Have You Forgotten?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 3 February 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First of all, I am offering my full obeisance at the holy lotus feet of Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy, after that I am offering my obeisance to all Guru-varga, to all my God-brothers and sisters, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees, to all devotees, and I am praying to you all for your mercy to this low soul.

We have spent here (at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nrisingha Palli) two-three days in a very good way. "Vaisnava sangete mana anandita anuksana (বৈষ্ণব সঙ্গেতে মন আনন্দিত অনুক্ষণ): In the association of Vaishnavs, my mind is always joyful." We must always stay in the association of Vaishnavs, in the association of sadhus, and within Krishna-kirtan. We must engage our heart, our mind and entire being in service. It is necessary to serve the Lord, your Guru, and Vaishnavs with your heart. This is the main thing. How many people can serve their Guru, can serve their Lord in this way? We mostly end up doing karma instead of service. You should not do that which does not please your Guru (which your Guru does not like).

Service and karma look the same. When a cat is carrying a mouse in its mouth and when a cat is carrying its kitten in its mouth, it looks the same, but one is karma (done for one's own pleasure), and the other one is service (done for others' benefit and pleasure). If you do service, you will get Krishna-prema (transcendental love for Krishna), Krishna-bhakti (devotion to Krishna). If you do service, you will get not only devotion: you will actually get transcendental love for the Lord.

"Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (ভক্তিস্তু ভগবদ্ভক্তসঙ্গেন পরিজায়তে, Brhan-naradiya Purana)—you can get devotion through the association of devotees." It is necessary to always associate with devotees.

I always sing one very beautiful kirtan:

কৃপা কর বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া ভজিতে ভজিতে
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite
abhimana hau dura

"O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful! Knowing the true relationship I will worship You and my ego will go far away."

It is necessary to know what sambandha (relationship) is. Unless you know the relationship, your ego will not go away. What does sambandha mean? We know each other as human beings, but it is said that every jiva soul is an eternal servant of Lord Krishna. Therefore, I am an eternal servant of Krishna, and everyone is my master. This is how we must see ourselves. Everybody is my master, and I am a servant. It is necessary to think in this way. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also said to his disciples, "Daso 'smi, I am your servant."

'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

"When the jiva soul makes the mistake of forgetting that it is an eternal servant of Krishna, Maya captures the soul by its neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.24)

We forget that we are eternal servants of Krishna...

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