SP's speech from 1956

[Guest guest]

The above discourse was delivered on the Guru Puja day of Sreela Bhakti

Siddhanta Saraswati Maharaja - Delhi, Friday 16th March 1956 - by A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja

 

 

Very Poor In Their Vision

--------------------

A 'Sadhu' has to be

recognized by the ear and not by the eyes.

Chemical-Sadhu, magician-Sadhu, astrologer-Sadhu,

smoker-Sadhu, beggar-Sadhu, mystic-Sadhu,

worker-Sadhu, nurse-Sadhu, physician-Sadhu,

politician-Sadhu and many other types of Sadhus

which are generally met with by persons who do not

hear the Sadhu and sees them only, they are not

'Sadhus' in terms of the revealed scriptures. They

are called 'Veshopajibi' or one who profanes the

dignity of Sadhu. Shreepad Sankaracharya predicted

that for the matter of solving the problem of bread

many unscrupulous persons will take to the red

garments.

 

Clever minded materialists go to the so-called

'Sadhus' for getting information of manufacturing

gold out of copper, for a cure of some disease, for

becoming victorious in one's notorious acts, for

astrological directions, for learning the art of

smoking Ganja and many more things. When they are

baffled and cheated by such so-called Sadhus, they

become a Sadhu-hater and make counter propaganda

against the Sadhus . Because these materialists do

not know what sort of 'Sadhu' they should approach,

most of them are cheated by the above mentioned

different groups of so called Sadhus.

 

A Sadhu's main business is to rouse up the potent

divine consciousness of human being. The

householders are generally very poor in their vision

of life. People in general do understand that

civilization means a polished way of animal life.

The animals eat what is fixed up by nature as its

food but a civilized man eats not only what is fixed

up by nature for him but also many other things

which are outside the alotment by nature of his

eatables. In other words a civilized person

mishandles the problem of eating etc. and yet he

calls himself something more than the animal. This

is a disease of the civilized man. Not only in this

but also in other affairs also, the narrow-minded

householder encumbers his precious life in many

other ways and therefore a Sadhu's business is,

because he is kind to all, to awaken him to his

rightful position. A Sadhu sometimes accepts the

position of a mendicant because in that dress he can

easily introduce himself to the householders.

Formerly the people would respectfully receive a

mendicant and a Sadhu because they knew that they

would be benefited by the association of such

qualified Sadhu. And the Sadhu also being kind to

all would disseminate the knowledge transcendental

to all the householders. And for the bare

necessities of life, they would certainly beg.

 

The typical Sadhu was Lord Chaitanya. Once upon a

time while He was passing on His way back from

Brindaban, He fell unconscious in His mode of

transcendental ecstasy. His associates were

attending Him and chanting the holy name of God. At

that time some soldiers of the Moghul Emperor were

passing through the place and they arrested the

associates of the Lord thinking that they might have

poisoned the Sadhu to rob him of his belongings. The

associates argued that the matter was different and

all of them waited till the Lord got His

consciousness. When the Lord came to his senses He

was asked by the soldiers if He had lost anything of

his personal possessions. The Lord replied that He

was a mendicant beggar. He had nothing to lose

because He did not possess anything except His loin

cloth.

 

But nowadays the so-called Sadhus do possess more

than a householder can do. Some of them do possess

enormous landed property and do money lending

business also. People flock to these "Veshapojitbi'

Sadhu captivated by his opulence and such Sadhus

cheat the public by some magical feats, as chemical

Sadhu, physician Sadhu, astrologer Sadhu and so on.

I know personally a so called Sadhu who used to show

magic to villagers by two chemical solutions of acid

and alkali to make a show how his 'Charnamitra'

immediately acts. All these are not Sadhus.

 

The Sadhu is a pure devotee of the Lord and he may

not be a mendicant by dress. He knows the Supreme

Truth scientifically. And he disseminates this

transcendental knowledge to all out of his causeless

mercy upon them. People must patiently hear what a

Sadhu speaks about God and not see him outwardly.

One who is faithless in the Person of God cannot be

a Sadhu.

 

The above discourse was delivered on the Guru Puja

day of Sreela Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Maharaja -

Delhi, Friday 16th March 1956 - by A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja

 

I bow my head at the feet of A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Swami Maharaja who has enlivened many Sadhus and who

has shown by example how to get up with enthusiasm

and share pure devotion fearlessly to the world.

 

Submitted for the pleasure of all vaisnavas - by

Arijit das