Hanker and Aspire

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 14 February 2021, part 3

[Addressing one of the devotees:] Who lives in the temple and does puja permanently? Oh, there are different pujaris on different days?... And nobody stays in the temple permanently? And when the Deities are sleeping, nobody is staying there?! It is necessary to have a security guard for the Deities. Minimum one person must always stay at the temple. Somebody needs to stay here. If the Deities are thirsty at night, if They need some water, who will give Them water? Do you understand? It is necessary to keep somebody at the temple.

I have a three-day preaching programme starting this Tuesday, after that I will come to Kolkata for one day, and the next day I will go to Ekachakra. I will go there very soon. I came from a preaching programme at 4:30 p.m. today because I have job here in Kolkata tomorrow. The potato collection is almost finished—after the Ekachakra festival, I will have to go there for one more day, and then it will be finished. We have collected almost five hundred bags of potato so far. We went house to house every day, visiting 120-130 houses a day. These are all devotees' houses, and they want me to come, that is why I go there. We had to walk too much during these days, but anyhow for the service of Gurudev, it is happiness,

তোমার সেবায় দুঃখ হয় যত,
সেও ত' পরম সুখ ।

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,
seo ta' parama sukha

"All the distress I encounter in Your service is also my greatest happiness."

(Saranagati 16.4)

When there is no service, I feel unhappy, and when service comes, I feel happiness. I always wait for service, I always hanker and aspire for service.

...When Sriman Mahaprabhu and Srila Svarup Damodar Prabhu left, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami left Puri and wanted to commit suicide—he wanted to climb Govardhan Hill and jump from there. But Srila Sanatan Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami protected him, they gave him some nourishment, and in the end Srila Raghunath Das Goswami said, "I have got far more from Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami than even from my Guru (Mahaprabhu and Svarup Damodar)." In this way, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami passed his life, and at the end of his life he always prayed,

pramada-madana-lilah kandare kandare te
rachayati nava-yunor dvandvam asminn amandam
iti kila kalanartham lagnakas tad-dvayor me
nija-nikata-nivasam dehi govardhana tvam

"O Govardhan, the Divine Couple liberally enact Pastimes of mad love in your caves. Please grant me a dwelling beside you so I can see Their Pastimes."

It is a very nice sloka about Govardhan. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami lived the last part of his life there, at Radha Kunda. Every year, when we go for Vrindavan parikrama, we always come to pay obeisance at the samadhi mandir and bhajan kutir of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami...

If we try to get even one tiny drop of his mercy, that is sufficient for us. We always pray for his mercy because without the mercy of such Vaishnavs we cannot proceed in our spiritual life. We must try to get his mercy. We say these things, and it is very easy to say, but it is very hard to do this. Still, we say it for our own purification. I am not telling all this to you only, I am telling it for myself also, for my own purification. I am not giving advice to you only, I am actually giving advice to myself. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami also got mercy from Sriman Nityananda Prabhu whose appearance day is coming very soon.

I know that you cannot come for the Ekachakra festival this year because of the covid situation, but you must observe this day from your house. Make glorification of Nityananda Prabhu, speak about His glories, make some good prasadam for Nityananda Prabhu. Observe this day in this way, it will be good for you. You can make this festival from your house, you can remember this day very nicely. The festival is on 25 February, it is Thursday, a working day, but what can you do? Make the festival in the evening or in the morning then, it will be good, but you must remember Sriman Nityananda Prabhu all day, it will be good for you. We are very fallen souls—we cannot proceed in our spiritual life without Nityananda Prabhu's mercy. Therefore, we must remember Nityananda Prabhu properly, full day, on His appearance day.

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