Vaishnava Frame of Mind

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Caracas, Venezuela
18 September 2009

How much vaishnavata (vaishnavism) the great Gurus have...

You all know that Srila Swami Maharaj asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj to give him sannyas, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "You are my godbrother and always my intimate friend, how will you take sannyas from me?" He was shy, but at that time he had already given sannyas to Srila Keshav Maharaj, so Srila Swami Maharaj took sannyas from Keshav Maharaj.

Once, one devotee, a disciple of Srila Keshav Maharaj, came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj and asked him, "Maharaj, I heard that my Gurudev, Keshav Maharaj, is senior than you, that is you are junior to him. Why did my Gurudev then take sannyas from you?" Sridhar Maharaj replied, "I will ask you one question—first give me the answer, then I will tell you. Mahaprabhu is Bhagavan (the Lord Himself), but do you know why Mahaprabhu took sannyas from Keshav Bharati?" This was the answer that Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave. He was saying, "I have happily given sannyas to Keshav Maharaj not to purify him, but to purify myself."

This is Vaishnavism. This is dainyata—humility and giving honour to others. The conception is very nice; I heard it from my Guru Maharaj. We must serve Nitai and Gaura. Nityananda means Guru-tattva—without service to the Guru we cannot enter there, cannot get service to the Lord.

There was once one devotee in Nabadwip called Haribol Gosai. He was not a disciple of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, but he was a very big writer and everybody in Nabadwip market knew his books. Everybody also knew that he never paid dandavat to anyone, not even Lord Krishna or Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. The only person he did pay dandavat to was our Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Every year he would come to him to pay dandavat; he would say, "There is no Bhagavan in this world, my only Bhagavan is Srila Sridhar Maharaj."

One year, when he was ninety years old, he published a new book and came to the Math by rickshaw to give that book to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. When Gurudev saw him, he said, "Oh, you are so old, why have you come yourself? You could have sent a message to me and I could have brought the books from your house and given them to Srila Sridhar Maharaj... Why have you taken such a great trouble, coming here, suffering?" The old man replied, "I have only one Guru in this world, and I have come to pay dandavat to him. Please do not tell me not to come. You can come and bring the books yourself, but I have to come every year to pay dandavat to my Guru. Please do not forbid me to come."

Gurudev was shocked that this kind of man came to pay dandavat to our Guru Maharaj and that he would say, "Do not forbid me to come, do not tell me not to come. I do not know how many days I will be alive, but as long as I am alive I will come to pay dandavat to my Guru."

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