Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I know about those times when Gurudeva was taking dalia (broken wheat), ripe papaya, and a protein drink called "Resource" every day. In 2006 or 2007 during Kārtika in our Delhi maṭha, there was a celebration of Rādhā-kunda's appearance day. Gurudeva spoke about how Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī was following a very strict diet of only taking one bowl of buttermilk. So Gurudeva was explaining how this was possible for Raghunātha Dās Gosvāmī. It is not like Siddhartha Gautam Buddha who only wanted to renounce this world. Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī had so much positive attachment to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's service and was getting that transcendental bliss. So because of that, he could totally minimize all these worldly necessities. Before Gurudeva started to speak, I offered a garland to Gurudeva as devotees requested me to do so. Because of this service, while sitting and hearing his Hari-kathā, I felt such transcendental bliss coming from within my heart that I felt I would explode. Gur...

I remember once when Guru Mahārāja was eating prasād and suddenly began talking about his mom. He suddenly said, "atom bomb." I was just surprised and I said, "Mahārāja, what do you mean atom bomb?" He showed me a chili in his hand and said, "It is an atom bomb." I was puzzled and said, "Mahārāja, the atom bomb fell on Hiroshima in Japan." He said, "No, this one is." That made me laugh and he was smiling as well. My wife and I used to make different vegetables, different dals, and different types of chapatis in his kitchen and he loved all the cooking. He used to speak very gently and I could hardly hear sometimes. I always said, "Yes, Yes, Yes." And that was when he always had prasād.  When having prasād instead of taking the typical 15 minutes to half an hour, he used to take an hour and a half and everyone used to start worrying, thinking what is happening inside? He would take prasād so long.  When somebody starts speaking...

There is one  līlā  that inspired me very much and inspires the devotees to whom I shared this. They asked me to tell them about this. So you most probably remember when Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja started manifesting his  līlā  of being ill. They performed a medical procedure on Mahārāja and devotees stated concerning themselves with how to serve Mahārāja better. Some devotees considered it necessary to follow all the doctor's instructions to take care of his physical body by restricting him to a certain diet and limiting his communication. During one  Navadvīpa- p arikramā,  some consensus prevailed and the devotees serving Mahārāja declared that there would be no more initiations. So many devotees were distraught and I was among them. It came like a bolt from the blue sky. There was very much misunderstanding and it was so disconcerting. Every day Śrīla Mahārāja came to the veranda to offer some water to Śrīmati Tulasī Devī. I was stayi...