Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

After about 8 or 9 times in India, I was celebrating in Kartik with Srila Gurudev.  I was very lucky because for some reason his sevaks made arrangements for me to closely access him. He was always very sweet and made me comfortable around him. Every devotee attending Kartik whether from Russia, Europe, or anywhere said they had a similar feeling of personal closeness to him.  It's amazing that although he has so many disciples and associates,  he remembered everyone's name and where they are from. This is very amazing. Also, my personal feeling was that Gurudev always understands my mind and heart; I could tell Gurudev had the ability to see more than what we can see with our eyes. In 2011, I came to Kolkata and told Gurudev that we plan to move from the US to Poland for a while. Gurudev shook his head and said, "It's going to take time." Later on, we saw that it took more than 8 months. Gurudev had that vision for the future. Another time in Kolkata, I ...

Once during Harikatha, Srila Gurudev narrated his own experience from a long time ago.  H e was in Agra with the prachar party. He explained that sometimes they did kirtan in a park near Taj Mahal. Usually when in Agra, Guru Maharaj and the devotees were welcomed by Matura Prasad Agrawal. He was a wealthy gentleman who owned oil mills. He had a lot of faith in Guru Maharaj and extended an open invitation to visit his house for Harikatha and kirtan anytime.   On this particular occasion, Guru Maharaj went to Agra without informing Matura Prasad. When he reached his home, he saw four babajis doing kirtan. Without making his presence known, he left. He went back to the prachar party and told them to put their luggage on a horse cart and go to a dharmsala. In the midst of their moving, Matura Prasad Agrawal saw Guru Maharaj and the devotees from his balcony and came running to him, saying, “Swamiji where are you going? Please come to my house!” Guru Maharaj explained tha...