Gurudev's Insight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Disappearance festival of Srila Govinda Maharaj
Siliguri, 24 April 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

I have heard and learned a lot from Gurudev. Gurudev gave me so many instructions how to maintain the temple, and Gurudev is dur-darasi—he has a great foresight, he can foresee everything.

I remember how Gurudev managed *** Prabhu once. *** Prabhu had been living at the bottom of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's bhajan kutir, and the problem was that he was staying at the front of the temple and he would stand and pass urine in front of everybody. It does not look good. Gurudev told me, "You must remove him from there!" But how? I knew he would not leave his room because he had lived in that room for more than fifty years. So, Gurudev said, "Tell him you want to repair and make his room nice, then he will agree to move out." I did that, and started the repairs. Then, while I was repairing that room and putting marble on the floors, Gurudev called me from abroad saying, "You must close the bathroom in that room." How clever Gurudev is! I blocked the bathroom and made an office in that room. When the repairs were over, *** Prabhu wanted to come back to that room again, and I told him, "But how will you stay there? There is no bathroom in the room!" He did not come back to that room. This was the instruction of Gurudev. Gurudev always managed in this way—very tactfully.

Gurudev told me that after Srila Sridhar Maharaj disappeared, there were only two-three people in the temple who supported him—the others were all unhappy that Srila Sridhar Maharaj had made Gurudev the sevaite (the president) of the Mission. So, to manage the situation at the temple, Gurudev made one of the men who was against him the temple manager. As a result, that man got very happy and never again openly said or did anything against Gurudev (he may have been doing something behind Gurudev's back, but he never openly protested against Gurudev after that). The man is against Gurudev, but Gurudev made him the manager—you can see how Gurudev managed it!

Gurudev told me many things about the devotees, what relation they had with Srila Sridhar Maharaj, etc., and Gurudev taught me so many things—how to be humble, how to be tolerant, how to give honour to others. He taught me this in so many ways.

One time, I had arranged for nine or ten buses to go somewhere, but not all buses had come that morning, and everyone was waiting. I called the bus service, but they did not answer my calls. Then, I told one devotee from Venezuela who could drive a big bullet motorcycle to take me to the bus stand. On the way, that devotee ran over a goat with his motorcycle! The local people had got very angry, they started fighting, and I ran away not to get involved. Later, the man who was the temple manager at that time came and complained to Gurudev about this, and Gurudev said, "No, problem. How much do they want for the goat?" The man said, "They are asking for 250 rupees." Gurudev said, "OK, here, take 250."

Another time, some woman came and started shouting at Gurudev and chastising him so much. I could not stand hearing it—I took up a bamboo stick and hit the woman to make her stop, as a result of which her hand got broken. Gurudev sent her to hospital, and you can see how he managed it. That woman wanted to go to the police station to complain about Gurudev, but Gurudev arranged a car with a security guard and ordered to take that woman to Kolkata, leave her there and tell her to never come to the temple again. I sometimes see that lady in Vrindavan now—she has paralyses now. I saw her this time when I went to Vrindavan too—she was begging.

There are so many pastimes that happened with Gurudev and me, so many things happened...

One time *** came to Gurudev, but Gurudev was not happy with his mood, and when *** came to say something, Gurudev (I was sitting in front of him) quickly took up a newspaper, lifted it high cover his face and pretended he was busy reading it. Later, Gurudev told me, "Do you know why I did that? I know what he was coming to say—he was going to say something that I cannot tolerate hearing, so I better cover my face and not hear it at all."

Another time, Damodar Maharaj came to see Gurudev. Some brahmachari at Kaikhali temple served prasadam to Damodar Maharaj and gave him some patol (it was Chaturmasya time, Kartik month, when patol, a type of vegetable, should not be taken according to the strict rules). Damodar Maharaj got very upset, declared a hunger strike and came to Gurudev. When he came, Gurudev was resting, so Damodar Maharaj waited, waited, and waited. At 2:30 p.m. Gurudev woke up and somebody informed him that Damodar Maharaj had been there, waiting for him for more than two hours. Gurudev was surprised, "Two hours? Some problem must have happened." Then, Damodar Maharaj came in, and Gurudev asked him calmly, "What has happened, Maharaj?" Damodar Maharaj said, "Kick out that boy otherwise I will not return to the temple in Kaikhali!" Gurudev asked again, "What has happened, Maharaj?" Then, Damodar Maharaj explained, "He gave me patol!" Gurudev said, "What is the problem, Maharaj? You offer the bhog, prasadam comes, and he gave you patol. Do you eat patol?" Damodar Maharaj said, "No, no, I am not eating patol!" Gurudev said, "I also do not eat patol—I eat prasadam." Damodar Maharaj insisted, "No, you must kick him out!" Then, Gurudev explained to him, "Maharaj, there is only one brahmachari with you. Nobody can stay with you. I sent this one brahmachari to you, and even if he tortures you, even if he beats you, you must be tolerant. Nobody wants to stay with you, but that boy is still there. You know that if he leaves, you will have to cook, do puja, etc. Can you do that? I do not have a helicopter to come to Kaikhali, do puja, and come back here! Can you do puja and cook? If you can, then I can tell that boy to come here and stay with me. Do you want that?" Then Damodar Maharaj calmed down and said, "No, I cannot..." And Gurudev concluded, "So, you must tell me that he can stay there." After that, Gurudev gave Maharaj some good nourishment—gave him some sweet, some biscuit, a chocolate, and Damodar Maharaj left peacefully. This is how Gurudev managed him.

So many things happened. Gurudev could always understand who could stay at the temple and who could not. One time I brought somebody to Gurudev for taking initiation, but after that the boy left. Gurudev asked me, "Where is that new boy?" I told Gurudev that he had left. Then, Gurudev said, "You always like to make luchi fried in kerosine. I knew this boy would not stay at the temple, but you brought him to me for initiation, and now he has left. I know who can stay here and who cannot..."

I have also seen how much attachment Gurudev had to his Guru Maharaj and to the Deities. Some devotees gave money to Gurudev, and one time Gurudev got to know that his mother was buying keo-karpin oil, which is a little expensive oil. Gurudev chastised Dhananjay, his brother, so much. He swore him, "Your mother used to be a beggar working in other people's houses, but now she has become queen—she has come to the temple, stays in a good house, has two-three servants, and now she is using keo-karpin oil?! What is this?! This oil costs two hundred rupees! This is Deities' money, this is Guru Maharaj's money! If she does this again, she will have to go away from the temple!" Gurudev was very heavy about this.

Another time, one of Gurudev's nieces had been always disturbing me so much in my brahmachari days, and Gurudev knew about it. One day, Gurudev told his brother, "If you come here, you can come, but I will not allow your daughter to come here. She must never come to the temple again." She left at that time and never came for maybe ten years, only when Gurudev got very sick, in 2008-2009, she came again, otherwise she never showed her face at that temple. Gurudev was very heavy about this.

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