Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once Srila Guru Maharaj addressed one brahmachari by name and asked him to sing a particular kirtan, but surprisingly that brahmachari sat quietly without doing what he asked. So I thought he did not hear Guruji’s instructions.   I took his name and told him, “Prabhuji Guru Maharaj is asking you to sing this particular kirtan.”    He murmured in anger that Maharaj does not think which kirtan to be sung in which place.   He started a kirtan of his own choice.   Then I told him, “Prabhuji, Maharaj has asked you to sing this particular kirtan.”   Then in great anger he said take this mike and you sing the kirtan.   I was dumb-struck and did not know what to do.    After some time, the same kirtan which he had not started, he sang.   Srila Guru Maharaj, in spite of seeing the whole happening, acted as though he did not hear or see anything and as if nothing has happened. He got immersed in singing the kirtan.   It came to my mind...

Once during Janmashtami I was in Kolkata. Like every year Param Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Sant Goswami Maharaj came to our math during the festival for prasad and for speaking Harikatha. Climbing the first flight of steps, he sat on the cot next to Param Pujyapad Trivikram Maharaj in his room adjacent to the office room. Pujyapad Janardhan Maharaj indicated to me to inform Guru Maharaj about his arrival. I ran and found Guru Maharaj in his room sitting on a chair and busy in his writing. When I whispered to him, he immediately got up leaving aside whatever he was doing and he told me, “If I do not haste now Srila Sant Maharaj will arrive here right away. I have to go to him.” With quick steps he climbed down the stairs and proceeded to Srila Sant Maharaj’s room. Guruji did shastanga dandavat pranams (prostrated obeisance) to him and stood with folded hands and in humble words spoke to him. He did not sit before him, he remained standing giving due respects to him. When Pujyapa...

When our mother was in the last stages of her life, the doctors in Ludhiana had suggested we cease treatment; there was no hope. We thought that now that Gurujī is in Ludhiana, it is good if we take her for his darśana and we took her in the van to the temple. When we went up and spoke to Guru Mahārāja about our mother, he asked, “Can I get darśana of Matajī?” We had brought our mother for Gurudeva’s darśana but when Gurujī spoke like this, I bowed my head down to his lotus feet seeing his humbleness. What more can be said about his compassion?  He came down from the top floor to the ground floor to give darśana to Matajī. He chanted Narasiṃha-mantra before her and gave tulasī leaf in her mouth and his blessings too. In this way I saw Gurujī’s boundless compassion and humility. —Puruṣottama Dāsa Sekhari, (Punjab) translated from Sri Krishna Chaitanya Sandesh, July-Oct, 1997

After his North American tour, Guruji returned to Delhi on the 16th of July. There was a grand welcome for him in a spacious well-decorated assembly. Delhi’s respectable personalities were invited amongst whom was Sri Satish Chandra Khandelwal MLA Delhi and respectable Sri Ramamurthi Chief Justice of High Court, Delhi. On the 23rd of July Guruji left New Delhi for Kolkata. Many devotees went to the Airport to see him off.  I also went. All devotees bade farewell to Guruji by Nama Sankirtan and then Guruji and one of his sevaks entered into the Entry gate. The flight was at 7 o’clock and Guruji entered at 6:10. By 6:30 half of the devotees left for math by their vehicles and half of the devotees remained there in case any service is needed before the flight takes off. Suddenly around 6:40,  I saw Guruji standing at the entry gate of the Airport and looking at us with affectionate eyes and with a smiling face. We all ran and did pranams to him. Guruji was looking at us, ble...

Suchitara told that she was once in the math with her mother. That time her exams were also going on. Guruji asked her if she would sit for Harikatha before he was about to start speaking. She replied telling him she needed to go home to study for her exam. Again, Guruji said, "You should sit for katha." So, then she and her mother both sat then. When they reached home, they saw that the neighbor's cylinder had exploded in a location that was attached to their own kitchen. They knew immediately that Guruji had been aware of this incident when he repeated for them to stay. They could understand that Guruji must have known and stopped them as a way of protecting them from injury. —Sakshi Ratna (sent on behalf of Suchitara Sengupta)