(9/11) Follow and Preach

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class
15 February 2019, part 9
Translated from Bengali

Tomorrow is an ekadasi-tithi, so everybody must fast until midday (after that, everybody will be given prasad – the bhoga will be offered a little earlier). What will happen to you if you fast one time? Do you know what Srila Prabhupad said? In lieu of serving the Lord, we must not turn the Lord into a menial servant. We want something from the Lord, so when we do some service, we want to get something in return. 'I will serve You, and you will give me something for that.' This is turning the Lord into a menial servant. Even when people worship Durga, Kali, Laksmi or Ganesh, they expect that these gods or the Lord will serve them. That means you turn gods into your servants.

It was Saraswati-puja the other day – it was also Sri Vishnupriya Devi's appearance on that day. We spoke about Sri Vishnupriya Devi, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur on that day. Even Saraswati Devi serves Krishna – even her master is the Supreme Lord. So, both devotees and Saraswati Devi serve the Lord. But how do people worship Saraswati? They chant,

om sarasvati mahabhage vidye kamalalochane
visvarupe visalaksi vidyam dehi namostute

'O great Goddess Saraswati, the personified knowledge possessing large lotus eyes! I offer obeisance to you, please give me knowledge.'

They pray, 'Give me knowledge!' but this knowledge is material, illusory – this knowledge can never be transcendental (the knowledge that can help you find the Lord or know the Lord). You may be able to conquer the world through material knowledge, and you may be called a great scholar or scientist, but you can never get any spiritual benefit through this knowledge.

At the same time, when you worship gods in this mood (hoping to get something in return from them in lieu of your worship), it means you give a bribe to them. You bring a plate with some rice, bananas, fruit, flowers and some donation, but in lieu of giving that offering to the deity, you want some money, some things – whatever it is, people have so many desires. It is the same as giving a bribe: you give some money to the god and expect some favour in return. That is why Srila Prabhupad said that we must not turn worshippable gods into bribe-takers.

Exclusive devotees do not want anything from the Lord. All they know is service. As they serve, their devotion is increasing day after day. Whether they can attain the Lord through their service or not, that is up to the Lord – the Lord knows it. 'I am serving the Lord, and the Lord may or may not accept it.' The main thing is that we must do service, and whether the Lord accepts this service or not, it is His matter. Always remember this.

You have taken shelter of a bona fide guru... In this world, there is much greed, lust, etc. for many things, but if we can leave this greed aside and practise Krishna consciousness, if we can serve devotees, if we can serve Nityananda Prabhu, then we will get the highest benefit. It is necessary to serve Nityananda Prabhu's devotees, then we will be able to get supreme benefit. There are some spiritual things in this world, and if we come in touch with those things, we will understand what the main gist, the main essence is. This essence is the Supreme Lord.

The Supreme Lord's devotees always use everything for the service to Govinda. For example, you can see some ceiling fans here. Other people also have similar fans at their homes, but other people's fans serve the illusory world, and the fans here are used for the service to those who come to listen to Hari-katha. We have electric light here – it is used here for those who come to hear and speak Hari-katha, who serve the Lord. People use microphones and loudspeakers for so many things in this world, but this microphone here is being used to allow you to hear Hari-katha. So many other scientific inventions and tools are used in service. There is printing press that is used to print book. In the same way, drums, karatals, planes, cars, horses, and so on can be used in service. You can see that our Math now has three cars: all these cars are used for the service to the Lord. Devotees of the Lord use everything in the service of the Lord. Fast means of transport are used to preach about the Lord and Mahaprabhu in this world, to go door to door. In Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu's time, all these things did not exist, but by Their mercy and by the wish of the Lord, to help us preach about Them, all these things have been invented. By the Lord's mercy, so many tools are now available in the world, and everything should be used in service to the Lord. It is service to the Lord that is of real essence to us.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Worship Nityananda
2) Immerse Yourself in Exclusive Worship
3) Fill Your Heart with Kirtan
4) Mahaprabhu's Caution
5) Adjust Your Aspiration
6) Meaning and Value of Fortune
7) Have You Found What You Are Looking For?
8) Follow and Preach
9) Our Real Necessity
10) Seek Soul's Fulfilment
11) Stay on Right Track