Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I got maximum mercy and good association from my śikṣā-guru Ramanath-ji, father of Shyam Sundar-ji. There were many opportunities to accompany him to the railway station to welcome and later see Guruji and his prachar party off. As we reached the station, I would run towards the platform and Guruji would smile seeing me. Holding my shoulder he would get down the steps. While going to the maṭh Guruji would converse with me about prachar programs, hāriṇam initiations at previous places he visited, and enquire about Delhi weather. That time it was a small maṭh and Guruji's room was downstairs. Seeing him often taking his pocket watch out to see the time, I told him I would get him a wristwatch. But he denied my offer, saying sannyasis do not wear a watch or good clothes, what will people think if they see us like this? Such was his conduct. I went for Mayapur parikramā in 1991 for the first time. I hadn't had my initiation yet. Guruji was pleased to see me and arranged for my s...

My father used to say that Pakistan was made only for our family. If Pakistan were not there, then we would not have left there to come to Delhi and have the fortune of meeting Param Guru Maharaj and Guru Maharaj. They would often visit Delhi on prachar a nd we received their blessings. Param Guruji would advise his disciples not to even ask for water when they went for preaching at any devotee's home so as not to inconvenience them in any manner. Many of the devotees would go to see Guruji off at Delhi Railway Station, but Guruji would ensure that we all have bought platform tickets. By his conduct, he taught us how devotees should be honest in our daily affairs. On the same day he arrived in Delhi, he called me and cleared all the payments of the previous journey tickets. I still have some two and five rupee small notes he gave to settle payments from the praṇāmi received. He gave me small services such as sending seva (money orders) to various maṭhs. Up to 2004, I observed ...

In Guruji's shelter, we were fearless, even when he was playing sickness pastimes, we are assured he is there and we had no fear whatsoever. Like a peepal tree protects us from sun and rain, so also Guruji sheltered us under his protective glance so that inauspiciousness could not befall us. In that shelter, we were carefree and fearless. Now we are realizing we are lacking this protection. In earlier days when we were going with Guruji on prachar, he would not agree to go on the first-class train preferring to stay in sleeper-class along with the devotees. He would sit alongside us and sometimes would make jokes that made us feel a sense of togetherness. We used to go in a group of 15-20 people together on prachar then. One Ekadasi day on the train, our Sacinandan Prabhu (now Bhajanonmukha Maharaj) who was Guruji's sevak then brought two buckets of boiled potatoes, peeled them, and cut them into bits in another empty bucket, sprinkled pepper powder, salt, squeezed lemon, and a...

I came to the shelter of Gurudeva in 1979 when I was fourteen years old.  I failed to understand then that Maharaj's glories and mercy are like when a person is living near the Ganges but only knows her glories through the words of Vaishnavas and the sadhus. Like this, we can also realize Gurudeva's glories from listening to and following his teachings.  Guru Maharaj used to sing one kirtan:  ei mana durmati, samsara bhitare, padiya achinu ami  and say Mahaprabhu has sent all His associates to deliver us from this world.  He would always say, "Human birth is very very rare and anytime we may lose it, there is no guarantee, so we should immediately start bhajan ."  In Dehradun at Sri Lakshmi Narayana Mandir, Guruji was speaking about Vrtrasura's prayers to the Lord: please give me the association of Your devotees, make me a friend of Your devotees. I do not want anything of the material world's wealth or pleasures, not even Your Vaikunta. In the katha , he...

It is a very fortunate day for all of us that we are listening to and speaking the glories of Gurudeva and his remembrances which have the power to keep all our material problems and difficulties far away. If I am staying in the math now and serving deities and Gurudeva, this itself is Gurudev's glory. I have witnessed many wonderful, marvelous activities of Gurudev. When I was in Chandigarh math, there was one sweeper by the name of Khushiram who would clean the premises. He had a simple and jolly nature and would not speak much to anyone. One day while offering pranams to Gurudeva after Mangalarati, my feet touched Khushiram who was also offering pranams and was very close by. I thought, so what if my feet touched him, he is an ordinary man, not any great Vaishnava, just a servant of the math who does the cleaning. So I did not bother much. But Gurudeva had seen me. Later when Gurudeva was climbing upstairs to go to his room, I followed him and he turned around and smiled at me. ...

I wish to share some realizations of Gurudev and His mercy on me. I came to the math in the year 1979 when I was 23 years old. I came to become a sadhu and perform bhajan. After some 3-4 years I happened to meet Srila Prabhupad's disciple Sadhu Maharaj who was a good astrologer. I showed him my palm wishing to know whether I will be able to continue to do bhajan or not. Seeing the lines on my hand, he told me that there is a clear indication that you will not stay in the math for long, you will for sure enter family life. Though material desires had never entered me, hearing his words, I felt some fear. I asked him how I can save myself and if there any remedy. He said no, by around 30 years you will enter family life.  Later I showed my hand to another two astrologers who also predicted the same. After some time, Gurudeva sent me to Chakdah Math for Jagannath Dev's seva. As I was nearing 30 years of age, I felt disturbed in mind remembering the forecast of the astrologers. I s...

The most auspicious subject for us to listen to and speak about is the glorious and merciful pastimes and teachings of Guru, Vaishnav, and the Lord. I pray for the mercy of Gurudeva so that I can speak about his glories by his own mercy and to purify my mind and attain my eternal welfare.   He mercifully appeared in this world on Sri Ramanavami tithi in 1924 and performed pastimes for 93 years. Throughout his holy life, he gave us teachings through his ideal life and conduct; not just after he joined the math, but even from his very childhood. His divine nature was exhibited by worshiping and meditating on Tirtheshwar Mahadeva for long hours like Prahlad Maharaj.   We see from his ideal life that he had only one goal: to please his Gurudeva; except for his Gurudeva and his glories, he would not think of anything else, he would not speak about anything else. Guru Maharaj kept me as a servant for a while, and I remember his narration of one instance. When he had joined...

On Caitra Krsna Navami (9th day of the dark fortnight of the lunar month Caitra), April 20, 2017, Thursday, 10:15 PM, at the onset of the 7th day of non-stop sankirtan, and while his favorite kirtana ‘Radha Kunda Tata’ was being sung, Srila Gurudeva entered into the eternal pastimes (nitya-lila) of Sri Sri Radha- Govinda. The time of his entrance into the nitya-lila is very significant, as it corresponds to the passage of time from the 7th to the 8th period of the day, i.e. the time of transition from prema-viprambha (love in separation) to prema-sambhoga (love in union). When separation becomes unbearable then union is imminent, and the union that comes after separation is delightful. Over the years, devotees witnessed Srila Gurudeva’s desperate cries motivated by separation from his divine master but now, to his delight, he is reunited with his divine master in his eternal pastimes. 
 On the other hand, Srila Gurudeva’s dear disciples and his loved ones in this world were left in a s...

In 1989 Gurudev was in Kolkata on the disappearance day of Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj. There was a big feast where many were to take prasad. They made one kitchari and a sour chutney and kheer and mixed veg for all, but some young godbrothers made a special offering of thirteen items that they would distribute to their close persons. I was young and eager to taste that. After I ate, I went to have darshan of Gurudev. After I entered his room, he showed anger. It was not actual anger, but he showed like that. His room was very small then; what you have recently seen is twice as large. Gurudev was pacing in that small room here and there and showed anger. In a raised tone, he said, “One who has eaten that has eaten poison, and who offered that, they have offered poison!” I was afraid and folded my hands trying to please him. He ordered me to not associate with them, saying “They are not for Hari, Guru, Vaishnava’s service”.  When I heard these words I remember my atti...

When Gurudev went to the bhajan kutir of Param Gurudev in Kolkata I heard him cry so tenderly; you can see and hear that this is not a fake thing, it’s real. He cries deep from within his heart. In the same way, we have to get to this platform somehow or another. If we have not reached here, we think we can't have this kind of mentality for devotion, but Gurudev said many times without this it is “zero, zero, zero." We have to understand this and we must reach that point in our sadhana. That is an important message to get. One of the first times I visited Gurudev in Kolkata, around 2006, I had contacted his sevaks in advance to get his eyeglass prescription. My father is an Optometrist and was able to prescribe, so I asked him to please make one pair of spectacles for Gurudev. He did it happily. I brought these particular spectacles to him and when I entered the math. When I entered the math, Gurudev was speaking on the vyasasan and I gave the spectacles to him. He put them on...

Guruji had such humility that he never complained about the arrangements where he was staying. At one place I remember there was only one general toilet and bathroom downstairs. Guruji had to walk a long way every time to reach there, but he never complained about improper arrangements. At the same time, he was offering two lectures per day in the morning and evening. After the morning session, he would take breakfast then devotees would surround him for two hours, up to twelve o clock he would speak harikatha. He was never tired of speaking harikatha. 
 He never complained about arrangements in Jammu or other places. On many occasions, he was traveling by train in sleeper class from Kolkata to Jammu and back with his kirtan party. There was so much discomfort in the sleeper class. In those days (1979) the conditions were far worse than today, very filthy. 
 Another experience I had was that whatever seva was assigned to us, however difficult it may be, only by his grace the work was ...