(2/3) Poisonous Trees Within and Without

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Disappearance festival, Tarakeshwar
16 April 2019, noon, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Whenever Gurudev chastised me, I did not mind it. But I cannot tolerate those who disrespected Gurudev, and I have not mixed with them to this day. Many people say, 'Oh, why are you not going to Nabadwip?' You can judge it yourselves.

Gurudev told me a few things, among which he said, 'You are making all these great buildings, making all arrangements, but you are not looking after me.' At that time, I could not understand what Gurudev was saying, so I replied, 'Gurudev, I do not understand. I am making all these temples on your order, what do you mean that I have not looked after you?'

'Shall I explain it to you?' Gurudev asked me then.

'Yes, I cannot understand it...'

'All these temples and buildings exist because of you – if you are not here, what will become of all these buildings? From the day you took sannyas, they have been sharpening their knives to finish you off. But you are always so busy with the construction and so many other works that you do not notice it. You do not notice that it is necessary to take some weeds out with their roots. Now these poisonous trees have turned into banyan trees, and it is very hard to move about now. It will take much work to get rid of it now. It will come right eventually, but it will take time.'

You can understand what the situation is now... This is what Gurudev told me. He foresaw the struggles, but he also told not to worry because that those things would be uprooted – it will just take time.

I have written about the proper behaviour and practices of the devotees who stay at the temple. Many people do not understand it, but if they read this book (Guidance 3), they can understand it. There is a chapter called 'Home-interest vs Math-interest'. There are people who are more concerned with their own independent interests rather than the interests of the temple – such people's initiations are only a show, they have not really taken initiation. Such people can wear the clothes of a renunciate and pretend to be renounced; they can pretend to be doing service; but they actually fall down very quickly:

Such people get all the big buildings and begin their frenzied dance of offences. They can never come to the Lord, neither they can ever come to Gurudev. If people come to the temple thinking that it can bring some benefit to their bodies, to their houses, etc., such people are materialist householders who put interests of their homes above all else. You can see our Dum Dum Park temple. I have been trying to save it for so long, but they have again turned it into a sraddha-bari (a funeral service office). They do it using Radha-Madan-Mohan's Names, but Radha-Madan-Mohan are not there – They have left! Those people arrange all the funeral ceremonies to earn a lot of money, they buy motorcycles, they fight all the time, and they only eat and grow big stomaches...

Such people are offenders of the Lord and Vaishnavs. These are Srila Prabhupad's words actually. I collected this from his books carefully and put it here in this book.

If you want to stay at the temple, you need a room, but that room is not for your enjoyment. You must not use the temple for your own enjoyment. A temple is made for devotees' service. Why do we make all the big buildings and nice rooms? Because if you come once or twice a year and stay here for a few days without any room, you will have to sit all day in the sun and get sick. Some people do not have houses, so they live anyhow struggling on a veranda. It is very hard. Therefore, all these rooms and facilities are arranged for your comfort, for the service to devotees...

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 34 Mb
Length: 70 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) The Worst Day
2) Poisonous Trees Within and Without
3) Undistorted Line