(15/16) Disciple's Folly

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sriman Nityananda Prabhu's appearance day
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class
17 February 2019, part 15

Telling such stories, we can pass the time without even knowing it by the time all the vegetables get cooked. I will tell you one more story, the last one. Many of you may have heard it before – I told it in Nabadwip, but I have not told it for a long time now. I will tell you about the difference between guru-bhogi, guru-tyagi and guru-sevi and about the difference between chastity for your guru and following your own desires. You can see from this story what happens when you live following your own ideas and desires.

You may have also heard about Srila Sanatan Goswami Prabhu and his servant Ishan (their story is described in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita): because Ishan had taken a gold coin (because he was attached to money), he could not come with Srila Sanatan Goswami Prabhu and have the darshan of Mahaprabhu – Srila Sanatan Goswami Prabhu sent him back. This is the evidence that if you have even some smallest attachment, you cannot come to the Lord...

So, there was this one guru and his disciple who decided to go to Vrindavan. On the way, the disciple suddenly cried, 'How long more are we going to walk? I am very hungry!'

'Oh, you are hungry?' the guru replied. 'All right, here is one rupee. Go to the market and bring some chickpea (chana, চানা).'

The disciple went to the market, but you can see how instead of thinking about his guru's order, he thought about his own desires. The guru had told him to get some chickpea, so he should have gone to the market, bought a kilo of chickpea and come back. Instead, he started looking around.

'How much is a kilo of apples?' he asked a seller.

'One rupee.'

'And how much is a kilo of grapes?'

'One rupee.'

'Oh, and how much is a kilo of these sweets?' the disciple asked, getting excited.

'One rupee.'

Then, he saw paneer (chhana, ছানা) in the sweets' shop.

'And how much is a kilo of this paneer?'

'One rupee.'

The disciple thought, 'One kilo of paneer for one rupee?! I would rather buy paneer then! What a nice place! Everything is one rupee here.'

(In other words, serving God, serving the society, serving the humankind – everything is the same. People say, 'Oh, we must serve poor Narayan.' What is this? A poor man can never be Narayan, neither can Narayan ever be poor. Srila Prabhupad also said this. Those who talk about 'serving poor Narayan' get it wrong. What nonsense they say! How can man ever become God?)

So, the disciple bought a kilo of paneer. When he came to his guru, gurudev asked him, 'Have you got chickpea?'

'No, gurudev. This is such a beautiful town here. Everything is the same here! Even thieves and noblemen are treated the same. Even Laksmi and a pauper are on an equal footing with each other. I like this place very much.'

(If we said that the chief minister, the SP [Superintendent of Police] and the DM [District Magistrate] were one and the same, we would get a phone call from the government...)

'Disaster! What have you done?' the guru asked. 'What did you buy?'

'I have got some paneer (chhana).'

'Oh, well and good. You can have it then,' the guru replied, looking suddenly very serious.

The disciple ate the whole kilogram of paneer.

'Have you finished?' the guru asked him after a while.

'Yes, I have...'

'Let us go then.'

'Gurudev, I feel very sleepy – I cannot walk anymore. I want to stay here for a few days.'

'Disaster! You must not stay here! Everything is the same here, do not even think of staying here. Come, come! Let us leave this place!'

'No, I will not go... I will stay here.'

'All right. You do not want to go, then stay, but I can see that something bad awaits you in the future. If you get into trouble, then you will remember me.'

The guru left, and the disciple stayed in that place. Soon after that, there was a mass robbery in the town – all houses had been robbed, one by one. One day, some big man's house was robbed, and the man went to the leader of the town to complain, 'Sir, we live in your village and pay taxes to you. We are your subjects, but we get robbed and your people are not doing anything.'

'How was your house burgled? You have a very good house...'

'Yes, I have a solid house, but the thief broke into it through the foundation – the thief dug a tunnel and got inside!'

'I heard some noise and woke up at night, then I saw him.'

'What did he look like?'

'He was fat.'

The leader sent his men to find all fat people in the town. The men looked all over the town and then saw a tilak-covered sadhu sitting under a tree. It was that disciple. He sat under the tree and cried, 'Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!' People thought that he was a great saint, so they gave him money. He would take the money and buy paneer with it. That is how he eventually got very fat. The leader's men saw him and immediately thought, 'Here is the fat man!' They caught him and brought to the leader. The leader showed the sadhu to the big man who had been robbed, and the man confirmed, 'Yes, the thief looked just like him.' The leader said, 'Good. He will be punished then. The sentence is impalement.'

In those days, there were no microphones, so some men were sent out to announce that the thief had been caught and would be impaled the next day. Everybody got the news and assembled the next day to see the thief. You know, like in childhood, we did not understand that a thief was just a man (we thought that a thief was some special person), so all the common people wanted to see what that thief looked like.

In the meantime, the disciple was remembering his gurudev, 'O gurudev! You told me that I would get into trouble! You said that I should not stay in this place where everything is the same, but I did not listen to you. I did not steal anything, but they want to execute me as a thief. It is the same to them whether I am a good person or a thief... O gurudev, please save me!' Suddenly, his guru appeared in front of him to save him.

'So, they are going to impale you tomorrow at ten?' the guru asked.

'Yes...'

'When they take you to the pole, I will come with you to the pole and will ask to be impaled, too.'

'No, no, gurudev! Why must you come with me? Why must you die because of me?! I have committed an offence, so I will take the responsibility for it.'

'Listen to me, child. Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chitete kariya aikya – make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart. I am telling you what to do – if you have any good fortune left, listen to what I tell you. I will go with you, and you will see what happens. Do not worry about anything.'

The next day came, and at ten o'clock, the disciple was taken to the pole. The pole had been polished and cleaned nicely for the ceremony. The leader of the town walked first, bringing the thief along with him to the pole. And the disciple's gurudev scurried behind them. Suddenly, the guru cried, 'Let me go there! Let me go instead!'

'Who is this man?' the leader asked. 'Who are you? Why do you want to be impaled? Have you stolen anything, too?'

'I have not stolen anything, but I am an astrologer. Have you heard about Janak Raja? I am his astrologer. I know everything.'

'What exactly do you know?'

'This pole was put up at the meeting of two most auspicious times – whoever is impaled on it will go to Vaikuntha.'

'Really? To Vaikuntha? My father is old and he is always saying, "When will I come to Lord Govinda? When will I go to Vaikuntha?" I have put up this pole with my money and had it cleaned and polished, and all for that man to go to Vaikuntha? No way!' Then, the leader stopped the execution of the thief and rushed to get impaled himself!

At this point, the guru told his disciple, 'Child, let us go now. Now it is time to run.' They ran away, and the leader's father was impaled instead! This is what happens when you think that everything is one and the same.

— : • : —

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Size: 53 Mb
Length: 110 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Nityananda Consciousness
2) Seek Real Help
3) External and Internal Contamination
4) Sheltered and Shielded
5) Make Effort
6) Collecting vs. Begging
7) Pure Association, Residence and Practice
8) Proper Utility
9) Our Sole Concern
10) Lord's Arrangement
11) When? And How?
12) Stay on Board
13) Service, Desire and Mercy
14) Mindless Service
15) Disciple's Folly
16) Love for Service