(7) Vultures' Curse

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's
appearance day, Hooghly district
24 February 2019, morning, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Remember Srila Prabhupad and what he taught in this world. Always live following his teachings. He said,

• ‘If you serve jiva souls, it will bring benefit to your soul.’

• ‘Satisfying the whims of your mind and pretending to practise Krishna consciousness is not what Krishna consciousness is about.’

Your mind wants something, and you do it. No! Your mind is naughty, it always wants to take you in different directions – if you follow your mind and do whatever comes to your mind, it will not get you anywhere. You must do what your guru-varga and the scriptures say.

When we went out on a parikrama today, and I saw that some people came out of their houses and threw water on the ground. Why do they do this? What if this water falls on my feet and I slip? What if I fall and break my leg? Is this how you show your devotion? By throwing water on the street? Why do they do this? Where, in which scripture does it say to do this? If you can show me, I will accept it and say that you are right. But they will come and say, 'Oh, my mother-in-law, my grandmother-in-law, my own mother and grandmother did it, so I do it, too.' This is all a misconception! Sometimes they also throw flowers, but what if those flowers hit us in the eye? They can throw flowers at the feet, it is all right, but if they throw water at our feet, it can make the road slippery and we can fall down. Of course, they are thinking about the water that has washed a sadhu's feet! You throw some water, then Vaishnavs walk on it, and you get water from their feet: you can put it on your heads or drink it and all your sins will go away! Of course.

I do not consider myself a Vaishnav. I do not even allow anybody to touch my feet.

'আমি ত' বৈষ্ণব', এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।

‘ami ta vaisnava’, e buddhi haile,
amani na ha’ba ami

‘If I think, “I am a Vaishnav,” then I will never stop desiring honour.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

I can touch your feet, you must not touch my feet. I understand why people do this, I understand everything. Even if you do not say it, I can still understand what is on your minds. So, I know why they throw water on the streets when we walk past.

We must always think about these things.

In the olden days, sahajiyas always did such things. They would come and say, 'I am gurudev, so you must wash my feet!' I saw that in my childhood. When our guru came to our house, my mother would wash his feet with her hair. And what kind of guru was he? We had five big ponds near the house, so you can understand that there was a lot fish in the ponds: nice fat rui and katla [popular types of fish]. I have seen a katla that was three and a half haat long (5'3", or 1.6 m)! So, our guru would look at the ponds and tell us, 'Go and catch me a nice big katla!' We had to cook rui or katla with rice for him, and he would not eat anything else except this. He did not chant the Holy Name, he did not have beads, he did not wear any neckbeads, but he would come and expect us to feed him. He did not even offer bhoga. I told him once, 'Oh, but a guru comes to speak about the Lord, and when you come, you always talk nonsense, you always speak about all the material things...' He brushed me off, 'You will not understand these things!' And he told my mother, 'Looks like your boy has become too big for his boots!' I was in grade eight at that time. I was reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita every day at that time. When I was in grade seven or eight, I started to read Gita. Even when I tried to ask him anything about Gita, he did not know anything, but he would tell my mother that I was growing to be a bad boy. Such people are not gurus! If you take shelter in such gurus, you will never get any spiritual benefit. You must leave such gurus. They are enjoyers living for self-gratification – you will never get any benefit through them!

কটি জন্ম যদি করে শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন ।
তবু না পায় ব্রজের নন্দের-নন্দন ॥

koti janma yadi kare sravana-kirtana
tabu na paya vrajendranandana

‘Even if you practise listening and chanting for millions of lives, you will not get Krishna, the Son of King of Vraja.’

(Based on Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.16)

You are scared, 'Oh, if I leave this guru, he will curse me!' There is a saying, 'Sakuner abhisape goru more na (শকুনের অভিশাপে গরু মরে না). If a vulture utters a curse, the cow will not die from it.' Vultures want all cows to die, but you can see that now you will not even find any vultures anywhere. They cursed and cursed, and as the result they themselves have become virtually extinct.

So, never take shelter in such gurus.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }