(12/12) Seeking Happiness and Peace

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
23 February 2019, noon, part 12
Translated from Bengali

...Then, the guru's son came home.

'Mother, let me eat now. I am hungry,' he said.

'There is no food today! There is a problem at home, so I have not cooked anything,' the mother replied.

'What problem?'

'Do you not know what the king said to your father?'

'What did he say?'

'He said that if he could not give him happiness within seven days, he would cut off his head! Your father will die!'

'Oh, the king wants happiness? I can give it to him!'

'How will you do it? You are just a crazy boy! You only roam the streets the whole day, you do not do anything. You do not even know anything about family life.'

'No, it is not like that. There is some muri (puffed rice) at home, give that to me. I will eat and go to the king.'

The mother tried to stop him, 'Do not go there! Do not go there!' but he would not listen to her. He went to the king's house. At the house, he faced the guards.

'Where do you think you are going?' the guard asked the boy.

'Oh, do you not recognise me?'

'Who are you to recognise you?'

'I came here in childhood. I am the son of the king's guru. Tell the king that I want to see him.'

When the guard informed the king about the boy's arrival, the king remembered him, 'Yes, I can remember his face. He used to come here when he was a small boy. He must have grown up now. Bring him in. Let me see what he wants.'

The king treated the boy with respect – he gave him a place to sit, offered him some food, etc.

'So, tell me, why have you come, guru-putra (guru's son)?'

'I have come for you.'

'For me? But I do not need anything from you.'

'I will give you happiness. My father gave you initiation years ago, but he has not been able to give you happiness. I can give peace and happiness to you.'

'Oh, really? Can you really give me peace?' the king became excited. 'What do you need for it? Make a list!'

'I do not need any list. I only need two things. I need a long piece of rope and my father (your gurudev).'

'No problem! We have rope at home, and I will send my men to bring your father here.'

The king sent two strong servants to bring the guru. They came to the guru's house and said, 'The king wants to see you right away.'

Seeing the servants looking like police officers, the guru became afraid, 'What? But the seven days have not passed yet!'

'We do not know anything about that. Your son came to the house, spoke to the king, and the king sent for you.'

'What did that boy say to the king?!...'

'You do not need to worry about it now. You must come with us now.'

Shivering and crying, the guru went with them to the king. 'Have you called for me, Rajamasay? But the seven days have not passed yet.'

'What are you talking about? This is not why I have called you. Your son wanted you to come here.'

'He is crazy! What did he call me for?'

Then, the king asked the boy, 'So, your father has come, the rope is also ready. What do we do now?'

'Come with me,' the boy replied and started walking towards the cremation place. When the king realised where the boy was taking them, he felt uneasy. Then, he saw a signboard that said, 'Rest in Peace' and began to panic, 'Is he going to give me peace by killing me?! Is he going to burn me alive?!' The guru also felt uneasy, so he tried asking his son, 'What is this? Where are you taking us? Why are we going to the cremation place? We are old people...' The boy replied, 'Why are you afraid? There are people here, there is nothing for you to be afraid of.' Then, they came to two palm trees growing one next to the other. The boy took the rope and tied his father tight to one tree and the king to the other tree.

'Father,' the boy said to his father (the guru) then, 'untie the king now! Free him.'

'Are you crazy? You have tied me up, how can I free the king? I am tied myself, how can I free another person?'

'Rajamasay, have you heard what my father has said? He is tied himself, how can he save another person? My father must first get free. He has been taking money from you to run his family, living in material illusory bondage. He always says that I am crazy, but I am not. I have been going to a real sadhu and listening about the Lord from him. He has taught me the right things. He has come out of material bondage, so he can bring others to the right path as well. So, tell my father that he must go to a real devotee and learn about the Lord – he must first take initiation from him and become a disciple himself; after that, he can become a guru.'

One cannot become a guru without first becoming a disciple; but many do not understand it. There are such gurus roaming this world – there is no point in taking initiation from them; rather, it is said in the scriptures that such gurus must be given up.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Say together with me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

There will be bhoga arati now. I am also inviting you all to Nabadwip. Come for the parikrama. Get in touch with the devotees staying in your area; you can find out all information and join them when they come. The parikrama will be during four days starting from the ekadasi. Nabadwip means 'nine islands' (nava dvipa) – it is not only the Nabadwip Town, as some people think. You probably do not even know the names of these islands. Mayapur is situated on the island Antardwip. Next to it, there is Rudradwip and Simantadwip. Nabadwip Town is Koladwip. There are nine kinds of devotion (sravan, kirtan, etc.), and each of the kinds resides on a corresponding island of Nabadwip. Svarupganj is Madhyadwip. Our new temple, in Nrisingha Palli, from where we will do our parikrama, is in Godrumdwip (the place where kirtan is chanted). The other three islands are in the Bardhaman side. Chapahatti (Champahatti) is Ritudwip, where Jayadev stayed with his spouse Padmavati and composed Gita Govinda and where there are also Radha Kunda and Shyama Kunda. There is also the place where King Samudra Sen fought with Pandavas (it is part of Koladwip). From there, we will go to Jahnudwip, the place of Jahnu Muni, where Ganga Devi came out of his thigh. And from there, we will finally go to Modadrumdwip (Mamgachhi, the holy house of Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur). This is the final stop of the parikrama. So, we will visit these nine islands during the four days with the help of chanting kirtan. If anybody is old and cannot walk, they can hire a rickshaw, toto, etc. It is not a problem. We will start out in the morning and come back in the evening. Prasad will be distributed at the temple in the morning, at one of the parikrama places at noon, and again at the temple in the evening. There will be kirtans and lectures every evening, after that prasad and then it is resting time. Try to come on 16 March (1 Chaitra), the next day the parikrama will start in the morning. The parikrama will be four days, and after that it is Dol Purnima, or Gaura Purnima. That day is the appearance day of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, so we call it Gaura Purnima. Outside people call it 'dol purnima' because they play with colours on this day, etc. We do not do this. It is 'dol' (enjoyment) for Krishna and Radharani, not for us – we are devotees, servitors, and we have no right to enter such pastimes. We can only offer some coloured powder at the Lord's holy feet – we cannot throw it at other people's bodies. This is not for us. Devotees do not engage in that. The day after Gaura Purnima is Jagannath Misra's anandotsav. You can take prasad at noon on this day and leave in the evening. Our devotees will be going, so you can ask them everything.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Length: 63 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Eternal Servitude
2) Morning Tells the Day
3) Real Milk – Real Benefit
4) Sins and Animals
5) Remember Your Promises
6) Core of Krishna Consciousness
7) Relief from Miseries
8) Toxic Life
9) Keep Your Charge Up
10) Brahmans' Trade
11) Greed Is Sin, Sin Is Death
12) Seeking Happiness and Peace