(5/5) Have Heart for Service

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, evening, 13 April 2019, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Everybody must take prasad. We will chant some kirtan now, and they will start serving prasad at the end. [To a devotee] Ask them at the kitchen and make sure they prepare more fruit today. Tomorrow we will be giving full prasad to everybody in the evening.

Hari bol. Hare Krishna! Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

I called out to the Lord, praying that it may not rain today. You can see that the Lord has saved you all – there was some wind, but no rain came. The construction works at the goshala will be completed tomorrow. We will prepare everything tomorrow, and I will bring the cows the day after that. I like serving cows very much. I like working at the goshala – feeding the cows, washing the cows, and so on. When I lived in Nabadwip, I would always come to check on the cows. Sometimes, I would come there at midnight and see that it is very cold at night but the cows had no cover, no food. I would come to the goshala man and wake him up, 'Hey, wake up! Why are you sleeping? The cows have no food!' Cows eat the whole night, so it is necessary to keep food for them at night. He said, 'Oh, I gave them food in the evening.' I told him, 'How much did you give? You must give more. Go and put food for them.' I would drag him out of bed at midnight, in the cold and tell him to go and feed the cows! If there is a goshala at the temple, I always go there to see how the cows are. If the cows live happily, you can see that everybody at the temple lives happily. But if they cheat and do not serve the cows properly, then the situation at the temple is not good, too. Krishna loves cows. There is also Surabhi Cow... We must always think about cows and do everything to make sure they live happily. We can stay without food, but cows must never fast. It is necessary to always keep the cows well-fed. You must serve them with love, with all your heart, you must treat them in the same way that you treat yourselves.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

I will tell you about Lord Ramachandra tomorrow. We have recently printed two books, Upadesh 3 and Sri Puri Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala. If anybody wants to go to Puri with us, let us know beforehand and have your name added to the list. We are going on 29 June, for six–seven days. After Puri, we will go to South India – if you want to go there, mind it that the price is much higher. Accommodation, tickets, transportation, meals, etc. are all included in the price. During Puri Dham parikrama, we arrange a bus trip, we arrange for Lord Jagannath's prasad for everybody. It costs a lot. We place an order and they bring prasad right from Lord Jagannath's temple to our temple. That is why we charge something from those who come with us – we do not make any profit from parikramas. I spend money from my own pocket. Many people take people to some spots and leave them there, but we do not do this. We take everybody on parikrama and make sure everybody returns to the temple. In the book we published, you can see the pictures of all the places we visit and read about all the places we visit during the seven days. They recorded whatever I spoke in all those places and made those discourses into a book. Read this book nicely.

I wrote in these books that even if you commit a sin for the service of the Lord, it is not an offence.

When Mahaprabhu lived in Gambhira, a devotee called Govinda served Him. Mahaprabhu would dance and chant kirtan the whole day and when He came to His room, He would be so tired that He would just collapse in the doorway. One day when this happened, Govinda wanted to come inside to massage Mahaprabhu's feet, as he did every day, but Mahaprabhu's was lying in the doorway, and He was very tall – Govinda could not reach His feet from outside. So, asked Him,

'Prabhu, please move a little.'

'No, I cannot,' Mahaprabhu replied.

'How will I massage Your feet then?'

'I do not know. I have no strength to move.'

'But I do this service every day...'

'You do it, so it is your matter. How you will do it or not do it, it is your matter.'

Then, Govinda thought, 'Mahaprabhu is teaching me a lesson.' Then, he put a cloth on top of Mahaprabhu's body and entered His room, crossing over Him. When he came inside, he gathered whatever dust fell on the cloth and put it on his head. Then, he massaged Mahaprabhu's feet very nicely. After that, he did not go out of the room – he stayed in the room and dozed off sitting against a wall. In the middle of the night, Mahaprabhu woke up and saw him sitting there.

'Govinda, why are you still here?' He asked. 'Did you not go to take prasad and to rest?'

'Prabhu, how can I go? You are lying in the doorway, I cannot cross You.'

'How did you come inside then? You crossed Me to come inside...'

'I came inside crossing over You to serve You, but I cannot cross over Your body for my own food and rest.'

See? Do you understand the meaning? If it is to serve the Lord, you can even make an offence. For example, in Ekachakra there are very big Deities, so when the pujari has to put garlands on Them, he can inadvertently touch Their throne, and so on. When you serve Deities, many things can happen – many offences can happen. That is why when we come to serve the Lord, we feel scared...

We must learn these things. Read the books and learn. The books are not that expensive. Let us chant a few kirtans now. It is late already, so we will not chant long. I will finish soon so that you all can get home safely.

[His Divine Grace chants the evening kirtans.]

— : • : —

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Length: 32 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Before It Is Too Late
2) Know Your Place
3) Know Your Eternal Place
4) Works of Maya
5) Have Heart for Service