Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Today is the appearance day of Lord Śrī Rāmachandra and Śrīpad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāj, Ācārya of All India Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭh. Appearance Day of both the Lord and His devotee has arisen together today. Singing the glories of Vaiṣṇavas is most beneficial for us.  It liberates the jīvas . Śrīpad Mahārāj did not take initiative to become Ācārya.  He accepted the position of Ācārya to fulfill the desire of his Gurudev.  A long time ago when I was at Goalpara Maṭha in Assam along with Pūjyapāda Mādhava Mahārāj, one of our godsisters asked Pūjyapāda Mādhava Mahārāj, “You are not keeping well. After you, who will perform the duties of Ācārya?  Have you made any arrangements for this?” Pūjyapāda Mādhava Mahārāj smiled and told her, “Yes, I know. I will make perfect arrangements before I go. She asked, "Who will you appoint?" Mahārāj replied, “I will not mention his name now, but the one whom I nominate will be even better than me.” I was also hearing this conv...

Today is the appearance day of my Śikṣā Guru Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj which is also the appearance day of Lord Rāmachandra. Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj was very dear and very close to my Gurupādapadma Śrīla Bhakti Kumud Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj who has given great encouragement to him.   Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to visit our maṭha often.  Our Gurudev used to tell us that if you want to please me, then you should satisfy Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha  Gosvāmī Mahārāj.  He also used to tell us that he does not see Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī as himself, but he sees him as Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj. His glories are unlimited like Śrī Bhagavān Himself.   He has come to this material world to fulfill the prophecy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu that the holy name will be uttered in each and every village of this world, as stated in this verse: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma arvatra pracāra haibe ...

Firstly, I offer flowers at his lotus feet and humbly pray to him to please show mercy and accept the flowers offered to him by this fallen one. Just as the appearance day of the Lord himself is extremely holy, his devotee’s appearance day is equally as holy. Today is the appearance day of the Supreme Human Lord Śrī Rāmachandra, and today is also the appearance day of our revered Mahārāj—it definitely bears some kind of significance.  The Lord appears on the face of this earth in order to save the living world, in this respect our most revered Vaiṣṇava, crown-jeweled Mahārāj appeared on the face of this earth for the welfare of the living being of this world as per the wishes of the Bhāgavatam .  God himself has said that more than my worship the worship of my devotee is great. Hence all of us will assemble together and offer our worship unto his lotus feet. With that, he will be extremely satisfied and happy with us and will shower us with merciful blessings.  Our most r...

Today is the adhivas-tithi (preliminary function) when we cleanse our hearts so that Lord Rāmachandra appears here tomorrow.  Tomorrow is Maryādā Puruṣottama Lord Rāmachandra's Appearance Day as well as Lila Puruṣottama, Lord Kṛṣṇa's devotee, Śrīla Gurudev's appearance. The holy tithis are harmoniously coinciding. We all know that the whole world adores and respects our Gurudev. Śrī Rāmachandra is glorious as  Maryādā  Puruṣottama who lived an ideal life and never broke any rules of the scriptures and so also in the same way our Gurudev is equally glorious and in no regard less than Śrī Rāmachandra. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam : We seat the Supreme Lord within our hearts. A heart that is completely pure is called vasudeva . It is not a person's name. The Supreme Lord is called Vasudeva because He is the son of Vasudeva.  But the term  vasudeva has existed from time immemorial, as evidenced in the satya-yuga mantra : Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. ...

First of all, I offer my heartfelt obeisances unto the lotus feet of Śrīla Gurudev. Words fall short when I express my fortune and blissful association with Mahārāj. Dating back to the early eighties when I was a schoolgirl, I accompanied my family to attend his discourses at Lakshmi Narayan temple (Gandhi Nagar, Jammu). I used to look forward to the month of September every year when Guru Mahārāj visited and blessed everyone in Jammu with his big entourage of sannyāsīs and brahmacārīs .  The highlight of the two weeks program was a grand nagar-saṅkīrtana procession. All those images still flash in front of my eyes and I was reminded of them when I watched a video that had been recorded. Although I had so many opportunities and so many times to ask questions to Gurudev,  I hardly asked as I was intimidated and hardly had any doubts because looking at his smiling face, I would forget everything.  I had just entered class twelve when I took harinām along with my revered...

Śri Tapasvī Maharaj took us to Goalpara for the first time. Later on many occasions, I visited Goalpara like during the Kartik celebrations there, during construction time, and also during inauguration time. Once Gurudev asked me to deliver kathā in Goalpara and I was inspired to remember the instance of Mahāprabhu visiting the appearance place of his Guru, Śri Īśvara Puripāda in Kumārahaṭṭa and his pastime of taking soil of the place, touching it to His forehead and tying it in his upper cloth. Following him, many devotees took soil from the place and how it turned into a pond and called Caitanya Doba. Mahāprabhu taught us by this pastime that the birthplace of Guru is worshipable for us. Hearing this, Gurudev was pleased.  Goalpara is our Gurudev's appearance place. In the North-east portion of India on the continent of Asia (Bhāratavarṣa in Jambūdvīpa) is the holy place Prāgjyotiṣapura as so named in the scriptures. It is an ancient holy city mentioned in Mahābhārata.  Ne...

When we decided that we will celebrate Rāmanavamī festival in Kolkata, we did not tell Gurudev about this in advance. While he was sitting in his room, a few godbrothers entered carrying a plate with garlands, chandan (sandalwood), flowers, incense, and a lamp. We saw that Gurudev was writing something. He looked up and asked, "What is this?" "Today is Rāmanavamī." we replied. "Yes," he said, "Rāmanavamī. Perform worship of Śrī Rāmachandra." We told him, "No, we want to worship you— today is your āvirbhāv !" He said, "Who said it is my āvirbhāv ? My birthday?" We explained, "Pujyapad Nitya Gopal Prabhu told us today is your āvirbhāv ." He said, "No, no! Do not perform my worship— worship my Gurudev. If you worship my Gurudev, then my worship is done." We said, "You will perform your Gurudev's worship, and whom shall we worship? And Śrīla Gurudev ordered, "We shall worship our Gurudev."...

Śrīla Bhakti Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāj appeared on the day of Rāmanavamī, the appearance day of Lord Rāmachandra. Rāmachandra is Maryādā Puruṣottama, an incarnation of the principle of honoring the established order. I have seen in his entire character how he gives due respect and honor to everyone like Lord Rāma did. Rāmachandra's nature and Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj's nature are the same. I have seen how he was always respectful towards his godbrothers and how he taught this to his disciples also. This is an exemplary teaching to give due respect to everyone. It is also my personal feeling that his teachings are most valuable for the Vaiṣṇava community, especially amongst our societies as well as all of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu's Mission. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gave the instructions to us that in order to chant happily, we have to keep due respect to all vaiṣṇavas, and Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj is an embodiment of that example. He was not...

I first came to our Mayapur Maṭha in 1979. Śrī Keśava Prabhu, a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, asked me to introduce myself.  I told him the name of the city I come from and then he told me not to stay there but to go to Kolkata.  He suggested that since I was a little educated, it is better if I go to Kolkata because in Mayapur only farming can be done.  He sent me to Kolkata then with a letter he had written.   Gurudev had recently taken the position of Ācārya. He was not present at that time as he had gone out preaching. After some time Gurudev returned. I got his darśana for the first time after he returned. When I heard Gurudev offering jayadhvani with so much devotion, it attracted my heart. It was as if he was feeling and seeing internally; there was actual life in his jayadhvani . While we are also giving jayadhvani , we are not remembering as he did at the same time.   After that Gurudev performed vandanā (invocation prayers) in such a way that I had ...

Gurudev's glories and pastimes are infinite and I have absolutely no qualification to describe them, but whatever I remember, I will try to speak.  Our Tridaṇḍī Mahārāj was narrating one instance in his yesterday's  kathā  about Śrī Rāmachandra visiting Vālmīki Ṛṣi's ashram during his  vanavās  (forest dwelling period). Offering His  daṇḍavat-praṇams  to Śrī Rāmachandra, he asked this question,"Where shall I go to reside?" In reply, Vālmīki Ṛṣi says, "Oh Rāmachandra, reside in the heart of one who has more regard for his Gurudev than you do." So it is by Lord Śrī Rāmachandra's desire and grace to make this  tithi  even more auspicious and glorious that He made His devotee appear on this  tithi .   A few days back I was reading the holy biography of Aṣṭottaraśata Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāj, one of the most prominent disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda. I came across his words which he spoke while sitting in f...

Today is the appearance day of a great personality, a mahanācārya . Advaita Ācārya has observed the appearance day of Śrī Mādhavendra Purī. Many devotees contributed on that day. Even a person who honors prasādam on that day will get devotion to Śrī Govinda. Therefore we all will be benefited from observing the appearance days of vaiṣṇavas . What is the meaning of appearance day? When a traveler is wandering in the desert, he is able to find the direction by looking at the Morning Star. This material world is also like a desert. Similarly, the Supreme Lord has sent His own person who is like a Morning Star. We do not know the path, but because of his appearance, we have seen the path. There are many kinds of gurus, but not all are the same. Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj is an associate of Śrī Gauranga Mahāprabhu and he is very dear to his Gurudev. Today so many devotees from India and all over the world are fortunate souls present here due to their attraction to hi...

In 2013 we went to Kolkata  during Rāmanavamī  and a huge festival was organized in a big pandal in front of the  maṭha . As  Gurujī  was playing sickness pastimes then, devotees were doubtful whether  Gurujī  would attend the program at all. But  Gurujī mercifully  came down and gave the instructions to follow in the footsteps of Srila Śrila Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. On  Rāmanavamī  tithi,  Gurujī  would be in a different mood and remember Param Gurudev and his talk on  Uttāna   Ekādaśī   tithi . But this time,  Gurujī  gave great emphasis on following Śrila Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura and said our Param Gurudev would be very pleased by our efforts in the propagation of Śrila Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura's  vani  and following his instructions. Later when  Gurujī  was slowly walking back to his  kuṭira  accompanied by his  sevā ks  he was heard repeatedly saying to anyone an...

While we are performing bhajan do we understand what is the meaning of actual sādhu-sanga , the association of devotees? I have seen there were so many sevāks who came to serve Gurudev. How many of them actually imbibed the heart, the nature of Gurudev? So many sevāks were very dear to Gurudev, they stayed close to Gurudev, but many of them went back to material life. Why did that happen? Have they really associated with Gurudev? Is it possible if they had associated really with Gurudev that they go back to the material world?    We think that living in the vicinity of Gurudev I will attract his mercy—no. There is a story called Punar mūṣiko bhava —it means again becoming the mouse. It is very popular in Bengal. There was a sage and there was a mouse in his hermitage. One day a cat was chasing that mouse. Then the mouse took shelter of the sage. Then the mouse requested the sage to bless him to become a cat. Then once a dog was chasing that cat and then it agai...