(17/18) Vaikuntha Vani

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa-Puja Adhivas, Tarakeswar,
Evening, 28 September 2019, part 17
Translated from Bengali

Sometimes practitioners of devotion tend to slacken, or show some negligence, in their service: sometimes, they start doing less service, chant fewer kirtans. For example, they do not feel taste for chanting kirtan, so they start to chant less and less or start skipping and not chanting on some days at all. Such slacking is very bad for practitioners. I have told you many times that it is always necessary to be alert so that no laziness or carelessness ever comes in your spiritual life.

Many people think, 'Oh, I live at the temple. I wish I could become the manager, then I would be in charge of the money and could spend it as I wanted. I could live as I want.' Such mood destroys devotion. Your guru gives you service, and this is the service you must accept and do.

There are also many people who think, 'I want to leave this body. I do not want to take care of this body and worry about its health.' But your body is the means of serving the Lord. Through the various senses of your body you can do more service ('senses' here refers to transcendental senses). If your mind is right, if your health is right, then you can serve devotees and the Lord. At the same time, if you keep good health and spend your whole life doing everything else but service, then it is the same as putting ghee into ash (can you ever start a fire like this?). You live your lives taking care of everything else, but what you miss is the highest duty in your life – this is what you never do. Such plight comes from ignorance. People spend the best time of their lives taking care of their families, and when their health, bodies and minds become decrepit, then they come to stay at the temple. Your hands become weak, you can barely see, so you think, 'Let me go to the ashram. I will eat my meals twice a day and practise Krishna consciousness.' You cannot cheat the Lord like this. You come to the temple in your old age when you cannot work longer than two hours a day, but when you could work ten hours a day, then you were fussing over your sons and daughters. Those who are intelligent and clever come to the house of their guru and start serving the Lord at a young age. Those who can spend their lives like this are very fortunate. Blessed and fortunate are the lives of those who spend the best time of their lives practising Krishna consciousness.

These are the holy words (vani) of Srila Prabhupad...

You know, when people work, they sometimes go on holiday to relax – for example, there are some such public holidays in December. One time, a disciple came to see Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Years later, when I met that man, he told me, 'Oh, Guru Maharaj was so sweet, he loved me so much. When I came to see him, he even asked me, "Have you come for a holiday?"' [His Divine Grace laughs.] If only he understood the meaning of those words!

We still have some time, so I will read a little more to you.

Both Sri Krishnachandra and Sri Gaurachandra are eternal: They existed in the past, exist at present and will always exist in the future. Sri Krishnachandra comes as Sri Gurupadpadma to enable souls to create a relationship with Him. He is gurudev, who is our real father. In this world, when the daughter grows up a little, her father and mother rush to get her married (to create some relationship between her and some boy) – one day, they come to her and say, 'This is your husband.' But gurudev (our real father) offers us an oblation (naivedya, নৈবেদ্য) at the holy lotus feet Sri Gaura and forges for us an eternal relationship with Him.

Did you understand it? What does gurudev do? He presents us as an offering to Sri Gaura's holy lotus feet, which means that he engages us in His service – he gives us an eternal relationship with the Lord. We become offerings (naivedya, নৈবেদ্য; or bhoga, ভোগ). Gurudev offers us as bhog to the Lord – he utilises us for the Lord's service.

Sri Krishna is the object of service and worship. He is the heart of the very heart. He is our friend, He is closest to our hearts. We must give everthing to serve Him – our bodies, minds, souls. If we are to give our hearts and very lives, who will we give them to? There is nobody else who we can give them to. A genuine guru does not only say things – when he creates a relationship with somebody, he creates a tight bond in the person's heart: 'This is your Lord. Spend all your days and nights on Him. Serve Him, worship Him, cook for Him, take care of Him, do everything for Him.' The guru gives us the right (adhikar, অধিকার) to serve the Lord.

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Size: 40 Mb
Length: 83 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Disciple's Dependence
2) How Does Devotion Come?
3) Indispensability of Guru's Mercy
4) Stop Threshing the Husk
5) Disciples' Hypocrisy
6) Strong Desires, Wrong Desires
7) Identifying Yourself with Kirtan
8) Patience Is a Virtue
9) Internal Hypocrisy
10) Unhappy Mind
11) Kirtan Is Not a Show
12) Cook to Perfection
13) Install Gurudev in Your Heart
14) Submission without Resistance
15) Service Is Not a Rite
16) Vaishnavs' Ornaments vs Demons' Ornaments
17) Vaikuntha Vani
18) Absolute Self-Submission