bitcoind – bitcoin.conf changes do not take effect (installation via standup script)

Changed bitcoin.conf to connect to a specific node operated by a third party. But after the change it has no effect and still the same error persists.

error: timeout on transient error: Could not connect to the server 127.0.0.1:8332

Make sure the bitcoind server is running and that you are connecting to the correct RPC port.

Here is my bitcoin.conf file located at (home/standup/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf):

rpcconnect=35.209.148.157
rpcuser=a_plus_student
rpcpassword=hunter2
txindex=1