Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Our biggest misfortune is we do not see Gurudeva as Guru, we see him mortal, human. This is the greatest obstacle in the path of bhajan. If we do not see him Guru, how we will serve him? Despite serving Gurudeva, in spite of being very near to him, one may fall down. Why? We see him as a mortal, by this, we go to hell. So first we need to know who is Guru, (Guru tattva). The way we worship Supreme Lord, in the same way, we have to worship Gurudeva. We are fortunate to have Guru non-different from Supreme Lord, we have to follow his instructions, imbibe his teachings. Srimad Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj had said when Tirtha Maharaj does kirtan, I feel as though Gaur Nitai dance in that kirtan. Also had said whom you see as Tirtha Maharaj I see him as Madhav Goswami Maharaj. He also said that our Gurudeva is tape recorder of Param Gurudeva. Why a tape recorder? Because he would note down and repeat the very words of his Gurudeva, even examples, illustrations and would not...

I had the good fortune to have the association of Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja. His spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja was kind enough to allow me to stay in his ashram in Kolkata. He personally 
put me in the care of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja while I was there. Later, His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja was made a trustee of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust. After his departure to the spiritual world, His Divine Grace Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja was kind enough to continue the role of being a trustee of the AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Trust. It was customary that he would speak some Harikatha on the occasion of our meeting of those meetings He would speak so that we would all be reminded of our primary purpose of Krishna Consciousness to serve the Pancha Tattva with words, thoughts, and deeds. From then on, year after year, I met with him to work out strategies on how to preserve the holy ...

His Holiness Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja,  I bow my head and prostrate my body at your lotus feet.  Upon being invited to share my heart on the holy occasion of your Vyasa Puja, I am grateful.
  I am remembering the precious times that we spent together, sometimes in the hills of Sri Brajabhumi or at other times in the hills of Marin County, California. Wherever in the world you are, you are ever absorbed in dispelling materialistic and impersonal misconceptions while sharing your heart's love for the divine service of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. We have all been blessed by your heartfelt humility, deep wisdom of the Bhakti Sastras, and profound compassion to all beings.  Your lifetime of loving service is a brilliant light that reveals, for people in this world of darkness, the infinite flow of grace that is forever descending from the hearts of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath and floods the world through the merciful Acaryas of our Gaudiya Parampa...

The main thing about my whole experience of Parikrama with Guru Maharaj was the very high intensity of Gurudeva while loudly chanting Sankirtan and the way he would explain everything in very simplified terms. All sorts of people used to come in Parikrama – people from North India, Mumbai, Bengal, Assam, South India; there were people who were well educated and qualified, people who were from rural village backgrounds, and old ladies. All kinds of people were there, but I felt all were feeling spontaneous attraction for Gurudeva equally, irrespective of their bodies and backgrounds. Guru Maharaj always said, "You are acting as a Guru because you are sitting in front of me, and that is forcing me to think about Mahaprabhu and speak. That is what my Guru Maharaj ordered, and you are facilitating that – this is Guru Karya. Guru Karya means the work of Guru which you are doing.” I also have heard on Ramnavami day that Guru Maharaj would say, "Shishyas also act as Guru, bec...

Our first parikrama of Sri Navadvip dham was beyond our imagination in essence and magnitude. Even without knowing the glories of Sri Dham, we had been blessed with the chance to be part of such great fortune only by the grace of our beloved Gurudeva! That year was also the occasion commemorating the Golden 50th Sannyas year of our beloved Gurudeva, and thousands of devotees performed aratika of our Gurudeva during that great event that took place on the 14th of March, 2011. 
On that blessed evening, I was one among many volunteers and we readied ghee lamps for all devotees to perform aratika of our Gurudev. We were instructed to stand at different places in the huge pandal with water-filled buckets so that after arotika, devotees could douse the lamps in the water so as to avoid any untoward accidental fire. 
Gurudeva had adorned the stage with acharyas from various maths, and keeping some hundreds of sannyasi disciples of Gurudeva in the front, thousands of devotees were on thei...

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)