(3/3) Gurudev's Desire

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, Nrisingha Palli
14 December 2019, noon, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Much has been said already. All the maharajs have also spoken today.

Gurudev admitted, 'I was like a dog that had fallen into a pit. Others tried to stretch their hands to me, to rescue me, but I did not take anybody's hand. It was my gurudev who pulled me out and engaged me in the Lord's service again.' When we do archan, we use certain utensils and after using them, we discard them as impure; but after that, we clean those utensils and use them again. So, Gurudev said, 'That was my position. I went to family life, but my Gurudev cleaned me, polished me and used me again in his service.'

I have learned many things from Gurudev. At first, Govinda Kunda was a simple pond surrounded by a jungle – there were no steps around it or anything. Many of you have seen it in that state. People used to come and pass stool there. I thought, 'Everybody comes to Govinda Kunda to wash their clothes, to bath and do all the dirty things. I should put an end to it.' When I did it, all the neighbours started to fight and complain. I came to Gurudev and told him about it, asking him how to resolve the situation. Do you know what Gurudev replied to me? He said, 'I have kept an Alsatian dog downstairs, and one day I went for a walk with it. When an enemy attacked me, the Alsatian dog jumped on my shoulders and cried, "Save me! Save me!"' When I heard his reply, I thought to myself, 'God, I will never again come to complain to Gurudev about anything!' This is how Gurudev taught us.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote a sloka glorifying Srila Gurudev. Have you ever heard that a guru would write his disciple's pranam-mantra?

গুর্ব্বাভীষ্টসুপূরকং গুরুগণৈরাশীষসংভূষিতং
চিন্ত্যাচিন্ত্যসমস্তবেদনিপুণং শ্রীরূপপন্থানুগম্ ।
গোবিন্দাভিধমুজ্জ্বলং বরতনুং ভক্ত্যন্বিতং সুন্দরং
বন্দে বিশ্বগুরুঞ্চ দিব্যভগবৎ-প্রম্­ণো হি বীজপ্রদম্ ॥

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam
chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam
govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram
vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

‘I offer my obeisance to him who perfectly fulfils his gurudev’s most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all conceivable and inconceivable aspects of Vedic knowledge; who is a pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu’s line; who is known as “Govinda” (Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj); whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is suffused with pure devotion; who is the guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.’

Gurvvabhista-supurakam. He fulfilled his gurudev's cherished desires. Guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam. He is adorned with the blessings of his guru. Chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam. He is expert at all Vedas. Sri-rupa-panthanugam. He is an acharya in the line of Srila Rupa Goswami. Govindabhidham ujjvalam. He is known as Sri Govinda Maharaj. Even when he lived in family life, Srila Sridhar Maharaj and everybody else continued calling him Govinda Maharaj. Whenever any of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's godbrothers came to the temple, they would tell him, 'O Govinda Maharaj, I have come to your temple.'

When Gurudev made a declaration on 4 December 2009, I could never imagine that even in a dream – I had never wanted and had never even thought of becoming an acharya. I could not even think that Gurudev would leave one day. But then on 4 December he made his declaration. Many were frustrated and bitter about it, and they could not accept it. Gurudev said that he had wanted to make this declaration many years earlier, but because he did not do it, then the situation had become like that. After that, Gurudev sent me for preaching to Australia and Malaysia. When I reached Malaysia, I got a phone call at the airport. There was no network on the plane, so when the plane landed and I turned my phone on, I got a phone call from Gurudev.

'Have you arrived in Malaysia?' he asked me.

'Yes, just landed.'

'How many days are you going to be there?'

'Fifteen days.'

'You must come back earlier, there is a big problem here. Cut your stay short.'

I came back in seven days. As soon as I arrived, I went straight to Gurudev's room. He was lying in his bed, looking downcast. Those who could not accept Gurudev's decision gave him a big letter. Gurudev handed the letter to me, and I read it. Then, he caught me by the hand and asked, 'So many problems are going to come. Will you not run away from all this responsibility for the temple and the devotees?' I promised Gurudev that I would not run away and that I would serve him until the last drop of blood in my body. Gurudev had 140 temples, including 110–120 temples abroad. I could have gone to any of those places and stayed there without any trouble, but I gave my word to Gurudev, 'As long as I have a single drop of blood left in my body, I will not leave your service, I will stay with you.' When I said it, Gurudev said, 'I am comforted to hear it and to know that you have promised not to leave.' The next day Gurudev left the Nabadwip temple. He stopped his car in front of the Seva Kunja building and told me, 'I do not want to stay here anymore, I am leaving. There is no anugatya (chaste, exclusive submission to the guru) left in this world.' Then he prayed to his Guru Maharaj, 'O Guru Maharaj, I am leaving this Math. You please protect this Math.' This is how Guru Maharaj left Nabadwip and went to Kolkata.

By the blessing of my Guru Maharaj and by the mercy of you all, I have no problem. Many come to me and say, 'Maharaj, please come back to Nabadwip.' When Gurudev takes me there, then I will go there. This is not up to me. As it is I am already busy with services all day long, from morning till night. There are construction works going on in many places. For example, there was a problem with accommodation in Ekachakra – there were only forty-six rooms before, and now there are twenty rooms more. Many people also go for the Gaura Mandal parikrama, and we do not have any temple in that area, so I have purchased a place in Ramkeli. So, when we go for the Gaura Mandal parikrama, at least we will have that one place to stop at. This is my desire. Also, Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted to make a temple on each of the nine islands of Nabadwip, but there is no temple in Jahnunagar (Jahnudwip), so I am going to make an ashram there. You all know that the works are already going on there.

I am praying for your blessings so that I could, with the blessings and mercy of all the Vaishnavs, always live engaged in guru-seva and serve you all. I do not want anything in this world. I have no desires. I only wish to always live engaged in the service to my Gurudev and all the Vaishnavs. First, it is necessary to become a servant of Vaishnavs, then a servant of the guru, and then only a servant of the Lord.

Gurudev told me, 'Acharya Maharaj, I have given initiation to thousands of people, but can you say how many disciples I have?' A disciple is a person who places the order of the guru on their head and follow it to a T without any hesitation or backchatting. You can find many gurus in this world, but it is very rare to find a disciple. There are plenty of pranam-taking (obeisance-taking) and pranami-taking (donation-taking) gurus in this world. We come for a guru-puja service, throw some flowers, recite a prayer to the guru, swing some insence and think that this is guru-puja (worship of the guru). Everybody says, 'Please give me mercy', 'Please give me mercy,' but mercy (krpa) means doing something (kara) and getting something (paowa): do service, then you will have mercy. Otherwise, you say, 'I want mercy', 'I want mercy,' but this is only pretence. People pretend and act like they want mercy...

I am praying to you all: please bestow your mercy on this lowly soul, please give me shelter at your holy feet. I would like to finish here.

বাঞ্ছাকল্পতরুভ্যশ্চ কৃপাসিন্ধুভ্য এব চ ।
পতিতানাং পাবনেভ্যো বৈষ্ণবেভ্যো নমো নমঃ ॥

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

'Again and again I offer obeisances to the Supreme Lord's devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy and wish-fulfilling trees.'

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Length: 72 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Great Fortune
2) Gurudev's Appearance
3) Gurudev's Desire