Brahmachari's Plight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to Venezuela & Colombia
Caracas Deity installation anniversary,
23 June 2013

Actually I feel hopeless about brahmacharis because I am always unhappy with their service...

Gurudev told it to me many times (in front of me and in front of all the brahmacharis), "All my daughters are very nice, but almost all my boys are giving me disturbance." I am not getting really good boys to serve the mission, that is why I think it is hopeless, but Gurudev said, "Fortune favours the brave"—if some brahmachari thinks, "I can do it. I can continue my brahmachari life!" I will be very happy.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told one story in this regard. One man wanted to keep a servant, but the servants did not stay—he brought a servant, the servant stayed for one or two days and ran away. He brought another servant, and again he stayed for one or two days and ran away. It repeated many times. Once, a friend came to visit him and the man complained to him, "Oh, my friend, I am suffering so much! My wife is sick and cannot do so much housework, that is why I am trying to keep a servant to help and run errands for the family, but they all leave. Can you help me?" His friend advised him, "Arrange good food—bring some good rice, pure milk, pure ghee, etc. Arrange that and you will see."

The man followed his advice and arranged good food and the servant did not leave. Sometimes the man would order him to do this work, this work and the servant would leave, but he would come back again. Now the servant himself did not want to go away. You can understand what the servant is staying for—he is staying for milk, rice and other nice food, not out of love and affection for the family.

Srila Prabhupad was saying, "What is love and affection?" Now if you give money, that is love and affection. A brahmachari does some service and thinks he is now the manager, but if you tell him, "Do this service," he thinks, "That Maharaj is not good, he always tells me to work, work, work." If you tell him not to work, only to eat and sleep, he is very happy and thinks I am such an affectionate Guru. "OK, sleep, eat, and enjoy. No problem."

Jagadananda Pandit said, and I am also of the same opinion:

গৃহী হউক ত্যাগী হউক ভক্তে ভেদ নাই ।
ভেদ কৈলে কুম্ভীপাক নরকেতে যাই ॥

grhi ha-uka tyagi ha-uka bhakte bheda nai
bheda kaile kumbhipaka narakete yai

"There is no difference between devotees—be they householders or renunciants. If someone makes distinctions between them, they go to the hell of boiling oil.

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 17.22

I am not differentiating, I know that householder devotees are actually more energetic and do more service for Gurudev and the mission.

You know that Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur had so many sannyasis and brahmacharis in the mission, but he gave charge and the position of the mission secretary to Kunja Babu, a householder, who worked as a postmaster at that time.

Our brahmacharis think, "I am a brahmachari and he is a householder, why should I serve under the guidance of a householder?" This is ego and it will lead them to a fall.

Jagadananda Pandit says there is no difference between householders and brahmacharis: through practice a householder can be more glorious than a brahmachari. If you differentiate and think, "He is a householder, and I am a brahmachari/sannyasi, why should I serve under the guidance of a grihastha?"—this is the path to hell. You can read it in Prema-vivarta (chapter 17).

You know that in my mission I depend on householder devotees more because others, almost everyone, think about their own interest, even sannyasis too. Gurudev said that you can discard kanak (money) and kamini (women) but pratistha is very dangerous for a devotee, even for a sannyasi—if I give sannyas to somebody, they want to be a guru...

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