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His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata (Jatragachhi), 8 February 2021, part 13

A person's devotion depends on their faith (sraddha-anusare haya bhakti-adhikari):

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

First, it is necessary to have sukriti. Do you understand what sukriti means? It means "using His things for His service" (tad vastu tadiya sevaya). When you worship the Ganges, you worship the Ganges with the Ganges water. You give five rupees to the Lord—you are giving the Lord's money to the Lord. He is the owner of everything in this world, so you are giving everything to Him. Always live like this, and always try to come to the temple. Do not only sit at your home. Vaishnavs have opened spiritual universities for you. There are many festivals during the year, you should try to take part in those festivals. You must come. You must keep connection with Gurudev. If you take initiation and only sit at home, what will that give you? Therefore, you must come from time to time. Sometimes, come to Nabadwip; sometimes, come to Ekachakra Dham; sometimes, come to Puri; sometimes, come to Vrindavan. I take everyone there every year. Only this year we did not go because there were no trains due to the coronavirus. Otherwise, we always go to Vrindavan for the niyom-seva month. We go to Puri during the Ratha-yatra time (only last year we did not go—the temple of Lord Jagannath was closed, how would we go?). Cicumambulate in the company of devotees (in sadhu-sanga) all the places where Gaura went.

সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণনামে—এই মাত্র চাই ।

সংসার জিনিতে আর কোন বস্তু নাই ॥

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai
samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of the sadhus. There is no other way to conquer samsara.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

I will not take more time. We have thirty-forty temples. Gurudev has given me the charge of all these temples. I have taken this responsibility on my shoulders, and after Gurudev left, I have had to look after all temples. There are also many new temples—in Ganga Sagar, Tarakeshwar, Mednipore, this year we are opening a new temple in Uluberia (the works are finished now), there are also works going on in Haridwar (we are building a temple there). Soon, we will have a festival, on 15 February; after that, Gaura Purnima. I have to bear much responsibility. I have not got a fit person yet who would be able to take some burden from me. Such person who would be able to take some load off my shoulders has not been created or prepared yet. In Gurudev's time, Gurudev kept me in Nabadwip and would go to preach abroad, but I do not have such a suitable person at hand. That is why I have to live under so much pressure. What service is required where, where there is some problem, where Deities need clothes, where cows lack food, where there are cooks required, where there are cowherd men needed, etc. I have to manage everything. There is much construction work also, and I have to keep in touch with all the workers, I have to negotiate and argue with them.

Anyhow, please come to the temples. I am staying nearby in Kolkata—I come to Dum Dum Park all the time. Gaura Nitai is there at the Sevak Bhavan (491, Dum Dum Park), there is service going on there. You can come there sometimes. You can take my phone number, keep in touch. I usually can talk from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. You can call at this time, it is not a problem. I am usually very busy the whole day before 10 p.m. I go out in the car and spend the whole day going to various places. Keep connection, you have my invitation. Take care of yourself. May the Lord bless you. As for those who wanted to take initiation, you can bring them to Ekachakra, I will give them initiation there. It is late now, so I will not give initiation today...

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