No Joyriding

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Talking to devotees in Colombia
1 December 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 3

Do you have any questions?

Question: I would like to ask if you could give me instruction for my practice here in Colombia.

I have already told you. If you can stay with me, if you can tolerate me, then you can come here, but you must think and understand something first. I have heard that devotees are collecting money for your plane ticket. You must understand that devotees are spending their money—it is devotees' money, they are giving it from their hearts so that you could come to India to serve me—so it is necessary to serve properly, not to follow your mind, not to take bad association.

You see, you also sent **, but what service did he do here? Moreover, he told me a lie. Last time he came here, he told me he was going back to his country in October and that he had to go to Vrindavan to buy something for the Colombian mission. I told him, "OK, you can go and stay there," and gave him some instruction, but he did not follow it, he did not listen to me. On top of that, he told me a lie. It is very bad. What need is there to lie to your Guru? You must be honest. You know, when I was a brahmachari, there was a girl who was disturbing me very much—not only did she disturb me, she would write me love letters every day. Over the time, I got 80-85 letters from her. I took all those letters and gave them to my Gurudev. I did not hide anything.

[On another occasion, His Divine Grace told the end of this pastime. His Divine Grace said: "I gave those letters to Gurudev and said, 'Gurudev, this is your problem, you solve it.' Then Gurudev called that girl and told her, 'Get out! You cannot take my brahmachari, he is my property.'"]

Sometimes I made some mistake, but I told Gurudev about it honestly, "Gurudev, I did that," and Gurudev happily accepted it, he said, "OK, do not do it next time." But you always do something and try to hide it. That is the problem. You cannot be a sadhu, a good devotee in this way. You must be fully honest. Why is it necessary to lie?

Actually, I have heard that he is still in Vrindavan, but he did not tell me anything. They are spending so much money on your plane ticket, this is devotees' money—you must understand that when devotees send you to India, you should serve the Mission. I always need manpower, you know that. Now Gaura Purnima time is coming and it is necessary to preach village to village—I go preaching all year round, but even more so during the two-three months before Gaura Purnima, and it is necessary to help.

When Gurudev took me to foreign countries, he told me, "I am taking you with me, but you must help me." I thought at that time, "How can I help Gurudev? I do not cook for him, I do not massage his feet... How can I help him?" Then I understood what he meant and Gurudev was very happy with my behaviour. You know that Gurudev is alone and he is an old man, his health is also not good—he comes to give class for forty-five minutes or one hour once a day in the evening, but who will arrange this gathering first? It is necessary to do kirtan, to speak Hari-katha, then people will gather. Gurudev would hear that his conference hall was full, he would come, give one hour lecture and go back to his room. What was my duty? I would wake up in the morning, join the mangal arati, the parikrama, give the morning class, I would help with everything and I would always invite everyone, "Come in the evening, you can hear a very good and proper conception from my Gurudev." That was my preaching—I was like an advertiser of my Guru. This is how I helped my Gurudev.

You should understand how you can help. You must be intelligent. I have told this one example of service to the Guru. Once, one foolish man was going with his Gurudev in a horse cart. The road was bad and the horse cart would jump all the time. After one of such heavy jolts, both of them fell off the cart along with their luggage. Gurudev was an old man, very sick, and he could not get up, so he asked his disciple, "Please help me! Please pick me up!" What did the servitor do? Before this, his Guru had told him, "Take care of my things! Make a list of all my things and make sure that nothing is lost on the way." The servitor wrote down everything—the Guru's shoes, umbrella, clothes, etc. So, when they both fell off the cart, he took out the list and started picking up all the things from the list ("Gurudev told me to take care of his things!"). He worried about the things, but he did not worry about his Guru—he was thinking where the clothes had gone, where this thing, that thing had gone, but he did not think about his Guru, he did not think that his Guru was more important than his Guru's clothes. Gurudev tells you, "Take care of my things," but when both of them fall down and Gurudev is shouting, "Please, pick me up, I feel so much pain!" you take out the list to check what things he had. Do you understand what I am saying? It is necessary to have proper intelligence.

This is my message to the leader, or manager, in Colombia.

Actually, everybody is a servitor, so you must consider yourself a servitor. Those who do more and more service become guardians of devotion. Ultimately, Gurudev is the guardian of devotion. In material family life, the father and the mother are the guardians, and here Gurudev is the guardian of devotional life. That is why we must follow what Gurudev tells us. Even if Brahma calls us or Indra calls us, we must forget it—what Gurudev told us is sufficient. If Gurudev gives you a certificate saying, "You are a good boy," that is sufficient. For example, I do not consider myself a good boy, I think that I am the worst boy, the worst man, but Gurudev gave me a certificate saying, "He is a perfect man." Gurudev can say it, but I do not think that I am perfect. And because Gurudev said it, devotees follow it.

Anyhow, as I was saying, the main problem is association. Always avoid bad association. You must think yourself—you are talking to somebody, but is it Krishna-katha, Hari-katha or gramya-katha? Always avoid gramya-katha, nonsense talks. That is the main thing. You are wasting your time instead of serving the Lord.

Have you got your answer?

Devotee: Yes, I understand.

If you understand, it is good.

Be serious in your life—be serious in your Krishna consciousness life, and in any other life, actually. If you start doing something or start a job, you must be serious about the job otherwise you will lose it. So, when you come to serve your Guru, when you come to Krishna consciousness, you must be serious: "I will follow Krishna consciousness properly." That is the main thing. Be serious about your spiritual life.

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