QUALITY OF A PURE DEVOTEE

One quality of the pure devotee, exemplified in His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Thakur, is that he is without any
animosity. This is a special quality of all saintly persons. A saintly person is called a sadhu .Actually, sadhu is one who is searching for
eternity. In this age of hypocrisy, a person can easily achieve eternity easily by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra under the shelter of
an authorised lineage (parampara). One of our previous acharyas (teachers), Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur said that a real Vaisnava’s nature is that he is free from animosity and he respects all living beings, because they are tiny sparks of Krishna’s existence.

In this regard, I recall an incident that took place with Srila Gurudeva in Ambika, which is a historical place in Kalna (Bengal), 30 km away from Mayapur, Nadia. There are many temples dedicated to Gods and Goddesses in this area and it is inhabited by many orthodox
brahmins. It so happened that the king of Kalna gifted a temple called Ananta Vasudeva Srimandir to my spiritual master. Now,
according to our Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupada’s philosophy, a person eligible to be called brahmin is one who displays brahminical qualities through his behavior and not one who is merely born into the brahmin caste.

a person eligible to be called brahmin is one who displays brahminical qualities through his behavior and not one who is merely born into the brahmin caste

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada

My spiritual master is a firm follower of Srila Prabhupada. Therefore, his initiated disciples also received the sacred brahmincial thread, even if they were not born in brahmin families. When the caste brahmins in that area learned that Srila Gurudeva, the Acharya of Ananta Vasudeva temple, was practicing such activities, they became enraged. They came to confront him, bringing with them their most scholarly brahmin. Their intention was to challenge and refute Srila Prabhupada’s philosophy. For over an hour they angrily presented their arguments, quoting several Sanskrit texts from the Vedas, Puranas and from local books. All the while my spiritual master listened to their arguments
silently. When their arguments ceased, my spiritual master asked in his soft voice, “Now, is it possible for me to speak with you? I would
like to show you my Prabhupada’s points that negate all your present complaints.” Srila Gurudeva’s bed was surrounded by different scriptures. He instructed us to bring various books. One by one, he opened specific pages and requested them to read out from those books. Thus, Srila Gurudeva provided different authorised books as supporting evidence for Srila Prabhupada’s logic. Thereafter, they all became completely silent, offered prostrated
obeisances to Srila Gurudeva, and peacefully returned to their homes. This behavior of Srila Gurudeva is a perfect example in our lineage of being ‘without animosity’.

By HDG Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Goswami Maharaja