(1) Serve Sincerely

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's tirobhav
Sri Nrisingha Palli, 11 August 2018, morning, part 1
Translated from Bengali

...Sometimes even if you tell them to do some service, they will make some excuse and not do it. If you do some service, that is good for you. There is still some service required today – you do not need to do it right now, but make sure you do it after everybody takes prasad. Do all service nicely, do not forget service. You always say, 'Please give me mercy,' but I always want to engage everybody in the Lord's service. Some are very unfortunate – they say things with their mouths, but there is duplicity in their hearts. We must always remove all duplicity, all bad thoughts from our hearts.

You want to let Bhakti Devi sit in your hearts, but your hearts are full of other things, then how will she sit there? Where will you keep Bhakti Devi? Leave all insincerity. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes very nicely, and I also wrote about it, 'Leave all insincerity (kutinati) and keep faith in pure devotion (suddha-bhakti).' Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said even more, 'If there is no Vaishnav in some place, that place is not a place of pilgrimage.' In other words, wherever Vaishnavs are, this is a holy place and a place of pilgrimage. It is necessary to understand this. If Vaishnavs do not go to some place, that place cannot be considered a place of pilgrimage.

As soon as Vaishnavs come, you must welcome them with chandan (sandalwood paste), a garland and offer your obeisances to them. We are not used to paying obeisances to others, so you will get tired, yes. If a hundred and twenty Vaishnavs come, you have to offer obeisances one hundred and twenty times – of course, you have to struggle. But you can remember Srila Raghunath Das Goswami – if he saw one Vaishnav ten times during a day, he offered obeisances to him every time – ten times a day. And there are many sadhus staying in Vrindavan, then you can think how he managed. You can see it also as exercise – the more obeisances you offer, the more exercise you get. People do all kinds of exercise, but if you just offer prostrate obeisances to Vaishnavs, all the exercise you need is done and all the yoga you need to practise is done as well. People practise yoga-asans, but we sit and pray to the Lord every day (we practise what is called 'ahnika' [আহ্নিক]). The main thing is that you must chant more with your mouths – if you can chant the Lord's Holy Names out loud, it is such great fortune.

'Gayatri muralista-kirtana-dhanam Radha-padam dhimahi (গায়ত্রী-মুরলীষ্ট-কীর্ত্তনধনং রাধাপদং ধীমহি): Krishna's flute does not make any other tune except the glorification of Srimati Radharani; that is the real meaning and gist of the gayatri-mantra.' Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj expressed it very beautifully when he explained the meaning of the gayatri mantra. Do you know the meaning of gayatri? The very gist of gayatri is to offer prayers and worship to the holy lotus feet of Srimati Radharani. Always remember this. This interpretation is also the basis of our Math's logo. Our life is to engage ourselves in the service to the holy lotus feet of Srimati Radharani. It is necessary to keep this in our hearts.

If you look at our Math's logo, you can see a lotus flower and some water around it. In the book Sri Guru and His Grace, there is an explanation of the logo. When a lotus grows in water, it looks very beautiful. Even at noon, when the sun is very strong, the lotus continues thriving in water – it does not dry. But once you pluck that flower out of water and keep it on the ground or somewhere nearby, the flower will wilt and dry in just five minutes! So, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj explained that the guru is like the water, the Lord is the sun, and the lotus flower is us. As long as we stay in the shelter of our guru (as long as the lotus stays in the shelter of water), we are safe and can thrive devotionally (the sun cannot harm the lotus). But as soon as we leave our guru's shelter, our mental propensity will change and go in a different direction. You can see this happen all the time – there are very great personalities who know the scriptures, who know everything, but they fall down and become removed from Krishna consciousness. What to speak of householders, thousands of gurus and sannyasis end up like this – they give up their disciples and become vantasi.

Do you know what vantasi means? It means you vomit and then eat your vomit. Would you do that? Would you eat your own vomit? It means that you leave everything to practise spiritual life (you can be a brahmachari, a grihastha, a vanaprastha or a sannyasi), but then you again go back to the material way of life. Eating your own vomit means you first give up material life but then again go back to living such a life. Even if you are a householder, you can live with your wife, but you must not have too much attachment towards her – you must be sensible, aloof.

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