He Knows Our Past, Present, and Future
Gurudev taught us about how important it is to observe a vaiṣṇava's āvirbhāv and tirobhāv-tithis. Only when we follow their teachings may it be considered that we have really observed the tithi of those vaiṣṇavas.
In 1988 Gurudeva gave me the shelter of his divine lotus feet. In the initial days, although I had some taste for service, I found I was not able to chant hāriṇam properly and could not develop any mood of service to Gurudev. I placed this doubt to Pūjyapāda Śrīla Bhakti Prasād Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj, Vṛndāvana Maṭh-in-charge. He wrote me a brief letter explaining the glories of Gurudev in which he explained, “One has to always remember the lotus feet of Gurudeva and chant hāriṇama sincerely with faith and reverence.” Later when I met him in Vṛndāvana, he told me to attain such a sadguru who is the Absolute Counterpart of Supreme Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa is extremely rare. Gurudeva has given us so many teachings and instructions, but the fault on our side is not following and practicing them.
I went along with my two godbrothers from Jalandhar to make venue arrangements before Guru Mahārāj’s four-day program in Ahmedabad in 1988; his first visit there. When we met the manager of Agrawal Bhavan and spoke about our organization and our financial condition, we got a very good auditorium for a very nominal rate, about one-fourth of the rate they normally charge to the public. We invited the manager and the owner of the auditorium, Kashiram Agrawal to attend the program with his family.
Just seeing his outer personality, (not to mention his internal qualities) Kashiram Agarwal was so impressed and overwhelmed hearing hari-kathā from Gurudev that he waved off even the minimum charges they fixed for the auditorium and on the final day, he offered praṇāmi to Gurudeva and hosted the festival feast that day. Such is our Gurudev's extraordinary personality.
In 1987 on Sri Rāmanavamī-tithi, guru-pūjā day celebrations were going on in Dehradun maṭh and the function was arranged in a resort on behalf of Dehradun maṭh. The chief guest invited for the function was the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (currently Union Minister, Govt. of India), and also a scholar and writer. When he arrived at about 3PM, just after his warm welcome, it suddenly started raining heavily. He spoke after meeting with Gurudeva and after guru-pūjā. He spoke in Hindi, “aag lagi aakash mein jhar jhar gire angaar, santa na hote jagata mei to jala marta samsar,” meaning the sky is ablaze and it is raining fireballs. If there are no saints in this world, then the whole world will burn to ashes. His glorification of guru and sadhu touched the hearts of the listeners.
Our Guru Mahārāj is omnipotent and omnipresent; he knows our present, past, and future. In one word, Gurudeva is trikāladarśin—He knows everything. In this regard, I will narrate one instance. Once a few of my god-brothers and I from Jalandhar went to Delhi where annual functions of the maṭh were going on in Gurudeva's presence. We left Jalandhar early in the morning by train. It was the appearance day of Jāhnava Devī and Sītā Devī and we were discussing their glories. We were feeling glad that today by his causeless mercy, Gurudeva has called us and in the evening we will hear be able to hear about these Vaiṣṇavis from his lotus lips. However, Gurudev was playing the pastimes of illness then and had an appointment fixed for the same evening.
Gurudev came down by lift while Śrī Caitanya Caraṇa Das and I stood at the back of his wheelchair. When Gurujī got up and was about to get into the car, he spoke in my ear. He said, "Today is Jāhnava Devī and Sītā Devī's appearance day and I would not be able to speak kathā today." He immediately added, "Chant hāriṇam and everything is attained (hāriṇama karo, sab kuch ho jayega). Hearing this, I felt greatly pleased and Guru Mahārāj got into the car. Gurudev proved that he knows everything that we spoke in the glories of the vaiṣṇavas while we were traveling on the train.
Gurudev told us, "If you want to commit sin, you have to look for a place where guru and vaiṣṇavas do not see you." There can never be such a place at all. Thus Gurudev is trikālajña, sarvajña; we are always indebted to him and can never repay his mercy and blessings on us.
In 2007 when Gurujī performed sickness pastimes and had heart surgery, we went for his darśan at MAX Hospital. When Gurudev got well, the doctors who cared for Gurujī (Dr. Ashok Seth, Dr. Vishan, and their team) were invited to a function and felicitated. A welcome address was printed, dated 10th June 2007. Śrīla Bhakti Vicār Viṣṇu Mahārāj read it in the assembly. I would like to read one line from it: "All the devotees in India and abroad are extremely indebted to the team of doctors for their commendable and successful treatment of our President Āchārya His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj during his tenure of grave illness (āsvastha-līlā) in August 2006."
When Dr. Ashok Seth stood up to speak, he raised his hand and said, "With this hand, I have done innumerable surgeries but who is activating and moving my hand? It is this Mahārāj and the Lord. If this hand had suffered a jam in the car door, what surgery could I have performed with this hand? There is the blessing of Guru Mahārāj that makes my body and my hand move. I did not do a thing. By his mercy and blessing, all these things got done."
—Sri Rajan Sharma, Jalandhar
Spoken in Hindi, 16.4.2020. translated to English by Rasavihari Das
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