Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Guru Mahārāj often said, “Wherever your mind is, you are there. If your body is in Bhatinda and your mind is in Vṛndāvan, then it can be accepted that you are in Vṛndāvan and vice versa. The main object of  śravaṇa-kīrtana  is to engross the mind in our object of worship.” So, as much our mind is engrossed in  śravaṇa-kīrtana  of Gurudev's glories, so much our  śravaṇa-kīrtana  is successful.   After we previously began remembering Goalpara-dhām, devotees were calling to inform us that it is as though we are there, the trees, the banks of the Brahmaputra River came before our eyes.  This is good news because this is our objective.  Yena tena prakārena manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet : to engage our mind in Gurudeva and his  dhām .   Those days the Shiva temple in Goalpara was in a thick forest, it was like an old dilapidated temple outside a village.  There was no place to sit, a few steps were there near the stream. The greatn...

On Tuesday 11 September 2001, devotees from England, Holland, and the US waited at Heathrow Airport, London, with great anticipation and happiness for the arrival of His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj and his entourage of devotees, who were due to arrive from Moscow just afternoon that day. The plane landed only slightly later than scheduled and after smoothly passing through the baggage claim and customs, Mahārāj and his travel party came into the arrivals lounge, to be greeted joyfully by his dīkṣā and śikṣā disciples. A convoy of several cars made the two-hour journey from northwest London to the home in south London where Mahārāj and the devotees were to stay. Everyone was light-hearted and in a happy mood. The conversation was non-stop until they arrived at their destination sometime after 3 PM. That mood was to change quickly, however. As Mahārāj and the other devotees were unpacking and settling in, there was a phone call from one of the Dutch devotee...

I had read somewhere that the Lord is a magnet and attracts jīvas towards Him, but if there is rust on the iron, the magnet will not attract that iron. But Gurujī is so powerful that he attracts even a rusted iron like me. I could not associate with Gurudev much. Sometimes I feel I am very unfortunate that I took hāriṇam dīkṣā very late and lacked physical association with Gurujī. Still, Gurujī is attracting me, drawing me, and has given me the chance to associate with so many devotees and hear them speak his glories. I am a dentist by profession. In 2017 my dentistry final exams were commencing and it was a very crucial period for me. Kuldeep Prabhu took all my god-brothers and went for Sri Rāmanavamī and Gurudev's appearance day festival. I was quite depressed that I was not able to go. Later when Gurujī's final illness pastimes were going on, all my god-brothers booked tickets to go with Kuldeep Prabhu by flight, some by train. Even some five high school students read...

Śrīmad Tirtha Mahārāj  engaged himself in Rādhākṛṣṇa-bhajan while being situated in the gracious shelter of Śri Śri Gaur Nityānanda. Being under their merciful shelter, he inspired everyone through his example to follow the same path. In order to have real entrance and make real progress in the bhajan of Rādhākṛṣṇa, he placed special importance on having pure devotion to Gaura Nityānanda and Gaddadhara and accepting their gracious and merciful shelter while engaging in pure saṅkīrtana . He also the importance of chanting and singing Śri Narasigha Stotraṃ and explained the life and precepts of Prahlād Mahārāj. He deeply believed that by faithfully chanting or singing Śri Narasiṁha Stotraṃ the divine glories of powerful and merciful lord Narasighadev that all impediments, obstacles, danger, and sin in the lives of devotees will be destroyed. He emphasized Prahlād's life and teachings as being very beneficial for all devotees, for all time, especially the general devotees advancing ...

The great Vaiṣṇav-ācārya Śrīla Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj was another prominent disciple of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur and intimate godbrother of my Śrīla Guru Mahārāja and Śrīla Mādhav Mahārāj. He is also my own sannyās guru . He also had so much loving affection and appreciation for Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāji, his śikṣā disciple. Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāj was always seeking his affectionate blessings. I remember whenever Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāj came to pay his obeisances to Śrīla Puri Mahārāj, he would spontaneously speaking in praise of Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāj. He would speak about his nice vaiṣṇava qualities, his qualities of an ideal ācārya . I saw this often take place at in Gurudev's bhajan kuṭir in Kolkata Sree Chaitanya Gauḍīya Maṭh.  I used to stay in a small room next to his, so I could witness all these beautiful interactions.  I remember seeing Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāj's extreme shyness upon hearing some praise about himself. Nonetheless, Puri Gosvāmī...

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj offered a long-standing, open invitation for Śrīla Mādhav Gosvāmī Mahārāj to visit him in Navadwip-dhām. Whenever he came to his Mayapur maṭh , Śrīla Mādhav Gosvāmī Mahārāj would happily come to visit Śrīla Guru Mahārāj at his maṭh . I witnessed their morning and afternoon sessions when they would be absorbed in nectarian harikathā for hours; wonderful and beautiful exchanges of higher feelings related to their own great Śrīla Gurudev, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur, Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, Mahāprabhu, and the Divine Couple, Śri Rādhākṛṣṇachandra. There was such a flow of nectar; such taste in their exchanges of hari-kathā . There was a personal touch to their behavior with each other that was heart captivating.  As I recall in the flow of their conversations, sometimes the name of Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāj would spontaneously arise. Guru Mahārāj was really satisfied that dear Tirtha Mahārāj had been chosen as his successor and showed his support with ...

I have seen Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāji many times in my life on different occasions, at various temples and other places. Overall, it was a joyful experience being in his holy association. I saw and experienced that he was a pure sādhu , pure vaiṣṇava . We found some great qualities and characteristics of a vaiṣṇava in his life conduct and practices. The vaiṣṇava qualities such as simplicity, kindness, graciousness, compassion, broad-heartedness, generosity, knowledge of siddhānta , humility, spirit of tolerance, forgiveness, overall loving affectionate feelings for all devotees, and above all—his exemplary devotion, dedication, and service to Śri Guru, our Rādhākṛṣṇa, and guru-varga . I offer my respectful pranam to that Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākur and dear ācārya of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava world, my dear elder godbrother, Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāji. I lovingly pray for his blessings and grace to be bestowed upon me. I remember first seeing him at All-India Sree Chaitanya G...

I was residing in Simla and my father was in Chandigarh.  From the time of my childhood, I have always seen my father worshiping Gurudeva and Ṭhākurjī. My parents are disciples of Param Gurudev.  We children grew up seeing Gurudev. We would go on parikramā since childhood and although I do not know much about Gurudev, I had deep love and regard for him that continues now.  In the later years when I was in school, my father started inviting Gurudev to Simla for programs. The temple where Gurudev used to stay was far away from our home. After school, my sister and I would go directly to the temple where Gurujī's programs were held.  My mother was a teacher and after school, she would come to the temple directly. At that time I was unable to understand Gurujī's kathā much, but I would just sit there and gaze at him. After kathā , I would go along with my siblings to his room and accept prasād from his hands. We'd stay until about none or ten in the evening and then st...

Śri Śri Guru Gauranga Rādhā Vallabh Jiu are the worshipable deities of our Bhatinda maṭh. Bhatinda maṭh came into existence by the desire and blessings of our Gurudeva. He laid the foundation stone, was the first to give money for its construction, and gave money for its completion. Impossible can be made possible by Gurudeva.  The initial 150 square yard land expanded into 1250 square yards because of his involvement in every aspect of its construction.  When it came time to name the deities, Gurudeva called for the book Śri Gaur Parṣādavali ( Śri Caitanya, His Life & Associates in English) and looked up Śri Narottama Das Ṭhākur’s biography for the names of the deities manifested by him, choosing the name Śri Śri Rādhā Vallabhi Kānta.   I went to Jagadhari and visited one of our Param Gurudev’s disciples named Mitro Rani when I was collecting funds for the maṭh construction. When I requested her to speak about the glories of Gurudeva and Param Gurude...