Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

When our Tirtha Mahārāj came to the maṭh he engaged in so much harinām that he gave up eating and became mad chanting while shedding tears. Then Gurujī engaged him in sevā and he performed it with such dedication. He underwent so much trouble and attended so many court cases to reclaim Prabhupād's birthplace at Jagannath Purī. When I was in Kolkata I have seen that he went to the kitchen and did all the cooking once when the cook was not available. He also cleaned the cooking pots when the necessity arose. He considered all sevās as guru-sevā , whether it was cleaning the lavatory, doing arcana , preparing roti, or sweeping the floor, all activities are guru-sevā —no sevā is big or small. Without thoughts like this one cannot become guru , one cannot do bhajan . We are narrow-minded, we are not simple-hearted or open-hearted. Only the simple-hearted can understand Mahāprabhu's teachings. With deceitful hearts, we cannot understand. We are just platform speakers, we ...

Once Guru Mahārāj arrived in Bathinda from Chandigarh and was given a warm welcome by the devotees with ārati , garlands, and praṇāms . When I offered praṇāms, Gurujī asked why we did not have your darśan in Chandigarh. I did not know how to speak and simply told Guru Mahārāj, "You are coming to Bathinda from Chandigarh, so I will have your darśan in Bathinda." Guru Mahārāj had been sitting in a very good mood, but when he heard what I said, he immediately became very serious and angry and said, "Are Chandigarh and Bathinda the same?" I could not understand what Gurudev meant and felt afraid. Then he asked, "Is Gurudev's samādhi in Bathinda?" In Chandigarh, there is Gurudev's puspa-samādhi.  If you don't go there,  y ou are deprived of our Gurudev's mercy and blessings. Had you been to Chandigarh you would have got blessings from offering praṇāms to his pushpa-samādhi ." When I came to my senses, I could understand where we are an...

I am speaking my heart. There were many instances like when going on parikramā, he [Śrīla Gurudev Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj] would keep our Gurudeva Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī  Ṭhākur in the very front and follow him from behind. Not like [a mood of] "I am Ācārya, I go in the front. " I also saw him keep Trivikram Mahārāj in the front and follow him in parikramā. He would give respect to one and all. This is the characteristic of a Vaiṣṇava.  When Mahārāj left the world I felt a big void has been created in the vaiṣṇavatā of the Vaiṣṇava-dharma. Today it is very difficult to find personalities with such qualities. I have seen this in my life. These days the condition is very bad. Nobody respects each other, but I have seen this in my Guru Mahārāj and Tirtha Mahārāj.  Every day Tirtha Mahārāj would visit Guru Mahārāj in his room after sandhyā-ārati and Gurujī would offer him dandavat praṇāms and Tirtha Mahārāj would offer dandavat praṇāms to him. And every day ...

I have witnessed Guru Mahārāj sending money orders to various maṭhs on the appearance and disappearance days of Param Gurudev's god-brothers who have entered nitya-līlā (eternal pastimes) thus offering his respects to them. He would ask me to go and send the money order to Durmuth, the birthplace of Śrīla Bhakti Vicāra Yāyāvara Gosvāmī Mahārāj for his appearance day celebrations. In 2004 Gurujī came to Bathinda for observing Kārtik-vrat. In an act of expanded mercy, he informed us that Param Gurudev's Centenary celebrations also will be observed here and graced us all by his presence for one whole month. During this time he invited Parampūjyapād Bhakti Kaṅkaṇ Āśram Mahārāj, Āchārya of Pūjyapād Bhakti Gaurav Vaikhānasa Mahārāj's maṭh . He called Mahārāj in private and handed over a huge amount to him asking him to please install the deity of Śrīla Vaikhānasa Mahārāj at his samādhi temple in Gonjum, his birthplace (District Ganjam, Orissa). This gesture of Gurudev brought tea...