Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once I watched a daily online darshan of Gurudev. Everything was as usual—the devotees sang kirtan, and Gurudev was in His room behind a glass door. My heart was very sad by the fact that for a long time it is impossible for me to come to the Math and meet Gurudev and the devotees. Then Gurudev gave me special darshan. He seemed to have changed my angle of view, and I began to perceive reality differently. Gurudev was majestically sitting in His chair behind the glass door, and all the devotees sitting in the outside facing room reflected in the glass door. The reflection showed that they were all inside Gurudev. Then new devotees came, sat down, and also reflected and appeared inside Gurudev. The devotees kept increasing, but they all fit inside Gurudev. Immediately I got the idea, Gurudev, you yourself are Narayana! I just marveled at what is happening. At the end of darshan, I mentally asked Gurudev, where is Krishna? And I did not have to wait for an answer for a long tim

Gurudev used to come out in Goalpara and give darshan. He used to sometimes close his eyes when the parikrama was happening, but when he faced the sun, his eyes were open. Prahlad Prabhu gave one saying: "the sun is seeing another sun." All the devotees got this darshan. He was blessing all of us. If you have a sincere desire, and you are putting efforts, then Gurudev will immediately respond. Somehow or other he will respond. In 2011, I was in Mayapur. Then I came to Kolkata. Gurudev used to come to the library to do his Tulasi puja. I came and he also told me, "Oh, abh bhi ageya?" This means, Oh, you have come? It was very touching. As if to tell us, oh you don't worry. Just put your sincere efforts, I will take care of everything. —Purushottam Das (Pravin)

I used to prepare food for Gurudev. So I prepared 2-3 dishes and 2 dishes from Thakurji’s bhog and arranged nicely on a silver plate with small bowls. When I learned how to serve, part of that was to learn how to arrange Thakurji's plate properly—left side some bitter thing, then dal, some sabjis, then dry sabji direct in the plate, salt, lemon, chili—all things to be arranged nicely. I prepared bitter gourd, cucumber, and one leafy vegetable. We prepare according to Guruji’s health requirements. Guruji had some sugar issues, so we give bitter gourd also. I tasted it a bit for salt and found it good. Then I prepared green papaya, cutting it nicely and seasoned with cumin and other spices, and in the end adding some ginger also to give fragrance. I arranged it nicely in Guruji’s plate. whenever I came with plate I had told Guruji he had to leave his writing and get up—otherwise, the food would get cold and not taste good. When I went in with the plate, Guruji was dictatin

In the earlier days, Guruji used to come to Dehra Dun twice a year. He would say, "Gangasagar ek baar, Dehra Dun baar baar." It meant that we go to Gangasagar once and to Dehra Dun repeatedly, twice a year— once in Summer and once during winter. It was rare for him to any other math twice, but he went to Dehra Dun because lot of his god-brothers are there and he liked to meet them. At that time, there were not many facilities in the math. They used to get supply tankers for water and it would come late at night. Now it is Gurudev’s mercy that water facility is good but at that time it was like that. One time during the night, at about 2 AM, Guru Maharaj saw that water had come. He wrapped a gamcha (towel) around his waist, and did not wear his khadao (wooden slippers) because they were noisy and he wanted to go quietly. He wanted the devotees to get nice rest without disturbance. He cleaned each of the pots one at a time and without making any noise. He was very care

I have seen that many times devotees offer pranami (donation) in hundreds or thousands. In Assam, I have seen poor devotees offering gamcha/dhoti (towel) and one rupee along with it. Guruji first used to touch that one rupee coin on his forehead, then used to say that these devotees are poor and have chosen to give that to me on which their children has the right. He does not see the amount but he sees the mood of the devotee. Where will we find such a Vaishnava who looks at the bhava (degree of devotion) of the devotee and not at the amount! —Krishnanand Das, Punjab

One time I was going back to Pune from Kolkata. Radhika was also leaving Kolkata, and both of us got darsan of Guru Maharaj the night before we were supposed to leave. We got 5-10 minutes to speak with him. When we went together, Guru Maharaj got a very big smile. He thought both of us were going together. He asked if we had money. I told Guru Maharaj that I was going to Pune, and Radhika was going to China. Immediately Guru Maharaj had the face of worry and said, “Oh, you are going alone? You are going such a long way alone? It would be good if there was someone to go with you.” At that time, Nand dulal Prabhu, my husband, was not there with me. I heard many times that Guru Maharaj has so much affection for many devotees, but this was the first time I experienced it directly myself. Sandeep Prabhu was in the room at the time and told Guru Maharaj not to worry, that he could go with me to Pune. Guru Maharaj seemed relieved and agreed. There was another time that Nand dulal Prabh

When I first heard of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj, it was in 1997 or 98. We were waiting at the university in Hilo (Hawaii) for him to arrive. When his car arrived, I could see that there was a bright glow from within the car. When the door opened and he emerged from the car, he was so bright and effulgent, and in my mind I thought, Oh My God, this is a pure devotee! We dropped to the cement to pay our obeisances. He was strict and didn't let ladies touch his feet, though. The first time he came to Big Island Hawaii, we did Rathayatra in downtown Hilo that year, and he danced the whole way! Unlike all the devotees, he did not wear shoes, out of respect for Lord Jagannath, even though the ground was hot pavement. Later on, Guruji came to our house which was partially built. He said the house reminded him of Kolkata. He sat down in our temple room and he corrected our altar arrangement and made us arrange the Deities and Guru Parampara properly. All the devotees were sitti