Deceitless Dealings

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 17 January 2021, part 6

They have started vaccinating, but actually it is those who always worry about their lives that go for the vaccine first... We do not think about our life (we rely on the Lord and we think about our service). This is the main thing. Start preaching, chant the Holy Name, and run the mission together. Everybody should leave their egos.

Everything is service, and it is necessary to always do service from your heart. Try to respect everybody, try to respect each other. It is very important. Do not create so many classes, divisions, and groups among devotees. Classes and discrimination started appearing even in Mahaprabhu's time, and later in Prabhupad's time (in the time of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur) many disciples could not tolerate each other and there appeared so many problems. However, our Param Gurudev and our Gurudev love everybody. Our Gurudev is an example for us. He loves and accepts everyone.

So many devotees, so many good friends came to our Mission from ISKCON, and Gurudev accepted and welcomed them all. In this way, they joined our Mission and in this way our Mission expanded so much by the mercy of Gurudev and by the mercy of foreign devotees who had come from ISKCON. I always remember them—Srila Janardan Maharaj, Srila Ashram Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj, and so many other devotees like Yudhamanyu Prabhu, Srutasrava Prabhu (Sripad Vaishnav Maharaj), also Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj from Brazil, Hasyapriya Prabhu. So many exalted devotees came to our Mission.

I sometimes chastise devotees, but this is how I show my love and affection to them. Gurudev said that I was sometimes very rude to devotees, but he also said, "Not everybody can understand your heart, but I can understand your heart and I know how soft you are." The thing is that I do not pretend—like, showing one thing outside and keep other things inside, I am not like that. That is called kapata, deceit. I cannot be like that in my life. I pay a full dandavat to you in front of you, and behind your back I swear. This is called a mask or a disguise (mukhosh). You are a bad man, but externally you behave and look like a good man. This is a drama. You are not a sadhu, but you pretend to be a sadhu. Such behaviour and life is very bad. If we do one thing but there is another thing in our heart, it is a big problem. You cannot progress or proceed in your spiritual life properly if you behave like that. A sadhu will always be saral (simple-hearted). Gurudev says that simplicity is the main quality. Gurudev said, "My Guru Maharaj liked me because of my simplicity." 'Saralata' means 'vaishnavata'—simplicity is Vaishnavism. These are Gurudev's words. It is necessary to be simple, without any deceit.

You know, Gurudev came to the Mission in 1947, at that time his name was Gaurendu Brahmachari. Three years later, in 1950, Srila Sridhar Maharaj once sent Gurudev back to visit his home. Before that, some villagers came to the temple and tried to forcefully take Gurudev back to his family life—not to become a grihastha, but to take care of his mother, etc. So, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "Go and show them how much your spiritual life has increased during these three years." And Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not send Gurudev alone—he sent him with a disciple of Prabhupad (Gurudev said he was not actually Prabhupad's disciple, he was a disciple of Ananta Vasudev Prabhu, but he claimed to be a disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur). Gurudev was a very clever and naughty boy, and everybody in the village loved him very much. There was one lady in the village whom Gurudev always called 'jethima' (auntie). When she saw Gurudev after three years, she was so happy that she hugged Gurudev. Gurudev was seventeen-twenty years old at that time, he was like a child to her, so now when Gurudev came back after three years, she hugged him out of deep affection. However, the brahmachari saw it and later reported to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, "You sent me to that village with him, but he was hugging with a woman!" Srila Sridhar Maharaj laughed, "What kind of conception is that? This boy went to his previous home where he is everybody's affectionate son, and the lady who hugged him is like his mother, but they still criticise him!"

Those who cannot tolerate Gurudev always find faults. I remember Gurudev used to say, "Yake dekhte nari, tara chalana banki (যাকে দেখতে নারি, তার চলন বাঁকা). Faults are thick where love is thin (lit. if you cannot stand seeing somebody, their gait will always be crooked to you.)" If we cannot tolerate somebody, we always say that they are not walking straight—we always say they are walking crooked.

Gurudev told so many things, I am remembering some of his pastimes...

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (2.7 Mb, 8 min)