Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj discusses the Lord’s compassion for the lost souls of this world.
All devotees are very enthusiastic, but they are very simple-hearted and sometimes misguided by diplomatic persons. They have difficulty, but I am not looking at that. I am always looking at how much mercy Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj, and Prabhupād Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur have distributed within their hearts.
Many are going, and many are coming. I have spent forty-three years now in Missionary life [December 1989 at time of speaking—Ed.]. I have seen not less than one thousand devotees coming, going, doing, coming, and going in many ways, but within their hearts, I am looking at how much mercy is blossoming in this world. That is how I am praising everybody. If there is one little farthing in somebody’s heart, we can see the mercy of our Guru Mahārāj flashing there. We are trying to see everything in this way. But sometimes it is painful. It is very nice when they are coming and doing sevā, but when they are going, it is painful. Many things have happened.
I know this world is coming and going, coming and going. But it is necessary to make something, and that is our super-wealth, and that is called transcendental wealth. We must leave this body, but it is necessary to see what we shall do with this body. We can make a great Temple of Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga Gāndharvā Govindasundar within this body, or we may go to hell. All freedom has been given by Kṛṣṇa. We can do what we want to do, but we can see what Kṛṣṇa wants in the directives of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Loving Search for the Lost Servant. There is the main guideline: Kṛṣṇa always wants us, but He is not forcing us. He is not ordering us, “Come here.”
tava nitya dāsa mui tomāya bhuliyā
kuviṣaya viṣṭhā‑garta rayechhe paḍiyā
This is the position of the jīva-soul: “I am the servitor of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī, but I forgot my service, and I am now living within māyā. There are many mundane things going and coming, going and coming with my life, and Māyā Devī is playing there.”
Kṛṣṇa wants us to leave māyā and serve His lotus feet. He is eagerly awaiting that. Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu, the Pañcha Tattva, and also the devotees of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu all come for that cause. They are all eager to rescue us from māyā and engage us in the service of Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga Gāndharvā Govindasundar. This is our fortune. We have got that connection, we have got that chance, and if we can fulfil the desire of Guru-Gaurāṅga, then we must be benefitted to the highest degree.