Embarking on New Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
2 July 2013, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 6

Question: At your Vyasa Puja in 2011 we heard beautiful words from you saying that you had not come to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math for Krishna, Radharani, or even Mahaprabhu, that you had come for something else. Could you explain that to us?

Yes...

Gurudev says that many people come who are arto, jijnasur, artharthi, jnani (the afflicted, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of happiness, and the self-realized; Bg, 7.16). Somebody is very poor, somebody comes to ask for money, somebody comes to earn money or knowledge. There are devotees who come for these things, but we do not come for that—we do not know who is Mahaprabhu, we do not know who is Krishna, who is Radharani. We do not know anything about that, we do not see it. I never tell anyone, "OK, you can join Chaitanya Saraswat Math, I can give you Krishna! I can show you an elephant with five legs ([a Bengali saying] hatir panch pa dekha)! I can show you so many things! I can show you some magic, I can show you tantra magic! I can show you Krishna now!" Chaitanya Saraswat Math does not tell things like that. Chaitanya Saraswat Math only tells simple things—we have come to our Guru through his love and affection. Srila Sridhar Maharaj also writes this about his Guru:

কৃপয়া হরিকীর্ত্তনমূর্ত্তিধরং
ধরণীভরহারক-গৌরজনম্ ।
জনকাধিকবৎসলস্নিগ্ধপদং
প্রণমামি সদা প্রভুপাদপদম্

krpaya hari-kirtana-murti-dharam
dharani-bhara-haraka-gaura-janam
janakadhika-vatsala-snigdha-padam
pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

"He is the embodiment of Hari-kirtan. He mercifully relieves Mother Earth of the burden upon her. He is an associate of Sri Gaura, and more kind and affectionate than a father. Eternally I offer my obeisance to my master's feet."

"Janakadhika-vatsala"—Srila Sridhar Maharaj writes that his Guru is more affectionate than a father. We have come to our Gurudev, and what we have got from him is more than even our own father. He can chastise and say many things, but he does it out of love and affection. If we can please him through service to him, that is our happiness.

If you have no other material desires in your heart, you will feel happiness through service. You can see it yourself by serving him and continuing like that day by day.

When I joined the temple and met Gurudev for the first time (after that I listened to many of his lectures and took initiation), I thought, "My eighty-four lakhs (8,400,000) of births are already finished." I understood it clearly. "Darsane pavitra kara ei tomara guna: you purify souls simply by seeing them, such is your power." When I saw my Guru for the first time, this feeling came to me, "Now my eighty-four lakhs of lives have finished, I will not go back to that wheel of samsara (samsara-chakra) again. Now I must practise (that is, I must do his service, I must fulfil his desire)." This is what I thought before initiation, when I saw him for the first time. So, yes, I did not come for Krishna, I did not come for Radharani.

And, as everybody else, I can see some milestones and understand how far it is to my destination. Everybody can come and join and when they practise properly, they too can see the milestones and understand what distance it is to their destination...

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