(8/13) Opportunity to Serve

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 21 June 2020, part 8

Question: Do you not recommend that any of us chant four rounds a day?

It is not a problem. You can chant four rounds, you can chant sixteen rounds – you can chant as many rounds as you can. You can chant all the time. It is not necessary to count how many rounds you chant – the number of the Holy Names you chant is unlimited, you can chant always.

You can think about the Lord all the time. Somebody chants letters (alphabet) and somebody chants the Holy Name. This is not the same. We only chant the letters. Chanting the proper Holy Name means always thinking about the Lord, always thinking how to please His devotees and how to please our Guru.

In our householder life, or actually in every kind of life – even in the sannyasi and brahmachari life – we always think about ourselves. We gradually become selfish and start thinking only about ourselves. In the temple also, we fight for some domestic things – we fight for food, we complain about our bed. It is a problem. We always complain, 'Oh, I want to live alone in the room, why do I have to share the room with somebody else? I do not like that.' There are so many complaints like this. We complain for our own interest; we do not think about the interest of the Lord.

One time, somebody came to Gurudev wearing a tabiz (kavacha, or locket) of Nrisinghadev – they probably wanted their health to be good or something like that. But Gurudev said at that time, 'You are using Nrisinghadev for yourself.' What Gurudev said was of a very high standard. He said, 'You are wearing the Nrisinghadev tabiz because you are thinking about yourself – you want your health to be good, you want everything to be good for you. You are thinking about yourself, but you should always want to please Lord Nrisinghadev. This is our main goal.'

Question: What was the pastime of Sri Gadadhar Pandit's disappearance?

I always remember Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's disappearance on this day, but yes, today is also the disappearance day of Sri Gadadhar Pandit.

You know that Gadadhar Pandit is the incarnation of Srimati Radharani. How will you understand it? There is some contradiction. Gauranga Mahaprabhu is Radha-Krishna's combined form, but at the same time Gadadhar Pandit is the incarnation of Srimati Radharani. How is it possible? Srimati Radharani has bhava (heart) and kanti (halo), and Sri Krishna took Her heart and halo, becoming Sri Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu. But does a person have only heart and halo? There are also other things. So, that which remained of Srimati Radharnai became Gadadhar Pandit. This is how Gadadhar Pandit is the incarnation of Srimati Radharani.

Gadadhar Pandit is a ksetra sannyasi (he always stayed in one place). Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave him a good, proper service of Tota Gopinath in Puri. One time, Mahaprabhu came to Chatak Parvat, a place that is non-different from Govardhan, and told Gadadhar Pandit, 'Today I will give you a good gift!' Saying this, Mahaprabhu went to the garden with Gadadhar Pandit and started digging in one place. When He was digging, He found a Deity. That Deity's Name is Tota Gopinath. 'Tota' means 'garden' in the Odiyan language. Gadadhar Pandit stayed there and served Tota Gopinath.

Gadadhar Pandit would often cook avona sak (wild spinach) that grew in the garden. Our Gurudev also liked avona sak. 'Avona' means that nobody cultivated that spinach – it grew automatically, on its own. Gadadhar Pandit would often pick that sak in the garden and cook it for Mahaprahbu. One day, Gadadhar Pandit thought, 'I will not invite Chaitanya Mahaprabhu today. If He loves me, He will come on His own.' That day, Mahaprabhu came to Gadadhar Pandit and said to him, 'Oh, Gadadhar, you are eating alone and not inviting Me?' Gadadhar Pandit confessed, 'Prabhu, I knew You would come. I was praying that You would come. I only wanted to test You – I wanted to see whether You will come if I do not invite You. And You have come.'

Gadadhar Pandit would also always read Srimad Bhagavatam, and Mahaprabhu would listen to him reading.

One time, Gadadhar Pandit wanted to leave his service and go outside. Mahaprabhu chastised him very much. He said, 'I am going to many places for preaching, and you want to go with Me because you want to stay with Me to eat good food!' Gadadhar Pandit tried to object, 'I am not going with You! I want to see Mother Sachi!' But then Mahaprabhu said, 'Seva chhadi' dosa lage – do not leave your service. If you leave it, you will be an offender.' Anyhow, Mahaprabhu stopped him, and Gadadhar Pandit fainted when Mahaprabhu left. When he came round, he went back to Puri and continued his service to Tota Gopinath.

Eventually, Gadadhar Pandit became very old. Tota Gopinath is a very tall Deity, and he could not put on a garland or dress the Deity properly. One day, he prayed, 'Prabhu, please spare me. I cannot do Your service properly – I am very old, and my back is bent...' That very night, Tota Gopinath sat down. He continued taking Gadadhar Pandit's service. You can go to Puri and see in that temple that Tota Gopinath's Deity is sitting down. In our line, our Deities always stand, but Tota Gopinath is sitting down.

That is Sri Gadadhar Pandit. Today is his disappearance day. We pray to him, 'Please, give us some service. Engage such fallen souls as us in your service as a dog. Give us some opportunity to serve you.' Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's Deities are also Gaura-Gadadhar; and in Ritudwip, Champahati, Mahaprabhu's associate Dvija Vaninath also established Deities of Gaura-Gadadhar. Later, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur took up the service to those Deities, and that service is still continued by the Gaudiya sampradaya.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Without Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur Our Line Is Nothing
2) Mandakini Dhara
3) Spiritual Safety
4) Ignore and Avoid Misconception
5) Practise and Keep Faith
6) Family Consciousness
7) Uncover Yourself
8) Opportunity to Serve
9) Live in Seva-Kunja
10) On Astrology
11) Be Sharp
12) Sincere, Keen and Humble
13) Observing Gundicha Marjan