Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Guru is one who chases away darkness and brings light. Like many devotees, the first thought that comes when I remember Śrīla Guru Mahārāja is his kīrtana .  I think it was in 1999 that Śrīla Mahārāja came for the first time in France. Thanks to Bindu Mādhava Prabhu and Śrīla Mahārāja’s associates, we were so fortunate. We are actually extremely fortunate that Śrīla Mahārāja came to South France to a place called Monto in Viśvaṃbhara Prabhu’s home. We had actually no idea of what to expect at all. At that time, I was about eighteen years old and we were maybe four or five men devotees living peacefully in that house. We enjoyed singing bhajans together and appreciated each other’s association.  Luckily Śrīla Mahārāja arrived and I can say now that it was a major turning point in my life. Although I was born in a Vaiṣṇava family and grew up in a Vaiṣṇava environment, I was young at that time and when people would say "Oh, yes, Mūrti does good kīrtana , he plays nice mṛdaṅga "

Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja came four times to Austria. I could not meet him in 1998 because I was traveling with ISKCON. But in 1999, he came to our place in Vienna. I met Mahārāja the evening before we first opened our Gauḍīya maṭha center here in Vienna. I had met my friend Pārthasārathi Muni Gosvāmī Mahārāja and went to one āśrama of the devotee named Gaura Kiśora Dāsa and Mahārāja had arrived from France with Bindu Mādhava Prabhu, Bhakti Vicāra Viṣṇu Mahārāja (who was then a brahmacārī ,) Śrīkānta Prabhu (who is also sannyāsī now) and one elder professor. They held programs there with powerful kīrtanas and hari-kathā .  At the conclusion, Muni Mahārāja and I sat together on the floor in front of Mahārāja. He was very beautiful, loving, friendly, personal, and giving. He gave us fruit prasādam with his own hand. We invited him to come to our center. He was very happy and said yes. That time we were in the Hare Krishna ISKCON Center. He came the next day with hi

My name is Bhakta Dāsa. I joined Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda in 1969 in California and he named me, saying "Your name is Bhakta Dāsa." It means you are the servant of devotees. The more you become a servant of the devotees, the more you advance in spiritual life and the more you think of becoming the master the more you go to hell. So in an attempt to take that order seriously, my life has been spent seeking the association and the opportunity to serve the Vaiṣṇavas and by the mercy of Mahāprabhu and of the Vaiṣṇavas. Approximately two years before Śrīla Gurudeva had his stroke pastime (I believe it was the day after Gaura-pūrṇimā)  I was blessed to go into his bhajana kuṭira in Mayapur along with Śrīla Bhakti Vicara Viṣṇu Mahārāja who is a disciple of Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Mahārāja and my very dear friend. It was only the two of us and Gurudeva in the room. I remember offering my obeisances and speaking to him only for a few minutes but very intimately.  He to