(7/8) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (6)

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 7, translated from Bengali

I still remember what Sripad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj told about the guru’s wealth once in his speech in 1995. I remember that day there were so many people at the temple that I could not handle the crowd. Before the programme, I went to Mayapur in our old ambassador car to bring Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj and Pujyapad Bhakti Suhrid Akinchan Goswami Maharaj to the temple on the occasion of Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s centenary anniversary. I remember Sripad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj told a very nice story about the guru and disciples. These days, the situation everywhere is actually like in that story…

At one temple, there lived a guru with two disciples. All temples look more or less the same: there are very few people staying there. Even Mahaprabhu sent Srila Raghunath Das Goswami away, saying:

স্থির হঞা ঘরে যাও, না হও বাতুল ।

sthira hana ghare yao, na hao batula

‘Go back to your home, do not become crazy.’

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana
yatha-yogya visaya bhunja’ anasakta hana

‘Do not show your false renunciation to impress people. Use whatever material things you require, but without attachment.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.16.237–238)

Mahaprabhu told him, ‘Do not show monkey renunciation. Go back to your home.’ He sent him to stay as a grihastha. So, not everybody can stay at the temple or live a renounced life. Here too, we can see in this story that there were only two disciples staying at the temple. Although there were only two of them, they always fought and rivalled with one another because of the service to their guru. One day, their guru said, ‘Since you are always fighting so much because of my service, I will divide your service: one of you will massage my left leg, and the other one will massage my right leg.’ One day, the disciple who was supposed to massage his guru’s left leg got sick and could not do his service. The other disciple, as usual, massaged only the right leg of his guru. The guru asked him, ‘What is wrong? Why are you not massaging my left leg?’ The disciple said, ‘It is his leg! It is not my leg.’

I see this mood in disciples nowadays. Everyone thinks, ‘It is his service!’ For example, if somebody washes the dishes, they do not want to do anything else. Even when somebody steals something from the temple and runs away, they say, ‘The security guard will take care of it! It is not my business. I only wash the dishes!’ Such is our mood. All the disciples now have an enjoyment mood…

Gurudev also told one very nice story. We go everywhere by car now, but in olden days they used to go everywhere by bullock or horse carts. So, once a guru and his disciple were going to travel somewhere by cart. Gurudev told his disciple, ‘Listen, there are my clothes, stick, umbrella, tilak and other things in this bag. Take care of all the things and make sure nothing falls off. If anything falls off, you must pick it up.’ They started their way. The guru climbed on the horseback, and the disciple sat at the back of the cart, guarding the things. Whenever anything fell from the cart, the disciple carefully put it back. At some point, he even picked up the stool that fell out of the horse’s backside! The guru scolded him, ‘What are you doing?!’ The disciple explained, ‘You said I had to pick up whatever fell down!’ Then, the guru had the disciple make a list of all the things they had (1 – umbrella, 2 – comb, 3 – stick, and so on) and told him to keep all the things from the list safe. They continued their way. On the way, there was a big hole in the road, and the horse jumped over it. As the horse made the jump, the guru fell off the horse! He shouted, ‘Help! Help! Catch me!’ The disciple took the list out of his pocket and started checking it. His guru was not on the list, so the disciple did not bother – his guru shouts, ‘Save me!’ but he does not care. This is the kind of servants we are: we only worry about our guru’s material property. Gurudev’s wealth or property is not a great temple or a house. Gurudev’s wealth is faith, devotion and divine love.

People think: the bigger temple you make, the bigger guru you are (‘visva-math – visva-guru’), and if you make a small temple, then you are a small guru. We must always want to be small. We want to be servants of Vaishnavs – this is what we must always remember. We must listen to what Gurudev says; there is no other way for us. But we are always engrossed in material things: as Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj said, ‘It is very difficult to become a sadhu, but it is very easy to dress as one.’ There are so many sadhus who only dress as such. That is why Sri Jagadananda Pandit said:

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

‘gorara ami, gorara ami’ mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara laile phala phale

‘Just saying, “I am Gora’s! I am Gora’s!” will not do. Only when you follow Gora’s practice and Gora’s conception will you get the proper result.’

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।
গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari’
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

‘You put on tilaks and show the whole world that you serve Gora, but secretly you do outrageous things. Gora will catch you out, thief (hypocrite)!’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6–7, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

We secretly engage in vile activities, but Gora (Gauranga Mahaprabhu) will catch us! He knows everything! The guru is antaryami – he knows everything; he knows what we do and what we do not do.

— : • : —

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Size: 59 Mb
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