Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!
Below is the verse from Mukunda Mala stotra Text -25
maj-janmanaḥ phalam idaṁ madhu-kaiṭabhāre
mat-prārthanīya-mad-anugraha eṣa eva
tvad-bhṛtya-bhṛtya-paricāraka-bhṛtya-bhṛtya-
bhṛtyasya bhṛtya iti māṁ smara loka-nātha
O enemy of Madhu and Kaitabha! O Lord of the universe, the perfection of my life and the most cherished mercy You could show me, would be, for You to consider me the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Your servant.
In this material world, everyone is jockeying for the position of being the boss or the master. In spiritual life it is just the opposite. In spiritual life, Sri Krishna's followers try to become the servant of the servant of the Lord's servant. The more we become the servant of the servant of the servant, as many times removed as possible, the more we become advanced in our spiritual progress. We are such fallen souls that we cannot directly approach Lord Krishna. Just like we cannot directly approach the GM or VP of our firm we are working for. For that we first take permission from our immediate boss and need to go through the proper channels. Similarly to approach Lord, we need to take the permission and guidance from our spiritual master, our bonafide guru, who comes originally from the Vaisnava Sampradhaya (parampara).
In Adi Purana, Krishna says to Arjuna,
ye me bhakta-janāḥ pārtha na me bhaktāś ca te janāḥ
mad-bhaktānāṁ ca ye bhaktās te me bhakta-tamā matāḥ
My dear Partha, those who say they are My devotees are not My devotees, but those who claim to be devotees of My devotees are actually My devotees.
His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada by his sweet mercy and poignant instructions, had made us realise how fool we are. In this material world which is so called "dukhālayam", we run behind the unrestricted sense enjoyment, for a body, that is destined to do nothing more than to get birth, to get old, get sick and then die (janma, mṛtyu, jarā, vyādhi). In this world, everyone is suffering because they have lost their original connection with Sri Krishna, the Supreme Godhead, our Supreme Father.
When we get disconnected while talking with someone on the phone, it is a very disturbing break in our conversation. Immediately we want to reconnect with them, so we can pick up where we left off in our conversation. Originally we all had our own unique individual personal loving relationships with Sri Krishna in His kingdom. Somehow or other, that connection was broken because of our foolish desire to try to enjoy independently of the Lord. The spiritual master (the Servant of Lord Krishna) is that person who reconnects us, with that original ecstatic relationship, which we have unfortunately forgotten.
The spiritual master is the dear most servant of Lord Krsna (the representative) who has been sent for saving us from all the miseries, suffering conditions in this material existence. The bonafide spiritual master is like a rain cloud who mercifully extinguishes the blazing fire of material existence. We should inquire submissively and render all our services unto him. Fortunately, by Krishna's mercy we have come in contact with wonderful spiritual masters. Why shouldn't we take the full advantage of their association and engage ourselves in becoming the servant of the servant of the servant of Lord Sri Krishna?
Hare Krishna! Hari Bol!
Thank you very much.
Yours humble servant,
Sarva Mangala devi dasi
Abu Dhabi.
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