Disciple's Core Quality

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 2 August 2020, part 2

Question: In Guidance 4, you mention that devotees need chastisement to be a good devotee. I wanted to ask when will I receive chastisement from you?

Can you tolerate my chastisement?

Devotee: I will. I feel I need it.

Gurudev said, "I do not have so many disciples whom I can chastise. There are only one-two persons whom I can chastise." To receive and digest chastisement, it is necessary to have tolerance and patience.

I remember when Gurudev went on a tour to America, before going abroad, he told me to complete the Centenary Building in Nabadwip (he had made the ground and the first floors by that time)—and he gave me only two lakhs rupees to do that. How is it possible to do it with this little money? I could not even pay for the labour with that money. Anyhow, I loaned money, I collected some money, I borrowed money from many shops, and completed the building. When Gurudev came, he chastised me so much saying, "You can sell your kidney to pay off your loans! Get out from here! You have loaned so much money!" I laughed and left, but when I came back to Gurudev half an hour later, Gurudev said, "This boy has come again!" Then he told me to give him the list of all the people I had borrowed money from, and I gave him the list with all the phone numbers. Gurudev called everybody and paid off all the loans. And he was very happy to see the Centenary Building.

That was Gurudev's exam—he said, "I did not make all these loans—you did! You can sell your kidney and pay off your loans." But Gurudev understood why I had taken loans—he understood that so much money was necessary to complete the construction, and he paid all those loans then.

So, to receive and digest this kind of chastisement, it is necessary to have tolerance. How many devotees can tolerate chastisement? Very few. If I tell my disciple, "You did wrong!"—he will start arguing with me. A disciple must not defend himself, a disciple's duty is to show no self-defence. When Gurudev chastises you, you must be quiet—do not say a word. You have no right to say a single word. Gurudev will chastise, chastise, but you must not say a word.

You know, one time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu even beat Sri Advaita Prabhu, but Sri Advaita Prabhu laughed. Then, you can think about it and you can understand what is the result of chastisement and what is necessary to take it right.

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