Where There Is a Will...

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
21 February 2017, Tarakeswar
Bengali evening class, part 4

If you try, you can do it. If you say, "I will chant the Holy Name," you will be able to do it, but if you do not have any desire to do it and say, "I will not chant the Holy Name," then no one can force you. Is it not so? There is one story about it.

One brahman shopkeeper had two sons, their names were Lalu and Kanu. Both children were very naughty—they did not study at all but mixed with some bad boys and took ganja. The shopkeeper was already old and wanted his children to take over the shop, that is why he tried hiring private teachers for his sons.

He hired one teacher after another, but none of them could teach his children anything. In the end, he decided to give an advertisement in a newspaper saying he needed a teacher for his two children to make them qualified to run his shop. One brahman came to him and said, "I can do it. It will cost you 10,000 rupees and you must provide my food." The shopkeeper agreed.

The children were so naughty that the teacher had to stay with them all the time. Sometimes they would say, "Oh, we are going to the bathroom," and in the meantime they would go to take ganja.

One evening, after they had supper, the teacher told them to go to bed, "Your father said I must sleep with you, so sleep now. I am here, watching." The younger brother, who was the naughtier of the two, said to his brother, "Let's pretend we are sleeping!" So, they closed their eyes and started snoring. Seeing that they were both asleep, the teacher went to bed too. A little later, the younger brother heard the teacher snoring and woke his brother up. They went out of the house, took ganja with their friends and came back. When the teacher woke up, he could feel the smell of ganja in the room. He woke the boys up and asked them,

"Hey! Are you asleep? Why is there smell of ganja here? Have you taken it again?"

"Teacher, what are you talking about? You told us to sleep, and you have fallen asleep yourself. We did not go anywhere!"

"Let me see your hands!"

The teacher checked their hands—they smelled of ganja.

"You are so naughty! How come your hands smell of ganja then?"

"You know, I think somebody must have put ganja on our hands while we were asleep!"

The teacher did not believe them. He ordered them to get up and come out with him. As they were walking, they saw a man with some cows. The teacher said, "Hey, Lalu, how many legs does this cow here have?" The boy started counting slowly, "One, two, three..." As soon as Lali counted to three, Kanu (the younger brother) said, "Brother, do not say it, do not say it! The teacher is trying to teach you!"

If somebody does not want to serve or chant the Holy Name, then nobody can force them to do it. On the other hand, if somebody really wants to serve the Lord, they can do it; if somebody wants to learn something, it is not necessary to force them—if somebody feels the necessity to do service, it is not necessary to force them to do service.

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