Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
Today is the auspicious occasion of appearance day of our beloved spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj. In Sri Sri RadhaNeel Madhav dham, Rajkot, devotees from many parts of the world gathered together. They rendered their heart-felt offerings, sharing many instances by which Maharaj had shown how to apply Bhagavatam in daily lives.
To begin with I shall attempt to share one of the memories shared by our Godbrother HG Devakinandan Prabhuji.
Many years ago, Maharaj happened to give Srimad Bhagavatam class in the house of a person who was a very good donor to one of the temples in United States. The temple devotee who introduced this person to Maharaj glorified the charitable nature of the host. As soon as Maharaj entered the host's house, Maharaj noticed that it was not clean. Although it was the first time that Maharaj is meeting that person and it was his first visit to that house, Maharaj openly fired that person in the class saying that he should keep the house clean. The temple devotee immediately decided that the host would no longer continue to be a donor. After the class was over, the host challenged Maharaj as to how in spite of being a saadhu, he can dare to chastise the host of the house.
And it is very interesting to note Maharaj's response for this. Maharaj said, "If I see a dead rat in your house, what do you expect me to do? Do I need to put perfume over it and sing its glories or do you want me to throw it out of the house? Just tell me what will you do if you are in my position?" Hearing Maharaj's fearless answer the host paid his obeisances to Maharaj and said, "Thank you very much".
So, Maharaj did not care about whether a person is a good donor or not. Whether a person is rich or poor, literate or illiterate - all such material designations were not important for Maharaj. Maharaj always insisted on internal and external cleanliness - and whenever there was a lack of it, he chastised openly and by his purity, he could make everyone understand the truth that "Cleanliness is Godliness". Krishna is 'param pavitram' and since Maharaj saw Krishna in everyone and everything, he was particular that be it temple or home, every place should be kept clean. Maharaj practised cleanliness and preached cleanliness.
Krishna willing we shall hear more nectar about Maharaj in the subsequent offerings.
Hare Krishna.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Sudarshana devi dasi.
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