Sri Guru: More than Lord

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bengali/English lecture on Sri Vyasa Puja Day
29 September 2019, Tarakeswar, part 2

From my childhood whenever I saw others' pain, I felt pain too. I could never see others in trouble, pain, etc. Sometimes, I came back from school and saw that a beggar was sitting near the door. My mother would always cook for me thinking, "The boy will come from school, what will he eat?" The beggar would sit there hungry all afternoon, and we had food (rice, etc.) kept in the house. So, when I came from school, I would go to the kitchen and give half the food that had been kept for me on a plate to the beggar. I got chastised by my mother for this.

My parents also gave me some pocket money so that I could buy something to eat when I was at school. In those days we did not have school bags, we would carry our books in our hand and also carry some food a tiffin box. I could also get many things with the pocket money—some bread, bananas, biscuits, etc. Some used to stretch that pocket money for several days, but I used to call my school friends and we would finish that money together in one day. My parents did not ask me anything, and I never asked them for money.

My kindness was material then but when I came to Gurudev I learned what is real kindness—giving others food, clothes, money is not real kindness to the jiva soul. True kindness to the jiva soul means doing that which gives benefit to the soul. To become a disciple of Gurudev does not mean to come to Gurudev to realise your own mundane desires, to get something or so that your life runs smooth. This is not the relation with one's Guru. You can have such relation with your parents, with your aunts and uncles, but the relation between the disciple and the Guru is the relationship between the soul and the Guru.

Guru is called a holy embodiment of the Lord's mercy. You all worship or serve the Lord—many of you keep a photograph of the Deities at home and worship the photograph, but you will not get direct mercy from the Lord. Because the Lord cannot give you direct mercy, He sends His close associate in the form of a Guru to this world. The Lord comes to this world in the form of a Guru, and this Guru personally engages you in service, Gurudev chastises you—if you do wrong, the Guru chastises you; if you do good, the Guru gives you love and affection—sometimes he chastises, sometimes gives love and affection, but all this is done by Gurudev himself. You will not get chastised by the Lord, neither will you get affection from the Lord. You can get chastisement or affection through the medium of the Guru. The Lord comes to this world in the form of the Guru to bestow mercy upon us.

All the Rupanuga guru-varga, all our Brahma-Madhva Gaudiya sampradaya—Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Jiva Goswami, Namacharya Haridas Thakur, Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj and many others—they all come in the form of a Guru and teach us these things. Those who can truly accept this teaching, they will no doubt get released from Maya and engage in the service of the Lord and thus reach the highest destination. This is the result of real service. If you only come on the Guru's birthday, give some flower at the Guru's feet, garland your Guru—this must be done too, but the connection between the disciple and the Guru is much more than this. One can take thousands and millions of disciples, but you do not become a disciple just by taking a mantra or some chanting beads from a Guru. If you cannot do proper service to your Guru, you cannot follow the instruction of your Guru, then you cannot be called a disciple. If you truly want to be a disciple of your Guru, you must understand what is called a disciple. The meaning is only one—a disciple is a person who always follows rules and regulations (sasan mane, শাসন মানে, lit. obedient, disciplined)—a person who lives his life following the instruction of the Guru. Many claim they are a disciple, but the truth is that you can find many gurus in this world, but it is very rare to find a bona fide disciple who will follow his Gurudev's instruction, advice, order, etc. without any condition. These days when somebody becomes a 'disciple' they say, "Gurudev, I can do some service for you, but want this and that in return." People want money, people want wealth, people want mercy, etc. They do not understand that mercy means service. When you say, "Gurudev, please give me your mercy," do you know what it means? People say, "Gurudev, give me mercy," but kripa (mercy) means 'kore-paowa' (do-get). It means, "Gurudev, give me service." The Lord cannot engage you in His own service, only Guru can engage you in the service of the Lord. The Lord cannot tell you, "I want a sweet, I want some yoghurt," but Gurudev can tell you, "I want some pomelo, I want some bananas, I want some cucumber." It is the Guru who gives mercy. Gurudev will tell you what he likes, what he wants to eat, what he wants you to cook for him.

Yesterday I remembered my old days. These days I mostly stat in Kolkata and do not get real milk, there is a big difference between jersey cows and local (desi) cows. Gurudev likes local cows' milk and I like it too. Yesterday they kept some martaman bananas (মর্তমান), and I remembered old days: I asked if there was cows' milk (I do not drink outside milk), and when they brought it, I ate three bananas with milk and was full up to my neck.

Anyhow, what I was saying is that Gurudev can tell you what he wants, what he needs, and he will take it. Gurudev is the embodiment of mercy (kripar sri-murti). Always remember this.

A real Guru never accepts obeisance from anyone. You pay obeisance to your Guru, but he does not take it—he sends it to the Lord. He takes neither pranami (donation), nor pranam (obeisance). A Guru never thinks he is a guru, he considers himself a disciple, that is why when you take initiation from me, I do not think, "Oh, you are my disciple"—I think you have come to me, and I am serving my Gurudev through you. I am only engaging you to serve my Gurudev. Always remember this, always think about this.

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