(2/5) Service: Daily Accountability

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vrindavan, evening class,
6 November 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Are you all sleepy? I do not feel sleepy. I am staying with you all – have you seen me getting sleepy? I am always on the go with the parikrama. This morning we returned from Mathura. When we arrived, I gave initiations, took prasadam late in the afternoon and after that was busy with other services. All the devotees are here, and many also are coming from other temples, so I gave some time to them.

I have a very big family. There are devotees who are busy serving the Lord – they want to go on a parikrama with their gurudev, but they do not get this chance. They do not have that kind of fortune. I told them to stay at the temples and do seva-puja, and they are doing that. There are devotees staying in Ekachakra, Ganga Sagar, Nrisingha Palli, Tarakeswar and other places, and if I do not bring anything for them, they will be unhappy. They do not ask for anything themselves, they do not want to take anything from their guru, but if I bring them something, they will think, 'Oh, Gurudev remembered me when he went to Vrindavan.' It will make them happy.

I pray to you all that your days may always pass in service to the Lord. Always live at the holy feet of the Lord. Always think about the Lord. You came for the parikrama, visited many places, chanted kirtan, and when you go back to your homes, you must chant these kirtans at home every day. If you can do this, you will get benefit. Service must be eternal, kirtan must be eternal – it must be done every single day without fail. Sravan (listening about the Lord) and kirtan (chanting the Lord's Names and glories) are two main practices. There are many things necessary if you want to live in a temple – you need to have money, you need to secure many ingredients, worship the Deities, and so on. But no facilities or special arrangements are required for practising sravan and kirtan.

Among the sixty-four limbs of devotion, these five are the main ones:

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

'Associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship Deities with faith.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.124)

[Aside] Where are the two boys? They must come and listen to the class. What are they doing in their rooms? There is no service to the Deities now, so they think that they are free to do anything they want? They must come and listen to the class.

The main five devotional practices are associating with sadhus, chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, listening to Srimad Bhagavatam, residing in Mathura and worshipping Deities with faith. It is necessary to have taste for chanting the Holy Name. Our main focus in life should be kindness to others (jive daya), attachment to chanting the Holy Name (Name ruchi) and service to Vaishnavs (vaisnava-seva). Sravan and kirtan are the highest practices. 'Niraparadhe Nama laile paya prema-dhana (নিরপরাধে নাম লৈলে পায় প্রেমধন). If you chant the Holy Name without offences, you will get the wealth of divine love for Krishna' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.71). Remember this.

We must associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship Deities with faith. Residing in Mathura does not mean physically living there. Wherever there is Hari-katha being spoken, that is Mathura, that is Vrindavan, that is Nabadwip Dham. For example, we are sitting here in Vrindavan now, but when we are going to be on the train tomorrow, we will be chanting kirtan and speaking Hari-katha, so even the train can be Vrindavan Dham and Nabadwip Dham. If you speak Hari-katha at home, then even your home can also be Goloka Vrindavan. A holy abode (dham) is wherever there is Hari-katha, Krishna-kirtan and Krishna-katha.

What did Mahaprabhu tell all the householder devotees? He told, 'Make sure that not a single day passes in your lives without chanting the Holy Name and without service to Vaishnavs.' Service to Vaishnavs means listening to and following Vaishnavs' instructions. Service to Vaishnavs is not inviting many people to your house and feeding them. No. Listening to what Vaishnavs say and following their instructions in your lives is what is called service to Vaishnavs.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE RECORDING

Size: 32 Mb
Length: 67 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Concluding Parikrama
2) Service: Daily Accountability
3) Kirtan Is Not Show
4) Message to Take Away
5) Take Care of Yourselves