(4/9) Eternal Servants

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav Seva Programme, Kolkata,
29 January 2021, part 4

There is a kirtan where it is written very beautifully: ‘Sisya thakiba sarvada (শিষ্য থাকিব সর্ব্বদা). I will always be a disciple.’ The other day I got a call from abroad.

‘Maharaj’, the person said, ‘I have some good news today!’

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘I have given initiation to one person today!’ he said.

‘Oh?’ I replied, ‘You have given initiation, Maharaj? Then, will you give initiation to me?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I am always a disciple, and I always want to remain a disciple,’ I replied.

I have no desire to be a guru.

sambandha janiya, bhajite bhajite,
abhimana hau dura

‘May my ego go away by always worshipping you in full knowledge of the relationship.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When it comes to vaishnav-seva, we must remember that ‘Chhadiya vaisnava-seva nistara payechhe keba (ছাড়িয়া বৈষ্ণব-সেবা নিস্তার পায়েছে কেবা). You cannot get relief without service to Vaishnavs’ (Srila Narottam Das Thakur). If you cannot serve devotees, if you have never served Vaishnavs and your guru, then your life has passed in vain. Srila Guru Maharaj said: How many people actually become disciples? Being a disciple means being able to tolerate and accept gurudev’s chastisement and mould yourself according to his chastisement, but we do not have such qualities. People come to the temple and complain that they are not given nice food, that they are not given nice clothes and other things. We are told that even if somebody steals and eats prasad, they commit a sin, but if you see it and go tell others about it, this is an offence. These are Srila Prabhupad’s words. If you see somebody steal prasad and eat it, you must not tell others about it – if you tell about it to others, it is an even greater offence than stealing. That is why we are told:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

Do not talk about mundane things, do not discuss mundane news. There is no need for any fancy food, there is no need for any fancy arrangement for bathing or anything else. We are always busy with eating, sleeping, fearing and breeding. ‘I will eat well, I will wear nice clothes, and I will take very good care of my health’ – always worrying about this, we waste our time.

দিন যায় মিছা কাজে নিশা নিদ্রাবশে ।
নাহি ভাবি মরণ নিকটে আছে বসে ॥

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base
nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

‘My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleep. It never occurs to me that death is there, waiting right next to me.’

(Sri Kalyan-Kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Our days and time pass as we are forever busy working and sleeping. We do not know when we will leave this world (we can leave at any moment). We have not got any understanding of who we are – we think that this body and ‘I’ are the same thing. We do not even know who we are. When we are asked about our identity, we say, ‘I am so-and-so Ray’, ‘I am so-and-so Biswas’, ‘I am so-and-so Sarkar’, ‘I am so-and-so Das.’ We think that this is who we are, but when will our hearts and minds become clean? When will we think, ‘I am an eternal servant of Lord Krishna’?

‘কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস’—জীব তাহা ভুলি’ গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

‘krsna-nitya-dasa’—jiva taha bhuli’ gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

‘Jiva souls forgot that they are eternal servants of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around their necks.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We always forget that we are eternal servants of Krishna – we only remember it for a few moments and then forget about it again. One man took initiation from Gurudev and had lived in Vrindavan for ten or twelve years. In the end, he told me, ‘I do not want to stay at the temple anymore, please take this service from me.’ I told him, ‘Prabhu, when you took initiation from Gurudev, you took the beads saying you are an eternal servant of Lord Krishna. Are you a servant of Lord Krishna for ten years only?’ You have taken the beads – are you a servant of Lord Krishna or are you an eternal servant of Krishna? Which is true?

We are eternal servants of Lord Krishna – this is what we forget, and as soon as we forget it Maya attacks us. What is Maya? Maya is that which is not eternal, that which is not true (asat). That is which is eternal, pure and true is not Maya. The problem is that we take false things (asat) for the truth (sat). Where does Maya get her power? From the Lord. Her duty is to take us away from the service to the Lord and engage us in her own service (turn us into her servants). When you put a piece of iron into fire, the iron becomes hot, and if you keep it in the fire longer, it becomes red – after that, if you touch that red iron to someone’s body, it will burn the body. Before that, the iron did not burn, so why does it burn now? Because there is fire inside it. Where does that fire come from? The iron gets its power (fire) from the original fire. In the same way, Maya also gets her power from the Lord and then removes us from the Lord’s service. This is how we end up always thinking, ‘My house’, ‘My room’, ‘My son’, ‘My family’ – always floundering amidst all this, we live in the prison of Maya. However, there is a way out…

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Vaishnav Rites
2) Disciple's Life
3) Sincere Spiritual Life
4) Eternal Servants
5) The Answer Is One
6) "Give Me These Alms"
7) Remembering Haridas Thakur
8) Poverty of Mind
9) "Come, Dear Mind, Come"