Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

There was a very dedicated, sincere Vaiṣṇava who was outwardly not very rich named Kṛpāramjī. He was told that he should get a clean shave and remove his mustache before Guru Mahārāj gave him initiation. He made Guru Mahārāj laugh by saying, "I am ready to remove my head for initiation."  He always brought Śrīla Gurudev nuts, cashews, walnuts, and other such items. But Guru Mahārāj said, "I don’t eat all these things." When Kṛpāramjī inquired from Guru Mahārāj about what he did like to eat, Guru Mahārāj simply said, "I eat cucumber."  Guru Mahārāj knew his background and wanted to spare him the expense he incurred buying dried fruits. Cucumber is very cheap, so he told him he liked cucumbers. When my son was a very small child, we were on Mayapur parikramā . At Yoga Pith, my son picked up an apple that was in front of Mahāprabhu on the palanquin. One brahmacārī took the apple back from him and returned it to the palanquin. Guru Mahārāj must have seen this...

In his last instructions, Śrīla Param Gurudev cautioned his sevāks to remain far away from kanaka , kāminī , and pratiṣṭhā which are the three impediments to devotional practice. Our Gurudev gave more emphasis on the chanting of Narasiṃha prayers in our maṭha, the reason for which he explained in hari-kathā . The three impediments are represented by Hiraṇyakaśipu and so by praying for Narasiṃha Deva's mercy, these impediments will be destroyed.  Gurudev kept account of small service contributions of even twenty-five paise and honoring the mood of service of the people would utilize it in sevā at the earliest. Gurudev would book his travel tickets by ordinary sleeper class from the pranāmī offered by the devotees. So the devotees applied their intelligence and would book the tickets themselves and send them to him.  I remember an instance in 2002 when Gurudev had some heart problems. He had canceled his pracār program and was staying in Guwahati. Gurudev wanted to go to Goal...

Our Param Gurudev's quality was satirtha priti saddharma : his mood and conduct were to see his godbrothers, disciples, or whoever be it—though they are disrespecting me, they have served my Śrīla Prabhupāda and have pleased him immensely, so they are all worshipable to me.  Among those who are seniors and advanced, Param Gurudev respected them in a different way, and to all other godbrothers, he has shown such affection which is wonderful and heart-warming.  Even to his god-brother who has put forth his best efforts to send him out of Śrī Caitanya Maṭha, he served him when he fell ill and brought him back to health, deputing his disciples who were otherwise busy with other sevās . This same conduct of Param Gurudev was seen in our Guru Mahārāja.   So, seeing Gurudev simply means seeing Param Gurudev. Some of Gurudev's godbrothers had difficulty seeing and accepting their Gurudev's qualities as being fully present in their godbrother, but our Guru Mahārāja was always read...

Our Gurudev has manifested before our eyes that he is nondifferent from the form and personality of our Param Gurudev by living his life according to his Gurudev's ideals and conduct. He never made his own presence known because he always made his Gurudev's presence and honor as a flag of glories to fly high, never letting them become dull or fade from our memory.   There is a line in Param Gurudev's stavakam : Guru pankti surakshan yatna param . It says that by accepting the responsibility of becoming guru , he has well protected our guru-parampara .  Param Gurudev and so also our Guru Mahārāja performed this divine pastime of always remaining a disciple by keeping this ideal before the world. It is our Gurudev's specialty that he demonstrated in his life that only the best disciple can become the best guru. So our Guru Mahārāja is Jagadguru, a great Vaiṣṇava and an Ācārya who is worshipable by the whole world. But we see that in his conduct as Ācārya, he kept the mean...

There are a few points to give attention to Gurudev's Dhruva-charitra kathā . The essence of Guru Mahārāj's teachings is that we should not have any malice or hostility towards anyone; only then we can perform our hari-bhajan . He would give great emphasis on this. He would also repeat Sunīti Mātā's words to convince Dhruva: “Whatever your stepmother has said, she has said it in your best interest— her words are correct. If you are hurt by her words you have to learn to tolerate it.” Hearing her words, Dhruva became firm and resolute and went to the forest in search of the Lord.   One of the godsisters from Bathinda went to meet Gurudev in Kolkata and entered his room and offered praṇams to him.  Those were the times when there were not many restrictions and a devotee could visit Gurudev easily. Seeing her, Gurudev went on speaking about Dhruva-charitra for the next two hours.  While speaking Gurudev was shedding tears and she also was crying hearing it.   ...