Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I first met Srila Gurudev in January 2016. I decided to come to Kolkata to have darshan of Srila Gurudev during my first trip to India after hearing many stories about Him from Sri Bhakti Prasun Madhusudan Maharaj, who is the first sadhu I ever met about a year before that.  I remember that day when I first came to Kolkata math, I was very tired and I was not used to the austere facilities in the Math, so I was feeling a little disappointed and sad. I went to the balcony and started chanting. And suddenly, just out of nowhere, I got this warm soothing feeling that everything will be ok, that I am at home. I remember this feeling very distinctly— I am at home. That was before I even met Srila Gurudev.  At that time, I did not understand the immensity of Gurudeva’s personality (nor will I ever be able to understand completely), but somehow, by some good chance, I have decided to take Harinam from Gurudeva. No one has ever advised me to do so, I think everyone was a little surprise

I reflect on how the devotees and disciples of HDG Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvami Maharaj were united in Sankirtana of the holy names of the Lord and recitations of Lord's pastimes with His devotees from scriptures like Srimad Bhagavata Purana and Chaitanya Bhagavata etc. With intense devotion, crying out from their hearts and with intense love of their Gurudev, they are calling out to Lord Hari and the previous Acaryas through Kirtan and prayers. 
 Shri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math in Kolkata presided over by their Lordships Shri Shri Radha Nayana Nath jiu is verily non different from Shri Shrivas Angan wherein Shri Shri Gadadhara Gauranga preside over the late night's Sankirtana! 
 With pain in my heart, I am remembering those sweet moments I had with Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvami Maharaj and those divine darshans with him, his beautiful and timely instructions for me. Those darshans were kindly arranged by his disciples over the years. 
 Just as Shri Rupa Gosvami

I remember once when Gurudev went to Gopinath Gaudiya Math, he was reading a letter that Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj wrote to him before he came to the West. I went to the samadhi temple of Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj and remembering what Guru Maharaj said I felt he was alive to me.  This bonding I have got from Guru Maharaj.  I really like to sit in the samadhi mandir of Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj, I feel I really know him.  This bonding has come from Guru Maharaj only. I have never read their books.  I have heard from Bhakti Nandan Swami, how after Param Gurudev left, Guru Maharaj met with Srila Sridhar Maharaj. I have never met them, but I feel that, Guru Maharaj was bonding me with them. Once in 2010, in Kartik time, it was the disappearance day of Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj.  I offered the garland to Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj and then offered the prasadi garland to Guru Mahārāj. When I told Guru Maharaj, he immediately took it with a lot

By God’s grace, I was born in a family of devotees. My father was associated with Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya math in the 70's. After his marriage to my mother, she also came in the association of the devotees. I was exposed to Gaudiya Math from my birth time. It gives me immense pleasure to recall the memories of a program in Bathinda (Punjab) held in 1990’s at Thermal Colony. My father always told me: you just surrender yourself at the holy feet of Gurudeva and never ask or pray for materialistic things from Him. I tried to follow that, but as time passed, I got more attracted towards the materialistic world which is not good for Hari-bhajan. I would like to tell our godbrothers and sisters (especially the young age ones) that whenever we have a question in our mind, we should discuss this with the pure devotee rather than getting carried away in other directions. Guruji will always give an answer to our questions, in any form. Even today he is giving answers by different ways. I

Dear Vaishnavas of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Matha, Please accept our humble obeisances! All glories to Sri-Sri Guru and Gauranga! With deep grief the Vaishnavas of Russian ISKCON accepted the news about the departure of such a distinguished acharya, Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja. He was, by right, one of the most outstanding Vaishnavas among the second generation of the disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Together with the Vaishnavas of the Math, we are sad and thankful to God for the opportunity to get His endless mercy through the servants of His holy name. The Russian land once was blessed by the visit of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja who amazed everyone who was lucky to meet him by his humility, sincerity, and purity. His life and his departure once again remind us about the all-uniting nature of Lord Chaitanya's message, of how much today's materialistic society needs the knowledge about the Personality of Godhead, immortality of the

Dear Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj, All glories to His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaja, All glories to His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada, All glories to His Divine Grace Abhaya Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and all glories to your Divine Grace, We are deeply aggrieved to hear about your disappearance from this planet. Although most of us did not have the good fortune of meeting you personally, we heard from those that did, about your affectionate dealings and sincere support for the activities of our institution. Our spiritual master, Srila Abhaya Charanaravinda Bhaktivednta Swami Prabhupada, had a very close relationship with your Guru Maharaja and his godbrother, Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaja. He requested your Guru Maharaja to be a trustee of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust that was created to support the activities of different Gaudiya Vaishnava institutions. When your spiritual master

This year was the first time I attended Vyasa Puja without having any idea that this would be the last opportunity for this while Srila Gurudeva was still physically present with us here. On 93rd Vyasa Puja of Srila Gurudev, we stayed in Kolkata Math for one full week from 3rd April 2017 to 10th April. It was a very happy and joyous time with math buzzing with devotees. The Days filled with soulful kirtans by devotees and Harikathas from Guruvarga and was very memorable in the association of hundreds of god-brothers and god-sisters.  It was all by His blessings only that we had darshan of Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, got a chance to offers flowers and pranams at His Divine Lotus Feet, got charanamrta, and participated in  the grand celebrations that was observed in the Math and Uttama manch auditorium, heard glories of Gurudev to heart's content, also advice from guru-varga on sadhan-bhajan. Staying for 4-5 days after Vyasa Puja and taking Gurudev's darshan daily morning and ev

The following article is re-posted from  Mayapur.com : * Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj entered Nityalila on 21st April amidst 6 days long round the clock Sri Harinam Sankirtana, when His favorite bhajan, ‘Radha Kunda Tata Kunja Kutira" was being sung. Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj is a grand disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and disciple of His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaja, founder of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. He appeared on April 24,1924 at Amlapatti-Gwalpara, Assam, India, Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja joined the institution in 1947 after completing His Masters Degree in Philosophy at Calcutta University (India). He served the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math as its Secretary and took Sannyas in 1961. As per instructions of HH Jayapataka Swami, a full ceremony of honoring an Acarya was performed by ISKCON Mayapur. Maharaja was received with a big kirtan by devotees and special invocation