Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (3)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, the main festival programme
1 January 2021, part 4, translated from Bengali

...Such was Gurudev. He did not spare anyone, not even his own brother. In Gurudev's time I kept a record of all expenses in a ledger. One time, when Gurudev took this ledger, he asked me about one of the items, and I said I had given that money to some place. What was that? It was two hundred rupees given to Dhananjaya (Srila Gurudev's younger brother). Gurudev asked me why I had given him the money. Then, Gurudev called his brother and asked him, "Why did you take 200 rupees?" Dhananjaya said, "To buy keo-karpin oil for mother." Gurudev became angry and said, "Your mother used to live on muri, and now she is buying keo-karpin oil with the Deties' money?!" He said even harsher things, it would not be good to say it here. Gurudev did not spare even his own mother when it came to service. Gurudev told me personally, "You must not go to the house of this woman." Thakur Ma (Srila Gurudev's mother) said after that, "Oh, Acharya Maharaj is big now, he does not come to my room any more," but Gurudev prohibited me to go there, then how can I go there? Gurudev said, "There is Maya there. If you go there, you will be caught by Maya."

Gurudev told me: when you make some dish for the Lord, or when we offer arati to the Lord, we offer the pancha-pradip lamp and other items, and we always clean those items; in the same way, Gurudev takes us, cleans and polishes us and then uses for the Lord's service.

I also remember one more thing Gurudev said. When Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad was a householder (his name was Abhay Babu) and lived in Kolkata, Srila Sridhar Maharaj would stay at his house during several months together with Gurudev (his name was then Gaurendu Brahmachari, he had not taken sannyas yet). You know that Srila Prabhupad preached much about Srimad Bhagavad-gita and knew it by heart, and he would take Gurudev to various places—he told Gurudev, "You are a brahmachari, so you will sit on the vyasa-asan and recite a sloka, and I will give the purport." This is how much Srila Swami Maharaj loved Gurudev. Later, when Srila Prabhupad lived in the Radha-Damodar temple, translating Srimad Bhagavatam into English, Gurudev would publish Gaudiya Darshan from our temple, where he wrote Srila Sridhar Maharaj's lectures and slokas (many things were written by Gurudev himself, but he would sign it with Srila Sridhar Maharaj's name). When Srila Prabhupad read those articles, he said, "I may have many sons, but I consider Govinda Maharaj my true son. I consider him my only son because he is writing such things."

When Gurudev had just come to the temple, within seven days, Srila Sridhar Maharaj decided, "This boy will be my future successor." Why did he say so? Srila Sridhar Maharaj told Gurudev, "Do not listen to what your mind tells you, listen to what I say," and when some time later Gurudev was given some dal that had insects in it, Gurudev ate it. Srila Sridhar Maharaj saw it and asked him, "Why did you eat that dal with insects?" Gurudev said, "I did not want to eat it, but then I remembered that you told me not to listen to my mind, but listen to you, that is why I ate it." Such was Gurudev.

In 1973, Srila Swami Maharaj invited all Gaudiya Maths for the inauguration of ISKCON's Sri Chandradoya Mandir in Mayapur, but many did not come, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj went there together with Gurudev and Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj (there are photographs from the inauguration, you can see them seated there). Gurudev was a householder at that time—he came from Kolkata, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him, "Do not leave, let us go to Mayapur, Swami Maharaj has invited us." When they came to Mayapur, Gurudev asked Swami Maharaj, "You are opening a temple, but where is the fire sacrifice, I do not see any paraphernalia." Then, Srila Swami Maharaj said, "Srila Sridhar Maharaj is siksa-guru—when you have come, then my temple is already inaugurated." During the inauguration programme, Srila Swami Maharaj gave a class and then requested Srila Sridhar Maharaj to speak, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj said (as if resorting to trickery), "I am not feeling well, so Govinda Maharaj will say something on my behalf." (Although Gurudev was a grihastha, Srila Sridhar Maharaj always called him Govinda Maharaj.) During his speech, Gurudev recited this sloka,

কম্প্রতি কথয়িতুমীশে সম্প্রতি কো বা প্রতীতিমায়াতু ।
গোপতি-তনয়াকুঞ্জে গোপবধূটী-বিঢং ব্রহ্ম ॥

kam prati kathayitum ise samprati ko va pratitim ayatu
go-pati-tanaya-kunje gopa-vadhude-vidam brahma

"To whom can I speak? Who will believe me when I say that Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is hunting the gopis in the bushes by the banks of the river Yamuna? In this way the Lord demonstrates His pastimes."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.98)

The meaning of this sloka is this: Whom can I tell this? Who will understand this? The Supreme Lord Himself is running behind milkmaids in the jungle! Who will believe this? In the same way, whom can I tell this that Abhay Babu, whom we previously knew as an ordinary householder, has now become a great Jagad-Guru and preaches Krishna-katha in this world. Hearing Gurudev recite this sloka, Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj exclaimed, "Hari bol! Hari bol!"

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