His Ecstasy After Harināma Initiation

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I heard a very heart-touching pastime of Śrīla Guru Mahārāja from Śrī Govinda Dāsa Prabhu, a disciple of Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāja, in August of 2012 at Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha in Kolkata. He recounted:

“My parents were both disciples of Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. One day, my mother told me about an amazing pastime of her godbrother, Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja, whom she held in great esteem. Knowing this story, we can have an idea of what a transcendental personality he is. This pastime also reveals what can happen if we receive the pure name from a pure devotee with full surrender and devotion. 

Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja took harināma initiation from Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Madhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja in 1948 in the Kolkata Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha. That time his name was Śrī Kāmākhyā Charana Guharay (Śrī Kṛṣṇa Ballabh Brahmacārī after mantra-dīkṣā.)

After hearing the mahāmantra from the divine lips of his Gurudeva in the Kolkata Maṭha, Śrī Kāmākhyā Charana entered a state of deep trance. For three continuous days, he didn’t sleep and was often unaware of his surroundings. At one point, his ecstasy was so intense that he just went and knocked on his Gurudeva’s door in the middle of the night at 1:30 AM! Śrīla Mādhava Mahārāja opened the door and let him inside. Seeing his beloved Gurudeva, Śrī Kāmākhyā Charana immediately fell on the floor, embraced his feet with both of his arms, and wept in a state of great ecstasy.”

When I heard this beautiful pastime from Govinda Dāsa Prabhu I was very touched, especially because it was my cherished sevā to serve Śrīla Guru Mahārāja when he daily worshiped the holy pādukas of his beloved Gurudeva. Despite his high age of almost ninety years, Guru Mahārāja continued to daily offer obeisances to the holy pādukas of Śrīla Param Gurudeva. These pādukas are kept right in front of his bhajan-kutira at the very same entrance where Śrīla Gurudeva embraced his Gurudeva’s lotus feet that night.

-Rādhāmādhava Dāsa






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