in the morning, at 10 or 10:30. He would often spend two or four months abroad, and I never ever disturbed him. He told about me, 'After you came, I can stay abroad peacefully.' This is how I served Gurudev.

Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Maharaj told one story. Two disciples stayed at a temple and every day fought because of service. One said, 'I am doing more!' and the other one said, 'No, I am doing more!' One day, Gurudev said, 'Since you are fighting so much because of my service, I will divide my service. When you both come before I take a shower, rub me with some mustard oil. You will massage my left leg, and he will massage my right leg.' They did that, but one day one of the disciple got sick and could not come, so the other disciple massaged his guru alone, and he only massaged the guru's left leg, thinking, 'Why must I do his service? I will only massage the left leg as usual.'

'What is the matter?' the guru asked eventually. 'Why are you not massaging my right leg?'

'Why, Gurudev, you divided it and said it was his leg and this was my leg!' the disciple replied.

'Oh, it is his leg? Then I will cut it off.'

When we do service, we think 'I will do this, and he will do that, so I will not do it.' In my life, I learnt everything and did everything. I even learnt to do fire sacrifices. I have made a book now on how to do it. Now they can do them everywhere. It does not take that much to do a fire sacrifice. You can buy a yajna-kunda (the special stand), they sell it everywhere, and do a fire sacrifice in that, or you can just use some bricks and sand. When people do fire sacrifices, they ask for this, that, that... It is not that complicated actually.

If I die, does it mean that temple service to the Lord must stop? When Gurudev left, we did not stop anything – all aratis and bhoga offerings were as usual...

Anyhow, always remember these things. Always listen to what Gurudev says, do not follow the whims of your mind. Danger will come, and Gurudev will stir you, 'Do not go there, it is dangerous.' If you do not listen to what Gurudev says and still go there, Maya will attack you.

Disciples always worry about gurudev's material things, but I wrote in Guidance 4 that when you are born in gurudev's family, you become entitled to gurudev's wealth. Being born in gurudev's family means:

ওঁ অজ্ঞানতিমিরান্ধস্য জ্ঞানাঞ্জনশলাকয়া ।
চক্ষুরুন্মিলিতং যেন তস্মৈ শ্রীগুরবে নমঃ ॥

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

'I offer my obeisance to Sri Guru who has opened my eyes, rescuing me from the illusory darkness of ignorance, by applying the salve of knowledge upon my eyes.'

Gurudev rescues me from the darkness of ignorance and gives me a new life: he gives me a new name, a new life, he gives me the Holy Name. We were in the family of Maya before that, but gurudev brings us to the family of Krishna. So, when we are born in gurudev's family, we become entitled to gurudev's wealth. What is his wealth? Temples? Houses? Buildings? No. His wealth is love and affection, not temples. I have left our big temple, do I have any problem now? You will see that six thousand people will come to the coming festival, the whole nat mandir will be filled. I went for preaching, called devotees, went door to door inviting everybody...

Gurudev always wants to help the disciple get spiritual benefit, but the disciple must be able to take that help. I can give you some milk, but you must be able to hold that milk – if your pot has holes, will the milk stay in it? Gurudev can give you his mercy, but you must have place to keep his mercy. You say, 'Gurudev, please give me your mercy', 'Gurudev, please give me your mercy', 'Gurudev, please give me your mercy', but do you have place to keep that mercy? If your heart is filled with kanak (money), kamini (women), pratistha (name and fame), kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (illusion), mada (madness), matsarya (envy), rupa (eye-enjoyment), rasa (tongue-enjoyemnt), gandha (nose-enjoyment), sabda (ear-enjoyment), sparsa (tactile enjoyment), then how will you get that mercy?

[The pujari finishes doing the offering and closes the temple.] Why is the temple closed? Your gurudev is sitting and giving class, why do you close the temple? We are going to chant kirtan now, is it right to close the temple and put the Deities to rest at this time? Do you think the Lord will be able to sleep? Then you can understand it yourself. You must learn to use your intelligence.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Serve and Study
2) Eagerness to Study
3) Watch Your Activities
4) Serve with Love
5) Exemplary Service Mood
6) Deep Faith and Service
7) Service Acumen