{"id":3144,"date":"2002-03-30T12:33:18","date_gmt":"2002-03-30T12:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/?p=3144"},"modified":"2023-04-19T08:13:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T02:43:16","slug":"to-be-a-servant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/writings\/krishna-talk-articles\/srila-bhakti-gaurava-narasingha-maharaja\/to-be-a-servant\/","title":{"rendered":"To Be a Servant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The truth should be spoken in a straightforward way, so that it will benefit others. I have heard that, in the greater K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness movement, certain women clamour to be called \u2018Prabhu.\u2019 Actually, all devotees are called Prabhu, but a real devotee clamours, \u201cCall me your servant, call me your dog.\u201d Why do you want to be called Master? Why demand, \u201cHey, call me Master!\u201d and expect others to respect you? Where did we learn this, \u201cCall me master?\u201d \u201cCall me your dog; call me your servant.\u201d Do not lose sight of this; do not lose sight of the service attitude.<\/p>\n

I met \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s sister. I was a sanny\u0101s\u012b<\/em> at that time, a young sanny\u0101s\u012b<\/em>, and I offered my obeisances to \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s sister, Pisim\u0101. The devotees gave her all respect, but she had no demand to be called Prabhu. Today we hear demands to be in the front of the temple, then later we hear the demand to be in the back of the temple. Front, back \u2013 the problem is the demand.<\/p>\n

Women are close to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness by birth, by life, by society; they are much closer to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness than men are. It is the life that most men do not get until we are very old. What is that life? One is protected and given some service to perform. Women do not have to be involved in arguments; they can actually live the real life of a devotee. They can easily develop Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava humility and the habit of serving others. It is that last little step that is so difficult.<\/p>\n

So many people receive some prestigious position. Unfortunately, these honoured positions have sent hundreds of devotees to their spiritual graves. When there is a war, we do not expect the women to grab the bayonets and run onto the battlefield. Why would someone want to demand that bayonet? That is very dangerous. It is the natural position in society for a woman to be protected, and it is so easy to become K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a conscious from that position, because it is the position of the servant. Men run the risk of thinking that they are in charge. In reality, they are not in charge of anything.<\/p>\n

Nobody but K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is controlling anything; everyone is simply trying to whittle down the ego and discover who we really are. \u201cI am a servant; I am a servant of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.\u201d To actually be K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s servant, one must be the servant of His devotees. We should be saying, \u201cCall me servant\u201d, not, \u201cCall me Prabhu.\u201d That is a spiritual defect. We clamour for things; we want things that are not good for us. We should understand what it means to be a servant; that is the deeper understanding. To make spiritual advancement requires an appreciation for the proper service attitude, and also an appreciation for pras\u0101dam<\/em>. They are intimately connected.<\/p>\n

What is pras\u0101dam<\/em>? What is our realisation of pras\u0101dam<\/em>? Sometimes in accepting pras\u0101dam<\/em>, Mah\u0101prabhu would become very emotional. Sometimes he would become very anxious and shout, \u201cOh! It is tasted by K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a! Other times he would shed tears, sometimes he would choke up, and sometimes all of these emotions would manifest at once. If we are taking pras\u0101dam<\/em> for granted, thinking that it is food, then we are accepting pras\u0101dam<\/em> for enjoyment, and that is our mistake. In his purport of Text One of \u015ar\u012b<\/em> Upade\u015b\u0101m\u1e5bta<\/em>, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da writes that if one accepts pras\u0101dam<\/em> only because of its palatable taste and eats too much, then he will fall victim of the senses. He will be captured by m\u0101y\u0101<\/em>. He goes on to explain that Sri Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu teaches us to avoid palatable dishes even while honouring pras\u0101dam<\/em>. In Caitanya-carit\u0101m\u1e5bta<\/em> (Antya<\/em> 6.227), the Lord states:<\/p>\n

jihv\u0101ra l\u0101lase yei iti-uti dh\u0101ya
\n\u015bi\u015bnodara-par\u0101ya\u1e47a k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a n\u0101hi p\u0101ya<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe who runs here and there seeking satisfaction of the palate and who is attached to the desires of the stomach and genitals is unable to attain K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if it is mah\u0101-pras\u0101dam<\/em>, we can spoil our experience of it. We can victimise ourselves with the enjoying spirit even while taking mah\u0101<\/em>\u2013pras\u0101dam<\/em>. Instead, we must remember always to honour pras\u0101dam<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Once, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s plate came out of his room in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, and I reached to take a rasagul\u0101<\/em> that remained on \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s plate. The servant quickly moved the plate out of reach and picked up the rasagul\u0101<\/em>, crumbled it, and dropped it into the dh\u0101l<\/em>. Then he took the sweet rice and poured that into the dh\u0101l<\/em>. I just sat there watching him, wondering why he was doing this, mixing all the different preparations that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da had left. It all became a yellow-green mixture. And then he offered me a scoop of that mixed mah\u0101-pras\u0101dam<\/em>. Noticing my expression of wonder, he said that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da had told him to do this to his mah\u0101-pras\u0101dam<\/em>, otherwise devotees would eat it just for sense gratification. And from that day, for the next seven or eight months, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s mah\u0101<\/em>\u2013pras\u0101dam<\/em> was only distributed in that way.<\/p>\n

We do not regularly mix all the mah\u0101-pras\u0101dam<\/em> together; people would think that we were mad. That order was temporary, to teach us an important lesson on how to properly honour pras\u0101dam<\/em>. Sometimes, some particular conception may descend in the company of the very high and genuine Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas, and then that will be followed, maybe not for all time, but for some time, following a particular mood. The instruction was not, \u201cMake sure you mix all the pras\u0101dam<\/em>.\u201d That was not the instruction; the instruction for all time is, \u201cDo not become the enjoyer; remember that pras\u0101dam<\/em> is K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47as mercy.<\/p>\n

K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness is a descending process, but unfortunately we are dealing with it by the ascending process. Technically, you should not even serve yourself pras\u0101dam<\/em>. If it can be arranged, you should not serve yourself. During special circumstances, it may be a practical procedure because all the devotees are very busy. We may certainly make such changes because it is practical, but sometimes that accommodation for a special circumstance may become a new standard. But is the new standard correct?<\/p>\n

Pras\u0101dam<\/em> should be given. Pras\u0101dam<\/em> is also not to be served by bhaktas<\/em>; it is actually to be served only by initiated devotees. Who can serve the Lords mercy to another living being? Somebody off the street who just came in? Do we spot such a person and say, \u201cHey you! Come serve pras\u0101dam<\/em>!\u201d No, it is not possible, actually. Do you think that you can just catch anybody and say, \u201cCome on, serve \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s pras\u0101dam<\/em>?\u201d No, only the sanny\u0101s\u012bs<\/em>, only the older ladies, older g\u1e5bhastha<\/em> men, only senior devotees can do that. And if someone is in m\u0101y\u0101<\/em>, are they going to serve \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s pras\u0101dam<\/em>? No, only devotees of some devotional status can do that.<\/p>\n

Pras\u0101dam<\/em> is not an object. Part of honouring pras\u0101dam<\/em> is the act of giving and receiving. Many of the younger devotees received cookies from \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da when they were children. If \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da is offering you a cookie from the vy\u0101s\u0101sana<\/em>, and at the same time the temple president is at the door saying, \u201cOh don\u2019t worry Prabhu, I\u2019ll give you a cookie,\u201d what would you do? You would say, \u201cI\u2019ll be back for this one later,\u201d and you would go to \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da. Is that just so that you can say you got a cookie from \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da? No, that is not why. When the Lord\u2019s mercy is distributed by the Lords pure devotee, a double potency is there. The temple president is also the Lords devotee, but taking the opportunity when available to connect with the higher Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas is very beneficial.<\/p>\n

Some may consider devotees to be ordinary people, but actually, devotees are not ordinary. We can keep always the mercy of the Supreme Lord by catching the feet of the devotees. Catch the feet of His dear devotees! That is the best way to access His pras\u0101dam<\/em>. All devotees in the K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness movement should try, according to their capacity, to develop a deeper appreciation for those things that are seemingly ordinary, because we experience them every day.<\/p>\n

Somebody once asked me how I became a devotee. I said, \u201cPras\u0101dam\u201d<\/em>, and they thought, \u201cMah\u0101r\u0101ja is an old, old devotee \u2013 that must have been some high philosophical point.\u201d No, it is easy to understand: I became a devotee for pras\u0101dam<\/em>, and I remain a devotee because of pras\u0101dam<\/em>. What is pras\u0101dam<\/em>? It is the Lords mercy. I became a devotee by His mercy, I remain a devotee by His mercy, and independent of His mercy, I am finished.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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