(5/6) Amidst 'Dal' and 'Gal'

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, noon class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 5
Translated from Bengali

People come to Vrindavan before getting the mercy of a bona fide guru and sit there, doing bhajan at Radha Kunda or in some cave. Have you heard the story of ‘Gita family’?

One time, a man thought, ‘Gurudev has told me to read Bhagavad-gita, but it is very hard to read it among all these people. It will be better if I go somewhere else and read Gita on my own.’ So, he left the temple and went to Rishikesh to read Gita. He found a cave in the mountains and settled there, but how would he read Gita? His mind was not right, so whenever he read Gita, he felt drowsy and kept falling asleep.

One day, a mouse came and started eating his book. When he woke up with a jerk, he saw that half of the book had been finished. He got annoyed, ‘What is this? I am reading Gita, and this mouse is disturbing me! I must do away with it!’ What did he do? His bad desires had not left him – he still had desires and envy inside him. So, thinking how to get rid of the mouse, he thought of getting a cat. He went looking around for a cat, and when he found one, he brought it to his cave, thinking, ‘Now I can read Gita peacefully!’ A few days later, the cat started meowing. It had to eat something. So, he thought, ‘Ugh, I must get some milk for this cat. Now I should find a cow.’ He found a cow and got milk, but then the cow started to moo, and he thought, ‘Who will take care of the cow? If I look after the cow, when will I read Gita? I should get somebody to take care of the cow!’ Then he found a girl. He brought the girl to his cave, and eventually they got married and had children. He ended up having a big family.

In the meantime, the guru of that man wondered how his disciple was getting on, ‘He said he was going to Rishikesh to read Gita. Let me go and see how he is.’ When he came to Rishikesh and found that disciple, he saw a big family in a cave squabbling with one another. One child was crying, ‘Daddy, give me a motorcycle!’ Another child was crying, ‘Daddy, I have seen a pretty girl. Arrange my marriage with her!’ The guru asked the man, ‘Is this how you are reading Gita?!’ The man replied, ’Gita? I do not even know where it is!’ This is the ‘Gita family’ for you.

Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told this story. You can find it in his (Bengali) book called Upakhyane Upadesh. One time, when Srila Prabhupad was at a preaching programme, he was informed that the cooking had not been completed and the cooks were running late, so the host of the programme was concerned that the people were getting hungry. Srila Prabhupad replied, ‘Do not worry about it. You can delay the cooking for another hour. I will tell everyone such things that they will forget all about food. They will not feel any hunger anymore.’ Such were Srila Prabhupad’s stories. I have told you many stories from that book (Upakhyane Upadesh).

People want gawa ghee and balam chal (high-quality ghee and high-quality rice). They say, ‘Oh, I do not want to live at the temple! I would rather stay at home and eat nice ghee and rice!’ When you stay at the temple, you have to take dal and gal: you have to take simple food and take abuse, or chastisement.

You can see that everyone here has come with a return ticket. They are thinking about their houses, but if you tell them to stay here for ten days, for four–six months (‘Gurudev has built so many temples for your shelter!’), what will they say? First, they will say, ‘Oh, I will come to stay at the temple when I am retired.’ Then, they say, ‘Oh, I must get my grandchildren married.’ After that, you ask what has happened to that person, and it turns out that before their grandchildren could get married, the person has gone to ‘collect patol’ [a Bengali euphemism for death, similar to ‘kick the bucket’]. Such is life.

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

‘You must know the main truth that this life is not eternal and full of various dangers. Carry on your life but try your best to take shelter in the Holy Name.’

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Our life is not eternal, so we will have to leave one day. We are all eternal servants of Krishna. We are not servants for two–three or four days only. No. We are eternal servants. But we forget it:

‘কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস’—জীব তাহা ভুলি’ গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

‘krsna-nitya-dasa’—jiva taha bhuli’ gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

‘Jiva souls forgot that they are eternal servants of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around their necks.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

Do not forget this. We are eternal servants of Lord Krishna.

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Length: 54 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Sri Advaita Prabhu's Nityananda Stuti
2) Sriman Mahaprabhu's Nityananda Stuti
3) Approaching Nityananda Prabhu
4) Know Your Place
5) Amidst 'Dal' and 'Gal'
6) Increase Your Fortune