(8) Transcendental Values

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Hapaniya Dham, Vyasa Puja Mahotsav
22 October 2019, morning, part 8
Translated from Bengali

It is said in the scriptures that in this world there are many gurus who will be happy to take your money (pranami) and obeisances (pranami). One time, a gentleman came from ISKCON to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and gave him six lakhs of rupees (at that time, it was an enormous sum of money): he brought an attaché case full of money and gave it to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Srila Guru Maharaj took the case and told his servant, 'Give it to Govinda Maharaj.' Srila Gurudev took the money and kept it in a safe place. The next day, that gentleman came again and told Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, 'You must give me sannyas.' Hearing this, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told Gurudev, 'Has this man come to buy sannyas from me? Give him his money back. It is not necessary to take his money.' Gurudev did that.

There was also another story that happened relatively not long ago. The son of one prominent lady, Karnani Ray, once came to see Gurudev in Nabadwip. He came to me and asked, 'Take me please to Guru Maharaj.' I took him upstairs to Gurudev's veranda. When he came, he gave Gurudev two cheques, thirteen lakhs of rupees each, a total of twenty-six lakhs of rupees. On the other side of the cheques, it was written: one lakh to be expended in Nabadwip; this amount to be expended in Dum Dum Park; this amount to be expended in Bamunpara, Hapaniya, and so on. Guru Maharaj took the cheque, but when he turned it over and saw all that written there, he tore the cheques and threw them into the man. The man got scared and scurried away. After that, he never again came upstairs to Guru Maharaj.

Guru Maharaj commented later, 'What is this? You are giving money to your guru for the service to the Lord and you are setting conditions. You cannot give money and tell what it must be spent on – the person who you are giving it to will decide that. You have no right to dictate where what money is to be spent on.' He tore those cheques and told me also, 'That man must never come to me again.' He came after that to the temple, but he stayed at the Govinda Kunda building – he did not come upstairs to Guru Maharaj's veranda again.

This is what is called a guru. Money? Ten rupees? Five rupees? Fifty rupees? A hundred rupees? Five hundred rupees? A thousand rupees? A hundred thousand rupees? He threw it away like stool and urine! There is no dearth of money in this world – the only dearth that there is is that of the Holy Name. Gurudev tore the cheques and threw that money away! He did not roam this world in search of money. We must always remember this. We must not forget this. We must go house to house in this world begging people to take the Holy Name. 'I am begging you for one thing only: come with us and chant the Holy Name of Krishna (Krsna bala, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai; (কৃষ্ণ বল, সঙ্গে চল, এই মাত্র ভিক্ষা চাই))!' This is what we must say.

নদীয়া গোদ্রুমে নিত্যানন্দ মহাজন ।
পাতিয়াছে নামহট্ট জীবের কারণ ॥

nadiya godrume nityananda mahajana
patiyachhe nama-hatta jivera karana

'In the land of Nadia, on the island of Godrum, the great soul Nityananda has set up for jiva souls a marketplace of the Holy Name.'

শ্রদ্ধাবান্ জন হে, শ্রদ্ধাবান্ জন হে,
প্রভুর আজ্ঞায়, ভাই, মাগি এই ভিক্ষা ।
বল কৃষ্ণ, ভজ কৃষ্ণ, কর কৃষ্ণ শিক্ষা ॥

sraddhavan jana he, sraddhavan jana he,
prabhura ajnaya, bhai, magi ei bhiksa
bala krsna, bhaja krsna, kara krsna siksa

'I am appealing to those who have faith: brother, on the order of Mahaprabhu, I beg this from you – chant "Krishna", serve Krishna, learn about Krishna.'

(Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We must not come to beg for money! What we beg for is this: 'On the order of my Master, I have come to beg this from you – pleas chant "Krishna", serve Krishna, learn about Krishna. I have come to your door to ask you for this.' This is what we must beg from people: chant 'Krishna', serve Krishna, learn about Krishna. This is the only alms we must come to collect in this world. Always think about this.

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