Vaishnav: Living Scripture And More

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, India
24 July 2013

Question: It is said that the devotees, Vaishnavs, are the living scriptures. Can you explain this?

Yes, because the sadhu always talks about Krishna consciousness—when you go to him, he will give some advice about some Krishna consciousness. You can read the books, but when you come to a real sadhu, he will always speak about scriptures, give advice, tell how to get to your final destination, how to practise Krishna consciousness, he will also tell about Mahaprabhu's conception (be humble, tolerant, give honour to others; "na dhanam, na janam, na sundarim..." ["I do not want wealth, knowledge or beautiful companions..."], etc.). Whatever you will get in books you will get from a sadhu's association.

Gurudev is like that. When I sat in front of Gurudev, he may not be telling something from the scriptures or speaking directly about Krishna consciousness, but he would give some advice in another other way and we think that such advice is the living scripture. For example, once a devotee was installing a light bulb—he was trying and trying to fit it, but Gurudev wanted light immediately, so he said, "How many Americans are necessary to fit one light bulb?" And I learned something from that—Gurudev wants something quickly but you cannot make him happy, you are giving it later. This is not service mood. Not everybody's mood is like this: not everybody can understand what Gurudev wants and supply that immediately. So, Gurudev did not tell something from the scriptures all the time, sometimes he would tell something in another way, giving some examples. Gurudev taught us by many examples.

That is why I would sit with him. I would just sit there with him and not say anything, and through that I would get some energy, get some association. I felt it coming him—when I was sitting in front of Gurudev, I felt I was getting energy. That is why I did not waste my time—when Gurudev was here and I had no service, I would go to Gurudev at once. I would come to Gurudev and just sit in front of him without saying anything. Sometimes he would say one-two words, somebody would come, do something, etc. and I would learn from that. This is how I got inspiration from Gurudev in many ways.

It is necessary to understand this. When you are Gurudev's association, some attraction comes, some jyoti (light) comes. "Lava-matra sadhu-sanga": "lava" means one muhurta (moment). Some jyoti (light) can come at any moment and within a moment you can be glorious. This is how you can be glorious properly. That is why I always sat with Gurudev. I always thought about what Gurudev wants, what Gurudev likes...

Sadhu-sanga is necessary, but sadhu-sanga does not mean only staying with the sadhu, sleeping with the sadhu, sleeping with the sadhu in the same bed, etc.: sometimes you can be disturbing instead...

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