Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

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. ...

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."...

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  Śrī Rāmachandra 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 sittin...

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...

All of us know today is Śrī Rāmanavami and we have assembled here to get the mercy of Śrīla Gurudev. The ideals that Lord Rāmachandra exhibited are the same ideals that Gurudev exhibited throughout his life. In 1987 during Govardhan parikramā through Vrāja-mandala parikramā there was no sufficient water supply and no proper toilet facility. Everyone went for parikramā and everyone returned in the evening, but Śrīla Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj did not return. He was not able to walk all the distance and he stopped along the way. The next day, Giridhari Panda told us that we will go for Manasi Ganga parikramā but Gurudev said, Until Śrīla Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj returns, we will not go on parikramā .” Then some devotees went to fetch Śrīla Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj and he took some time to walk all the way back. Some devotees thought now we can go, but Gurudev said, “Now he may be tired, let him take a rest, only then we will go. He is a realized soul and he knows the pastimes of the S...

Our first Rāmanavamī celebration was a big revolution, a great struggle, because we knew our Gurudev would not accept Guru-puja from us. Gurudev had always fixed in his mind that he is an akiñcana disciple of his Gurudev ( akiñcana meaning a person who considers his Gurudev his only wealth and nothing else of this material world) and this was unchallengeable. Śrī Dandi Mahārāj is witness to our first attempt to offer Vyāsa-puja to Gurudev in Chandigarh maṭha . With great difficulty, 3-4 devotees came into Gurudev's room with a plate full of lamps to match his years and as a huge plate of glowing lamps waved before him, we saw his head moving round and round following its direction. He felt afraid that the burning lamps may perhaps fall on his bed. We were in an awkward situation and not looking at his face we were performing arāti singing “Jai Gurudev, Jai Gurudev.” This type of program had never occurred. Now we realize the lost opportunity we had all those years before whe...

Śrīla Gurudev's father gave him a kurta to wear to college. He wore it even though it was so long that the sleeves extended past his arms. When his friends saw this, they laughed at him and asked, "Are you wearing your father's kurta ?" The only thing he replied was "My father gave me this with a lot of love." During his childhood in Goalpara (his appearance place), the Śiva mandira near his home was his favorite place of worship and meditation. After he completed his MA in Philosophy at Kolkata University, he was offered a job as a District Magistrate. In one of his visits to maṭha to hear Param Gurudeva's hari-kathā , one maṭhavāsī told him "You will soon become a District Magistrate; will you get time for hearing hari-kathā ? You will only hear the public going on with their civic complaints." Śrīla Gurudev felt the truth in these words and refused to join this duty. When Param Gurudeva came to their place, he quietly followed him to the...

Right from his childhood, Guru Mahārāj had an affinity for meditation. He would sit for long hours meditating on Lord Śiva whom he had a particular affinity. In Goalpara (Assam) there is a temple where Guru Mahārāj used to sit and meditate. Now that place is called Tīrtheśvara Mahādeva.  Guru Mahārāj's name is Tīrtha and Tīrtheśvara is the Lord of our Gurudev. Also, tīrtha means pilgrim place, so it could be understood as the Lord of pilgrimage. Guru Mahārāj's name is Tīrtha and so it is named Tīrtheśvara Mahādeva. Anywhere he would sit and meditate was Guru Mahārāj’s favorite place. His parents were very worried to see such a small child sitting and meditating. They thought, what is this? His parents feared what will happen to him. They would call his name, but he didn't respond. One Summer when Guru Mahārāj was about five years old, his uncles and aunties came along with their children to Goalpara. Goalpara is a serene, scenic place with the Brahmaputra river flowing nea...