(6/7) Deceitless Dealings

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 17 January 2021, part 6

They have already started vaccinating everyone, but actually it is those who always worry about their lives that go for the vaccine first… We do not think about our life – we rely on the Lord and we think about our service. This is the main thing.

Start preaching, chant the Holy Name and run the Mission together. Everybody should leave their egos. Everything is service, and it is necessary to always do service with your heart. Try to respect everybody, try to respect each other. It is very important. Do not create many classes, divisions and groups among devotees. Classes and discrimination started appearing even in Mahaprabhu’s time. Later, in Srila Prabhupad’s time (in the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur) also, many disciples could not tolerate each other, so there appeared many problems. However, our Param Gurudev and our Gurudev love everybody. Our Gurudev is an example for us. He loves and accepts everyone.

So many devotees, so many good friends came to our Mission from ISKCON, and Gurudev accepted and welcomed them all. This is how they joined our Mission, and this is how our Mission expanded so much by the mercy of Gurudev and by the mercy of foreign devotees who had come from ISKCON. I always remember them – Srila Janardan Maharaj, Srila Ashram Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj, Yudhamanyu Prabhu, Srutasrava Prabhu (Sripad Vaishnav Maharaj), Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj from Brazil, Hasyapriya Prabhuand and so many other devotees. Many exalted devotees came to our Mission.

I sometimes chastise devotees, but this is how I show my love and affection to them. Gurudev said that I was sometimes very rude to devotees, but he also said, ‘Not everybody can understand your heart, but I can understand your heart, and I know how soft you are.’ The thing is that I do not pretend. Showing one thing outside and keeping other things inside – I am not like that. That is called kapatata (কপটতা), deceit. I cannot be like that in my life. If I show that I pay a full dandavat to you but behind your back I swear you, this is called mukhosh (মুখোশ) – a ‘mask’, or a ‘disguise’. You are a bad man, but externally you behave and look like a good man. This is a drama. You are not a sadhu, but you pretend to be a sadhu. Such behaviour and life are very bad. If we do one thing, but there is another thing in our hearts, it is a big problem. You cannot progress or proceed in your spiritual life properly if you behave like that. A sadhu will always be saral (সরল) (simple-hearted, straightforward). Gurudev says that simplicity is the main quality. Gurudev said, ‘My Guru Maharaj liked me because of my simplicity.’ ‘Saralata’ means ‘vaisnavata’ – simplicity is what Vaishnavism is about. These are Gurudev’s words. It is necessary to be simple, without any deceit.

You know, Gurudev came to the Mission in 1947. At that time, his name was Gaurendu Brahmachari. Three years later, in 1950, Srila Sridhar Maharaj sent Gurudev back to visit his home. Before that, some villagers had come to the temple and tried to forcefully take Gurudev back to his family life – not to become a grihastha, but to take care of his mother and the family. So, three years later, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told Gurudev, ‘Go and show them how much your spiritual life has increased over these three years,’ and Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not send Gurudev alone – he sent him with a disciple of Prabhupad (Gurudev said that he was not actually Prabhupad’s disciple, he was a disciple of Ananta Vasudev Prabhu, but he claimed to be a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur). Gurudev was a very clever and naughty boy, and everybody in the village loved him very much. There was one lady in the village whom Gurudev always called ‘jethima’ (জেঠিমা, auntie). When she saw Gurudev after three years, she was so happy that she hugged him. Gurudev was seventeen–twenty years old at that time, he was like a child to her, so when Gurudev came back after three years, she hugged him out of deep affection. However, the brahmachari who was with Gurudev saw it and reported to Srila Sridhar Maharaj later, ‘You sent me to that village with him, but I saw him hugging a woman!’ Srila Sridhar Maharaj laughed, ‘What kind of conception is that? This boy went to his previous home where he is everybody’s affectionate son, and the lady who hugged him is like his mother, but they still criticise him!’

Those who cannot tolerate Gurudev always find faults with him. I remember Gurudev used to say, ‘Yake dekhte nari, tara chalana banki (যাকে দেখতে নারি, তার চলন বাঁকা). Faults are thick where love is thin (lit. “if you cannot stand seeing somebody, their gait will always seem crooked to you”).’ If we cannot tolerate somebody, we always say that they are not walking straight – we always say that they are walking crooked.

Gurudev told so many things. I am remembering some of his pastimes…

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 21 Mb
Length: 43 min
Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Latest Events
2) Memorable Day In Bamunpara
3) Remembering Mahaprabhu's Sannyas-Lila
4) Ten Days in Shantipur
5) Heart-Breaking Decision
6) Deceitless Dealings
7) Deficiency in Practice