(5/8) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (4)

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 5, translated from Bengali

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad often visited Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Moreover, Pujyapad Bhakti Hriday Bon Goswami Maharaj, Pujyapad Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj, Pujyapad Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj and many other great preachers and acharyas affirmed, ‘If you want to hear Hari-katha, you must go to Srila Sridhar Maharaj.’ Gurudev also said that he had learnt everything from his Guru Maharaj – Gurudev always did what his Guru Maharaj told him to do, he always lived in whichever way his Guru Maharaj arranged for him.

Many of you are older than me, and you must have seen that there was a big flood in 1978 (there was an even a greater flood later, in 2000). I had not yet come to the temple in 1978, so I did not see that flood, but I heard there used to be no boundary wall at the temple at that time (the temple was poor, as you all know). That year, Gurudev came to Nabadwip from Kolkata specially to protect the temple – he made a raft from banana tree trunks and would go around the Math in that raft the whole day, guarding the temple. One day during that time, a cowherd from the neighbourhood came to the temple to cut some banana trees to feed his cows.

Gurudev noticed the man and shouted to him, ‘Hey, what are you doing here behind the temple?’

‘I wanted to take some banana trees,’ the man explained. ‘Will you give them to me? My cows have nothing to eat…’

‘No, I will not,’ answered Gurudev. ‘Why must you take these banana trees? I am the guard, and you have entered the temple territory as a thief – you came through the back door to steal! Let us see if you dare take these trees forcefully! If you are to take these trees, you have to steal them, but you will have to do it in front of me! If you had come to me directly and asked for permission, I would have given you these trees, but if you come to steal, then I must guard, and we shall see how you take them!’

This is how our Guru Maharaj (Srila Govinda Maharaj) protected the temple…

   
Srila Govinda Maharaj managing a raft from his Acharya Bhavan house to Srila Guru Maharaj's house, at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadwip (during another flood in 1987).

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Satiating Hunger
2) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (1)
3) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (2)
4) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (3)
5) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (4)
6) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (5)
7) Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (6)
8) Come as a Beggar