Guru Knows

There is a story about Sanatana Goswami’s servant. He asked Sanatana Goswami, “There is a party going on in the forest…there is a big festival. Could I go and participate?”

Sanatana Goswami said, “Festival?…in the middle of the night???…I don’t think you should go there.”

“No, no, no, they are having a good time….”

“All right if you want to go, what can I say? You go, but no eating whatever they give you. Whatever they give you to eat, you just wrap it up and bring it back here.”

So the devotee went to the festival in the forest and they sat him down, “Please take some food.”

They gave him some nice preparations…some rice and so many things, but he wrapped it all up in his cloth, didn’t take it, and he went back to the Ashrama and took rest.

Next morning, Srila Sanatana Goswami asked, “How was the festival?”

“Oh, it was quite interesting. Everyone was having a good time.”

“Did they give you anything to eat?”

He said, “Yes, but I didn’t eat it. I kept it in my cloth.”

“Bring your cloth. Let me see what they gave you. I am sure it has got some nice preparation.”

So he brought it and when they opened the pot, instead of all the nice delicacies he had seen the night before, there was bones, and rotten flesh, and pus and blood, stool and all kinds of horrible things.

“Oh, what is this?”

“Those were ghosts having a ghost festival. They had transformed all these horrible things to make it seem like nice things. If you had eaten…oof!”

Then when the servant realized that, he said, “Oh, how did you know?”

“Who has a festival in the middle of the night, in the middle of the forest?”

So the spiritual master could understand, but the disciple was still attached to some material things. Once he has the knowledge, “Oof! Look at this horrible stuff!” Then naturally you get some detachment.”