An excerpt from a lecture given by Srila Bhakti Vijnana
Bharati Gosvami Maharaji in Puri 2015.
"“There is this elderly grandmother who comes to the temple
everyday to hear hari katha. Her grandson would often request her to take him
to the temple as well. But she would not do so.
One day, the grandson was very persistent in wanting to go
to the temple with his grandmother. Finally, the grandmother relented.
When they were at the temple, the grandson heard the hari
katha about the glories of Ekadasi, and how it is important to observe Ekadasi
which is the very next day.
As soon as the grandson went home, he told his mother that
he will fast the next day. He only wanted some money to buy bananas and would
not take any grains.
When the mother heard this, she became furious and scolded
the grandmother for taking her son to the temple. She said that her son is very
young to be observing such fasts.
The grandmother soon called her grandson and told him, “My,
dear child. Whatever you have heard in the temple you should leave it there.
Look at me. I go there everyday but I don’t follow Ekadasi at home. So leave
everything you have heard at the temple. It is not necessary to follow all
these at home.”
So this is our situation. We hear hari katha from sadhus but
we don’t want to imbibe and follow what we hear in our life. We leave
everything as soon as we are out of the temple.
Only when we surrender, then, our real nature which Sri Guru and Vaishnavas want to give will develop.""
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