(4/10) Temples Are Not Temporal

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, Nrisingha Palli
14 December 2019, evening, part 4
Translated from Bengali

Gurudev did not keep me here so that I can live among non-devotees, demons or amidst fighting. I live peacefully. I had stayed in Nabadwip for many years, but at the end there were so many problems, so many court cases that it became impossible. Whenever we made a festival, they called the police and filed all kinds of cases, they called these people, those people. They fought and created big scandals, they did everything to obstruct us. But here, there is none of this. Even you can understand it yoursleves – at some point you just think, 'I do not care if I have food or not or if I have a place to stay at or not, just let me live peacefully.' Over there, when you try to speak Hari-katha, they grab the microphones and take them away. We speak about the Lord and do the arati of the Lord, and another party comes and starts to play cymbals loudly to disrupt all programmes. You have seen all this. We used microphones and they took their microphones and created so much disturbance to obstruct us. On top of that, they also called the police. Instead of all this, it is better to live in a small place, but at least we can sleep there peacefully. Actually, we do not need anything special. You know, if we go to Goloka Vrindavan, we should be content to stay wherever we are given a place – any tiny place is more than enough.

How much space do we take anyway? When bodies are buried in the ground, the graves are all one size. We are all more or less three and a half cubits tall (about one and a half meters) – how much space do you need? Whatever the Lord gives us, however big or small arrangement the Lord makes for us, we are content with that.

I have not left you. You cannot say, 'Oh, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave charge to Maharaj, but he left us and went to America to live a nice, cushy life.' I have never done this, although I could. When Gurudev left and the problems started in Nabadwip, I was in Brazil, so I could have stayed abroad, but I did not do that. I quickly got a return ticket and came back. I came and fought back. Even now that I have left all that fighting behind, there are so many court cases going on. You will be amazed if you know how many case they have filed against me! They filed the cases even against the devotees who stayed with me, both Indian and foreign. All those cases are lies, of course. Have you ever seen me fight with Gurudev? I have never done it and would never do it. They have turned into stone-hearted demons (pasandi) – what can I do? If they are like that, let them be like that. I can only pray to the Lord that some good intelligence can awaken in them.

Do not leave Gurudev's line. Those who leave do not last long. Untruth can never reign long; the truth must emerge sooner or later. You have heard that the birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya was ruined many centuries ago, and on its place a Babri Masjid mosque was built. A few years ago, the mosque was demolished and a temple of Lord Rama was built on that place again. It took some time. In our situation also, some time is necessary. It is necessary to have patience. Gurudev always said, 'Sahasa vidadhita na kriyam (সহসা বিদধীত ন ক্রিয়াম্). Wait and see. Do not do anything suddenly.' We must have patience.

All these fights and squabbles are not good. If Vaishnavs behave like this, what will other people learn from them? Our teaching is:

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

‘One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and who gives honour to others without desiring it for themselves is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

You will go for preaching and bring new people to the temple, but when they come to the temple and see all this fighting, will it not crush them spiritually? Who will want to stay in a temple like that? So, wherever you are, continue preaching for our Mission. Gurudev told everybody, 'Help him. Do not look for faults in Acharya Maharaj. Do not look at his faults, rather help him.' This is what Guru Maharaj said, and this is what you must focus on. One maharaj told me, 'Oh, Acharya Maharaj does not listen to me,' but Gurudev did not tell you to teach Acharya Maharaj what to do or to judge whether he listens to you or not – Gurudev told you to help Acharya Maharaj.

You must understand this. They feel bitter, 'Acharya Maharaj does not listen to me!' but I live following Gurudev's order. I get an order from Gurudev, and I live following his order. I do not do anything beyond that. So, I am praying to you: please understand that this is your Mission, your temple. We have many temples, you can stay in any of them. In Param Guru Maharaj's time, there were only three temples, in Nabadwip, Hapaniya and Kolkata. In Gurudev's time, there also appeared temples in Puri, Vrindavan and Govardhan. After Gurudev left, I made so many more temples – in Tarakeshwar, Ganga Sagar, Ekachakra Dham (it was started in Gurudev's time), Siliguri, Bankura, Midnapore, etc. All these temples are made for you. If you spend five days in each of the temples, you can travel temple to temple the whole year. But you do not want to stay in temples. Many people have already left today. If you must leave, leave. Many are in a hurry to leave...

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Length: 86 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Preaching Life
2) One-Pointed Happy Life
3) Do Not Get Blown Away
4) Temples Are Not Temporal
5) Danger of Deviation
6) Love for Kirtan
7) Soul Consciousness
8) Gist of Religious Life
9) Burning Burden
10) Living the Dream