Revealing Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli
10 August 2018, part 3

There are many things that can be said about Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. You can take Gaudiya Gitanjali home with you, I am sure many of you sing at home,

জয়রে জয়রে জয় গৌর-সরস্বতী ।
ভকতিবিনোদান্বয় করুণামুরতি ॥

jayare jayare jaya gaura-saraswati
bhakativinoda nvaya karuna murati

"All Glory, all Glory to Sri Gaura-Saraswati, Of the Line of Bhakti Vinod—Pure incarnate Mercy."

প্রকাশিলে গৌরসেবা ভূবনমঙ্গল ।
ভখতিসিদ্ধান্ত শুদ্ধ প্রজ্ঞান উজ্জ্বল ॥

prakasile gaura-seva bhuvana mangala
bhakatisiddhanta suddha prajnana ujjvala

"You revealed Sri Gaura's Service—the world's greatest fortune, Brilliant as the Perfect Teaching, Perfect Truth—Devotion."

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is writing, "You have revealed the service of Gaura." Who preached about the service of Gauranga Mahaprabhu? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

You must understand and you must know your Guru. It is necessary to please your Guru with service. I heard in a lecture that one time, a husband and a wife came to Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur to take initiation. They came and said, "We want to take initiation," but Prabhupad asked them, "Why do you want to take initiation?"

When Mahaprabhu was talking with Ramananda Ray, He asked him, "Pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya. Please recite verses concerning the ultimate goal of life." What did Ramananda Ray say in reply? He said, "Sva-dharmacharane visnu-bhakti haya. Doing your prescribed duties can arouse devotion to the Lord." In other words, whether you are staying in a house as a grihastha, whether you are following the duties of a brahmachari, vanaprastha or a sannyasi, you can serve the Lord in any of these ashrams. Mahaprabhu said, "Leave that, go further. Go further!" Then, Ramananda Ray said, "Krishne karmarpana—sarva-sadhya-sara. The essence of one's perfection is to offer the results of one's work to Krishna." It means whatever you do, you must do it for Krishna. Srimad Bhagavad Gita also says (9.27),

যৎ করোষি ষদশ্নাসি যজ্জুহোষি দদাসি যৎ ।
যত্তপস্যসি কৌন্তেয় তৎ কুরুষ্ব মদর্পণম্ ॥

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

"O Kaunteya, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give and whatever vow you may keep-do everything as an offering unto Me."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.27)

Krishna says, "Whatever you do, whatever meditation you practise, whatever yoga or sacrifice you practise, do it for Me." This is true karma-misra-bhakti, but people understand it in a different way—they think, "O Lord, I have put some pranami into the pranami box, I have come to pay obeisance to You, and in lieu of that give my son a good job, let my health be good, let my daughter be married well." But this is not a devotee's prayer. A devotee's prayer is

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

That is "Krishne karmarpana," but when Ramananda Ray mentioned this, Mahaprabhu said, "This is external, go further." Then, Ramananda Ray spoke about jnana-misra bhakti—such people pray, "Lord, give me power," "Give me liberation," "Give me knowledge," etc. (this is hard to understand—sahajiyas can never understand this). After that, Ramananda Ray spoke about jnana-sunya-bhakti and then Mahaprabhu said, "Yes, this is right." Then he explained many things about Krishna-tattva, rasa-tattva, lila-tattva, etc. We must know and understand these things.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to sing "Sri Rupa Manjari-pada, ei mora kirtana, ei mora bhajana pujana", and through that he let everyone understand that the one who will preach Rupa-Raghunath's line later is Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj...

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