By Ananta Gopal Das | Head Pujari (Priest) at Bhaktivedanta Manor
Everyone inclined to spirituality needs to experience Sundays at the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple.
Thousands of pilgrims come to offer prayers and service. Some devotees drive for hours to offer a little prayer and take blessings, have devotee association, participate in kirtan, relish prasadam, and render some service. It is extraordinary how many young people also come.
The whole day is packed with kirtan, spiritual discourses, seminars, services, and various other activities for all age groups. Everyone is engaged in some sort of service.
I was walking into the temple room for darshan when a congregation devotee in his early 60’s approached me.
“Would you like a hot drink or a cookie?” He asked, resting his hand on a large plastic container with the drink, and his friend next to him carrying the cookies.
I eagerly accepted his offer and inquired about the inspiration behind his service.
“For 40 years, I have been coming to this temple”, he said.
“I have never been to Vrindavan or Mayapur. For me, everything is here. Bhaktivedanta Manor is no different from any other holy place. Whatever I require to make spiritual advancement is here,” he added.
He also explained that serving devotees is the best service we can perform. As I listened to him speak, I noticed the joy in his eyes as he enthusiastically praised service to devotees.
For many years, every Sunday, he spends the whole day walking around the temple grounds and offering prasadam to all the pilgrims.
Although he is very senior in age and experienced in devotional life, he humbly serves devotees without any complaints or desires for any position, fame, or recognition for his service. All he wants is to serve the devotees.
“There is nothing better than serving devotees,” he would often say.
As we parted ways, before I entered the temple room, I saw him approaching another person and offering him a cookie and tea with the same enthusiasm as he had done to me.
Whilst taking darshan and offering prayers, I prayed for the same enthusiasm as this devotee has for serving devotees.
Great saint and former president of Bhaktivedanta Manor, Srutidharma Das, would frequently say, “Give one life to serve.”
Not all of us may become spiritual teachers, learned scholars, or famous orators, but all of us can and should become servants of devotees.
Come, visit us on Sundays, meet saintly devotees, and learn more about devotional service.
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā 7.53 purport: “One should not proudly think that one can understand the transcendental loving service of the Lord simply by reading books. One must become a servant of a Vaiṣṇava.”