Master vs Servant

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a book called “Master of Love and Mercy: Cheng Yen”. A Buddhist nun from Taiwan, she founded the Tzu Chi foundation that performs many humanitarian works. She has relieved many millions of people from their material suffering and was nominated for the Nobel peace prize.

Actually I thought the book was terribly written, I really wanted to know more about her philosophy, and I struggled to read the boring details about the author’s travels. It’s also hard to read such atheistic literature claiming that Buddha is not actually God and in fact we are all Buddha. But looking past that, the book gives a tiny glimpse into the life of a true saintly person, somewhat comparable to mother Theresa in her tireless work to aid the material suffering of the sick and poor. One thing that I have always believed is that when someone is suffering very badly materially, it is hard to bring them to the spiritual platform. But if we first relieve (somewhat) their material suffering; by providing medical care, prasadam, and other basic needs of life, then, once they are out of immediate material distress, they are more able to focus on spiritual questions.

Then a couple of weeks ago I picked up a copy (from the temple gift shop) of the wonderful book written by Sarvabhauma Dasa “Servant of Love- the saintly life of Kirtida devi” Just released, it tells the story of an Indian bodied devotee who came to the States from South Africa to work as a nurse. It wasn’t until much later in life that she started coming to Radha Kalachandji Mandir, and at the time she was quite sick too. The book tells of the remarkable unwavering service attitude that she had toward the Dallas devotees, the Vrajabasis when she was in Vrndavan, and her beloved guru Tamal Krishna Goswami. Kirtida always put everyone before herself and would even neglect to eat or sleep so that she could serve the devotees. This amazing devotee went to Vrndavan to leave her body, but the holy Dham actually gave her renewed strength and several years later she set an example for everyone by leaving her body in the western dham of Dallas.

The irony of the titles of these two books is interesting. One who follows buddhism ultimately considers themselves the master or controller, believing they themselves have the power to attain nirvana. Whereas for devotees, the highest position is that of servant. Kirtida devi never thought herself anything more than the servant of the devotees, she would simply assist them in their services, never asking to do important services like dressing the deities, she was content to assist the Pujari in washing the arati plates, or the devotees in putting Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji’s outfits away.

I never had the opportunity to meet Kirtida devi, as she passed away several years ago, but Sarvabhauma Prabhu of Houston has done a great service for the devotee community, especially women looking for spiritual role models, by recounting this amazing story of the glories of Kirtida devi.