He Leaves All Other Work to Care for Devotees

By
In 1962 I had my first darshan of Maharaj.  I got the chance to associate with him for a longer period when I was sent by Guruji (Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaj) to Jagannath Puri along with him. That was the time when Maharaj was engaged in the service of recovering the birthplace of Prabhupad at Puri.  At that time we stayed together.  

 Maharaj was attending to all outside work and I looked after all inside work.  Once while working I got a big blow on my head when I accidentally hit a cupboard.  When he came to know this, Maharaj left all his other work and engaged himself in serving me.  By his own hands, he applied medicine on my head and took me to the doctor.  Seeing Maharaj’s service mood I was surprised.  Even to this day, I am unable to forget this kind act which he extended even when I am very junior to him.

 In Puri when we were staying in one ashram I saw that Maharaj was busy always in seva.  I remember that time Guru Maharaj gave me a letter where it was written, “Gauranga Prasad" you always stay along with Tirtha Maharaj.  I and Gaudiya Math have given him great responsibility. You never leave him alone.  There are many enemies.  Anytime anything they may do.”  These words of Guruji are still fresh in my memory.  To follow Guruji’s orders, I always remain with him.

 —Pujyapad Sri Bhakti Saurabh Acharya Maharaj

Translated from Chaitanya Sandesh  July-Oct, 1997  (Year 17, Issue No.4, Page 10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trusting in Sri Guru's Protection

By
Image
After I joined math, I got a letter from my father. I asked Guru Maharaj if I can reply. He said, "No. If you reply, you will go home. You will not be able to stay in Math." My heart was floundering. After a few days, I got another letter. My mind got disturbed. I went to Guru Maharaj. He said, "I told you already if you reply, you will not be able to stay here." Some days later, about 32 - 34 persons from my village came there to Hazra Road (Kolkata) in search of me. I was sent by Guru Maharaj to another place. I did not understand the reason at the time. They searched for me, there but did not find me. They made all the arrangements for my marriage. They wanted to take me and get married. Guruji asked one devotee to take me to the station. I was surprised why Guruji wanted me to go all of a sudden. If those persons had seen me, it would have been difficult for me. —Gurudeva's words translated by Prahlad Das (2010)                ...
Read more

His Divine Presence Transforms a Hospital Into a Tīrtha

By
Image
We received the message that Gurudeva is performing the pastimes of illness and whoever wants darśana should go to Guwahati. I was in the office then. The next day six of us traveled by flight from Pune to Guwahati. In the afternoon we arrived in Guwahati and went straight to the hospital (GNRC). We had darśana of Gurudeva from very far as he lay inside the room. That time he was fully unconscious. We had gotten a message from the sevāk team that the situation was very serious.   Gurudeva was on the fourth floor initially. We came back and there was a hall nearby the hospital where devotees would just sit and have conversation. The only topic of conversation was centered around Gurudeva. Everyone's attention was on the floor where Gurudeva was—that was the point from where the soul of that environment existed, the soul of the hospital. There was not even a single time I felt that I am visiting a hospital. It was an environment like the maṭha. Everybody was concerned about Gurudeva...
Read more

The Strength Behind His Hari-kathā Remains Steady Regardless of Circumstance

By
Image
Regardless of how many people were in hari-kathā , Śrīla Gurudev's enthusiasm to speak did not waver. In typical cases, we see that the number of people listening affects the speaker but we observed that Śrīla Gurudev was always the same, whether it be with a thousand persons, no persons, or only one person who was sleeping.  An example of this was during Vraja-mandala parikramā. Śrīla Gurudev led programs for the entire day daily from 4am to 11pm. Devotees performed kirtans while going from place to place and he would watch for when they would get tired and slow and then he would lead the kirtan and surcharge everyone. His energy is not like ours; it never diminished. He was always observing the highest standard at every moment.   At the end of the day, the final sabh ā  met and kirtans were to be performed. When  the  time came for the last yam kirtans, d evotees were so tired. Sometimes only about four devotees would show; they were ...
Read more