Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I never had any chance to interact directly with His Divine Grace because of His illness pastimes. But even then I consider myself a most fortunate disciple because of the firm faith I have that one of the reasons for his physical presence amongst us is to bestow his unparalleled mercy upon as many of the fallen souls as possible. I am writing this to express my heartfelt realizations since I have come in contact with His Divine Grace. I came in touch with Krishna consciousness through ISKCON around the year 2000 and I was also chanting 16 rounds on beads since 2008. But for one reason or the other, I did not get formally initiated. The prime reason for this was that I simply could not decide who had the qualification to become guru as this person was going to be responsible for taking me back to Godhead. Even though I had taken shelter of a sanyasi in ISKCON, but I could not make a decision to get initiated because of this dilemma. Then in 2013, my fortune arose when I was employed ...

Astonishingly, it so happens that His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Goswami Maharaj’s appearance day and disappearance day both occurred on the same Navami Tithi, namely the ninth day of lunar cycle. Srila Maharaj appeared exactly on Ram-Navami and the day of his disappearance occurred on Navami day, 6th of Vaishakh 1424 Bangavda (Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 10.15pm). Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita (SCC) is considered the most valuable scripture of the Gaudiya Vaishnava community and was written bySrila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, who is Kasturi Manjari in Goloka Vrindavan, serving Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, the Divine couple in their divine esoteric pastimes. In Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami alludes to the auspiciousness and importance of the appearance and disappearance of the Lord and the Vaishnavas in the following verse: iswarerjanma-tithiye henapavitra vaisnaverajanma-tithirseimatacharitra The divinity and purity attributed to the appear...

22 April 2017 My dear respected Sri Srimad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja. All glories to His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada Thakur. All glories to your spiritual uncle and my diksa guru His Divine Grace Abhayacaranaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. My good fortune was when I stayed at the Sree Caitanya Gaudiya Matha in Kolkata and you helped me adjust, finding me a sitting place based on my initiation date. You took me to meet Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja and he told you to take care of me. Since then in 1970, I was connected with you. Soon after that, I was given the sannyasa order by my diksa guru, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who in 1977, created the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust and in which your guru, His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja, was made one of the trustees. When His Divine Grace Bhakti ...

The following observations and divine incidents related to Srila Gurudeva's sickness pastimes in Guwahati, 2013 were noted by Prahlad Das and sent out to those on the mailing list. We have compiled them here: ---- atah sri krishna namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuratyadah The pastimes of Supreme Lord and His dear associates are beyond the comprehension of a material mind. But only to a surrendered soul performing loving devotional service, They are revealed. Pure devotees descend from the Lord's Abode by Their own will and perform many extraordinary and seemingly ordinary pastimes. In the course of their every activity,  they instruct and inspire the souls of the world diseased with material vanity to perform loving devotional service to the Supreme Lord. But by playing the special pastimes of sickness they intensify the mood of loving exchange of surrendered disciples. Srila Gurudev spoke volumes and enchanted many, especia...

To most sacred, most beloved, most adored His Divine Self Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja : 
 Oh Vaishnava Thakur, please do accept my repeated most humble loving obeisances unto Your lotus feet. Today I was asked by one of Your most worshipable disciples to honor You, to glorify You, but because I have no qualifications to do so, I will try my best to remember You through the times I have had the immense blessing of meeting You. This great privilege of being in Your presence was given to me as I recall, 7 times. What is most outstanding to me from those meetings is the joy, the bliss which would arise in our hearts simply by being in Your presence; the softness and gentleness that would arise in our hearts simply by Your presence. The sacredness that the places would immediately be imbibed with as they were blessed by Your footsteps—Your presence made that place become beautiful and a holy land. Flowers in quantity would appear, everything, all the arrangements w...

During the first Day of Hyderabad Math's Annual Function, Guruji and all other Maharajis came to the temple which was finely decorated and filled with devotees. It was just before his sickness pastimes. My mother who was then already initiated was present in the temple from morning time, serving Guruji and Their Lordships. My sisters and I went to school and came to the temple in the evening for Guruji's darshan, but we were late and were told that we could come the next day. My mother was visibly sad and started pleading Radhakant Prabhu to let us have darshan. He went and asked Guruji about it, and then Guruji being all-merciful told him to let us come in. As soon as he opened the door, my mother was happy and we entered the room. I saw him for the first time, blissfully sitting on the wooden chair, talking to someone else. We took his blessings, then prasad from His hands. He questioned us very sweetly about our whereabouts and then told me very distinctly and clearly: ...

We would like to mention a few devotees who have helped with designing and editing these: Vishakha Mataji (Bangalore), Rukmini Devi Dasi (USA), Haarati Mataji & Krishna Murti Prabhu (Malaysia), Sundar Gopal Prabhu (Kolkata), & Shivani Reddy (Hyderabad) as well as all the devotees who contributed their offerings. We also appreciate the guidance we received in this process from Prahlad Prabhu (Kolkata).

Now I am going to tell you about my condition when I first took shelter of the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva. I was staying with my brother-in-law who was an officer, and I used to go to Calcutta University for study. At my first meeting with Srila Gurudeva, I told him, "I have had an indifference to the world for a long time. I feel that the world is not eternal and that one day, my mother, father, brother, sister, and all others will be gone. All will be over. I become sad by thinking like this and feel like renouncing the world, yet I have lust and a desire to enjoy; therefore I am afraid of the thought of renouncing the world. If I somehow renounce the world but then have to return to it later, friends will make fun of me and people of this world will laugh at me. So now, please tell me, will it be good for me to renounce the material world or not?" In reply, Srila Gurudeva explained to me with great affection, "It is all right. You may lack something, but the Su...

It was with Gurudeva that I first had a very powerful experience of what sabda-brahma is. Although I did not have the fortune of participating in any of Gurudeva's kirtans, I got to hear him pray to Param-Gurudeva and our previous Acaryas in Param-Gurudeva's Bhajan kutir. His simple uttering of the names of Param-Gurudeva and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada in separation was the most powerful kirtan I have ever heard in my life, and I have been in many wonderful kirtans. I have read and heard from the Caitanya Caritamrta about the devotional ecstasies of Sri Gaurangadeva and his devotees, and Srila Gurudeva actually displayed these intense ecstasies of separation and captured my heart with his intense love for Param Gurudeva. Another interaction with Gurudeva that I cherish deeply in my heart is from when I had his darsana at the hospital in Guwahati. I was allowed to see Gurudeva face to face and, although his eyes were closed, he sent an overwhelming wave of a...