Guru Mahārāja [Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja] did not leave us with his intentions written only in his heart. Already during his manifest pastimes, even two years before his disappearance, he declared and broadcast everywhere: “If I die, or if for some reason any other difficulty occurs, Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Mahārāja shall sit in my position. I am seating him as my successor. No one can have any objection to this.” As Guru Mahārāja is antaryāmī (inward-knower), having received Prabhupāda's mercy, he also foresaw that in his absence, Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja would have no difficulty running the maṭha. For this reason, Guru Mahārāja declared Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja as the next Ācārya before his own departure. When our Gurudeva disappeared, dark clouds in the form of adversities or misunderstanding were cast over the maṭha, but the way that Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja has preserved Śrīla Guru Mahārāja’s vani (instructions) is beyond words. We have been with him and witnessed t...
His Holiness Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja, I bow my head and prostrate my body at your lotus feet. Upon being invited to share my heart on the holy occasion of your Vyasa Puja, I am grateful. I am remembering the precious times that we spent together, sometimes in the hills of Sri Brajabhumi or at other times in the hills of Marin County, California. Wherever in the world you are, you are ever absorbed in dispelling materialistic and impersonal misconceptions while sharing your heart's love for the divine service of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. We have all been blessed by your heartfelt humility, deep wisdom of the Bhakti Sastras, and profound compassion to all beings. Your lifetime of loving service is a brilliant light that reveals, for people in this world of darkness, the infinite flow of grace that is forever descending from the hearts of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath and floods the world through the merciful Acaryas of our Gaudiya Parampa...
I first met Śrīla Tīrtha Mahārāja during the Navadvīpa-parikramā in 1996, when I came to the dhāma for the first and only time in my life with a one-way ticket, secretly hoping in my heart to stay there forever. Unfortunately, that desire was not destined to be fulfilled. But by the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrīla Mahārāja himself, I, along with the other Vaiṣṇavas who were present on the parikramā through Koladvīpa, was granted the chance to touch, for a few unforgettable moments, the Transcendental Abode of Bhagavān Gaura and to feel it within my heart. This happened when Śrīla Bhakti Vallabha Tīrtha Mahārāja began to sing “akrodha paramānanda nityānanda rāy” and then began chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra. Never in my life (as a fallen and insignificant soul) have I experienced such happiness. All the bhaktas at that time seemed to go mad in ecstasy. Outwardly, our bodies were in earthly Navadvīpa, but we — the jīvas — were in another realm altogether, where spiritual bliss w...
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