Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once I was sleeping on the terrace of Chandigarh math next to Gauranga Prabhu (Pandeji's son). It was quite cold there and we slept somehow even though all we had was a quilt underneath us and no warm coverings.  When I woke up I saw that Gauranga Prabhu was not there, but someone had covered me with a blanket.  After maṅgalārati when I went to offer praṇaṁ to Guruji he asked, "Did you feel cold in the night? Then I understood that it was Guruji who had covered me with a blanket.  This incidence very much touched my heart and I remember those words of Guruji's very often.   About thirty years ago  I was back I was in Mayapur for parikramā and I got malaria. So I decided I will go on parikramā the next day and rest, but when Guruji started kīrtans in the morning I put aside my blanket and joined. Though I was following much behind when we reached Nrsimhapalli Jyoti Maharaj started kīrtan  and I began jumping.  Only by Guruji's mercy, I could ...

I got my dīkṣā in Gokul-Mahāvan. Then I went to Chandigarh.  That time Amarendra Prabhu was attending to Guruji's cooking.  Suddenly a thought came in me, I have been doing sādhan for these many years, how can I know I am doing it properly?  And I was thinking about it while doing my chanting late into the night.   Again in the morning, I thought that if I get direct sevā of Guruji today, I will consider my practice going on correctly. I was in the kitchen and suddenly Cidghananda Prabhuji called me and said. “Today you will be cooking for Guruji.” I told him I had never done this service, so I wasn’t sure how. He said, “I do not know, Guruji has selected you.” So remembering Sri Radha Krishna, I prepared bitter gourd curry with khuskhus (poppy seed), very thin, nice roṭīs, and also some khīr . Just when I finished my sandhyā , Guruji requested, “Call Karunamay quickly; today I am feeling very hungry.”  I lost my presence of mind and wondered what inspir...

I will speak about Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj's humility. After  Vraj-mandal parikrama  in 1990,  we came to Delhi. At that time, there was not this big  maṭh , it was in a small building. My name was Godhari Das Brahmachari then. Maharaj told me that there were no  sevā ks  there then, so if I could stay there it would be good.  Maharaj is senior to me, so he could have given me direct orders to stay, but he said this very humbly. In Kolkata  maṭh,  I was Maharaj's  sevā k . At that time, Maharaj spoke evening  katha  daily.  Sometimes when he was busy in writing, he would tell me to ask Sri Keshava Prabhu or sometimes Srila Bharati Maharaj if they would offer  bhagavat-katha  that evening. He would not give anyone orders; he had such a humble mood always—no pride at all.   Abhaya Prabhu of Medhnipur had given me a tape recorder with cassettes of Guru Maharaj's [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Mahara...

It is very rare to have darśan of such a Mahatma in this world as Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj; we are all very fortunate, I got my Guruji and he gave me the service of Tirtha Maharaj. A Babaji from Nityananda Prabhu's birthplace, Ekacakra-dhām came to our Guru Maharaj [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj] and requested him to accept the sevā of maintaining the temple there. Then Guruji went there with his associates Tirtha Maharaj, Bharati Maharaj, and others, and on reaching there in the evening, he did a lot of sankīrtan in great bliss while visiting all the holy places and temples there. On return from nagar-sankīrtan in the night, Tirtha Maharaj got a high fever. The next morning Guru Maharaj called me and said, “Gadai, you go with Tirtha Maharaj to Kolkata, carry his bedding with yours.” We traveled by local train from Ekacakra-dhām to Kolkata. It goes via Bolpur where Shantiniketan University is located and there was a great rush of students on...

First I would like to remember the teachings of my Guruji [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj]. He would ask us to sing śrauta-vāṇī kirtan , i.e. to recapitulate the words which are heard from the lips of our Gurudev and śuddha-vaishnav , also called guru-vāṇī ānukirtan . He also said to speak Gita and Bhagavat-katha ; to not speak our words and thoughts. By this whoever listens is benefitted and whoever speaks is also benefitted. Another teaching of his was that we can reside in the maṭh when we forget our selfish desires and serve Gurudev's orders. Like for example, I reside in Guwahati or Goalpara and wish to participate in Navadvip parikrama or visit Vrindavan. If Guruji says, not to leave now, you can go later, you have to honor his words and not try to fulfill your desires. Then you are doing his ānugatya : the real way to follow—otherwise not. Once we were on a preaching tour in Assam lead by Tirtha Maharaj. Srikant Prabhu's father and Jagadananda Brahma...

The year I joined the maṭh , due to some reason Guruji could not come to Vrndavan and I used to wonder when will I have his darshan ?  Fortunately the next year Guruji arrived and stayed in the guest house.  I saw Prananatha Prabhu (now Sripad Tyagi Maharaj ) fanning Guruji and I thought when will I get such fortune to serve Guruji?  Then suddenly Guruji said, "Prananath, give the fan to the new boy who has come," and I felt extremely happy.  He is antaryāmī, not ordinary. Then I fanned him for some time.  Later when I did dandavat-praṇām to him, he said, "Oh! You have come? Very good; you stay now." In my childhood at home, I had darshan of many saints, Guruji among them. He is antaryāmī and so he indicated that the same boy has come.   When Sacinandan Prabhu (now Bhajanonmukh Maharaj) was serving Guruji prasad, I would somehow maneuver myself into his bhajan-kutir and he would say, "Come, come... why feel shy? Come near me." He stroked me on my ba...

I witnessed an incident in Chandigarh when Guruji began singing Jai Dau, Jai Dau  in nagar-sankīrtan . It was severely hot at 3:30 in the afternoon and a devotee offered an umbrella to Guruji. Within fifteen minutes clouds gathered, winds started blowing, and it rained heavily. The rain stopped, having cooled the path on which Guruji would be walking; even demigods served Guruji. My request to all of you is that you pray to Guruji like this: "Please purify my mind, please bestow me a drop of your humility and let my conduct become sweet like yours. May I spread the glories of your name wherever I go" First, we have to change our nature and for this, we have to bring Guruji's instructions into our life. By this, we will have humility and compassion which can influence persons whom we speak to and inspire them also to engage in the service of the Lord and Guruji. Once in a provision store, some youngsters made fun of me and my chanting and tilak, and I kept quiet as I was c...

One time at the Delhi math annual function, Guruji began nagar-sankīrtan with "Jai dau Jai dau ," but did not continue because devotees and doctors urged him to rest as he was unwell. The sankīrtan moved on, and when it was completed, Guruji started harikathā at Hari Mandir. There he told, "Among all forms of devotion, kīrtan is the best; superior to kīrtan is sankīrtan where a few persons join together for kīrtan , and superior to that is nagar-sankīrtan. This is because senior Vaishnavas are leading the kīrtans and their foot-dust will sprinkle on the devotees following behind, destroying our sins ad making our human lives successful. But today my human life is spoiled." Everyone was surprised to hear this. He said, "When I surrendered to my Gurudeva, I had surrendered my body for the Lord's service. Gurudeva had instructed me to do kīrtan and harikathā for all the twenty-four hours daily and here I was told you are ill, so you go back to the maṭh ...