Courtesy and Affection

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, India
12 March 2016

There is some culture, or etiquette, that we follow here in India. What do we do? When some householder devotee arranges a programme in their area and invites me and a few hundred devotees for Vaishnav seva, we glorify them at the programme because those who have arranged the Vaishnav seva festival programme are very fortunate and their family members are also fortunate. That is the etiquette, the main things, and it is necessary to do that. When we come for some program, I will give jay to the host—it can be Gurudev's disciple or even my disciple, what is the problem? It is the culture, it is necessary to do that. "I am very happy with those who invited me, who arranged this programme," "I am getting so much honour, and I owe that to you," etc.—if you give this kind of glorification, what is the problem?

Every day we sing, "সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি দেহ' নাথ যথাযথ, sakale sammana karite sakati, deha natha yatha yatha." What is the meaning of it? "O Gurudev, please give me some power, give me some energy so that I can give some honour to everybody." I am also praying to my Guru, "Gurudev, please give me some power, some sakti so that I can tolerate more and more." That is the main, basic things.

Question: Maharaj, to tolerate is one thing, but how at the same time to give affection?

Those who have a great fortune can understand this. I have told many times in my lectures—try to understand that Gurudev did not give me this position here all at once. Gurudev did not immediately make me the temple manager, he did not immediately make me the secretary. He had tested me so much before that.

Gurudev always said, "I can chastise and use bad language only with one person." He would tell me, "Get out of here! GET OUT!"—it did not happen one time only, he said it to me many times—I thought Gurudev was very upset, angry with me, that I had made some mistake and I would leave, but half an hour, ten-fifteen minutes later I would come again, "Gurudev, I need some money to pay the workers." That is why Gurudev said, "You see this boy? I tell him to get out, but he comes again." This is how it comes—by tolerating, tolerating everything. It is actually mercy to me—when Gurudev told me to get out, it was Gurudev's mercy (kripa) to me.

Now I can understand easily how much Gurudev supported me, how he was always behind me. I passed every kind of exam, that is why I can easily understand this.

I am not the kind of person who will run away. If I die, I will die here—from a disease, by a bullet, anything, it is not a problem because I have given everything to my Guru. I do not want to do nirjan bhajan: leave everything, go alone to Vrindavan or Haridwar and do some tapasya (penance, austerity)—this is not my duty, Gurudev did not give these kinds of things to me. I am the kind of person who will go forward no matter what bad things are ahead. Like an army captain, I will go in the first row and fight. This is the kind of man I am. "Oh, I do not like this, I will withdraw, I will run away from here"—I am not that.

After Gurudev's final declaration, he sent me to Australia, and when I came back, he held my hand and asked me, "So many problems will come, will you run away?" I said, "No." I will fight as long as there is even one drop of blood in my body. How can I leave? That is why I must have patience...

You must practise properly, then you will get the result.

Prabhu, Krishna, the Lord Himself, gave you this tongue, gave you this mouth not only to eat and to gossip. The Lord has at last given us a tongue, and by the mercy of the Lord, by the mercy of Gurudev we have got this mantra, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. With this mouth you say, "You are a disciple of another sannyasi, another Maharaj, I do not like you," but this is not the courtesy, this is not our religion.

You heard what happened with Gunarnava Misra—he did not give respect to Ramdas Minaketan, because Ramdas Minaketan was a follower, and also a servitor, of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu and Gunarnava Misra did not like Nityananda Prabhu—he followed only Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. What happened to him after that? Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami's brother arranged that festival, but we do not even know his name because Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami thought, "I am shy to write my brother's name in my book."

This body has nine doors. Some bad white things come from the two eyes, some bad things come from the two ears, some bad things come from where we pass stool, some bad things come from where we pass urine, and some spit, cough and other bad things come from the mouth. By the mercy of Gurudev we have got this mouth—we have got it for chanting the Holy Name. If instead of that you criticise others with this mouth, what is then the difference between your mouth and the place where you pass stool from?

I am telling hard words...

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