"I am Gora's!"

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

Today is a very good auspicious day. Every year we make this festival, Sri Sri Chandan-yatra maha-mahotsav. It takes place in several places, and mainly this festival takes place in Puri. Mahaprabhu also went to this festival in Narendra Sarovar (Puri), where they put sandalwood on Jagannathdev's body and then go on a boat ride. This is Chandan-yatra maha-mahotsav.

Gurudev also wanted to make this festival in Nabadwip. When he was making the plan for the temple in Govinda Kunda, he said that this temple would be Mahaprabhu's Divine Water Play Temple. So, at Chandan-yatra time, starting from today, for twenty-one days Mahaprabhu will go on a daily boat ride in Govinda Kunda. We do a parikrama around Govinda Kunda in the boat, offer the bhog, do some kirtan, and then take prasadam. In this way, by the order of Gurudev, by the mercy of Gurudev, we make this festival every year.

You can read in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat how Mahaprabhu would also go to the Ganges and play with the devotees in the water. So, we are remembering His Pastimes.

অধ্যাপিহ সেই লীলা করে গোরা-রায় ।
কোন কোন ভাগ্যবানে দেখিবারে পায় ॥

adyapiha sei lila kare gora raya
kona kona bhagyavane dekhibare paya

Gora Ray continues performing His Pastimes, and those who are fortunate can see it.

"Mahaprabhu's Pastimes are still going on, but only those who have the eyes can see it."

We must remember Mahaprabhu's Pastimes for our preaching movement. As Jagadananda Pandit said,

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে না চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta by Srila Jagadananda Pandit, 8.6

If you only say, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's! I am Gauranga Mahaprabhu's devotee! I am Gauranga Mahaprabhu's devotee!" and you do not follow His prescription, you do not follow His order, His rules and regulations—do not follow anything—how can you be Gora's devotee? If you say, "I am a disciple of Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj" but do not follow his order, do not follow his request, how can you say that you are a disciple of Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj?

If you want to preach something, you must first show to others that you are practising it.

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।
গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!

Sri Sri Prema-vivarta by Srila Jagadananda Pandit, 8.7

You put tilak on and show to the whole world that you are a great Vaishnav, but in the meantime you are hidingly doing some nonsense work, you are hidingly going to prakriti-sambhasan, mix with women. Gora can catch you, thief! You cannot hide anything from Gora, you cannot hide anything from Gauranga Mahaprabhu, you cannot hide anything from Gurudev!

You must understand that if you want to make others happy, you must follow the proper conception. We have some main conception, and we cannot mix with so many people. It is not our own conception—it is Mahaprabhu's conception, it is the conception of great Vaishnavs.

You see that Raghunath Das Goswami did not accept buttermilk in the leaves that came from the pond of Chandravali's area—he did not even touch it, he threw it away. Then you must understand that we cannot mix with those who do not follow Gurudev, who have no faith in Gurudev. Once, many years ago, when I said something to Gurudev, he asked me, "Who do you want to stay with—with Chandravali or with Radharani?" Srila Raghunath Das Goswami did not accept buttermilk in the leaves that were brought by a babaji, Vraja-basi, from Chandravali Kunja. He threw it away. So, if somebody does not follow our main conception, does not follow Srila Sridhar Maharaj's conception, does not follow Gurudev's conception, Gurudev's order, we cannot mix with them, we cannot accept the religion that they themselves have invented.

You must understand this clearly and practise properly in this way, then you can get reality, you can get real happiness!

You must take association of pure devotees. There are so many big speakers in this world, and you think that if somebody is a big speaker, or a big singer, they are a big guru. It is not so. Understand it clearly and practise properly, then you will get real benefit.

Jay Srila Gurudev!

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