Realm of Inconceivable Pastimes

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 9 August 2020, part 4

Question: It was Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj's disappearance day yesterday. I wanted to ask if you could say a few words about him?

Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj was one of the pillars in Brazil. He is a very ancient pillar of our Brazilian Mission. His previous name was Bhuvan Mohan Prabhu, and Gurudev always remembered him. When Bhuvan Mohan Prabhu was in Brazil, our Brazilian Mission was united. After Gurudev left this world, I went to Brazil and there, in front of Srila Janardan Maharaj and Srila Ashram Maharaj, he gave some mercy to me by accepting sannyas from me. Srila Janardan Maharaj chose the name for him—Sripad Bhakti Vilas Tapasvi Maharaj. I remember that day. He knew he had a very bad disease, but even at that time his mind was very strong—he did not think about his death, he was not afraid. I have told you just now that devotees will not be afraid, devotees will not be sad because they are not afraid of death. Tapasvi Maharaj preached, wrote, translated and printed books. He did so much service. I was very sad when I got the news that he had left his body. I know that his previous wife Govinda Mohini Devi Dasi and their son continue his restaurant to this day. I have been to that restaurant—Tapasvi Maharaj took me there, and I preached there. He served the mission very nicely. He was the main pillar of our Brazilian Mission. When I was in Brazil, he took me to many places, I remember it. I cannot forget him. Gurudev was also very happy with his service. His Deity is now in São Paulo, served by Damodar Prabhu. It is good. I have told Damodar Prabhu, "As many days you are alive, you must do your service properly and you must preach properly—prepare the next generation to keep the mission of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math properly." São Paulo is the capital of Brazil, it is the main city, and they must continue their service in memory of Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj.

Question: It is said that everything is the will of the Lord, and it is also said that we suffer in this world because of our false ego and our own choice, so how can we harmonise these two things?

Yes, it is correct. As you sow, so you reap. We suffer because of our own karma, that is correct. If there is no darkness, how will we understand the glory of daylight? So, yes, sometimes some bad things happen in this life, sometimes some good things happen, but we harmonise, adjust with everything—we think that everything happens by the will of the Lord, then we will not feel sad. We suffer because of our own karma, that is correct—at the same time, when something happens, when some bad things happen because of our bad karma, and we suffer, we feel that it is a source of our happiness.

Sometimes we also have to tolerate something. You have heard about Vasudev Vipra. He had so many insects in his body that were eating his muscles and flesh, but he tolerated it and not only that—when some insects fell out of his body, he would pick them up and put them back into his arm thinking, "If that insect is happy to eat my arm, it can do so, it is OK." Such things happen.

We can see also some great souls (mahajans), we can see some of our godbrothers and godsisters who suffer so much with their body, but it is not hell—it is sometimes separation... Separation comes and they tolerate it bodily, but we cannot understand the symptoms of sadhus, the symptoms of higher and highest devotees. Sometimes we see somebody is suffering and we think they are suffering because of some disease, but it is actually not so—they suffer because of separation from the Lord, but we cannot understand that, we do not know who is a higher or highest devotee. For example, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would hit the wall or the floor with His head so hard that so much blood would flow from His mouth—somebody said that He had become crazy, but it was separation. Mahaprabhu was in the mood of Radharani feeling the agony of separation from the Lord.

Sometimes, the highest devotees are seen to be taking oxygen, taking different medicines, etc. but at that time they are showing their pastimes—they are thinking about the Lord and they are feeling separation from the Lord. We cannot realise this because we are very tiny persons; we are very unqualified, that is why we cannot understand these symptoms, we do not understand what their pastimes are. Those who are the highest devotees, can show such pastimes...

We must understand this clearly. If you practise properly, then you can step by step proceed to your real goal and enter the real nitya-lila—when this happens, then you will see Radha-Krishna's pastimes everywhere. I sometimes saw Gurudev in his last days and I felt what he was thinking about and what he was showing to us. We can understand it. Those who were near him, can realise it and understand it easily.

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