His Powerful Kīrtana Attracts the Attention of Police
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 his sannyās daṇḍa and a group of devotees. At that time, the space capacity of our center could only accommodate about fifty devotees. The temple room was full.
One devotee came whom we had not seen for a long time. He was a disciple Śrīla Svāmī Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda. He said that when Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja entered the temple with his daṇḍa, he was thinking that [Bhaktivedānta Svāmī] Prabhupāda is coming. It was such an incredible atmosphere, I cannot put it into words. He made a huge impression.
Śrīla Bhakti Sundara Sādhu Mahārāja was also new at this time and when he came and met this pure devotee, he later joined. As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said, darśane pavitra koro-ei tomāra guṇ. If you meet with a pure devotee, that is the highest purification. You can take baths in the Ganga many times, but at the sight of a pure devotee, you will be completely mesmerized.
After speaking hari-kathā, Mahārāja was doing kīrtana. It was in a house with four floors upstairs. The kīrtana was so powerful and people were shocked but nobody dared to interfere. But the police came the next day and asked what was going on. When he sang Jai Dau and Sri Narasiṃha Jai Narasiṃha all the devotees were dancing, chanting, and jumping. That kīrtana was amazing. He came again one or two years later after being in Italy. That time Gokulānanda Prabhu had the programs here. It was very sweet.
His teaching is amazing. His books and his way of speaking is very clear and very powerful and completely astonishing. So we are really completely obliged and indebted to his grace. He gave so much mercy to us. When he was in his old age, our very sweet Mahārāja was traveling to America, Singapore, and many other places. In India, we also saw him on one occasion during a huge celebration [50th anniversary of sannyās]. He went by car to the Yogapīṭha mandira accompanied by one hundred and eight mrdangas. They stopped at our temple in Māyāpura next to ISKCON. Thousands of devotees were in attendance and it was a big sound. I remember Bindu Mādhava playing huge wompers next to us and it was simply wonderful. When the car stopped, we paid obeisances to him and he was shining inside the car. Although he was chronologically an old man, it appeared as though he was a young boy sitting inside and it was very blissful. I cannot forget such moments and such darśanas. Although it was more than twenty years back, I cannot forget it. It was amazing.
Mahāprabhu sent His soldiers to this world to inspire us, to help us develop our kṛṣṇa-bhakti and become eligible to offer devotion to the Lord and to make our life successful by developing a pure character to help others according to our capacity. A devotee cannot live just for himself. He must help others. They do not feel their own suffering, they will tolerate it. They do not care about their own suffering, but they cannot tolerate the suffering of others. I saw this very clearly in Mahārāja's personality and how sincerely he felt that. He was outstanding and incomparable. There are no words. One small tongue has no capacity to sing the glories of these great souls. It is not possible.
Fortunately, we have their recordings and their books. They are living in their books. Of course, they are always present. Everyday we speak their praṇāma-mantra and never forget them. So that is their greatness, their kindness, and their lovingness. This is what the world needs. These kind of devotees can inspire others. Those who become devotees help others. We are thankful to them every day. When we pay obeisances in front of the Deities, Gurudeva, and Mahārāja, what do we think in our mind? We can be thankful to God every moment that He gives us a wonderful life to understand.
—Śrī Bhakti Cakora Narasiṃha Mahārāja, disciple of Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāja
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