Father’s Mango Orchard

Śrīla Gurudeva told me about the time when he was a schoolboy and how he spent his time in the village. Beyond the village of Tiwaripur was a big village called Dalsāgara. Śrīla Gurudeva’s father had two orchards in between the two villages. One was a jackfruit orchard and the other had many varieties of mangoes. There were over 150 trees in the orchards. In the summer season, especially in June, at around midday, Śrīla Gurudeva would take a khatiā (khatiā is a type of bed made of a light wooden frame; the middle portion being covered by soft jute and special grass ropes) and carry it on his head to the mango garden. At that time the mangoes were ripe. Śrīla Gurudeva would do his reading, writing, and homework under the mango trees. Then, after he had completed everything, he would take enough mangoes to fill his stomach and head back home. I was curious to know as to why Śrīla Gurudeva used to go there during midday. Was he protecting the garden as a caretaker (chaukidāra)?

“No,” he said, “no need of a chaukidāra. My fathers and uncles were very liberal. Their philosophy was that whoever comes can have mangoes–no problem. Between my two villages, Tiwaripur and Dalsāgara, whoever came could take mangoes from there. No one would ever raise any objection.”

They had such a big garden that both villages were satisfied every year by their mangoes. even when the mangoes were green, they used to make pickle and send it to their friends and relatives. Whenever any villagers asked for the mangoes his father would comply. According to the old Indian tradition they didn’t want to sell anything but distributed to friends, family and neighbours.

Śrīla Gurudeva came from a family of many talents. His father was an enthusiastic wrestler and also very expert in music. His mother had a very sweet melodious voice and would sing and compose spontaneous poetry. She would often be called upon to recite poems at babies' first grain ceremonies, at name-giving ceremonies, sacred thread ceremonies (upanayan-saṃskāra) and marriage ceremonies.

Śrīla Gurudeva told us that his good qualities came from his mother just as Lord Kṛṣṇa’s beauty and complexion came from Mother Yaśodā.