Odds and Ends (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, 1 April 2015

Several excerpts that were not included in the posts:

2 January 2015

• • •

3 February 2013

Once I was driving through Vrindavan and our car stopped in a traffic jam. Everyone in the car was busy, but I heard a lecture—there was a Bhagavatam glass going on in one of the temples. Everyone was sitting on the ground in a big pandal, and the man giving the class said, "I am the chaukidar (চৌকিদার, the security) of this Bhagavatam, and you are all the landlords because you are using the 'land'." Then he asked the audience, one by one, "Who is your guru?"

Somebody said, "My wife is my guru."

"Yes! Of course, because you are always following what your wife says. It is correct."

Somebody else said,

"My guru is television."

"Yes, it is correct! Because you are always watching television."

Then he explained, "I am a Guru for one hour only—you will listen to my lecture for an hour, after that you will go home and forget everything. You will put on the TV, take the remote and start flipping through the channels. Then, your wife will squeeze your ear and tell you what to do. So, yes, the television is your guru, the wife is your guru."

I was very happy to hear this—very nice. He was telling how much maya there is...

• • •

5 March

Srila B.P. Janardan Maharaj: I wanted to thank Srila Acharya Maharaj for something. I heard some people say, "Why is there always the microphone at 3 o'clock in the morning? They say, 'Hari bol! Hari bol!' At 3 o'clock in the morning..." But I will say that if that microphone had not sounded at 3 o'clock in the morning, I would not have made it to the Parikrama every day. I really needed it...

Not only you, Maharaj. We invite and forcefully bring people here for the Parikrama, we feed them, and if they do not go to the Parikrama, only sleep and maybe give some donation, what for do they come here then? [What benefit do they get?]

• • •

15 March 2015

All that glitters is not gold. Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave one example. There was a car accident and some glass broke and fell on the ground. The sun light fell on the glass and somebody got excited, "Oh, I have found pearls!" and cut their hand... This example means that you may see many wearing saffron colour and, thinking everybody is equal, you go to somebody, but you may lose something in this way—some 'accident', or problem can come...

• • •

15 March 2015

** asked me yesterday, "Maharaj, I am thinking if I give you one lakh rupees every month, you will be happier..."

I told him, "How do you think that? Even if you give me 10 lakhs, 100 lakhs, or even one crore, I will not be happy. Now you are a brahmachari, and if you take sannyas later and preach, that will be happiness for me."

He sees we go for rice collection and collect a little at each place and thinks we collect for money and food. He does not understand how much benefit we give to others...

• • •

15 March 2015

Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that you can chastise somebody at any other time but not to chastise, not to use bad language when taking prasadam. At the time of prasadam you must be a mother, but our fortune is very bad because we are not getting a good mother. "We are feeding you!" this type of ego comes to those who are serving prasadam. It is very bad, very unfortunate. It is a seva aparadh, and the service will go away from them. We do not have a real mother in the kitchen—all are stepmothers. That is the problem...

• • •

Date Unknown

Sometimes we go to some house and people ask, "Oh, Maharaj, can you sing this one song and explain its meaning?" Half an hour is gone. Or sometimes we go on a parikrama house to house and somebody asks us, "Oh, please sing a song."

"Anya-abhilasa chhadi...—give up all your selfish desires"...

In 1989, when Gurudev just took charge, the temple condition was not so good—there were not so many devotees and not so much donation. So, once Gurudev went to a house in Kolkata. That day he had a fever, 102-103 F'. The lady at the house promised to give one lakh rupees (at that time one lakh had a good value), but she requested Gurudev to sing one song, and Gurudev understood that if he refused she might not give the donation. Gurudev thought, "Oh, so much fever, I cannot even talk, I am shivering so much, but they are asking me to sing a song... but what can I do? I have to sing..."

Sometimes also when we go house to house for preaching, the programme goes on the whole day, and then somebody says, "Maharaj, can you go to that house?" I go there, and they tell me, "Oh, please sing one song." I am so tired, but they do not understand it, and we have to make them happy. They use their guru—this is their worship.

• • •

23 January 2011

I sing every day for your practice, to engage you in kirtan. Every day I sing the same songs, morning and evening—what for? I can sing all songs, but I do not do that because you must practise. You too must sing the same songs every morning and evening at the place or temple where you live. That is necessary.

• • •

1 December 2014

If you go to Venezuela you will understand what arepa is—they are addicted to arepa there. Krishna's devotees are always addicted to Krishna's service, not to arepa...

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (4 Mb)