Countless Examples of His Affection and Mercy
When Gurudev went to the bhajan kutir of Param Gurudev in Kolkata I heard him cry so tenderly; you can see and hear that this is not a fake thing, it’s real. He cries deep from within his heart. In the same way, we have to get to this platform somehow or another. If we have not reached here, we think we can't have this kind of mentality for devotion, but Gurudev said many times without this it is “zero, zero, zero." We have to understand this and we must reach that point in our sadhana. That is an important message to get.
One of the first times I visited Gurudev in Kolkata, around 2006, I had contacted his sevaks in advance to get his eyeglass prescription. My father is an Optometrist and was able to prescribe, so I asked him to please make one pair of spectacles for Gurudev. He did it happily. I brought these particular spectacles to him and when I entered the math. When I entered the math, Gurudev was speaking on the vyasasan and I gave the spectacles to him. He put them on immediately. Small little things are all good sukriti. I am blessed by that to have been able to offer him some services like this.
On that same visit, shortly after that, I told him flatly told him that I don’t travel to India often, and when I do I like to visit Mayapur dham, particularly I’d like to visit the samadhi of another siksa guru, Srila Bhakti Kusum Sraman Maharaj who had passed away fifteen years before. Although he didn’t respond immediately, I came to know the night before that he had organized something already. The next thing I knew, he said you can go— use the car. I'm not sure if it was his personal car or what. He asked a devotee to accompany me to Mayapur for a day trip. It was so kind of him. He organized everything himself.
So I was very happy of course and we went to Mayapur I visited the samadhi of Srila Bhakti Kusum Sraman Goswami Maharaj at Sri Chaitanya math, where he had been the acharya. Later on, at lunchtime, they rushed me. I was late and didn’t realize my poor etiquette in being late for taking prasad as I was a foreigner. When I arrived there, I saw 2-3 senior devotees sitting down with leaf plates waiting before they started eating. I felt so embarrassed because I saw that as soon as I went there, they ate. I thought what kind of respect is this? I don’t deserve them doing that. Although I didn’t know their names, I could understand that they are very senior devotees. I came to know that they will come with me back to Kolkata in the car as Gurudev had arranged it like this. Out of respect, I asked the car to stop and offered them mineral water. Later on, I realized the devotee sitting beside me was Srila Bhakti Sharan Trivikram Maharaj, a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur—so senior, but I had no idea! I am so happy I was able to do any little service.
Whenever I was in Kolkata math, Srila Gurudev personally organized a room for me and gave me what was probably one of the best rooms. I know that because when I was there, Srila Bhakti Kumud Sant Goswami Maharaj, one of the first sanyasi disciples of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur came to deliver Harikatha one day and I was asked to vacate the room I was in so that he could take rest. I was fortunate to have had a little communication with him; to see and speak to him. This is another of Srila Gurudev’s blessings on me.
There was another senior godbrother of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj whose name was Nritya Gopal, dancing Gopal. He confided in me at times and told me that of all my experiences in devotional life, the final most important thing is seva. This is higher than anything else. There are a lot of devotees I know who say they want to taste Krishna-prem. That is alright but better than that is seva. This is an important thing to meditate on, and it took me some years to appreciate it. Seva is more important.
Gurudev is not an ordinary person. In all the many years I’ve been involved with Krishna Consciousness, close to 50 years, I’ve seen much, but I understand he is not ordinary. Without his blessing, I know for a fact that it would not have been possible for me to understand all these trivial things. It's like every time you read Shastras something new is coming, always fresh. In the same way, all these small remembrances of Gurudev bring back good instructions. You can try to understand it intellectually, but at the end of the day, the example is what counts. He reminds us many times that example is better than precept. In this way, I pay my obeisances to Srila Gurudev because he is giving examples and telling the world that it is even better than the precepts behind it. There is no end to it. Whatever intelligence you have, you have to come to the point where you say that’s it, no more. Mental capacity is limited. You have to accept your limitation and offer all of that to Krishna and Gurudev, telling them my mental capacity is limited, so please let me understand and engage in proper seva for you. I am indebted to Srila Gurudev. I can never repay him.
Whenever I was in Kolkata math, Srila Gurudev personally organized a room for me and gave me what was probably one of the best rooms. I know that because when I was there, Srila Bhakti Kumud Sant Goswami Maharaj, one of the first sanyasi disciples of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur came to deliver Harikatha one day and I was asked to vacate the room I was in so that he could take rest. I was fortunate to have had a little communication with him; to see and speak to him. This is another of Srila Gurudev’s blessings on me.
There was another senior godbrother of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj whose name was Nritya Gopal, dancing Gopal. He confided in me at times and told me that of all my experiences in devotional life, the final most important thing is seva. This is higher than anything else. There are a lot of devotees I know who say they want to taste Krishna-prem. That is alright but better than that is seva. This is an important thing to meditate on, and it took me some years to appreciate it. Seva is more important.
Gurudev is not an ordinary person. In all the many years I’ve been involved with Krishna Consciousness, close to 50 years, I’ve seen much, but I understand he is not ordinary. Without his blessing, I know for a fact that it would not have been possible for me to understand all these trivial things. It's like every time you read Shastras something new is coming, always fresh. In the same way, all these small remembrances of Gurudev bring back good instructions. You can try to understand it intellectually, but at the end of the day, the example is what counts. He reminds us many times that example is better than precept. In this way, I pay my obeisances to Srila Gurudev because he is giving examples and telling the world that it is even better than the precepts behind it. There is no end to it. Whatever intelligence you have, you have to come to the point where you say that’s it, no more. Mental capacity is limited. You have to accept your limitation and offer all of that to Krishna and Gurudev, telling them my mental capacity is limited, so please let me understand and engage in proper seva for you. I am indebted to Srila Gurudev. I can never repay him.
—Vidyapati Das
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