(6/8) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (5)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, the main festival programme
1 January 2021, part 6, translated from Bengali

You can see now that Srila Gurudev travelled all over the world and established temples in more than 130 places: he went on world tours twenty-four times, visiting over a hundred countries in total. First, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj travelled abroad many times, and then Gurudev travelled twenty-four times, sometimes visiting between twenty-five and thirty countries at a time. I have also travelled with him a few times. I have visited even such places where there is no daylight – the whole day there is night (the sun does not rise); and when I went there at another time of the year, I saw that there was no night – the whole day was daylight (the sun is in the sky the whole day and night). People from these kinds of countries became attracted to Guru Maharaj (Srila Govinda Maharaj).

Gurudev also went for preaching to Colombia. One day, when he came to a preaching programme there, he was guarded by people with machine guns and pistols! Guru Maharaj spoke in English, and devotees translated what he said into Spanish. After the lecture, one man, armed with a pistol and wearing big boots, fell at Guru Maharaj’s feet and asked him, ‘Can you please give me beads? I want to chant the Holy Name.’ I still keep a photograph of that man that was taken that day. Another time, when we went to Russia, Gurudev told me, ‘Have you packed the luggage?’ I confirmed it, and Gurudev said, ‘Keep some beads with you, do not put everything into the check-in luggage. Keep some beads with you at hand.’ I thought to myself, ‘Why would one keep beads on the plane?’, but Guru Maharaj told me to keep some beads with me, so I did that. In the end, it turned out that when we were on the plane, some Russians came to Guru Maharaj and said, ‘We have been looking for you for so long! We have heard about you, but we did not know where to find you. We want to take your shelter.’ Guru Maharaj gave them initiation in this kind of situation, right on the plane! Sometimes, some people may have no culture, nothing, but they have a heart.

That is why I always remember Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur’s words, ‘Is everyone who takes initiation a disciple?’

In his last days, Guru Maharaj (Srila Govinda Maharaj) became very upset and left Nabadwip. After he declared my name on 4 December 2009, I went for preaching first in Australia and then in Malaysia. In Malaysia, I received a phone call from Guru Maharaj. He asked me, ‘Can you come back?’ I said, ‘I have just arrived in Malaysia.’ Guru Maharaj ordered me to come back within seven days, so although I was supposed to have an eleven-day tour in Malaysia, I cut it short and came directly to Nabadwip within seven days. As soon as I came, I went straight to Guru Maharaj’s room. He showed me a letter he had been given (somebody wrote a long one-page letter to Guru Maharaj that upset him very much). Guru Maharaj said, ‘I am going away from here tomorrow. Guru Maharaj, protect this temple. I will not stay here any longer. There is no anugatya (devotional adherence) left in this world, so I do not want to stay in this world.’ Leaving Nabadwip Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Guru Maharaj came to Dum Dum Park, Kolkata. Some time later, I came to Dum Dum Park, too. I sat by Guru Maharaj’s side, and Guru Maharaj said, ‘You have brought many people to me, and I have given them initiation, but how many of them have actually become disciples?’

Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, ‘One does not become a disciple just by taking the mantra or initiation. A disciple is one who can take disciplining [who can tolerate, digest and follow chastisement], who can accept strict adherence and submission to the guru.’ But these days, people think, ‘If I take initiation, I will get this big temple, big building, big room’…

This is what Gurudev said.

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Length: 121 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Satiating Hunger
2) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (1)
3) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (2)
4) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (3)
5) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (4)
6) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (5)
7) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (6)
8) Come as a Beggar