(6/7) Mission's Sustenance

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 24 January 2021, part 6

Somebody lives a brahmachari life and later thinks, ‘Oof, it is very difficult to remain a brahmachari! I would rather become a grihastha!’ They go to grihastha life and now they repent, ‘What have I done? What a mistake it was…’

I thought before that ** would be a brahmacharini because I had taken her for preaching and she knew good Hari-katha, but she entered householder life… Now they can understand how much austerity there is in that householder life. First, they think it is very sweet, but after that everybody sooner or later realises that it is actually very bitter. I spoke to two girls yesterday. Both are quite young, one is twenty-five or twenty-six, and the other one is twenty-three or twenty-four; both are graduates. One of them was married on the Ratha-yatra day last year at one devotees’ house, but after that she could not tolerate the married life. She said that she was not allowed to do anything at her husband’s house – she could not cook there or even make garlands. So, she left that house and joined the temple. Both of them now cook at the temple (one cooks and the other one helps, she is not fully initiated). They have already understood how austere the householder life is.

One time, Gurudev’s servant (koka) had made some mistake and wanted to leave. Gurudev told him with folded hands (I saw Gurudev plead him), ‘Please, koka, forget the mistake you have made. I can manage it, it is not a problem. Please do not leave your service.’ He did not listen – he left his service, went abroad and made many babies, then that woman kicked him out, and he got married again! What kind of life is this? And he is an Indian boy…

To be able to stay within service full-time is very rare. It is necessary to have a very great fortune to be able to serve from childhood. I am also trying to make full-time servitors from some boys… I gave sannyas to two brahmacharis when they were very young (Sripad Niriha Maharaj and Sripad Vishnu Maharaj). They were not even twenty-four at that time, but they are still serving very nicely. They do proper service and follow all rules and regulations properly. Now they go for preaching and are doing it very well. There are two more brahmacharis. One of them, Abhay Charan Prabhu, is a very good boy. He was the pujari at the Tarakeshwar temple; now he is preaching, and he is very happy to do it. There are two more new devotees who came to Nrisingha Palli, I initiated them yesterday. Another boy came from ISKCON. He says that he is not interested in ISKCON, he likes Gaudiya Mission and Gaudiya Math more, so he came to our temple and does service there.

A proper soul will come. Krishna will send somebody from His place to serve this mission. I am becoming old day by day, but I still have to look after everything to this day. To this day, I have to see to all the kitchen needs: I must see how much oil is necessary, how much rice is necessary, and so on. I have to do everything with my own hands.

Gurudev also wanted a helping hand – he needed somebody on whose shoulders he could transfer the burden. When I joined the temple in 1992, Gurudev told me, ‘I am making you the security guard; take care of my temple. My Guru Maharaj placed me in charge of this Mission in 1985 and left in 1988. Four–five years have passed now, and many foreign devotees want me to visit their countries, but I could not go before because I worried who would take care of this temple.’ So, when I came to the temple, Gurudev kept me there as the security guard of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and to this day, I still think that I am a security guard of devotees.

I sometimes chastise you, but who can actually chastise a person? Only a family member, only the guardian of the family can chastise one. I sometimes chastise devotees – I tell them what is bad, what is good. If I do not chastise you as your younger brother, elder brother, as your father or as your guardian, who will chastise you then? I sometimes say some harsh words to you, but actually when I tell you something, I tell it to you for your benefit, for your own good. I want all Gurudev’s devotees, all Gurudev’s family members to be good and to be going in the proper way because they are the ones who will carry the flag of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math all over the world, in every country of the world. That is my vision. I have not taken up any other flag; Gurudev gave me his flag, and I am proceeding and going everywhere carrying that very flag.

When an opportunity comes, I will also visit foreign countries. I want to reach out to everyone, I want to see devotees in every country. I only went abroad to Australia, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico in 2009 or 2010, but I have not visited Colombia, South America, many countries in Europe, Turkey, Mauritius, South Africa and many other places. I want to go to every country and preach. Everything depends on the mercy of Gurudev, on the will and mercy of devotees. How many days I will be alive in this world also depends on the Lord, depends on Gurudev, but I know that for as long as Gurudev keeps me in this world, I will try my best to preach and serve Gurudev’s Mission. That is my desire.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Increasing Preaching Scope
2) Distribute Krishna Consciousness!
3) Offering Bhog on Ekadasi
4) Sri Jagadish Pandit
5) Be Strong and Straight
6) Mission's Sustenance
7) Learn to Tolerate