(8/15) Avoid Offences to Holy Dham (Part 1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, Sri Jagannath Misra Anandotsav
22 March 2019, morning class, part 8
Translated from Bengali

You have come to a holy abode, this Sri Nabadwip Dham. There are ten offences to the holy dham. Listen carefully and read about all these offences at home. The calendars where it is all written cost only fifteen rupees, the price of a cup of tea. Take a calendar and read it. If you read it, you will be able to understand what is what. And if somebody is not intelligent, how will they understand it? I will explain it then.

The first offence to a holy place is to disrespect those who bring you on parikrama, who bring you to take the darshan of the holy place, who you come with and in whose holy association you do this parikrama. It can be a sadhu, a Vaishnav – whatever you may call them, whoever it may be (you may have come with some lady or male devotee) – you must not disrespect them. If you tell them, 'Oh, I went to your guru's temple, but I could not get a place to stay there, I did not get food there.' It is an offence to the holy place to think like this.

The second offence is to consider the holy place to temporary, non-eternal. If you think, 'Oh, the holy place is destroyed by the Ganges,' this is an offence. When you go to Mathura, people say that actual Mathura sunk in a flood. We do need to hear or know such things! When we go and see Kamsa's prisonhouse, we must think that this is the birthplace of Lord Krishna. Somebody says that the Mahaprabhu's actual birthplace sunk in the Ganges, but we are not believers in that – we know that Yogapith in Mayapur is Mahaprabhu's birthplace.

The third offence is to behave prejudiced towards dham's residents or pilgrims.

The fourth offence is to engage in material activities at the holy place. Guru Maharaj also often said that many people come to stay at the math (মঠ, temple), but many of them actually stay in a kamath (কমঠ, commode, or toilet pan, where stool is passed). What does it mean? It means staying at the temple but instead of thinking about the Lord, you think about material things. This is not how one lives in a holy place.

The fifth offence is when you live in a holy place but in the name of worshipping Deities you look for ways to earn money. It includes running any business at the temple or renting out rooms to earn money. If I started renting out rooms here, so many people would come here. As it is, many people call me and ask, 'Can we come here and stay at non-festival times?' Do you know what they ask me? They call and ask, 'Can a wife and a husband stay together?' What is this? They will bring their wives and enjoy, and at other times, they will bring somebody else's wife there... I told them that they can be together in one room during the day, but in the evening, everybody must go to their own room – women and men cannot stay together.

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Size: 52 Mb
Length: 108 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Take Prasad
2) Stay Focused
3) Remember Your Service
4) Help Yourself and Others
5) Avoid Offences to Service
6) Avoid Offences to Holy Name
7) Avoid Offences to Vaishnavs
8) Avoid Offences to Holy Dham (Part 1)
9) Avoid Offences to Holy Dham (Part 2)
10) Avoid Kali's Places
11) Devotional Strictures
12) Devotional Strictures
13) Rejoice!
14) Outstanding Happening
15) Wholesome Vision