Learn to Tolerate

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 24 January 2021, part 7

It is necessary to have much tolerance when you are young. I also was a university student. I also thought about different things, I have seen university life, had many friends, etc. But Krishna has taken me from there. Even my parents did not want me to come to Krishna consciousness and become a sannyasi.

I started reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita when I was twelve years old, and my father always hid the book, he did not allow me to read it. From my childhood I knew a lot about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is famous in the area where I was born, so in my childhood I staged some pastimes, we did some drama and acted as Nimai, Gaura Sundar. I knew and liked Gauranga very much in my childhood.

I used to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, but I did not understand it so much—when I came to Gurudev, I heard some very nice explanation of Srimad Bhagavad-gita. Even Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita is a very hard book, but Gurudev explained Sri Raya Ramananda sambad, how Srila Sanatan Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami left their kingdom and joined Mahaprabhu, how many problems Srila Raghunath Das Goswami had to face and how he finally reached Mahaprabhu. All this gives me very much enthusiasm in my life. The pastimes of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, the pastimes of Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatan Goswami—all this gives very much inspiration to me in my life. Srila Gurudev also told his own life history—when he left his house, he was giving twenty rupees per month to his mother, and when he came to the temple his family, his mother came to the temple to take him away, and Gurudev held onto some window bars with one hand, and the family (his mother) came and pulled his other hand—he did not want to go. This also gave me a lot of inspiration.

So many problems come, you will have to face so many things, and it is necessary to tolerate everything. It is necessary to have much patience to be able to stay in a temple. If you live alone, you do what you like, but when you live in a temple, you have to follow all the rules and regulations properly, and that should give you more example, more benefit in your spiritual life. For this reason I pray to devotees—you come for the Gaura Purnima festival from time to time, you stay for a few days and immediately get a return ticket, but you should try to stay here for some time. We have opened many temples and branches, you can stay in any of the temples and do some service there for one-three months at least. It is will be good for you. If you come only for four-five days at Gaura Purnima and then immediately leave, you will not be able to learn to be an example for others.

You can see the example—there is a Colombian boy, Amrita Krishna Prabhu. He has been here for more than a year now, and he is doing very nice cow seva. He sends me photographs from Nrisingha Palli every day. His wife Dharitri Didi also cooks very nicely. Even I can give you the example of Sudevi Didi. When I first went to Venezuela, I did not have a good cook with me, and I could not tolerate some food there, but now Sudevi cooks so well that no Indian lady could cook like her. She could defeat anybody, any best cook in India. She made fried rice and chilli paneer on Gurudev's appearance day—I can say that no one can cook it in such a way. Perhaps, some professional cook at a hotel or a restaurant can cook like this, otherwise nobody can compete with her. Even when Krishna Sundari Didi cooked sweet rice, it was an incredible sweet rice and it has become very famous now. So many sannyasis came from various Gaudiya Maths, and they said that they had never tasted such sweet rice before. They have many temples, they all came from various temples, but they kept asking me, "Who has cooked this? We know Nimai cannot cook like this!" I did not tell them Krishna Sundari Didi's name or Sudevi Didi's name—I had to say that I had cooked it because if I had told them the truth, they would squirm thinking she is a mlechha, and they may not have taken it. They have this mentality—they can say, "Oh, they come from the West, they are mlechhas, we will not take anything from their hands!" You know, when Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad opened the Mayapur Temple, many foreign devotees had come at that time, and Gaudiya Maths did not join the inauguration...

All right, I am paying my full obeisance to you all. I am very happy to see you all. Please forgive my offence. I am chastising you today a lot about householder life...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said,

জীবন অনিত্য জানহ সার
তাহে নানাবিধ বিপদ-ভার ।
নামাশ্রয় করি' যতনে তুমি
থাকহ আপন কাজে ॥

jivana anitya janaha sara
tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara
namasraya kari' yatane tumi
thakaha apana kaje

"Understand the essence: life is temporary and filled with all sorts of adversity. Carefully taking shelter of the Name, engage in your work."

(Gitavali, Arunodaya kirtan, 1.3, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Life is very short and life is very uncertain—so many problems will come, but we will not bow our head down at the lotus feet of Maya Devi. We must do our service properly. All right, thank you very much. Jay Srila Gurudev.

Oh, I have not seen *** for a long time. Where has he gone? Send him a message, say that I am searching for him. OK? Actually, we need everybody—we do not want to lose anyone. OK? Sometimes it is necessary to chastise, and sometimes it is also necessary to harmonise with everyone...

Devotee: I do not think he is angry. He just lives far from the temple...

No, he is not angry, but a little sad. We must learn to tolerate and to be patience. Sometimes it happens that we can neither digest, nor vomit some things. What can we do? It is necessary to tolerate... Anyway, my dandavat to you all. Thank you so much.

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