Chaste and Selfless

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
9 October 2013

I do not know what my benefit is, and I have no capacity to understand it, but my Guru and Krishna know what will be good for me. Association is the best and most powerful way to convert anybody. You may make many mistakes, but you must correct yourself. If you make a mistake and Gurudev chastises you, but out of ego you do not understand it and think you did right, it becomes a problem for your service life.

Suppose there is a man with a large plot of land who wants to dig a pond. He starts digging in some place, and after having dug about 20 feet, somebody comes up to him and says, "What are you doing? You will not get any water here. Try another place, just 10 feet next to it." The man goes to the other place and starts digging there. After a while, another man comes up to him and says, "What are you doing? You will not get good water here," and advises to try another place. This repeats many times and the day is finished. The man who gave him advice first decided to come and see what the man had done. He came and saw that the man had dug out so many holes but done nothing: the man did not listen to him. We must not be fickle-minded: today we go to this Math, tomorrow we go to another temple; today we associate with Srila Swami Maharaj's disciples, tomorrow we go to associate with Narayan Maharaj's disciples, or Puri Maharaj's disciples. This is not chastity...

What are you afraid of? Yes, sometimes Gurudev may chastise us, but it is for our benefit because we do not know what is good and what is bad for us. If you surrender, if you have full faith in me, there is nothing to be afraid of. When Nrisimhadev is very angry, everybody is afraid, but Prahlad Maharaj is not afraid. You may think it is because he is just a little boy, but it is not so: Prahlad Maharaj is not afraid because he has so much faith, love and affection for his dearmost Lord, "The Lord has come, why should I be afraid? I am His child, His son..."

I was reading today in the Gaudiya: when Krishna left rasa-sthali with Srimati Radharani, Vraja gopis may have become a little sad in their minds, but they did not leave Krishna, they did not leave their service, their love and affection. Instead, they thought, "She is the most powerful, and She can control Krishna, that is why Krishna took Her."

Gurudev chastised me so many times because I did wrong, but I always had faith that Gurudev would not throw me out, and even if he did throw me out, I may leave, cry a little, and then come back again. If you have attachment to service for your own happiness, not for the happiness of your Guru—if your own happiness means more to you than the happiness of your Guru—then it is a problem. If Gurudev tells me to get out, I will get out to make him happy, but I will come back. Is it right or not? This kind of chastity and faith are necessary—not self interest or concern for my own happiness.

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