Srila Narottam Das Thakur:
Bona Fide Benefactor

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj,
Srila Narottam Das Thakur's disappearance day
Sri Nabadwip Dham, 4 November 2012, part 2

In Kartik month, when we go to Vrindavan, we always visit Narottam Das Thakur's samadhi, but we do not have the fortune, we have not got a chance to go to the birth place of Narottam Das Thakur. If I get time, if I get a chance, we can visit it some day. His appearance place is in East Bengal, Bangladesh, now.

When Narottam Das Thakur joined, he came to Vrindavan, and Gurudev said that he had told his mother, "Mother, if you do not allow me to go to Vrindavan, I will die!" His mother gave him thirty rupees to go to Vrindavan from Bangladesh. Gurudev said also that sometimes the father gets angry and says, "Get out from my house!" but the mother will secretly give food to her son, but this time, the mother helped her son to go to Vrindavan—she gave thirty rupees to Narottam Das Thakur and said, "Baba, go," and he left the house with his mother's help.

It is written in the scriptures,

গুরুর্ন স স্যাৎ স্বজনো ন স স্যাৎ, পিতা ন স স্যাজ্জননী ন সা স্যাৎ ।
দৈবং ন তৎ স্যান্ন পতিশ্চ স স্যান্ন, মোচয়েদ্ যঃ সমুপেতমৃত্যুম্ ॥

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan
na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyum

"It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your gods, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

Who is your Guru? Who will you call a Guru? A Guru is not someone whose profession is to make disciples, who only takes your money. The Guru gives a conception, gives some wealth, property, with which you can go to your real home. This is what the Guru gives. If the Guru cannot rescue you from death (mrtyu-rupa-samara), from going to hell, from coming and going all the time—cannot rescue you from this kind of world—such person will not be your Guru. Similarly, who is a father? A man who just gives you birth? No, if a person cannot help you, cannot help you practise Krishna consciousness, he will not be a father, she will not be your mother, he will not be your husband. Srimad Bhagavatam writes this very nicely.

I told an example the other day also. Suppose you come to a doctor and say,

"Doctor, I have blood sugar." The doctor immediately says,

"Do not eat potato, do not eat sweet, and I am writing you a prescription, you must follow it and take the medicine."

"You can give much medicine, no problem, I have money and can buy it, but I cannot avoid potato and sweets, I must have it."

If the doctor is good, he will say, "I do not want that kind of patient. You can go!" The doctor knows, "If you follow me, if you want to be cured, then I can give you the medicine, but you must follow my advice." If the doctor is bad, he will think, "Oh, if I reject this patient, I may not get him to visit me again and will not get my fee." Such doctor does not think about the disease of the patient, he thinks about the patient's money, "He will come again and again. Today I will give him this medicine, and in seven days I will give him another prescription, and in seven days another one. What is the problem?"

Sometimes a disciple says, "Gurudev, I must do this," and the Guru says, "OK, you can do it." Such Guru thinks, "If I tell him not to do it, he will reject me and go to do other things." But if it is a spiritual Guru, a perfect, or proper, Guru, he will not think like this—he will think, "I do not want many disciples. I must think about the disciple's benefit. If the disciple does not follow me, does not follow my advice (if the disciple does not follow the proper rules and regulations), then I cannot cure him." There are such gurus, or "doctors," available in this world who do not want to cure their disciples.

This is not a guru who can remove santap (tri-tap-jvala, three kinds of miseries —adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik, আধিভৌতিক, আধিদৈবিক, আধ্যাত্মিক: miseries caused by one's body, by the nature, and other souls). There are such gurus available in this world who can give you a house, who can give you money, and so on, who can say, "You will be benefitted," but actually this is not the real benefit. Only a real Guru can give a real benefit.

This is what is written here in Srimad Bhagavatam, "Na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyum..."

We do Durga puja, we do Kali puja, we worship many demigods, but can they rescue you from this situation? No, they cannot. It is written here in Bhagavatam. That is why they should not take puja from others. Krishna Himself told that. Why should the demigods take puja from you? They can give you some material benefit, but what is it for?

সেই সে পরম বন্ধু, সেই পিতামাতা ।
শ্রীকৃষ্ণচরণে যেই প্রেমভক্তিদাতা ॥
সকল জন্মে পিতামাতা সবে পায় ।
কৃষ্ণ গুরু নাহি মিলে, ভজহ হিয়ায় ॥

sei se parama bandhu, sei pita-mata
sri-krsna-charane yei prema-bhakti-data
sakala janme pita-mata sabe paya
krsna guru nahi mile, bhajaha hiyaya

(Sri Chaitanya-mangala, Madhya-khanda)

"Your real father is the one who can give you a proper conception in this world."

Narottam Das Thakur was that kind of Guru—he practised. We were singing this morning, "My mind is very disturbed, my mind is very naughty and blind." Who sings this? Who wrote this song? Narottam Das Thakur...

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