Best Turn In Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 10 January 2021, part 7

All the devotees know how to cook, what is there to it? When Nityananda Prabhu is in Ekachakra, He likes roasted and mashed eggplant (begun pora), and when Nityananda Prabhu comes to Venezuela or Colombia, He takes arepa there. What is the problem? Nityananda Prabhu's taste is different—He can take different things from everybody and from everywhere as long as you cook it with heart. The main thing is to serve with heart—not to do anything artificially. When you do any service or cook anything, you must do it with heart, then it will be good for everybody, and then Mahaprabhu, or Krishna, or Nityananda Prabhu will be happy—They will enjoy, and Gurudev will also enjoy. This is the main advice how to do everything. It is necessary for us to understand this.

[Addressing one of the devotees.] Oh, it is too cold? Then come here!

Devotee: But it is not possible to get the visa to India now...

Oh... You are talking about the material visa, but the transcendental visa is not necessary—you have already got your transcendental visa from Gurudev, that is sufficient. You can start walking then. Why not? Six months and you will come here. What is the problem? [His Divine Grace laughs.]

In one-two months, there will be election here in Bengal—many politicians are gathering so many meetings, etc. without any restriction, so our festival will not be stopped this year. Our Gaura Purnima will take place, and the parikrama will be five days starting from this year.

I have not heard from *** for many days, but I heard the message that *** had left home. It is not a problem—if he wants to live a brahmachari life, what is the problem? [Addressing the mother of the boy.] This is why you are a little sad, are you not? You know, when I joined Krishna consciousness, my family also said, "Oh, that boy has lost his mind! He is crazy!" They did not even want to see my face. I heard recently that my mother's sister had died (last time I saw that lady was thirty-five years ago). I was going to Ekachakra yesterday and decided to find her house. I had actually forgotten the address, but anyhow I managed to find a shopkeeper who told me the address because that family are big landlords, very rich people, so it was not difficult to find them. When I came there yesterday, I saw that lady had six sons and two daughters, and they were doing the last rites for her. They have a very big family now—there are maybe more than a hundred people in that family. I saw them and said, "What to do? Krishna will take everybody one day." Before, they used to say I had become crazy, but now they understand that I had not made a mistake. I left my family and came to help Gurudev—I made no mistake.

Before, *** wrote saffron colour, he was a brahmachari, and I wanted to make him the leader of London Temple, but now he has gone to family life. He is still serving as much as he can, but he cannot serve full time—he can serve maybe 30-50%. Yet those who become brahmacharis and sannyasis can give their whole life forever, until death for service, and their mothers and fathers should be proud of them—their son has become a sannyasi! Gurudev also said that when a son becomes a sannyasi, twenty-one generations become liberated from any illusory bondage and go to Vaikuntha. Your son is now sixteen years old, maybe going on seventeen—for now you can tie him with a rope, but once he turns eighteen, you cannot tie him anymore, he will be free. I am praying to Gurudev that this boy will be the next leader of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in London. I will be very happy with that. Try to understand that.

When I meet with devotees, I know they have a family life, they have daughters, sons, I come to beg them, but I do not beg just for some money—sometimes I beg them, "You have more than one child, can you give me one of them forever for service?" When they hear it, mothers become afraid, "If I give him my son, what if he never gives him back to me?" Some may even curse me, "If Maharaj dies, I can get my son back!" And there is another problem also. Once, I asked ***, "You have six sons, can you give one son to me?" She did—she gave me a good boy, but then somebody stole my son. When brahmachari left (got married), Gurudev would also say, "Somebody has stolen my son."

One time, when I was in Russia, I met there one of the main devotees (that was then, I do not know what she is doing now). That devotee had many children, I think she had just had her third child at that time, and there was not much of an age gap between the children—one year difference, I think. She was very disturbed by them and struggled to manage them. I was quite foolish and naive at that time, so I asked her, "Why are you making so many babies??" And she said, "Oh, I am making brahmacharis for you!" After that, I have not got any news from her, I do not know where she has gone. That was in 2000, so twenty-one years have passed, all the babies have grown up and must be twenty-one, twenty-two years old now. If saw her, I would ask her, "You promised that you were making brahmacharis, so where is my brahmachari??"

It is necessary for some devotees to leave their family and join full time—it is necessary for the future of Srila Guru Maharaj's Mission, Srila Gurudev's Mission. If Srila Sridhar Maharaj had not got Gurudev, how would he have made this Mission? How would Srila Sridhar Maharaj's Mission have been maintained, expanded, and continued? After that, Gurudev also eventually got me—no doubt, I am a fallen soul, but Gurudev got me as his servant, and I am also trying to find somebody who will come to carry on this Mission. Unfortunately, not every mother will agree to give her son for the service of the Lord, such is Indian culture here—they can give their own house, they can give their own land, but they will not give their child for service. It is very unfortunate.

Now *** and *** must be afraid thinking when I will ask for their son for service. You must understand that this body will be the next generation in our Mission, and I am very, very happy with Doyal Nitai's mood. I am very, very happy with his humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others. It is a very happy mood. ***'s sons are also good, but I see their mood now and I understand that they want to be householders. When I see devotees, I can discern their mood and I can detect where their mood is going. *** was a very simple-hearted boy, the other boy too, but now I see that the way their mood is going they are thinking, "If I become a sannyasi or brahmachari, who will take care of me? Who will massage my feet when I become old? I want my wife to massage my feet." They are thinking like that...

These are very heavy words, and not everybody can digest it...

When I heard that *** wanted to get married, he told me, "Maharaj, if I get married, I can serve you together with my wife. What is the problem?" Yes, no problem, you can come and join, and both can serve the Mission. I have no problem with that, but the problem is that now they are doing some cake business in their country instead. Why is it necessary to make cakes? For their baby...

It takes a great fortune and a great sukriti to be able to join full time and forever. Otherwise, without special fortune, who could have thought that I myself would become a sannyasi? When I was a school boy, I was very naughty—if I saw some person with shaved head putting on tilaks, I used to throw stones at their heads! Even all the village people from my birthplace are astonished, "This boy has become a sadhu?! The boy who used to fight for a piece of food in this childhood?!" Who would have known?

All right, I am finishing the programme for today. We will try to make a programme next Sunday from wherever we are, it will be good.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
Srila Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj ki jay
Srila Bhakti Kusum Ashram Maharaj ki jay
Sripad Bhakti Bandhav Puri Maharaj ki jay
Sripad Bhakti Nandan Sadhu Maharaj ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay!
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Please forgive my offence. I want to see you all again next Sunday. Jay Srila Gurudev. Dandavat.

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