Service Duty (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class, 26 February 2021
Translated from Bengali, part 3

Many devotees are helping—the cooks' department, the storeroom department, etc. Devotees cleaned everything, Sripad Niriha Maharaj went to the market, helped to bring some things. His father was sick, but he still took care of everything. It is necessary to take responsibility for service.

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We love our wife, sons, brothers, sisters, we have a relationship with them, but that kind of love must be there for our Guru, the temple, and the Lord. This is the Lord's house—this is what must be our consciousness like. We must prepare (mould) ourselves.

সংসার সংসার ক'রে মিছে গেল কাল ।
লাভ না হইল কিছু ঘটিল জঞ্জাল ॥

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala
labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

"Time has passed as I have been busy in my material life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened."

We do not understand the meaning of janjal (trash, unwanted burden). It is the burden that material life places on your. So many people say, "If it was not for the family, I would have come." Is it not so? Maya, illusion, always stops them. You come every year, but this time you cannot come—this is Maya Devi's play.

We must become full-timers. How many of you can do that? If we can serve the Lord twenty-four hours a day, we will get the highest benefit. You can learn from Guru Maharaj—he left everything and came to the temple. You leave everything and stay at the temple, but you must not only think about your enjoyment and pleasure, this is not right. You are staying here, at the holy land of Nitai—you must keep everything clean, you must think, "How is it possible to serve Nitai?" This is what you must always be alert about. People come to serve, but next moment they give up and run away. The Holy Name of Krishna does not come to the mouths of offenders—in the same way, service goes away from those who make offences to service and Guru. If I make offences, I will be set free—service will go away.

It is necessary to be steady in your service. This is what I learnt from Gurudev.

Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva (জীবে দয়া, নামে রুচি, বৈষ্ণব সেবা): be kind to other souls, relish chanting the Holy Name, and serve the Vaishnavs. So many devotees came today to Nityananda Prabhu's holy land. Not only outside materialists came—so many devotees came also. I have been going house to house, I keep connection with them, and they come. I keep in touch with everyone—even during the lockdown, even in the pandemic situation. I have a relationship with all the devotees, and I keep that relationship. I may not visit all houses, and you think I died, but I always keep connection with everyone here, at festivals.

Some ISKCON devotees came to see me. They said they had seen me and were looking for me. I spoke to them for an hour—I told them about the relationship between our temple and ISKCON, what relationship there was and what relationship there is now, I have explained everything to them nicely. They were very pleased. They wanted to hear about the glories of Nityananda Prabhu, they asked some questions, and I answered that. They came from different countries—Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc. I gave them some time in the afternoon.

Therefore, whoever you see, tell them to chant the Name of Krishna (yare dekho tare kaho koro Krishna Nam)! "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara (প্রাণ আছে যার সেই হেতু প্রচার): you have life, you are alive, then you must preach." For as long as you have life in your body, you must continue preaching—for as long as you are alive, you must go door to door and tell people about the Lord. I am trying to do that—no matter what sadness, pain, difficulty comes, I am trying to deliver Hari-katha to people's houses.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (1.8 Mb, 5 min)