Service: Now or Never

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Caracas, Venezuela
24 September 2009

This morning I told you about three kinds of aparadhs. I told you about the different kinds and examples of Vaishnav aparadh, and there are also many kinds of seva aparadh.

One day, I was reading Bhagavatam, and I saw there one sloka. I could not understand its meaning, so I asked Gurudev, "Gurudev, what is the meaning of this sloka?" Gurudev banged his fist on the table and said, "I am hungry! I WANT ONE CHAPATI—NOW! That is the meaning of the sloka." I thought to myself, "What?!" I was surprised, but eventually Gurudev gave an explanation.

For example, the time of the Deities' bhog is fixed, it is eight o'clock, but you are cooking so many things, so many preparations, and you give the bhog late, at nine o'clock. This is an offence, seva aparadh.

Gurudev gave one more example. Suppose there is a family, a husband and a wife, living together in a house. The wife does not work, she stays as a housewife and does all the cooking. The husband goes to work, and he does not take anything outside, he only takes prasadam. One day, he comes back from the work, and his wife says to him, "Please wait. I am cooking so many things for you!" The husband is hungry, what will he do? He asks again, but the wife says, "Wait, I have so many things cooking for you, wait for two hours!" This is not the way to do it—to wait for two hours; you must give him what you have immediately, that is the service, otherwise it will be karma.

That is the meaning of that sloka. It is a very high conception. You must first give what you have, immediately. That is service mood. At that time I could not understand the meaning, and I asked Gurudev. The meaning is very high...

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