Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Gurudev never said I am going on pracār , he would say, "I am going for kirtan ," or "We are called for kirtan ." In his kirtan , we will experience a glimpse of bliss that does not happen ordinarily. Gurudev used to say 'We have to perform bhajan for our own purification." And when he did kirtan , he would engross himself one-pointedly and completely in it. This is not only a personal observation; it is witnessed by many people. Those who are moved by Gurudev's kirtan are often not attracted to any other kirtans . We have heard about an instance when Gurudev was leading the parikramā party in Koladvip near Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. Param Pūjyapāda Bhaktivedānta Vaman Gosvāmī Mahārāja happened to come there in the car and was very moved by the great bliss that spread through Gurudev's kirtan. He followed the kirtan party slowly from behind.  As Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja's simple and naturally flowing  mahāmantra   kirtan  attracte...

My mother took Harinām from Gurudev. She fell ill during the last two or three years of her stay in this world. She was always speaking to Guru Mahārāj in her heart. Even though she was not in a position to do anything, whatever she had to do – go to the bathroom, eat, or whatever – she would only say, "Gurujī, Gurujī, Gurujī, Gurujī..." My mother-in-law also often told me, "Guru Mahārāj will do so much good for me." Once, I heard that Guru Mahārāj came to New Delhi, so my wife and I went to the maṭh. I got a garland from him, took it back to my house, and put it on my mother-in-law. She immediately left the body. The next day, we took her to the crematorium, and Gurujī, with his own hands, sent a tulasī for her. She always wanted to serve Guru Mahārāj with a nice quilt, etc. Guru Mahārāj was pleased with her that she always wanted to do service, so Guru Mahārāj also assisted her in her last stages of life. She told Guru Mahārāj one time " I don't re...

Sometime around 2005 when I was in Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mission Mandir in Vienna, Austria, Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj phoned me with the help of his sevāk and was asking, "Where are you? Why have you not come to meet me?" I was abroad and Mahārāj was thinking I was in Kolkata.  He called to speak to me from Kolkata and my heart melted thinking when I'm abroad I never get calls from anyone from India. Mahārāj personally called me and said, "Nothing in particular, just called to speak to you." My heart was filled with emotions and my eyes were filled with tears thinking that there are people in this world who still love me.  In 2001 when the World Trade Center disaster occurred I was in San Jose, Costa Rica. Tamal Prabhu sent me an e-mail saying Mahārāj wants to speak to you, where are you? Then I called Mahārāj over the phone and he said, "You come back immediately. It is a very difficult situation." I thought that if a world war occurs...

In Nandagoan, Śrī Vidyāsāgar, a devotee from Hoshiyarpur and also Gurujī’s god-brother, suddenly fell ill.  He was not even able to get up, so some devotees from Bhatinda and Jalandhar served him very much, yet his health deteriorated more and more.  Gurujī started worrying about him very much.  He even went several times to see him.   When Cidānanda Prabhu returned from Varṣāṇā after completing some service in the evening, Gurujī called him to his room and told him that Vidyāsāgar should be taken to a good doctor at Kosi for immediate treatment.  The place was such that it was difficult to get a taxi at night.  Somehow Cidānanda Prabhu got one Maruti. Many devotees gathered around the van. Some devotees carried Vidyāsāgar into the van and laid him down.  Some necessary things like a water bottle, glass, a woolen blanket, and some clothes were taken along.  Cidānanda Prabhu, Śrī Rajesh of Jalandhar, and Śrī Amarnath Sharma’s son, Śrī Manoj of Bha...

A very beautiful mood of Gurudev is always thinking I am a servant of my Gurudev. Sometimes I would become irritated to see his humbleness because when some people are making noise or some disturbance in the maṭha,  I would get angry because I thought why isn’t Gurudev saying anything to them? Then Gurudev told in  hari-kathā , “I am not the Enjoyer, I am not the owner, I am not the master of my Gurudev's maṭha . I am the servant of the servant. Gurudev has given me the responsibility to serve everyone, so how can I chastise and rule over them? How can I say to anyone you are not doing a good thing, you are doing bad?” So this is his unique and different mood.  When I glorify my Gurudev, no one should think this glory is not matching with their Gurudev because every individual Gurudev has their own very beautiful qualities of Rādhārāṇī, of Kṛṣṇa. These qualities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī appear in this world in the form of Śrī Guru. In this sense, I speak the glories ...

Guru Mahārāja has been very affectionate and in many ways very merciful to me. I first met him in Singapore when I was working there around 1997.  I was very fortunate to be introduced to Gurudev by Hṛṣīkeśa Mahārāja, an American devotee who was the first Western disciple of Śrīla Śrīdhar Deva Mahārāja.   The first occasion I associated with Guru Mahārāja was in service to him as a chauffeur. After work, I would drive Guru Mahārāja with his sevāks Rasbihari Prabhu, Bhūtabhāvana Prabhu, and Madanmohan Prabhu. My duty was very simple; I was to take them from point A to point B and take them to all house programs and temples. I would count the number of bags and also ensure that the daṇḍa was inside the car and their seat belts were buckled, finally asking Guru Mahārāja’s permission if we may go. Whatever I have done is a very small sevā , but Guru Mahārāja appreciated it and somehow or the other he was affectionate to me. Once while driving in the car Guru Mahārāja spoke to me...

Dear Srila Guru Maharaj, I am offering my full obeisances to Your Lotus Feet. By the mercy of the approaching day of your appearance, I could see suddenly a speck of desire in my mind to give you some happiness by begging for a gift of service to you. My heart of insufficient faith needs your support so much!  "A sincere soul can never be cheated," You always say. These words are like a  bright light in the dark tunnel of my heart. For one who has been accustomed for so long to cheating himself, it is so difficult to obtain sincerity, and it's not easy even to ask about it. Yet, I can ask it from you, because my small faith prompts me to.  Dear Guru Maharaj, please give me the sincerity of service to you. Your unworthy disciple, Advaya Jnana das (Voronezh, Russia)

I have to say many things about Śrīla Mahārāj. I have been taking darśan of Śrīla Mahārāj since the time he was a brahmacārī ; I used to accompany him to many places like Māyāpur and Mumbai. Being a conditioned soul, I do not deserve such causeless mercy and good fortune of having the grace of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj. I saw all the qualities of Śrīla Madhav Gosvāmī Mahārāj manifested in Śrīla Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj. In his last days, my Guru Mahārāj manifested his mahā-samādhi pastimes and entered into eternal līlā . We are seeing the same example in Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāj.  I have heard that Śrīla Mahārāj was engaged in worshiping the Supreme Lord since his childhood. It is exactly like Śrī Prahlād Mahārāj who instructed the entire world that one should serve guru-vaiṣṇava to attain the Supreme Lord. Why? Because we are now completely immersed in saṃsāra in this material world and tumbled around by various miseries; we are continuously in anxiety, so he has i...

During Vraja-mandala parikramā , Gurujī was staying in room seven of the guest house at Vṛndāvan maṭh . The incident happened many years ago. All rooms in the maṭh were jam-packed with pilgrims. Two dharmasalas (booked by the maṭh ) were also full. When Prahlad Prabhu (Delhi) arrived along with his wife, Guru Mahārāj wanted to put them up in the maṭh itself. He started gathering his things to vacate his room for their stay. I remember Gurujī saying, “Prahlad Prabhu has done lot of service to our Guru Mahārāj. If we do not give him space to stay in the maṭh it will amount to aparādha . I can move to the room of (Śri Bhakti Prasād) Puri Mahārāj.” Gurujī’s conduct astonished me. He is an Āchārya Deva of such a big maṭh and has so much humbleness and high regard for his god-brothers! Finally some of Gurujī’s disciples on pilgrimage immediately vacated a room and brought Prahlad Prabhu’s luggage there. After seeing the arrangements for Prahlad Prabhu’s stay, Gurujī was rest assured. On...

I have always seen Gurudev perform his parikramās , Navadvip parikramā , Vraja-mandala parikramā  by foot, walking. So many other devotees and sannyāsīs who participate will return taking some vehicle to end their parikramā , but Gurudev would return along with the kirtan party only, even if it is late at night. When the kirtans slowed down, Gurudev would go to the front and would infuse such energy into those kirtans and take them further.  I have even heard Śrīkānta Prabhu say he would get tired, but Guru Mahārāj would never feel tired.  Another thing is even after so much endeavor, Gurudev would come and after speaking harikathā, he would announce the next day's parikramā details at the end of the session. Again in the morning during maṅgaḷāratī , we also got darśan of Gurudev.   When he would take rest, nobody knows. Prabhupāda says who can understand Bhajan-rahasya (mysteries of devotion) is a very intimate servant; one who is totally surrendered to a...

During Vraja-parikramā of 1996, we received golden opportunities through Śrīla Gurudev's most coveted, causeless mercy. The mood is so devotional during Kārtik that divine blessings shower effortlessly. Śrīla Gurudev never allowed us to physically serve Him. Whenever I felt that Gurudev seems to be exhausted, I attempted to massage His lotus feet, only to be stopped by Him. If I insisted, I got an angry glance which weakened my resolve. I used to pray for this service opportunity, but it was beyond Gurudev’s mood of acceptance. He never expected any sevā , any kind of service, from the disciples. Maṭhura was the first camp of our Vraja-parikramā.  During the mangala-arati at 4.30 a.m, Gurudev would stand near the door of the makeshift temple. Within a few days, all of us doing parikramā felt a family-like bond. Taking care of each other became our religious duty. On this front, the devotees from Assam were ahead of the others. They sacrificed all their own comforts for serving all...