(7/10) Guru's Care

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Disappearance festival, Tarakeshwar
16 April 2019, evening, part 7
Translated from Bengali

I have been looking for a guru for a very long time – I came to India from Bangladesh in search of my guru, and I finally found him. I have been able to come to him. I have seen many gurus at home, my parents had their gurus, and I have seen them, too, but I left all that thinking about my own interest – I wanted to come to the Lord and to find a genuine guru. I was always thinking about it. Finally, my chaitya-guru brought me to my mahanta-guru.

This guru is now standing here in front of us all – he can see everything. I have had the fortune to take shelter at his holy lotus feet. It is my great fortune. And those of you who have taken shelter in me are also very fortunate on this account. My Gurudev is always giving his blessing to me, even now. Even now he is helping me, he is looking at me from above. No matter what problems and difficulties come, he is always taking care of me. He takes care of everything in my life, that is why I do not have any problems.

Even when I went to jail, I did not have to struggle. I am not ashamed or scared to speak about it. Some false cases had been filed against me, that is why I was taken to prison from Sri Ekachakra Dham. At first, I thought, 'It is a disaster, I will have to sleep and live with all the prisoners...' but then Santosh Prabhu came with me, and it made it much easier for me. Everybody there slept on a blanket, but I could not tolerate it because of mosquitos. I can tolerate everything, but I cannot stand mosquitos – I cannot sleep when there are mosquitos in the room. By the will of the Lord, I was fortunately sent from prison to hospital, and there they had mosquito nets. The problem was solved. When others saw that a sadhu had been sent to jail because of some false allegations, they gave me very good treatment – they allowed me to have separate dishes and to cook for myself separately. They gave me a gas stove and new pots so that I could cook myself, but I was actually reluctant to cook. Suddenly, another sadhu came to me (he is now staying in one of the temples in Nabadwip) – he offered me his obeisance and volunteered to cook for me! Then, some devotees came to visit me and they brought various bhoga. So, I did not have to struggle in any way. I thought, 'What am I to do here?' There was a small temple at jail, so I went there, sat on a raised platform and spoke Hari-katha to everybody. After that, many of the people who came out of jail later came to meet me, and fifteen of them took initiation. I thought, 'The Lord must have sent me to jail to rescue them!' So, I did not have any problems or hardships there. I stayed there happily. I laughed and joked with everybody, and I met with a lot of people. I was the only one who had visitors every single day. Many devotees, including some foreign devotees, came to see me. Usually, they would call out our names in a microphone to announce that a visitor has come, but when other prisoners saw that I had visitors every day, but they could have visitors only once a week, they protested, so some guards told me, 'Maharaj, we cannot make these announcements every day, so we will just send somebody to call for you privately instead. Then, there was also one policeman who worked at that jail. He was a brother of a sannyasi from Mayapur, so one day he came to me and said quietly, 'Maharaj, my brother is such-and-such Maharaj, he wants to talk to you,' and he let me speak on the phone with him. Sometimes, I could not sleep well there, so I would stay up and read books. Another thing was that I cannot stand long nails or a beard. I have never had a beard; I have to shave every day. So, one day, one of the devotees sent a razor hidden in a pair of socks. Sometimes, somebody else would come and help me shave also. And so many biscuits, fruit and other things came – who will eat all that? I could not eat so much. I actually only worried about doing Nabadwip Dham parikrama, I did not have time or interest in sitting around and eating snacks. They made some posta-bora or aloo-siddha with rice for me, and I was happy with that. This is how I stayed there. Finally, I was released and was able to come for the last day of Nabadwip Dham parikrama. You know this.

I do not worry or think about it all. Supreme Lord Krishna was born in Kamsa's prison, Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupad had to tolerate many atrocities committed against them.

কুলিয়াতে পাষণ্ডীরা, অত্যাচার কৈল যা’রা,
তা সবার দোষ ক্ষমা করি’ ।
জগতে কৈলে ঘোষণা, ‘তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা’,
হন ‘কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ’ ॥

kuliyate pasandira, atyachara kaila ya’ra,
ta sabara dosa ksama kari’
jagate kaile ghosana, ‘taroriva sahisnuna’,
hana ‘kirtaniyah sada harih’

'You [Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad] have forgiven the atheists from the Kulia village despite their atrocities and proclaimed to the whole world: one who is as tolerant as a tree can always chant the glories of the Lord.'

(Acharya Vandana)

One time, Devananda Pandit committed an offence. When one of his disciples forcefully kicked out a sadhu, Devananda Pandit did not object, and that was his offence. Later, he asked forgiveness for his offence. It happened in Kulia (Nabadwip). Even Srila Prabhupad was insulted there. You have heard about it. One day, Srila Goswami Maharaj was kidnapped, and one of the relatives of Srila Sridhar Maharaj helped to get him released. Our Srila Gurudev also had to endure many hardships...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Chaste Submission Is Key
2) Busy Yourself with Service
3) Value of Chastity
4) Plan Your Journey
5) Avoid Religious Hypocrisy
6) Fight for Your Aspiration
7) Guru's Care
8) Learning the Ropes
9) Run behind the Lord
10) Gurudev's Abundant Blessing