Service to Vaishnavas reveals the highest truths

1993-168_Serving_Vaishnavas_With_Life_And_Soul_SB-10_47_54-56_Mumbai_-_Radhanath_Swami_1993-11-12_IDesireTree.mp3

SB 10.47.54 — Uddhava remained there for several months, dispelling the gopīs’ sorrow by chanting the topics of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. Thus he brought joy to all the people of Gokula.

SB 10.47.55 — All the days that Uddhava dwelled in Nanda’s cowherd village seemed like a single moment to the residents of Vraja, for Uddhava was always discussing Kṛṣṇa.

SB 10.47.56 — That servant of Lord Hari, seeing the rivers, forests, mountains, valleys and flowering trees of Vraja, enjoyed inspiring the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana by reminding them of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture Transcript: not verbatim

SRila SG is herein giving us a beautiful description that how it was that Uddhava sought to give pleasure satisfaction to the residents of Vrindavan. so much is revealed to Uddhava the highest truths of the topmost subject matter of all religion and truth. The pure spontaneous and ecstatic love

of the Brijbasis and especailly the Supreme most perfection and source of all love Srimati Radharani was all witnessed and given to Uddhava. But it was given in reciprocation to his own humble consciousness- he came to Vrindavan for only one purpose to give pleasure to all Vrajvasis to give relief to them on the order of Lord Krishna.

Highest truths can only be revealed by service to devotees
Great personalities within their heart is the treasure of love of God. Such Krishna prema cannot be understood by study of any amount of scriptures by the memorization of sholkas and performance of terrible austerities. By performing sadhana vaidhi bhakti by great care and attention- but it is by pleasing the great devotees of the Lord, by satisfying them we satisfy Krishna. Satisfying Krishna by satisfying His devotees, He reveals the greatest of all blessings of the truth of Krishna prema - there is no other way.

Narottam Das Thakur's humble service to Lokanatha Goswami
NDT explains -chadiya vaishnava seva  no one in all history has ever obtained KC - love of Krishna without serving and pleasing great vaishnavas. Bec to serve means to please.It is not simply a mechanical process. In the beginning we may do our particular bhajan or seva bec it has to be done. It should be our growing aspiration that we perfomr our seva with the motivation and attitude of

pleasing great vaishnavas - bec when they are pleased Krishna is pleased and then only is that knowledge revealed to us. We read in the life of Lokanatah oswami- humble saint- living in Vrindavan a very secluede life . At a particular time when he was becoming old- he was living in the bank of Yamuna , now it is Sri Radha Gokulananada . He made a vow- will not accept disciples as he considered himself very fallen. After the departure of Lord CM, RG, SG, RDG- he was so much in the pain of separation of vaishnavas that he could not consider anything else in his life but in crying while taking the names of Rahd aKrishna. But NDT knew it was the will of Lord CM that he accept Lokanatah gosawami as hi SM. He requested LG, but he said it cannot be done- he said there are so many great Vaishnavas in Vrindavan- RDG, JG, why are you coming to me. Lokanatah refused, but then NDT so humble he was that he did not want to disturb his Guru's mind by askign again and gaain- whether he initiates me or not, I cna serve him sincerenly. BUT Lg would not take any service - NDT had to serve secretly. LG would go to bank of Yamuna to respond to nature's call and NDT in the night when nobody is around- he would secretly go to that place and wash it with his own hands. Not expecting any credit for his seva- not even expecting that anyone would ever know what he had done. HE knew LG would be pleased bec the area was clean even if he doesnt know its me - . LG was wondering who is doing this- how is this happening. So he personally hid secretly n the bushes that night and there he saw NDT completely unassuming just wanting to clean the place and do some seva. LG said NDT hy are you doing this- this is below you- you are a prince- you are the only son and a great wealthy powerful king- you should not be doing this work which is unfit- cleaning everyday the stool and urine of another. NDT he explained to LG that is the highest service- service to a Vaishnava- the highest thing- being a great prince is not the highest but pleasing Krishna and his devotees is the highest service . The greatest wealth can only come through such humility. LG began to cry seeing NDT humble desire to serve and ultimately gave him initiation but gave to no one else .

Haridas Thakur pleases' Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu
Through this story how the key secret to unlocking that great treasure from the heaqrat of Krishna and His devotees is to please His devotees then only everything is revealed. Therefore the utmost emphasis is on harinaam and Vaishnava seva. Simply reading Rasika Shastra's of Vrajabhumi - we can memorize it, discussit- but Krsna will not revela the true meaning of any of these subjects - but if we simply serve Vaishnavas , try to relieve them of stress and please them - Krsna will reveal

everything. Haridas Thakur- was an untouchanble but he had a burningdesire to serve Lord CM to relieve him of his stress - seeing the fallen people wasting their life in material enjoyment, how to give them love of God, they have no inclination, this is creating pain in my heart, birth and death and suffering. Here is the source of all bliss- rasaraj, atmarama- to see the pain of others in firgetfulness of Krishna. HDT said- bec you have come to spread the HN of Krishna all those people who are connected to you will be reliueved. Not only did he speak this but he acted on it as well- beated in 22 marketplaces, - HDT " If you can beat me, cut me, torture me, but you can neevr get me to stop from spreading the HN around because it pleases Krishna and His devotees. Death will come before I can stop this preachin. This is pleasign to Krsna and His devotees" His only Qfn- he was willing to give anything his own life to please the Lord and His devotees- He was made Namaacarya- empowered to do the greatest seva.All these realizations come to the humble devotee who simply wants to serve the devotees of the Lord.

Uddhava's service to the Brajawasis
Uddhava - Krishna felt compassion for the residents of Vrindavan- He promised that He would return but did not - He could understand the pains of separation of the Brijwasis- He sent Uddhava to please His devotees who dedicated hie life in the service of the Lord to please the Lord's devotees. Sometimes they were crying- Nanda Maharaja , Radharani, Gopis were chastizing him., but all the while he understood this is what is required to sevre them to please them. He remained in Vrindavan cfor 3 months and throughout - he as always discussing Krishna. Therefore he got them such joy, Xcendental ecstascy that those 3 months seemed like a moment - How he pleased them by reminding them about Krisnhna- greatest way to please devotees and all jivatamas. How to remind them of Krishna- srvanam , kirtanama. ? IN CC- all devotees would get together and discuss hari kirtana and kari katha. e are here to disciuss the beautoful SB- we are doing this to please the Vaishnavas- speaking to please the audience- speaker is doing it as a service for the pleasure of the Lord and the Vaishnavas.

Those who are coming to hear attentively because this is the order of Gurudeva- to hear the SB philosphy- 5 most important rules - hear SB daily. We are coming to please our Gurudeva- whatever Vaishnavas happens to be speaking- ultimately to please the Lord of the heart.

When Krishna sees that within our hearts we have this anxiousness to hear his Katha - he becomes pleased and removes all anarthas from our hearts.

How to please the devotees?
Uddhava sets the highest eg of how to please the devotees- by reminding them about Krishna.
We congregationally come together to chant the HNs and hear Hari Katha to please Guru, Krishna and Vaishnavas. Our motivation throughout the day should be - to truly satisfy the devotees- only then they will reveal the truth to us- inquire submissively and offer service to the great souls. Pari prashnena sevaya. Otherwise the so called information we get- it may appear to be the truth in form but in essence the truth is far away- truth is revealed by great souls when we offer service to them. Brijwasis were pleased by Uddhava and they revealed to him the highest levels of Soiritual consciousness. Uddhava said " You sent me under the illusion that I will give them something, but they gave me something so great" Krishna says elsewhere tro Uddhava mad bhakta puja adhika- to please my devotees is the greatest offering to me. Even Brahma, Shiva, Laskhmi are not so dear to me as you because you have given your life in service to me. Uddhava on recieveing the blessings of the VRajvasis and being in such an exalted posn - he prayed to be a blade of grass so that the vraja gopis might step of him and he will recieve their dust. To receive the blesisngs is the supreme religion, only means of understanding Krishna prema.

Mukatamnama api siddhanam naryana aparayanama sudurlabha prasannatma---- to attain liberation is not a very important accomplishment. to attain great powers, siddhis and ability to perform great miracles, is not a very impressive accomplishment. But narayana parayana to attain devotion to Krishna is so rare ec one who attains such devotion , the supreme master of all mystics Mukunda the giver or all liberation becomes sub ordinate to that love- that love can be attained only by pleasing all the devotees and recieing their blessings. Ishwatra puri cleaned the stool and urine of Madhavendra Puri got his blessings- through which he was given the highest levels of love of God and the empowerment to be Guru of Lord CM. This si what we are seeking in our life- humble service then everything will be revealed to us.
Simple way of pleasing a\we must approach advanced devotees- and without interpretation or speculation we must just do whatever has been told, with all our life and soul.

Questions and Answers?

Question? Aspire to be servant of servant - there maybe more people giving service then who to please?
Answer: Try to please everyone, but you must know what is your service. You may water the branches but miss the root- you must know what is your service- say if you have your project and ten other devotees are giving you other projects then you must do the project given to you- whatever spare time you have you can help other devotees without neglecting your service.

Question? Particular service may cause physical inconvenience?
What does service mean- its not physical. Bhakti is the offering of one';s heart, one's life. Hanuman was carrying huge mountain tops and squirrel was keeping dust. Hanuman wanted the squirrel to stand out of his way. Rama said his picking of a grain of sand is as pleasing to Me as you carrying mountaintops. There is no question of being fit or unfit for DS- simply our desire to please makes us fit or unfit.

One person maybe doing great service but his motive is pride and prestige, anotehr devotee maybe very old and sickly but his motive is to please Krishna and the devotees.

Old lady Radha Damodar would come everyday with bucket of Jamuna water and flowers- very difficult for her to carry- would bring this everyday for Radha Damodar- as she is going back to Godhead. SP said she will go BTG as she does this service with so much attention and faith. This little bucket was more pleasing to the Lord than wealthy people creating big temples to install the Deitires. She was doing everything she could to please Krishna.

Question? Is too much enthusiasm good or bad?
Depdends how you define Too much enthu- if it means you are following your own mental concoctions to serve then it is not good. You cannot have too much enthu if it is properly directed-If we understand the proper process of pleasing Krishna and devotees then we cannot have too much enthusiasm. But if with our enthusiasm we get carried away that that we do so many things that are not pleasing to Krishna and devotees- that is not too much enthusiasm - but it is misdirected enthusiasm on the basis of our own desires- that we want to do something in a particular way that pleases us. The problem is our desire is not being properly directed- the more enthusiastically you do it, the more trouble you get into.
If somebody wants to do something that is not right and is lazy it does not case so much problem.But if somebody wants to do something that is not right- what I want- not what Guru and Vaisnavas want and is enthusiastic to do it then it creates chaos. But if we understand what Guru wants, Krishna and  devotees want then the more enthusiastically we serve the more effulgent we become. We should be humble. We should be enthusiastic to perform what will please the great soul- enquire submissive and then perform service with great enthusiastically.

How Krishna inspires you from within may be misconceviedv with how my false ego inspires me from within- therefore we must be humble and if there is some correction we must simply accept it. We must not be attached how Krishna is inspiring me from within- we must be attached to pleasing those for whom we are doing it and that comes by hearing submissively. If we are sincere then Krishna will inspire us to do more and more but we must be careful to really strive to work under the guidance of devotees,

Question? No intention ot please, but Vaishnava is displeased
First we must carefuly calculate if we did ptoperly if there were mistakes, if that is then we must rectify it and ask for forgiveness. But if we tried sincerely and Vaishnava is displeased then we mjust take it as a purification- Krishna does not want you to proud .