Snowball of Offences

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class, 26 February 2021
Translated from Bengali, part 7

When we go to Puri, we hear the story about Ramachandra Puri. Ramachandra Puri and Ishwar Puri were godbrothers—they had one guru, Srila Madhavendra Puripad. However, everybody knows Ishwar Puri on the account of his being Mahaprabhu's guru, and everybody knows Ramachandra Puri on the account of his being a big offender. Ramachandra Puri has no other fame—all he is known for is his big offences and criticising others. This is what finished him—there is not any mention of him in the guru-parampara, whereas we always mention Sri Ishwar Puri's name when we chant the guru-parampara song:

মাধবেন্দ্র পুরীবর, শিষ্যবর শ্রীঈশ্বর,
নিত্যানন্দ, শ্রীঅদ্বৈত বিভু ।
ঈশ্বরপুরীকে ধন্য, করিলেন শ্রীচৈতন্য,
জগদ্গুরু গৌর মহাপ্রভু ॥

madhavendra puri-vara, sisya-vara sri-isvara,
nityananda, sri-advaita vibhu
isvara-purike dhanya, karilena sri-chaitanya,
jagad-guru gaura mahaprabhu

The best disciples of the great Madhavendra Puri were Isvar Puri, Lord Nityananda, and Lord Sri Advaita. Jagad-guru Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu blessed Isvar Puri (by accepting him as His Guru.)

And when we ever mention Sri Ramachandra Puri, all we have to say about him is that he made offences against Vaishnavs. He was driven out of Puri and was later nowhere to be found. He kept making offences and he ended up criticising Mahaprabhu's eating. Devotees invited Mahaprabhu and gave Him prasadam—everybody invited Him. We are also often invited to people's houses, and they make various offerings to us—I barely touch it just to try it. (I do not eat and enjoy that food—I just touch it to try it.) So, when Mahaprabhu was invited to take prasadam, Ramachandra Puri came there and secretly watched what Mahaprabhu was eating. He thought, "Oh my! This sadhu sannyasi is eating such nice things!" Then, he came out and said, "How come you do not invite me?" When Mahaprabhu heard what he had to say, He declared, "Do not invite Me any more, and if you invite Me, then make only one-two preparations—I will not take more than that!" Then, devotees came to Jagannath and prayed, "O Lord Jagannath, please remove this Ramachandra Puri from Puri Dham! Otherwise, we will not be able to invite Mahaprabhu any more!"

Another time, Ramachandra Puri came to Mahaprabhu's room in Gambhira to see what He eats and what He does, and when he was there, he noticed there were many ants in Mahaprabhu's room. He said to Mahaprabhu, "Oh, why are there ants in your room? You, new sannyasi, must be eating lots of sweets, are You not?" Mahaprabhu said, "Yes, My tongue is very greedy and I follow My tongue, I like to enjoy, that is why I eat sweets!" What will Mahaprabhu do or say? It is all the same. Ants come on their own—if there are no sweets, does it mean no ants will come?

This is how if one keeps making offences, these offences reach the Guru. Do you understand what I am saying? If you keep making and making offences, then these offences will go up to the Guru. You can never get any benefit like this. Such people become alienated from others—nobody likes them, nobody...

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