Path to Bhakti-Rasa

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking online to the devotees in Russia
10 August 2013

Question: Gurudev, could you please tell us something about His Divine Grace Srila Govinda Maharaj?

There are many things... He is transcendental and actually I have no quality, no qualification to tell anything about my Guru...

The Guru is always merciful, he always tolerates me. I do not want to drink the bhakti-rasa, I do not want to do Hari-bhajan, but he forcefully keeps me at his lotus feet, at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna—that is his power. These are the main things about him. Only the Guru can do it, and our Gurudev is like that. He is very merciful, he is very soft-hearted, and despite everything he still keeps me, engages me in the service of the Lord... He teaches everyone, and me also, to be humble, tolerant and give honour to others, but we always have ego—we are like bees outside a bottle of honey: we cannot go inside because the bottle is closed, so we do not get the taste, but Gurudev forcefully gives me that kind of bhakti-rasa, that kind of mercy...

There are many stories about him, there are many lessons that we have received, he taught us so many things. Many obstacles will come in this Krishna consciousness life, in your practising life—for example, somebody will criticise you, somebody will tell you bad things, but Gurudev said if somebody criticises you, it is good for you! And I remember one story he told about this.

There were two devotee dogs who once started from Kolkata to Nabadwip. They decided to go on foot, and before leaving they asked somebody how many days it would take them to walk to Nabadwip. They were told that it would take them seven days. So, they started walking early in the morning.

By the time it was evening, they reached some place and thought, "Oh, we are very tired, we must take some rest." They found some place and just as they were about to lie down to sleep, the local dogs came barking at them, "Hey, why have you come here? Get out of here! It is my place!" They started walking again.

They walked on and on all evening, and when the night came, at about eleven o'clock, they thought, "Oh, it is near midnight now and all people must be sleeping, the dogs must be sleeping too. Nobody will disturb us now." They decided to stop and take rest at some village. Just as they were about to get comfortable, the local dogs again came barking at them, "Hey! Get out of here! Why have you come to our place?!" The two dogs thought, "No rest... Again the dogs are disturbing us. We have to continue walking to Nabadwip."

They walked the whole night and in the morning came to Nabadwip! They thought, "Oh, it was actually good for us. Because the dogs disturbed and barked at us and we did not rest, we made the seven days' journey in one day! We reached our goal quicker!"

So, those other "dogs," the Vaishnava aparadhi, criticise you, but because of that you go faster down the Krishna consciousness line.

Do you have any other questions?

Question: How can we remember Gurudev in our usual life, every day?

Through your service. By fulfilling Gurudev's desire. What is his desire? Protect his mission, preach about Chaitanya Saraswat Math, tell others about Gurudev when you preach. When you preach, you do not preach for yourself, you preach for your Guru and about your Guru, then you will remember him every day, it is not difficult. Like today, I always tell some stories that I heard from Gurudev, and every time I tell Gurudev's stories, I remember him. You can follow my example.

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