(8/9) Price of Peace

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly district,
1 March 2019, part 8
Translated from Bengali

...When the guru's son came running to the king's palace, the guards stopped him.

'Hey, hold on! Where do you think you are going?' they asked.

'Why are you not letting me in? Do you not know who I am?!' the boy asked them.

'Who are you? We do not know you.'

'Go and tell your king that I am his guru's son. I used to come here when I was small. I have grown up since then, that is why you cannot recognise me.'

The guards informed the king, and when the king saw the boy, he looked at him carefully and then said, 'Oh, yes, now I can recognise you. Come in, come in. You have grown so big now!'

'Yes, I have.'

'What brings you here?'

'I have come to give you peace.'

'Peace? Oh, yes, right, I am looking for peace. I took initiation from your father five years ago, but I do not feel any change. Are you going to give me peace?'

'Yes, I will.'

'All right, what do you need? Give me a list of things to get.'

'I do not have any lists. I only need two pieces of rope and your gurudev (my father).'

'I have cows at home, so we have a lot of rope. No problem. As for your father, I will call him just now.' The king sent his men to fetch the guru.

The men came to the guru's house and told him, 'The king has sent us for you.'

'What?!' the guru panicked. 'But the seven days are not over yet!' Those who are crooked are always afraid of the police and authority. Bogus gurus are also like that. They get easily scared. I am saying it directly, I am not afraid of any sahajiyas, jata-gosanis or mayavadis – I come and tell it to their faces. So many babajis left their business after me.

So, the guru got scared, but the king's men said, 'We do not know anything. Your son came there, spoke to the king, and after that the king sent us to bring you to the palace.'

'That boy is mad, I do not know what he has told the king! Ah, what am I to do now? I have to go there...'

'Yes, you have to come. He also asked for some rope...'

'I am finished!'

The guru had no choice, so he went with the men. They came to the palace. The rope was arranged, too.

'There he is. So, guru-putra, tell me now what you will do.'

'Very nice!' the guru's son said. 'Where is the rope? Here? Great! Come with me now.'

They began to walk, and suddenly the king realised there were going to the crematorium. When you come to a crematorium, there is always a sign board that says 'Rest In Peace (RIP).' The king began to worry, 'Peace? But this peace is after death! I am alive! I want to be peaceful in this life, not after death!' The guru also understood it and told the king, 'He is mad, where is he taking us?' The boy stopped and told them, 'Come, what are you scared of? This is a crematorium, what is there to be afraid of?' The king agreed, 'Yes, let us go. I want to see what peace you will give me. My guru could not give me peace all this time, but you say that you can, so let us see what you will do.'

Then, they came to a coconut palm. First, the boy tied his father very tight to the tree with one piece of rope, and then he took the second piece of rope and tied the king to the same tree with it. After that, he told his father,

'Father, since you are the king's guru, free the king! Break his bondage!'

'Are you mad?! You have tied me and now you are telling me to untie the king! I am bound myself, how can I unbind anybody else?'

'Have you heard it, dear king?' the boy said. 'Father is himself in bondage, so how can he remove anybody else's bondage? He lives in material bondage in his material family, so how can he give you relief from the same material bondage? It is not possible to feel any peace or happiness without first coming free from this bondage. He says that I am mad, that I roam the streets, but it is not true. I go to an ashram and listen to Srimad Bhagavatam from a genuine sadhu. First he must come to a genuine sadhu, take initiation and become a disciple, then only can he become a guru and rescue you.'

Do you understand the meaning of this story? If you take initiation from a bogus guru, you will not get any result. You can live with such a guru your whole life, but you will get nothing.

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Size: 31 Mb
Length: 64 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Self-Rectification
2) Resist Defective Lifestyle
3) Six Pillars of Devotional Life
4) Leave This World
5) Do Not Poison Your Mind
6) Once Upon a Guru
7) 'My Happiness or Your Head'
8) Price of Peace
9) Pave Your Road to Holy Dham