He Treats Those Who Act As Enemies as Though They Are His Friends

By
It is only the Lord who can give love and become friends with those who act like His enemies. Our position is we do not want to see even the face of those who become our enemies, we turn our face from them. This is the nature of the conditioned souls. Enmity takes birth from pride. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā māna-den; to give respect to enemies and become friends with them is very difficult.

When I was made the maṭh-in-charge at Mayapur maṭh, I asked Guruji some questions: how can I adjust with many sevaks who have different natures? A maṭh-in-charge is supposed to be inclusive of all the sevaks and carry out various sevas smoothly, but how is it possible? It is very difficult even in a household life to see adjustments between family members.

Guruji told me, "Your sacrifice should be a hundred percent, meaning even if someone grudges you, becomes your enemy, you should not have enmity towards him; your behavior should be like that of a friend. If someone is angry with you, your behavior with him should be such that his anger towards you is finished"

Our Guruji's nature was like this. So also our Param Gurudev's nature was such, he considered those his friends who behaved as his enemies. He addressed them as "my friends." There are many such instances regarding Param Gurudev. Only one who is able to make friends with his enemies can do real hari-bhajan, and this is impossible for us. Because of our pride, we make enemies and when pride is gone, friendship happens.  

Prahlad-charitra is most wonderful. He had no enemies, always had a quiet pleasing face (prasannavadana); never unhappy in spite of Hiranyakasipu's enmity and torments. We have seen many such instances in our Guruji's life when people had great enmity towards him and harassed him so much. But when they went before Guruji to offer praṇāms, he would give them such a genuinely sweet smile—no anger at all. They filed some court cases against Guruji and blasphemed him with very bad words before the judge, but Guruji bore it all quietly. The judge realized who the real sādhu was and who was of demoniac nature. 

After the hearings at the court, Guruji returned to the maṭh first. He peeped into the kitchen and called Gaur Gopal Prabhu, the bhaṇḍāri (kitchen-in-charge) next to him. He then informed him that [anonymous] Maharaj will be returning late to the maṭh so please reserve a plate of prasādam for him. This was one of his wonderful pastimes of adjustment.  

So, who can make adjustments with all? Only a sādhu.  He is ajātaśatru one who has no enemies. We never saw Guruji get angry at him; in fact, he was praising him calling him a scholar (pandit) and a preacher (pracharak).  He was exhibiting and well-established in the quality of āmānī mānadena, not expecting respect, but always giving respect to others. Even though the blasphemer continued with his blasphemy anywhere, any time, never once have we heard a word against him from our Guruji. And if at all he heard us speak anything, he would caution us against committing vaiṣṇava-nindā (offense of criticizing a vaiṣṇava). Such adjustment is not possible for all.  

When I was in Chakdah Guruji advised me, "You are not good at dealing with others. So, learn how to conduct yourself with others." Haridas Thakur knew that prostitute Lakshahira came with bad intentions, to defame him and malign him, but he did not treat her like an enemy but spoke to her like a friend, a well-wisher.  One who is established in bhagavat-tattva, harinama, and devotion to Hari can never engage in misconduct. When I asked Guruji how to adjust, he told me you have to sacrifice yourself a hundred percent. Guruji gave me such teaching. If anyone behaves like your enemy, your response to him should be like to a friend. If anyone criticizes you, then you should praise him.  Is this possible for us?  This is impossible for us. 

We have come here for bhajan, can we still say with all sincerity we have no animosity towards anyone?  As long as we have body consciousness with feelings of I and mine and strong pride, we can never have equal vision (samadarśī).  So, it is very difficult to find such a real saint, real sādhu, sad-guru, who has no enmity towards anyone and who is also well-established in harinama, and hari-bhajan qualifying them to function as maṭh-in-charge. So we are always in search of sad-guru.  If we are fortunate then we will for sure meet with sad-guru.  But if we are not fortunate, then even by thousands of efforts we will not find him, attain his darśan. So we see many people came in contact with Guruji and Param Gurudev, had their association, but how many took real shelter of their lotus feet?  When they are seen walking on the road how many can recognize them as sad-guru? To recognize a sad-guru is difficult. Tulasi das has said, "suta dara lakshmi papi ke bhi hoy, santa samagam hari katha tulasi durlabh hoye", i.e. even a sinner may possess these things (son, wife and wealth) but sad-sādhu and śuddha harikathā are very rare.

—Srila Bhakti Kushal Padmanabha Maharaj

June 20th, 2021, Chandigarh

Excerpt from a transcription-translation from Hindi to English




Comments

  1. КсюшаJuly 14, 2021 at 12:43 PM

    Jaya Gurudev!!! Thanks a lot for the wonderful description of Guruji's qualities.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

He Accepts Every Circumstance With Utmost Humility

By
Image
I heard something very deep and nice from a devotee that I met in Switzerland. He told me about how he had been staying at a temple there while Guru Mahārāja was visiting.  He said that the maṭha-in-charge expressed his desire that Gurudeva speak about Bhāgavatam. But then an order came that he was not allowed to speak there. In the room where the Bhāgavatam reading was, there was a young boy,. He was maybe only three months in the maṭha and recently came out of a completely material life, eating meat, smoking, etc. Anyway, he was the only one who had permission to speak about Bhāgavatam. And what did Guru Mahārāja do? He entered the room, bowed down to this boy and he sat in front of this boy and listened to his Bhāgavatam reading. This is his humbleness. This is always the way; they teach by example, not by punishing or whatever. When this maṭha-in-charge saw this whole situation, he decided in one moment to leave this institution forever. Although he left that organization, he did
Read more

"She Has Gone to Goloka-dhāma "

By
Image
Guru Mahārāja is not an ordinary person; he is sent by the Supreme Lord to rescue all of us. In the office, if we are working in one place, we may be deputed to another place to do some work. Similarly, Gurudeva has been deputed from Goloka-dhāma to help us. Guru Mahārāja has come here to fulfill the desire of Hari-Guru-Vaishnavas. In 1997, I received harināma in Gokula-Mahāvana along with my  dharmapatnī , my wife. Guru Mahārāja asked my wife, "If something bad has happened to you, how do you take this? As if Gurudeva is at fault, or as if other persons are at fault?” My wife replied, “Whatever happens, I think it is good for me, by your arrangement.” In 2013, my wife was detected with breast cancer, and later left this world. Some devotees came to the maṭha and gave the news to Gurudeva. Gurudeva replied, "She has gone to Goloka-dhāma." In the hospital, I remember when my wife was in the ICU, and the doctor came and told me, "Your wife is in the fina
Read more

The Greatness of His Simplicity

By
Image
When Guru Mahārāja visited Ukraine his programs were in a public place such as a camp near the Black Sea, like a tourist camp. So he had his own room there and after harikathā or before harikathā devotees could visit him and speak with him. Generally, it was very free, everyone could come and ask some questions and he was very happy to answer them.  My personal experience was that when I met Guru Mahārāja in his room, he was very open. I was shocked because after association with ISKCON devotees for a long time it was very difficult to meet some Guru or talk with him. It was like an audience with some Prime Minister or President, very difficult to get. But still, when we first entered Guru Mahārāja’s room I was surprised that such a great person was at the same time very humble and he asked us, "How can I serve you?" It was very very sincere, in a very simple way.  He replied to all the questions that we asked and we just talked. It was like a conversation with a family membe
Read more