Devotional Take on Naughty Neighbours

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
29 July 2013

You like to eat certain things and you are cooking now in the office, that is alright, but no one should cook in the brahmachari building, it is a very bad habit. Brahmacharis should not cook. You can tell the kitchen men to make some separate prasadam, but if you cook yourself and eat in the room, some reaction will come—if everybody has their own kitchen, everybody has their own raincoat, it is a big problem.

I remember these words of Gurudev. Gurudev said, "In my lifetime you already are dividing into groups, it is not good. Everybody must come under one umbrella. I do not want many groups, I want everyone to come under one umbrella. It is good if everyone proceeds together, do not make separate groups. Somebody does not like the local leader, somebody does not like many other things, but it is not good for the mission—the mission cannot prosper in this way. Come under one umbrella." But some devotee replied, "Gurudev, how will they come under one umbrella if everyone has their own raincoat?"

[Addressing one of the devotees:] That room is good for you, it has been cleaned today, and you can stay there. There is a veranda, you cook there, it has an attached bathroom, and it is also beside Gurudev's samadhi mandir, you can take care of it... I do not want to stop your service, that is why I am giving you some facility. That room has a very high profile. At the time when there was no building there, Advaita Prabhu lived there. Gurudev said he was a high Vaishnav—he was very good, always strict, could never tolerate anything bad. It is also very cool...

—And it has very "nice" neighbours...

Oh, the neighbours... The neighbours are not a problem. Why you will go to their room? You can stay in your room, you do not have to go to their room.

Actually I do not understand, what is a room for? A room is only for bathroom, toilet, and sleeping. This is what I use it for. Now there are many people here, and I cannot read at the veranda because if I sit here, somebody will also sit here, they will not go to rest, that is why I go to my room; but it is difficult for me to read inside.

The neighbours are not problem. If the neighbours are not good, you can pray to Krishna, to the Lord. Also, if you have power to preach, then through your association the neighbours will become good. If you stay in that room, also the disturbance can reduce a little, you can sometimes chastise them, sometimes softly, sometimes harshly. You can say something like, "Gurudev's samadhi is here, Guru Maharaj's samadhi is here, it is not a place to joke!"

Otherwise pray. Everybody pray to Gurudev, everybody pray to Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar, "Please remover them!" It is said in Chaitanya-charitamrita that when all the devotees prayed, "Please, Jagannath, remove Ramachandra Puri from here!" Jagannath listened to the devotees' prayer. I pray for this every day, but I alone is not sufficient. Everybody should pray too, "Please, Guru Maharaj! Please, Gurudev! Please, Gandharva Govinda sundar! Please remove them!" Pray every morning. [Devotees giggle.] No, I am not joking. I am giving you the right advice. Pray, "Gurudev! How much you are tolerating! Gurudev! Please remove them!"

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