English
9th July 2019
“We want only to serve Visnu or Lord but we also want to serve vaisnavas because then Lord is more pleased with us.”
Hari Hari. Okay so Harikirtan you’re translating? So, we have 576 participants. So, we have 300 devotees around here. Hari Hari Hari. Is that better? Anything? Okay Harikirtan. Hari hari hari hari.
So, of course we try to take up the opportunity everyday to improve our chanting, especially this festival time.
Devotees those who have participated here could take advantage, take this opportunity to improve their chanting. Nama ruci jive daya vaisnava seva. We increase level of attachment, liking to the holy name by serving vaisnavas and
vaisnava hridaya and by compassion for the newcomers of fallen souls. So, these are festival times so we should do lot of chanting
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram
Rama Ram Hare Hare.
You do a lot of this, a lot of chanting on your beads. You could chant and dance playing drum and playing karatels. And, so this is big opportunity for vaisnava seva. So many devotees, vaisnavas have arrived and so many are on the way.
So, you could do a wholesale vaisnava seva. Not just retail, maybe one vaisnava or only few vaisnavas for this part of the day you have opportunity to serve vaisnavas but here at the festival with thousands of vaisnavas, all of us have big grand opportunity to serve vaisnavas and they’re going to be around you, around us, day and night, twenty-four hours. So, take full advantage and, at every moment you could think how you could serve the vaisnavas around you.
So, this is the place where all varieties of vaisnavas; senior vaisnavas, Prabhupada disciple vaisnavas, sannyasi vaisnavas, manager vaisnavas and vaisnavas from the congregation, male vaisnavas and female vaisnavas; of course, vaisnava is not a male or a female but you understand. So, we could just look around and think of how you could serve all vaisnavas around you according to their status. Whether they are senior to you and then you should know how to deal with them. And if they are equals then you know that to be friendly with them and if they are juniors, the newcomers are around you then you have to be compassionate , those who are senior, you respect them, of-course obeisance’s should be offered to everybody, all the vaisnavas. But special service could to be done for the senior devotees.
You could touch, bow down and touch the feet of senior vaisnavas. If you come across some equals, you could embrace them. and if they’re juniors then you could touch their head. Bless them. so that’s one way of reciprocating with
devotees according to their status; seniority, juniority, equality. Srimad Bhagavatam also says you do different things or different dealings with the vaisnavas around you or in front of you or arriving vaisnavas. You take darshan,
darsan, sparsan, asan, and bhojana so a particular statement from Bhagavatam, you do five things. You take darshan of those vaisnavas, you see them, and you are greeting them with your eyes also, you are greeting them with your mind
and your heart. you are greeting, welcoming them as you see them, as you take darshan. As sparsan, you touch their feet or embrace them or touch them, these things. And asana give them some seat, to sit down or if its pandaal, you could
give bed for them to lie down or you could massage their feet do that with the best kind of touch. You could touch and serve them. So darsan, sparsan, asan you could talk to them, make some enquiries, how they are doing, they need anything? What is on their mind? It’s a give and take and I think you also speak to them your heart, what is on your mind. There’s most importantly bhojana, give them something to eat. You could always offer water. You could offer
something to eat, some sweets, khabejal, in Bengali they do not only offer you only water.
Along with the water some sweets are also fed. So, or you could give them food thali. Or you could, during prasadam time, instead of you “me first, I must be the first ones to sit and eat.” You could give up that attitude and
“I want to serve, I want to serve, I want to be the first to serve, serve prasad.” Maybe there are other kinds of services. So, these are five, five different ways to deal or communicate with vaisnavas around here.
Kari kara para upakara Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s instruction or expectation from all bharata-vasis,
Bharata-bhumite haila manusya-janma yara, janma sarthaka kari kara para-upakara. (Cc. Ādi 9.41)
If you wish to make your life perfect, you should be in the mood of giving, sharing, so that others are benefitted by whatever you offer, gifts or association or books or katha or prasadam. The mood of giving, this giving, giving para
upakara, idam sariram, the sastras also say this human form of life is meant for para upakara, para upakara punya gifts, share, be charitable, don’t be selfish, be bhuri-da be magnanimous. So not only prasadam, but other things we also share, give to others. So that we should try to do during this festival. Giving, Prabhupada also said when he went to the West, other Indians have been coming to the West, they’ve been coming to get something from America or Americans. Give us some job, give us money, give us computers, give us technology, give us this, give us loan, give us. But Prabhupada said I have not come to take but I have come to give. So, following in the footsteps of Srila
Prabhupada, we should develop this mentality of giving others.
And by giving you will be never the loser in fact that is the only way to gain. You give and you get in return. So, this policy of giving, sharing is the best policy. In fact, all souls, spirit souls will be benefitted, spirit souls will be enriched by giving. You will never lose, or never go bankrupt. You will be enriched by giving, be charitable.
There is one interesting and instructive example. I think it is found some where in Mahabharata, I think, but I would like to share with you. This example also shows the difference between this suras and asuras. The holy and the demoniac. So, once a big gathering of asuras got invited and they were to be fed so they all were meant to sit in rows and the food was served on their plates. The condition was that they could use or eat using their hands but the hands are tied at the elbow, or from the shoulder to the wrist there’s some bamboo or some metal rod and its tied so that they cannot bend at the elbow and eat. So, their all, their hands were, each one of their hands were tied like that and plates were filled with very delicious food, nice fragrance, they were also given some spoons in their hands if they wanted to use the spoons but you know, they were able to pick up some food with their fingers or with a spoon but they were not able to bend it. So, it was all making so many attempts to picking up food and eating them but because the hands were tied and not able to bend at the elbow so, they couldn’t eat, they only had to starve and suffer.
And the other party, vaisnava party or the suras, pious people, good people, sabhya gentlemen. Those were in the mood of this giving, sharing, kind of attitude they have. So, they were all invited and then they were also made to sit
down and their plates of prasadam in front of them and their hands also were tied like the demoniac party, asabhya, ruffians their hands were tied. So, this party, vaisnava party or the pious gentlemen team party, their hands were also
tied similarly, and they were not able to bend at the elbow and they’re sitting, facing each other, in long rows. So, as they’re not able to, they’re picking up the food with their fingers or spoons and they’re not able to bend and eat
themselves, but they’re not selfish kind of people. So, they were thinking of feeding others, they’re giving it to others “you first, you first”. So, those who were sitting in the front row, they started feeding them and then those that were sitting in the opposite queue, they started feeding the other ones, who were sitting in front of them. so, like this, everyone ate. Everyone’s belly was full, no one went hungry, everyone was satisfied. This is because of this nature of giving, sharing; “you first, other’s first, I want to serve them. So, this is the difference between devotees and demons, asuri sampradaya and devi sampradaya.
Krishna described this in Bhagavad Gita also. So, by having a devi sampradaya, divine nature, character of wanting to serve others para upakara then there’s parasparam, priti laksanam is there and then everyone had their end of the everyone is benefitted by this association.
Ok, darshan will be opening in just a few minutes so we’ll stop here. There are some hints, some guidelines to follow in regards to visiting vaisnavas and welcoming vaisnavas and serving vaisnavas. By doing so, the goal of joining this festival, which is to increase attachment to the holy name and the holy name is Krishna, developing love for holy name, increasing love for the Lord. So, this goal will be achieved and of course, we don’t want only to serve Vishnu or Lord but we also want to serve vaisnavas because then Lord is more pleased with us. Lord declares that those who claim to be my devotees, they’re not my devotees but those who claim that they’re Lord’s devotees devotees, then Lord says “then they are my devotees.” So, the formula is, the sutra is, we want to serve the Lord and Lord’s devotees, vaisnavas and
Vishnu, Panduranga, Pandharinath, Radha-Pandharinath ki jai!
And also, vaisnavas, ananta koti vaisnav-vrnda ki jai!
And, we derive the full benefit of joining this festival.
Nitai-gaura-premanande
Hari-Hari-bol.
vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ.
