Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

These days, after his daily Tulasi-parikrama, Srila Gurudeva often tells visiting devotees that this human birth is very rare - it is not sure that we will again get it. Therefore we should worship the Supreme Lord NOW without delay and attain the Lord's full mercy.  I can still hear it ring in my ears, his powerful "Now, now, now!" Guru Maharaja sometimes recounted the following incident that shows that the soul does not die at death and that if the soul does not attain the spiritual realm, he or she reincarnates according to past deeds, even in other species. The people mentioned are known to him, and the story was published in the local press. “More than thirty years ago, in Goalpara, a town in Assam, India, a poor man was in need of a large sum of money for the marriage of his daughter. As he saw no other way, he went to a rich landlord and asked him for financial help. The landlord was happy to receive him and at once gave him the big sum of money that he required. T...

Gurudeva and I were going out together for some official work. Gurudeva went to pay obeisances to Thakurjī. I had been carrying a handbag containing some official papers and kept it on the highrise platform on which the deities reside. Then I also bowed down behind Gurudeva. Gurudeva noticed this and later voiced his disapproval of this act. He told me that the entire deity pedestal/platform represents Baladeva-tattva and only things directly related to Bhagavān which are meant for Bhagavān's sevā can be kept there. Anything that touches this surface should be used only those items used by the pūjārī for offering service and worship to Bhagavān. He gave examples of types of personal belongings that should never be placed there such as handbags, mobiles, cameras, eyeglasses, walking sticks, umbrellas, etc. Another grihastha disciple added he had heard Gurudeva say we are not supposed to even lean on or take help the platform to stand up after praṇāms.  It is important that we follo...

Once Param Pūjyapād Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj came to our āśram in Haridwar along with about five hundred Punjabi devotees. Starting from Har Ki Pauri, Mahārāj entered our āśram dancing and singing in kīrtan . As I was about to do his ārati , he stopped me and told, “You should do Gurujī's ārati , not mine.” I told him, “You are also Guru. Ontologically Guru is one, and Param Gurudev Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj has whole-heartedly established you as Ācārya. He has his complete mercy on you and thus coronates you as Guru. So whose ārati  should I do other than yours?” He told, “No. Perform ārati to the portrait of our Gurudev.” He took the lamp from my hand and started doing Gurujī's ārati . I saw then his total dedication to Gurujī. According to me, Paramgurudev Srimad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj and Param Pūjyapād Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj are non-different. They came together to this world from the spiritual plane. —Śrīl...

I neither have the strength to sing the glories of Śrīla Gurudev nor do I have the required knowledge or intelligence or some humility in my heart to speak about his qualities; this is cent percent true. A lustful mind full of material desires like mine cannot gather the courage to sing the transcendental glories of such a divine personality because I never had such a divine darśan . But still, by Gurudev's mercy, I will try to sing his transcendental glories from my observation and experience which are also described in the scriptures. The scriptures say an acārya or guru is adoṣa-darśī— one   who does not see any faults in anyone. This quality is manifested fully in Gurudev. Whenever anyone approached him and spoke about some faults or some wrong acts of others, Gurudev never accepted those words as such, but he always tried to convince them otherwise by saying such things as maybe you have understood or interpreted their actions wrongly, maybe others have misunderstood yo...

Once I stayed at Kolkata math during a solar eclipse. The devotees closed all the shutters and there was a five-hour kirtan in the temple hall.  Prior to my coming from South India, a good friend of mine, a senior devotee from another saṅgha told me over and over again how inauspicious such an eclipse will be and what negative effects it will bring. I always thought, "My Guru Mahārāj never talks about such things." But since I heard it so many times, I got some doubts and desired Śrila Guru Mahārāj's answer. When I got an opportunity during darśan, I said: "Gurujī, some people say that such an eclipse is inauspicious." Śrila Guru Mahārāj looked at me in utter disbelief about what he had just heard and instantly said, "But it comes from Supreme Lord. How can it be inauspicious?" I was so happy to hear this; inwardly I laughed and thought that's my Guru Mahārāj—always seeing everything in connection to Supreme Lord. —Urmila Dasi

Around 2012 when Kārtik month was being celebrated in Mayapur, I was attending the festival with my whole family by the mercy of Gurudev. My son Krishna’s tithi birthday was there on the appearance day of Śrila Bhakti Śrīrūpā Siddhāntī Mahārāj. The day before his birthday, I asked one of the sevāks of Gurudev whether he could get darśan of Gurudev on his birthday and they agreed. That same evening when I was sitting with my kids in the temple hall and listening to hari-kathā , one stranger came and sat with my son. That man had some toys and he was talking with my son. I did not know him and felt that he was not really staying in the maṭh for any good reason. When we were moving for  prasādam , I asked my son, "Why were you talking with that man?" He replied to me, "Mother, that man was telling me to take these toys into your room and bring all the money from your bags. He told me, I will give you some more toys and if you will not bring anything, then tomorrow I will ...

It is very clear by observing Guru Mahārāj's activities that he has a great longing to help deliver lost souls. He demonstrates this in all his actions including his responsibilities related to the management of the maṭha, his careful and timely replies to all the devotee's letters, and writing articles for the Bangla Monthly magazine Śrī Caitanya Vani. In addition to that, he accepted great austerities while preaching in Punjab and other places where he was speaking hari-kathā up to seven times a day. We cannot see this kind of tolerance and dedication elsewhere, in anyone else. Once Śrīla Guru Mahārāj took his pracāra party to Assam and we were returning by Kamarupa Express to Kolkata. While nearing the Bangla-Assam border, I listened astonishingly to Śrī Ananta Prabhu narrate an instance from the previous year. He said that this Assam-Bangla border is very dangerous; a deserted area where if a train does not arrive at the scheduled time, dacoits come inside the trains and ro...

In 1995 there was an event in New Model, Ludhiana in Śrī Sanātan Dharma Mandir. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtan Mandal was observing their eighth Śrī Harinām Saṅkīrtan Congregation there. One day when I was standing outside the temple, one car came and stopped near me. Śrī Satish Jain, who was the son of Ray Jain (Chief Trustee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Mandir, Shastrinagar, Ludhiana,) got down from that car. Being acquainted with each other for a long time, we met each other affectionately and together we proceeded to Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s room for his darśan and found him sitting alone there. Śrī Satish placed some fruits and other items before Guru Mahārāj and offering daṇḍavat praṇāms, he prayerfully spoke, "Mahārāj, kindly grace me." "What grace you desire? Is there any need for money?" Guru Mahārāj asked. "No, Mahārāj. Your bountiful grace is there," Satish replied. "What else do you want?" Gurujī asked. "Let my Hari Bhajan go on well; this is ...

On the morning of June 6, 2010, Śrīla Gurudeva told me, "Lord likes children and old people. You should not disrespect them as they are very dear to Lord. Prahlad, Dhruva –they were all small children." That afternoon at the Agartala airport, somehow the sound of a child's cry entered the transcendental ears of our Gurudev from at least twenty feet away from the child in this crowded, busy airport. Śrīla Gurudev asked, "Why is the child crying?" I went and found that the baby's mother has gone to the restroom and he was crying for her. I conveyed the same to Śrīla Gurudev. He said, "Oh, okay. Is there someone to take care of him? I assured him that his father was there, then we started discussing some other topics. Everyone totally forgot about the child and the mother after five minutes except Gurudeva. He remarked, "Looks like the child's mother has come. He is not crying now." I just could not imagine how much Śrīla Gurudev cares and sh...

I want to share my story with you about meeting Gurudev. In the East, this law of the universe is well known: "When a student is ready, a teacher comes." And my teacher came for me! nama om viṣṇu-pādāya śrī gaura-priya mūrtaye  śrīmate bhakti-vallabha tīrtha gosvāmīn nāmine  māyāvāda-vikhaṇḍanaṁ gurorvānyānukīrtanaṁ  paścadeśopadeśakaṁ prasanna-vadanaṁ sadā  śuddha-bhakti pravāhakaṁ śuddha-bhakti-bhagīrathaṁ  bhakti-dayita mādhavābhinna-tanuṁ-namāmyaham  nāma-saṅkīrtanāmṛta rasāsvāda-vidhāyakaṁ  kṛṣṇāmnāya-kṛpāmūrtim ācāryaṁ-taṁ-namāmyahaṁ  gaura-nāma pracārārdraṁ bhakta-sevānukānkṣitaṁ satīrtha-prīti-sad-bhāva naumi tīrtha mahāśayam  [I offer my most humble and respectful obeisances to Om Viṣṇupāda Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj, the dearmost of Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. You refute the māyāvāda philosophy through the doctrines of pure devotion. You only recite those divine words heard from your spiritual master and spread them a...

In 2003 when Śrīla Gurudev was in Mumbai, I saw that he was reading a newspaper. There was a headline that told about the arrest of a well-known leader within the Advaita Vedānta tradition, a sādhu in the line of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. Another headline detailed the destruction caused by a big cyclone that swept through Chennai and many people were affected by it. At that time I was young and stupid and made a random comment that reading the newspaper is a waste of time. He looked at me like a caring mother who understands the nature of her stupid son and he made me stay put and listen to what he was telling me. Making a very distinct point, he said, "I knew this was going to happen but did not expect it to happen so early. The cyclone that had hit South India had destroyed a huge amount of property and also the lives of so many people."   Then Guru Mahārāj expanded his statement specifically to say that whenever there is an attack on Sanātana Dharma and saintly persons, pure devo...