Bound by Loving Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 27 December 2020, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa-kula-churamani Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Vrinda Devi, Tulasi Devi, Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay
Sri Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay
Sri Mayapur Dham, Sri Nabadwip Dham, Sri Vrindavan, Mathura ki jay
Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay
Baladev, Subhadra, Jagannathjiu ki jay
Akar Math-raj Sri Chaitanya Math ki jay
Mayapur Yogapith ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
Tadiya sakha Math samuha ki jay
Sri Mather sevak vrinda, bhakta-vrinda ki jay
Ananta-koti Vaishnav vrinda ki jay
Sri Gaudiya Acharya vrinda ki jay
Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay
Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay
Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay
Suddha-bhaktir-vighnar vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay
Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar Giriraj Govardhan ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I hope everybody is OK. It is very nice to see all the devotees. I am very happy to see you all. I came to Nrisingha Palli yesterday after many days to arrange the festival of Srila Gurudev's appearance day. We are going to make this festival here, that is why I have come a few days beforehand: it is necessary to arrange everything (to prepare the new buildings, new rooms, etc.)

I am here by the mercy of Gurudev, and I have been remembering today how many years I passed with him and how many pastimes happened with Gurudev... I would like to speak about it in the introduction of this meeting.

I was speaking yesterday to some new devotees and sannyasis here from the Bengali section and I was telling them that it is necessary to understand how one should serve their Guru. You will serve your Guru with priti—with much love and affection.

In Gurudev's time, I was always at his service. I always thought, "When will a phone call come from Gurudev? When will Gurudev give me some service?" When Gurudev was coming back to Nabadwip from Kolkata, he would call me when he was in Krishnanagar (it is about ten-twelve kilometres from Nabadwip, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math) and say, "I am in Krishnanagar," and I would arrange some reception kirtan, programme, etc. I would come to Gurudev, offer him arati, and Gurudev would say a few words to the devotees. It is a very nice relationship with Gurudev. Such relationship is the main thing, actually. Gurudev never said to me, "Oh, I have called you, but I could not reach you!" He never had to complain about this. Rather, I was always alert when his phone call would come. I always thought about it. If I knew Gurudev was coming the next day (I would get a message from Kolkata that he was coming), I would go to the market and get the rice he liked, the vegetables he liked, etc. and fill his kitchen with everything. Gurudev had a separate kitchen, and I knew he would come and his personal servant would immediately start cooking. It never happened that they came and there was nothing in the kitchen. I always made sure the kitchen was full.

Also, there was always load shedding in Nabadwip (the electricity would go out)—sometimes, Gurudev would wake up at midnight, at two o'clock, three o'clock at night and there was no electricity. So, I got a separate generator for Gurudev—I did not allow electricity to go out for even one minute for him. I immediately supplied everything he needed. Even when Gurudev got sick, I would immediately, within a few minutes, bring a doctor to him. This is how Gurudev gradually started to depend on me—when he came to Nabadwip, he would always depend on me in everything, and he said, "I am coming here only because of you—because I know I can come and you will arrange everything, you will take care of everything."

This is how I fulfilled Gurudev's desires. When it came to Gurudev's appearance day, I would also make all the arrangements, and on the adhivas day he would want to walk around, see the lights, see what arrangements had been made, what prasadam was being prepared, etc. He wanted to know everything—what prasadam was being arranged, how I would serve all the Vaishnavs who were coming from various temples, various Gaudiya Maths. Gurudev observed and explained every single thing to me—he guided me in everything.

This is how that service was done... This relationship it is another kind of relationship, it is not an ordinary relationship...

I was telling my disciples yesterday that they do not know how close the relationship between Gurudev and me was. Gurudev's service is my dhyan-jnan! His service is my meditation—I always think, always meditate, "How can I fulfil Gurudev's desire? How can I do what he wants? How can I serve him?" Even when he chastised me, I felt he was giving me his mercy, his blessing (asirbad)—this is how he moulded me and made me fit for service (gave me more and more service qualification). This is the kind of relationship that I had, and Gurudev wanted to share so many confidential things with me. He told me a lot about the previous history of the Mission, what happened before I came to the temple, he told me how close he was with his Guru Maharaj (Srila Sridhar Maharaj), what was his mood, how he served his godbrothers, and so many other things.

Gurudev always told me to come to his veranda at three o'clock. There were not so many devotees at this time as, mostly, devotees would come to Gurudev after the mangal arati, but before the mangal arati there would be no one there, even Gurudev's private servitor (a Bengali devotee) would be sleeping at that time, and Gurudev always chose that time for me—he would tell me, "I want you to come to me from three to four a.m., I want to talk to you privately."

This is what I have been remembering today. This is the kind of relationship there is between Gurudev and myself... These are very important things.

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