(10) Depths of Esoteric Relationship

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, 2 December 2019, noon, part 10
Translated from Bengali

Related Vaishnavs are worshippable for everyone. There is a feeling of a relationship between our body and mind. 'My father,' 'My mother,' 'My relatives' – when there is such feeling ('my'), it means there is a relationship. However, if I have no feeling for something, it means I have no relation with it.

Material people feel they are related to their wives, sons, mothers, fathers, relatives. Practising devotees also should have this sense of relation – but who should they be related to? There should be a relation with Sri Hari Thakur (worshippable Supreme Lord) and Vaishnav Thakur. Whether anyone thinks or does not think about His service and happiness, I must think about it. 'If nobody cooked for the Deities today, if there was no arati today, if nobody sang kirtans – what is it to me? My service is to wash the dishes or to go for collection.' Those who think like this have no relationship with the Lord. One must serve very attentively, with full concentration. Even if you are struggling, you must still do your service. 'What makes my Guru Thakur happy? What makes the Lord happy?' This is what we must think about. You cannot think, 'Oh, I will not wash the dishes, I will only cook', or, 'I will only wash the dishes, I am not going to cook!' Whenever any service comes, you must do it with heart and soul. Those who have service have mercy, and those who have no service have no mercy. Remember this.

If you think, 'My Lord is Krishna, my gurudev is Lord Krishna' – if you have this kind of affection and consciousness that they are your own – then it means that you have started practising spiritual life. You must always remember this. 'My duty is only to pick flowers', 'My duty is only to wash the dishes', 'My duty is only to chant kirtans' – those who have such a mentality have not developed a proper relationship. Those who have love for their gurudev have a relationship with him. The relationship you should have with Sri Hari Thakur, Guru Thakur and Vaishnav Thakur is based on sincere faith and devotion.

There is one more profound, wonderful and secret point. Sri Hari Thakur (the Supreme Lord) is the object of my worship and service, but you cannot bring this feeling that 'Sri Hari Thakur is my near and dear' all of a sudden. The Lord does not come to me assuming a 'flesh and blood' form – it is not possible to get love and affection from Him directly, just as it is not possible to have a conversation with Him or exchange feelings. However, it is possible to get love and affection from Sri Guru Thakur directly. The relationship with Sri Guru Thakur is more real and tangible than the relationship with Sri Hari Thakur. He eats, speaks, sleeps, he chastises, he looks after my welfare. It is easy to create a relationship with Sri Guru Thakur based on faith, devotion and love, just as it is easy for a mother to love her son because she can take him on her lap and feed him milk, she can talk to him, discuss things, and she can happily cook for him. Therefore, to love one’s son is easy, but you cannot have such love for a photograph, for example. Gurudev assumes a form of flesh and blood, and it is easy to develop a relationship with him – it is easy to foster the feeling of kinship, affection, faith, devotion, or love. Those who take Gurudev as their very own, are also very dear to me.

'Gurudev is mine' – if this feeling has not appeared in your, then your practising life has not started yet. 'Mother is my mother', 'Sister is my sister' – I understand this very well, but that Sri Hari Thakur is my Lord, that Sri Guru Thakur is my gurudev – I have not learned this yet. The feeling of close relation ('he is mine') is very strong – it is so powerful and potent! 'I have him seated in my heart' – when such a feeling comes, then the guru’s job is successful. 'I have seated him in my heart' – we must understand what this means.

Cooking is an extremely important service. One must cook privately, intimately, without showing it off in front of others. One must cook with all heart and soul, very attentively. Even if one does not cook but if they help those who cook, with heart and soul, they also easily capture the Lord. You must pour your entire being, your whole heart into cooking for the Lord. You must enter and submerge yourselves into this kind of mediation, this kind of service. Cooking is a very private service; nobody must see it.

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