Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I would like to remember a few direct and personal teachings of Gurudeva to me. The first time I was in Jagannātha Purī temple the pāṇḍās  told me to embrace Jagannāthadeva and Baladeva Prabhu and I felt great happiness and joy doing so. I had a god-brother from Jalandhar with me also. I came and narrated the incident to Gurudeva excitedly and he told me very mildly and convincingly, that it is alright that pāṇḍās  invite us, but we should never touch śri-vigraha.  Later on, I got more chances to visit the temple but never did such a thing again. This is Gurudev's teaching to me. We accompanied Gurudev to many temples during Vraja maṇḍala-parikramā and observed that Gurudeva never entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and touched śri-vigraha . The pūjārīs there would invite Gurudev to go inside, but Gurujī would not go. At Gopeśvara Mahādeva  mandira , the pāṇḍās  called Gurudeva inside but Gurudev did not enter the sanctum sanctorum ( garbha-gṛha ) and...

Every year, Śrīla Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja would go to Puri during Śrī Jagannātha ratha-yatra along with many devotees. Once I was also present when he arrived and we went to welcome him. But one of his younger sannyāsī godbrothers did not go to welcome him Mahārāja noticed his godbrother's absence and personally went to see him, offered him obeisances, and inquired about his well-being. This incident shows Mahārāja's humility. Mahāprabhu says,  tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ .   And these qualities are present in Mahārāja. Only such persons are eligible for kṛṣṇa-kirtana . 
—Tridaṇḍī Svāmī Śrīmad Bhakti Saudha Jitendriya Mahārāja

I had the mercy of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktiedānta Prabhupāda to connect with a civic group here in Hilo called the Japanese Cultural Association. Every year they put on a big parade through the streets of Hilo. So I thought, “Hey, we should do a ratha-yātrā !  The devotees made a miniature version of the raths in Puri. The carts were about fifteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twenty feet high including the canopy. By Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, Mahārāja just happened to be in Hawaii and when I found out I invited him to take part.  He stayed at my house for two or three nights. He had his servant with him who prepared his meals, and my overriding memory is of him sitting on the floor in the living room, looking up at a beautiful painting that my artist friend Khandita didi had painted of the Ṣaḍbhuja form of the Lord. He was looking so intently at it and I could feel he was there with Ṣaḍbhuja.   He has such a kind heart. When he first arrived, I brought him into my simple temple roo...

In 1996 during Ratha-yatra time, Śrīla Gurudeva was advised by the doctors not to bend much and to avoid movements (including dancing and kirtanas ) due to a back injury.  At t hat time in Agartala, I personally saw Śrīla Guru Mahārāja bending down to offer full  dandavat pranamas (prostrated obeisance) to the Supreme Lord with great difficulty.    When we objected to his doing this he would say if pranamas were not done before the Supreme Lord then a feeling of pride will remain in the mind.   Morning and evening after arāti-parikramā he would offer pranamas to all v aiṣṇavas along with others.   Also, He could not stop himself from performing dance and kirtana before the ratha . —Śrī Dāmodara Das (Satish Agrawal, New Delhi) Translated from Sri Krishna Chaitanya Sandesh July-Oct, 1997 (Year 17, Issue No.4, Page 42-46)

[In the early 90's] we had the good fortune of going for Jagannātha Puri ratha-yātrā . Our train was late by many hours and reached at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the day of r atha-yātrā . We had darśana of Guru Mahārāja and that afternoon at about 4 pm ratha-yātrā would begin.   Guru Mahārāja told us that they were going to Kolkata by train that night and from there to Agartala in the morning by flight.  He continued, “All of you spent so much money and came from so far for Jagannāthjī’s darśana,  but today Jagannāthajī has no wish to go to Guṇḍicā Devī's temple. Jagannāthajī may not go today, so you take darśana of Jagannāthajī following the footsteps of Param Pūjyapāda Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāja tomorrow morning after we leave.”   That afternoon Guru Mahārāja did kirtanas and played mṛdaṅga himself.  I felt as though Mahāprabhu Himself was playing mṛdaṅga . After playing for ten minutes, Amarendra Prabhu started playing  mṛdaṅga ....

By Kṛṣṇa's arrangement during the time of Guru Mahārāja's stay in New York, 1997, Lord Jagannātha decided to go on His annual sojourn through the streets of downtown Manhattan. Mahārāja's party accompanied the procession in a limousine driven by a nice gentleman named Ramesh Patel, who just happened to be a limo driver. At one point, Mahārāja asked from the back seat, "Where is Rasabihari?" "He is up ahead, pilling Lord Jagannātha's cart," Akincana Prabhu said. Mahārāja then asked, "Is it correct to say 'pulling' or 'drawing' in the English language?" "Probably 'pulling' is more appropriate," he answered. Mahārāja chuckled and said, "How can we either pull or draw Lord Jagannātha? Lord Jagannātha acts only according to His own initiative. We have no potency in and of ourselves to do anything, what to speak of compelling God to move. The cart moves by His inconceivable potency, when Lord Jagannātha dec...

Once we were in Chakdah Maṭha for Jagannāthajī’s Snāna-Yatra when the climate was very hot. Gurujī was doing saṅkīrtana loudly during the snāna of Jagannāthadeva. After that, he went on parikramā and then back to his room to honor prasādam . It was noontime and very hot. There was also no electric supply. Gurujī came out of his room with a hand fan.  When we said it is very hot, he replied, "Yes, but now dark clouds will gather in the sky, the wind will blow, and it will rain. Then the climate will become cool." As soon as he went into his room after saying this it started raining and everything became cool. —Śrī Bhakti Vilās Tridaṇḍī Mahārāja