~ Sri Nama Seva in Sri Dhama ~

by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada

Within this world, only those who attend to Sri Bhagavan’s holy name (nama), His abode (dhama) and His desires (kama) are truly worthy of adoration. No being can extricate himself from misunderstanding, which arises from maya, without serving sri-nama. The result of serving sri-nama is that one will be freed from all forms of prejudice and will become settled in serving Sri Krsna’s desires (kama). And the result of serving sri-dhama is that one will be freed from the clutches of the tremendously dangerous conception that “I am the Lord; God has no eternal name, form, qualities, pastimes, majesty and so on.” Then, by serving Sri Krsna’s kama (desires), one will save oneself from the serious danger of selfish, sensual gratification. Thus freed from transient lust (kama), one will become firmly established in serving the transcendental Kamadeva, Sri Krsna, as well as the Kama-gayatri*.

* “Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is identical with the Vedic hymn known as the Kama-gayatri, which is composed of twenty-four and a half syllables. Those syllables are compared to moons that arise in Krsna. Thus all three worlds are filled with desire.” Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya-lila 21.125) – Translation by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, © Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.

If by good fortune we are able to gain attachment to serving the desires (kama) of Sri Krsna then we can reorient the various inferior desires for the material, sensual, bodily enjoyments that have arisen within us; and we can reorient the progress of our subtle body, or mind, if it has grown apathetic toward endeavours to serve Sri Bhagavan. Then our desires and the path of our mind will follow a trend just contrary to its present one.

If we engage ourselves in the service of dhama then service to the desires (kama) of Sri Krsna is available to us. The word dhama can mean rays, prowess, influence, home, place, body, birth and so forth. According to truly learned savants of God, sri-dhama should be accepted in its sense as that in which there is no malice, jealousy or evanescence, and that which is eternally self-manifested, spiritual and blissful. By adventing in sri-dhama, Sri Caitanya-deva has made the world conscious of its transcendence.

We had failed to realize the exaltation of dhama; we had no predilection for serving dhama and not so much faith in the worshipful deity form of Sri Bhagavan. We remained absorbed in study, sure of our notion that we could vanquish everyone on earth through our expertise in dialectics, the splendour of our erudition, and the glory of our exemplary character. But then some holy saints, who were engaged in serving dhama, enlightened us. They told us that the very service to dhama that we had been neglecting would in fact bring us the highest welfare.

He who seeks connection with dhama finds that his attachment to grama (domestic life) soon expires. Then his service to sri nama, which is the means of attaining true blessedness, soon carries him to his true goal: service to Sri Krsna’s kama.

The holy name (sri-nama) of Sri Vaikuntha (the spiritual dimension) has descended to this earth, and it is in sri-dhama that sri-nama has been deposited. The performance of nama-seva does not bestow krsna-kama-seva, service to Sri Krsna’s desires, which is the true and ultimate objective, upon one who disconnects oneself from sri-dhama.