Srila Gurudeva: If you are not hearing hari-katha, you will have so many doubts about your Guru. You will think, “My Gurudeva is not so powerful. I have been serving him from twenty years. I am doing arcana and so many things, but perhaps he is not a rasika Vaisnava. Perhaps he does not have the mood of the gopis. I should reject him and go to Radha-kunda.” So many anarthas will come and again you will become a rat. Do you know the story of the rat?
Devotee: One rat was being chased by a cat and he took shelter in the asrama of one rsi. That sage was very merciful to him and gave him the form of a cat. He changed his form by his mystic power.
Srila Gurudeva: A cat was pursuing the rat and wanted to eat that rat. So to save him, he...
Devotee: To save him, he transformed the rat into a cat. Then afterwards the cat was always being chased by a dog.
Srila Gurudeva: Then he became worried and went to the sage. That cat told the sage, “Please save me from the dogs.”
Devotee: Then the sage, by his mystic power, he transformed him into a dog. Then when he was a dog, he had another problem because he was being chased by a tiger. So being chased by the tiger, he was so afraid and he came back to the sage and said, “Please save me. I am always being chased by one tiger.” Then the sage, by his mystic power, transformed him into a tiger. Then that tiger, who was originally a rat, he began to look at the sage and think...
Srila Gurudeva: He wanted to attack that sage. He wanted to eat him.
Devotee: His mouth began to water and he thought, “Oh, I’d like to eat him now.” He was just about to attack the sage and then the sage said, “Again become a rat.” Then immediately this big tiger shrunk down and became a tiny rat again, so everything was lost.
Srila Gurudeva: So from where you had begun, from the grhastha asrama, having so much lust, committing so many offenses, being full of anarthas, again you will become a rat if you are not hearing this powerful hari-katha. What pastimes are these? If Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami used to meet, they would hear and talk to each other about these very powerful pastimes of Krsna. In these pastimes, these very beautiful, sweet pastimes of Krsna, there is also so much tattva-jnana; Krsna-tattva-jnana, maya-tattva-jnana, and all the processes of how to do bhajana, how Krsna can be controlled, and how we can have the service of Radha-Krsna conjugal. Everything will come. Also your chanting will be stronger. Your service to Gurudeva will be stronger. All your devotional activities will be stronger if you are hearing hari-katha.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on April 29th, 1998, France, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 27]
[If you like to order the books, visit our Lulu store: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/servelove or visit our Patreon to get digital copies: patreon.com/servelove]