Two Important Questions

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Begampur, 7 March 2021, part 6

Question [from a Spanish-speaking devotee]: I have lately received some friend requests on Facebooks from some Gaudiya Missions, and I do not want to sound arrogant by not accepting those requests. Should I agree to associate with them?

This depends on your faith. Actually, if you have proper chastity to your guru, you will listen only to your Guru. This is the main point. Those who have chastity listen to what Gurudev says. Sometimes, other Gaudiya Maths may not like our Gurudev, somebody can be offensive to our Gurudev, offensive to Srila Sridhar Maharaj—we always avoid such association. We may sometimes show some formal respect to other Gaudiya Maths, but we do not associate with them. It is good to show respect, but do not become too close, or too attached, to them. It is necessary to understand this.

Besides, we have so many devotees of our own Mission—there are so many Spanish devotees, you can get good association from them. What is the problem? There are so many Spanish devotees all over the world—Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, etc. I think 80% of all devotees in our Mission are Spanish speaking. Do you not find anybody to associate with among them?

Srila Guru Maharaj used to say, "You cannot take one tree's bark and attach it to another tree..."

If somebody is an offender to the holy lotus feet of Gurudev, it is better not to associate with them. That is called chastity. Must I pay obeisance to those who kick my Guru on his head? If somebody comes and hits your father, will you pay obeisance to them? Tell me. Such is the rule.

[His Divine Grace explains the question and answer in Bengali.] What can I say? I do not like to say such things, but they ask me about it, so I must give an answer.

Question: When I read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, I cannot pronounce the Sanskrit verses properly. Is that very bad if I make mistakes?

What is the problem? The answer to this question is this. When Mahaprabhu went to Kurmaksetra in South India, He met there a brahman who was reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita and crying, but his pronunciation was not right—he read the slokas wrong, and everybody laughed at him. However, Mahaprabhu did not laugh—remaining serious, Mahaprabhu asked that brahman, "O brahman, what are you reading?" The brahman replied, "I am foolish, I do not know anything." Mahaprabhu asked again, "Then why are you crying?" The brahman explained, "I do not know what I am reading, but when I am reading, I can see Krishna driving Arjuna's chariot." Then, Mahaprabhu said, "Yes, you are the one who has the right to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita!"

So, proper or wrong pronunciation is not a question. You must have devotion, faith. Do you think we all have proper pronunciation? Those who have studied Sanskrit, who are big pandits, they can pronounce these verses properly, but we do not know anything about wrong or right pronunciation. Only Gurudev knows it...

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