Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Guru Mahārāja [Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja] did not leave us with his intentions written only in his heart. Already during his manifest pastimes, even two years before his disappearance, he declared and broadcast everywhere:  “If I die, or if for some reason any other difficulty occurs, Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Mahārāja shall sit in my position. I am seating him as my successor. No one can have any objection to this.” As Guru Mahārāja is antaryāmī (inward-knower), having received Prabhupāda's mercy, he also foresaw that in his absence, Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja would have no difficulty running the maṭha. For this reason, Guru Mahārāja declared Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja as the next Ācārya before his own departure. When our Gurudeva disappeared, dark clouds in the form of adversities or misunderstanding were cast over the maṭha, but the way that Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja has preserved Śrīla Guru Mahārāja’s vani (instructions) is beyond words. We have been with him and witnessed t...

I was once in Mumbai to attend Śrīla Guru Mahārāja's program. During one of His lectures, He summarized the jīvā 's defects in their practice of surrender and spoke: "Can we say with all our heart, Oh Gurudeva! I only want your service and nothing else? Oh Kṛṣṇa! I only desire your loving service and nothing else! If we say this from the core of our hearts, then we will immediately get the transcendental loving service of Śrīla Gurudeva and Kṛṣṇa." The reality is that we do not aspire to attain Lord Kṛṣṇa and His loving services from the core of our heart. Śrīla Guru Mahārāja explained that if someone only says by mouth that they love the Supreme Lord, it is not worth anything. Loving the Supreme Lord truly means not desiring anything with a materialist mentality. Śrīla Guru Mahārāja said that we must analyze our heart and see if it is truly not desiring anything of this material world. —Sundarānanda Dāsa

I heard this from Sri Bhakti Bhushan Bhagavat Maharaj, in-charge of Tezpur math. When Srila Tirtha Maharaj used to sit for taking prasad, he used to say while crying: "I am so fortunate that I got an opportunity to honor prasad." He used to be so immersed in prema that while having prasad, he used to eat the banana leaf plate as well on which prasadam was served. When Guruji came to know about this, he thought Tirtha Maharaj is "bhola nath" (naive) and thus he appointed a brahmachari to be with Srila Tirtha Maharaj while eating prasad to check that he does not eat banana leaf or else he may fall sick. —B P Mahavir Maharaj (Gurudeva's godbrother and sannyas disciple)

When Mahārāji came to Hawaii, his narasiṃhadeva-kirtanas had become popular and well-known. One time the devotees took him down to a beautiful place called Waipio Valley on the Big Island of Hawaii. To reach there, you have to go by a 4-wheel drive across streams pouring down from waterfalls and through thick tropical plants and trees. There is also a nice black sand beach in the valley. The devotees took Gurujī there.  The scene was perfect, but then some local residents came nearby and started cooking a barbecue. Gurujī started a rip-roaring (full of vigor) kirtana and shortly after that, a big raincloud came and completely poured down, extinguishing the fire of the persons who were cooking meat. After that, they simply went away.  —Suchandra Dāsī Srila Gurudeva in Hawaii with one very fortunate kitten