Srila Gurudev's Pastimes (6)

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 7, translated from Bengali

I still remember what Sripad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj once told about Guru's wealth in his speech in 1995. I remember that day there were so many people at the temple that I could not handle the crowd. I had gone to Mayapur in our old ambassador car to bring Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj and Pujyapad Bhakti Suhrid Akinchan Goswami Maharaj to the temple on the occasion of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's centenary anniversary. And I remember Sripad Shanta Goswami Maharaj told a very nice story about a Guru and disciples. The situation is actually like that everywhere these days...

At one temple, there lived a Guru and two disciples. All temples look more or less the same—there are very few people staying at temples. Mahaprabhu sent away even Sri Raghunath Das Goswami, saying,

স্থির হঞা ঘরে যাও, না হও বাতুল ।

sthira hana ghare yao, na hao batula

"Go back to your home, do not become crazy."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.237)

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana
yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana

"Do not show your false renunciation to people. Serve accepting material things, but without attachment."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.238)

Mahaprabhu told him, "Do not show monkey renunciation. Go back to your home." He sent him to stay as a grihastha. Here too in this story, we can see that there were only two disciples staying at the temple, but they always fought and competed because of the service to their Guru. One day, the Guru said, "If you are always fighting so much because of service, I will divide the service then. One will massage my left leg, and the other one will massage my right leg." One day, the disciple who was supposed to massage the Guru's left leg got sick and could not do his service. The other disciple massaged the Guru's right leg and carried on massaging only his right leg. The Guru asked him, "What is wrong? Why are you not massaging my left leg?" The disciple said, "It is his leg! It is not my leg."

I see this mood in the disciples now. Everyone thinks, "It is his service!" Somebody washes the dishes, and they do not want to do anything else—if someone steals something and runs away, they say, "The security guard will take care of it! It is not my matter. I wash the dishes!" Such is our mood. All the disciples that there are now have enjoyment mood. Gurudev told one very nice story. We go by car now, but in the olden days they used to go by bullock or horse carts. So, one day Gurudev and his disciple were travelling by a cart. Gurudev told his disciple, "Listen, there are my clothes, stick, umbrella, tilak, etc. in this bag. Take care of all things and make sure nothing falls off. If anything falls, pick it up." They started their way—the Guru climbed on the horseback, and the disciple sat at the back, guarding the things. Whatever fell from the cart, the disciple carefully put back, and even when some stool fell off from the horse's backside, the disciple picked that too! The Guru scolded him, "What are you doing?!" The disciple said, "You said I must pick up whatever falls!" Then, the disciple made a list of all the things his Gurudev had (1 - umbrella, 2 - comb, 3 - stick, etc.). They continued their way. On their way, there was some hole in the road, and the horse jumped over it. As the horse made the jump, the Guru fell off the horse, shouting, "Help! Help! Hold me!" The disciple took the list out of his pocket and started checking the list. His Guru shouts, "Save me!" but he does not care. We are also such servants... We only worry about our Guru's material property. Gurudev's wealth, or property, is not a great temple or house. Gurudev's wealth is faith, devotion, and divine love.

People think: the bigger temple one makes, the bigger guru they are (Visva Math—Visva Guru), and if somebody makes a small temple, then they are a small guru. We must always want to be small, we want to be servants of Vaishnavs—this is what we must always remember. We must listen to what Gurudev says; otherwise, there is no way for us. We are always engrossed in material things—Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj said, "It is very difficult to become a sadhu, but it is very easy to dress as a sadhu." There are so many of such sadhus who only dress as such. That is why, Sri Jagadananda Pandit said,

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।

গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6-7)

We secretly engage in atrocious matters, but Gora will catch us! He knows everything! Guru is antaryami—he knows everything, he knows what we do and what we do not do.

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