Deceivers and Deceived

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, morning programme
1 January 2021, part 7, translated from Bengali

Gurudev always speaks Hari-katha and chants kirtan (speaks about the Lord, glorifies the Lord) – Gurudev never sits and talks idly or gossips about others; Gurudev never talks about other, nonsense things. It is written in Mahabharata:

গুরোরপ্যবলিপ্তস্য কার্যাকার্যমজানতঃ ।
উৎপথপ্রতিপন্নস্য পরিত্যাগো বিধীয়তে ॥

guror apy avaliptasya karyakaryam ajanatah
utpatha-pratipannasya parityago vidhiyate

‘If somebody lives in enjoyment, is foolish (ignorant of what one’s duty is and what one must not do) and lives following any other path except pure devotion, then even if this person is called a guru (in name only), it is the order of the scriptures that he must be given up.’

(Mahabharata, Udyoga-parva, 179.25)

‘If somebody lives in enjoyment (lives with this wife, children, etc.), is foolish (ignorant of what one’s duty is and what one must not do) and lives following any other path except pure devotion, then even if this person is called a guru (in name only), it is the order of the scriptures that he must be given up.’ This is written in the scriptures, these are not my words – it is not that I am saying, ‘Oh, he must be given up.’

When the time comes, the Lord says, ‘I gave you a mouth, but you only ate and spoke nonsense (gramya-katha, gramya-varta – spoke about your village and your village news) with it. I gave you ears, but you did not listen about Me with these ears – you listened to everything else. I gave you eyes, but instead of having My darshan, you saw dirty things. Now I will take everything away from you!’ You can be born as a cow or some other animal or species, and you will not be able to speak then. The Lord will take everything away from you if you misuse what you have been given. The Lord has sent you into this human body, but you can fall down from this position. Just as when you go to school, if you do not study well, you will be transferred to a lower class; here too, the Lord will judge, and He can take you from this human birth and send you to some lower life, and you will become a hill, a cow, a goat or any other living entity. This is what happens when you never listen about the Lord, never listen about the Lord’s glories and about Gurudev.

It is said in Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas:

স্নেহাদ্বা লোভতো বাপি যো গৃহ্ণীয়াদদীক্ষয়া ।
তস্মিন্ গুরৌ সশিষ্যে তু দেবতাশাপ আপতেৎ ॥

sneha-dva lobhato vapi yo grhniyada-diksaya
tasmin gurau sa-sisya tu devatasapa apatet

‘If a guru gives initiation (the mantra) to others out of affection or greed, and if somebody takes such an initiation for the sake of affection or hoping to fulfil some desires, then both the guru and the disciple become cursed by demigods.’

(Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 2.7)

You know, sometimes people call me ‘Baba’ [lit. ‘father’, a very common familiar and affectionate address in India], but I tell them not to do this. There is a relationship with Gurudev, and you must not call him ‘father’ or ‘mother’ – you must call Gurudev ‘Gurudev.’ Sometimes people come to some guru and think, ‘Oh, this guru has such a big temple, he has so much money! If I take initiation from him, I can get something! I will get some fame!’ I have seen this many times. People think that if the temple is big, then the guru is big, and if the temple is small, then the guru is small. So, if Gurudev has a big temple, or has many temples, if Gurudev has many cars and other property, then people say, ‘Oh, he is a great Guru, I shall take initiation from him.’ So many people queue in some missions, thinking, ‘Oh, this place is so great! If I take initiation here, I will at once go to Goloka Vrindavan!’ And if the temple is small, they think, ‘What is the use taking initiation here? I will not get anything here.’ They think a big guru must have a big stomach, a big car, a big temple – big everything. You know, one time I went to a village for preaching, and I heard one lady saying, ‘When your Gurudev comes, he does not even eat or drink anything, but my Gurudev came to my house one day – he looked so beautiful! He sat in a chair leisurely and smoked a cigarette! How lovely he looked!’

যো ব্যক্তি ন্যায়রহিতমন্যায়েন শৃণোতি যঃ ।
তাবুভৌ নরকং ঘোরং ব্রজতঃ কালমক্ষয়ম্ ॥

yo vyakti nyaya-rahitamanyayena srnoti yah
tabubhau narakam ghoram vrajatah kalamaksayam

‘When somebody (dressed as an acharya) glorifies others things, that is, things that oppose the sattvik scriptures, and when somebody (as a disciple) listens to it with a wrong mind, both end up staying forever in horrendous hell.’

(Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 1.101)

There is one guru in Uluberia. One man said to another man, ‘What is the problem? You can take the pots that were used for cooking meat, fish, etc. at the weeding and just wash them in the Ganges!’ The other man replied, ‘Well, ask Gurudev and see what he says.’ The guru was the same as the disciple – he said, ‘It is all right! You can even eat fish and meat, just dip yourself into the Ganges after that, and all your stomach will get purified!’ There are such gurus in this world... That is why it is said: ‘When somebody (dressed as an acharya) glorifies others things, i.e. things that oppose the sattvik scriptures, and when somebody (as a disciple) listens to it with a wrong mind, both end up staying forever in horrendous hell.’ This is written in Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas.

Sri Gaudiya Kanthahara also writes about gurus who are envious of pure Vaishnavs and who are also to be rejected. It is written in Bhakti-sandarbha that if a guru is envious of a Vaishnav, this guru must be rejected. How does one reject them? The mantra is given here too:

গুরোরপ্যবলিপ্তস্য কার্যাকার্যমজানতঃ ।
উৎপথপ্রতিপন্নস্য পরিত্যাগো বিধীয়তে ॥

guror apy avaliptasya karyakaryam ajanatah
utpatha-pratipannasya parityago vidhiyate

‘If somebody lives in enjoyment, is foolish (ignorant of what one’s duty is and what must not do) and lives following any other path except pure devotion, then even if this person is called a guru (in name only), it is the order of the scriptures that he must be given up.’

(Mahabharata, Udyoga-parva, 179.25)

You must recite this mantra and give up the guru if he does not have vaishnav mood: a non-vaishnav can never be a guru, so, as it is said in Mahabharata, it is much better to give up such a ‘guru’ than to follow him.

Always remember this. I will not take much more of your time now. I have told you about Guru-tattva. When all the Vaishnvas come to the main programme and you will assemble here again, I will tell about my Gurudev and chant some kirtans. I came to Gurudev having heard and knowing many things – I knew that many people spoke against Gurudev at that time. People belittle Gurudev, but thousands and thousands of people have come to take shelter of Gurudev – do you think they do not understand anything? People say that Srila Sridhar Maharaj brought one householder man and, giving him sannyas, made him the acharya. Srila Sridhar Maharaj has accepted somebody as the acharya, but if we cannot accept that, then we do not know anything. Gurudev, in turn, gave his mercy to such a fallen and lowly soul as myself – I have no quality, no qualification, but Gurudev crossed all the other ‘big’ personalities and placed me in this path. I had no desire for this, I have no qualities to sit here, I do not have anything in me, but I am sitting here in front of you, speaking some Hari-katha, and you have also come to hear from me. You are all disciples of Gurudev, and I wish you all well. May you prosper spiritually – I pray about this to the Lord.

I would like to finish here.

বাঞ্ছাকল্পতরুভ্যশ্চ কৃপাসিন্ধুভ্য এব চ ।
পতিতানাং পাবনেভ্যো বৈষ্ণবেভ্যো নমো নমঃ ॥

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

‘Again and again I offer obeisances to the Supreme Lord’s devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy and wish-fulfilling trees.’

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