(5) Spreading Prabhupad's Glory

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's
appearance day, Hooghly district
24 February 2019, morning, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote:

ভয়ভঞ্জন-জয়শংসন-করুণায়তনয়নম্ ।
কনকোৎপল-জনকোজ্জ্বল-রসসাগর-চয়নম্ ॥

bhaya-bhanjana-jaya-samsana-karunayata-nayanam
kanakotpala-janakojjvala-rasa-sagara-chayanam

‘He (his holy form) has arisen from the birthplace of golden lotuses, an (exalted, supramundane) ocean of the nectar of divine consorthood.’

(‘Sri Dayita-dasa-pranati Panchakam’, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

Such a beautiful verse!

কৃপয়া হরিকীর্ত্তনমূর্ত্তিধরং
ধরণীভরহারক-গৌরজনম্ ।
জনকাধিকবৎসলস্নিগ্ধপদং
প্রণমামি সদা প্রভুপাদপদম্ ॥

krpaya hari-kirtana-murti-dharam
dharani-bhara-haraka-gaura-janam
janakadhika-vatsala-snigdha-padam
pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

‘Bestowing mercy upon jiva souls, he is manifest as a worshippable deity of Hari-kirtan personified. He is an associate of Sri Gaura who removes the burden of offences from Mother Earth. I offer obeisance to this very gentle fountainhead of greater parental affection towards jiva souls than even that of a father. I eternally offer obeisance to the radiance emanating from the toenails of my master.’

(‘Sri Sri Prabhupadapadma Stavakah’, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

'A father loves his son very much, but our Gurupadpadma Srila Prabhupad is more loving than even a father – he loved us more than our fathers.' This is what Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. May his glories be forever preached in this world.

Srila Prabhupad instructed everybody to chant the Holy Name all together. He said that if you serve jiva souls, then your own souls will get benefit. We must be kind to other souls: it is necessary to bring to this path the souls who are averse to the Lord. Only chanting the Holy Name yourself is not enough – you must let others chant, too. Do you do this? Only chanting, 'Hari bol! Hari bol!' will not do. It is necessary to say this with heart and soul.

Service must be eternal. You eat every day, you take a shower every day, and you must serve the Lord every day, too. Many of you host kirtans at home – you hire people and they come to chant 8-prahar, 16-prahar, 24-prahar kirtan. Srila Prabhupad said if you pay somebody to chant kirtan for a salary of ten rupees, fifty rupees, a thousand or ten thousand rupees, this is not kirtan. This is Maya's kirtan. This is kirtan chanted to gratify your own senses and to enjoy, just some flowery words. It can please people, but it will never bring any benefit to the people's souls.

Gaudiya Vaishnavs, the devotees of Srila Prabhupad, preach about the Lord in this world. Srila Prabhupad said, 'What we need is not to open temples in every village – there must be temples installed in every heart.'

Service must come from heart. You need to eat, to wear clothes, and so on, and the Lord also needs all that. The Lord also needs to sleep. You chant the Holy Name for twenty-four hours (asta-prahar), but the Lord cannot sleep because of all the noise from the microphone. You get sleepy in the evening and want to go to bed at nine or ten o'clock, and the Lord also wants to have something to eat and go to sleep. Just as you take care of your children, you must take care of the Lord like that, too. When your children wakes up, you give them some milk and biscuits, and in the same way when the Lord wakes up, you should give Him some sweets (balya-bhoga), then offer arati. You must wake up and offer balya-bhoga, then cook breakfast – muri, some subji, whatever you make – feed the Lord. You can even offer muri to the Lord, it is not a problem. Somebody makes and sells puchka, so I told them that they could make and offer puchka to the Lord, then when you sell it outside, people can get some prasad and some benefit through you. You make and sell it anyway, then sell prasad, what is the problem? Both you and others will be benefitted.

It is necessary to preach about Srila Prabhupad more and more – his glories should radiate farther and farther. Nobody else can give us that which Jagad-Guru Srila Prabhupad has given in this world. We must always remember his contribution and arrangement in this world.

— : • : —

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