His Face Remains Adorned with That All-Familiar Smile

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Several years ago, Guru Mahārāj was traveling to Bhatinda from New Delhi for a religious assembly. The train that was scheduled to reach Bhatinda at 7pm reached at about 1am; it was late by 6 hours. It was double the discomfort due to the delay in the train’s start time in Delhi and later reaching so late in the night. I saw that the whole preaching party was disturbed due to hunger and tiredness and troubles along the way. Yet Gurujī’s face was adorned with that all-familiar smile. 

Reaching Kundanlal Dharmashala, all were anxious to unwind and rest in their allotted places. Many did not even have prasād and went straight to rest. Inadvertently we had committed a great mistake as the prasād was oily, spicy, and rich food. The usual vegetables that were prepared for Gurujī such as papaya, raw banana, and cucumber were not available; nor were raw vegetables kept available in stock. 

When Gurujī’s sevāk came to fetch prasād to offer to Gurujī, there was nothing available or suitable other than plain rice. It was so late at night that nothing could be made ready at that hour. Śrīpād Śacīnandana Prabhu got very angry with us, which was very appropriate. His shouts upon us had reached the ears of Guru Mahārāj who was in his room on the first floor. 

When Śacīnandana Prabhu entered Guru Mahārāj’s room, Guru Mahārāj told him, "If nothing is prepared it is ok, but why do you unnecessarily bother the household devotees? If nothing is there, bring some salt along with rice." I was there hearing this and I was shocked. Not a trace of anger was seen in him; he was very peaceful. This was not just once—in many such untoward circumstances I have seen Gurujī remain calm and composed. 

In Barsana, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj first performs circumambulation of Gahvar Van and later via the Mor Kuti path enters the main temple of Śrījī (Rādhārāṇī) through back door. Just as he entered the temple through the back door, the pāṇḍās surrounded Gurudeva and started demanding money. The pāṇḍās outnumbered us and there was much chaos with pushing and pulling. 

Through all this, the skin of Gurujī's hands got scratched and peeled by the nails of pāṇḍās and it started to bleed. In spite of this, Gurujī kept quiet and covered his bleeding hand with his upper cloth. Furthermore, he told us not to entertain any ill feelings against those pāṇḍās. His wonderful vision was that they are all vraja-vasis.

—Śrī Kṛṣṇānanda Dasadhikāri

Translated from Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Sandesh July-Oct, 1997 (Year 17, Issue No.4, Page 27-39) 




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