Remembering Him in Śrī Vraja-maṇḍala

By










—edited by Radha Priya Dasi

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

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

His Tapasya in a Deserted, Snake-filled Forest

By
Image
Suvarna Vihar in Navadvip is a remote, uninhabited place with no villages nearby. If anyone needs to collect alms, they need to go far. Param Gurudeva instructed Gurudeva to stay there when he was a brahmacārī . He was all alone. That place was full of snakes, so no other brahmacārī was willing to stay there. This showed his titikṣava (tolerance). I have personally heard our Śrīla Gurudeva narrate these incidents. At this time our Param Guru Mahārāja was in Śrī Caitanya Maṭh. Suvarna Vihar was, at that time, an almost deserted forest. Gurujī would walk several miles to fetch some rice as alms. In his absence, thieves would come and steal vessels, etc. There was also no availability of firewood for cooking. Gurujī would burn dry banana leaves and somehow prepare kitchari for offering. It is not an easy job to burn banana leaves and Gurujī did not have any prior experience. Whenever he would blow air to burn the fire, all the ash would fly on to his face. When he would sit ...
Read more