Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ


Today is the viraha-tithi of our Most Worshipable Guru Mahārāj. Guru Mahārāj used to say if Gurudev enacts the pastimes of disappearance it is to enhance the separation grief of his disciples.  This applies to only his real disciples.  We never thought or imagined that we will have to live without his darśan .  In his presence, we never felt when it was day or when night, how the days, fortnights, months, or years passed in the past thirty-five years.  Though I could not even externally take real association of Guru Mahārāj, his association was such that just after returning home from attending one program with him I would plan for the next program, whether it be in Punjab, Orissa, Bengal, or Maharashtra.  Wherever Guru Mahārāj went, I cannot say I went, but Gurudev's mercy attracted and pulled me to him. Only by his mercy can a householder, materialist, wicked, greedy for name and fame, egoist like me understand and adorn Gurudev and his words in his heart? ...

We are all connected with our Spiritual Master or our spiritual father and our hidden feelings come out more on this viraha-tithi to show that we are connected because all our hidden feelings come out. Maybe those feelings are eclipsed by our environment, but they are very strong inside us. Who can ever think that our Guru Mahārāj is not there? 

Guru-tattva is very subtle, very intricate. Guru-tattva is manifested in your feelings, in your thoughts, and in your expressions; we can feel this is guru-tattva .  Sometimes it comes to my mind why is it that we could not realize Gurudev's tattva when we were with him. He was so simple, so gentle, so soft, and so encouraging. Our Padmanābha Mahārāj said Gurudev will like to remove the fear of the disciple so that a disciple can express his thoughts. Guru Mahārāj makes us fearless when speaking out our hearts to him. And sometimes we become assured that we can say whatever we want to him.

 I remember traveling with Guru Mahārāj ...

My śikṣā-guru , founder of Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭh, Nityalīlā Praviṣṭa Om Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj is glorious. The jewel of his eyes and his necklace (garland) around His neck are all non-different from Him. The great personality whose disappearance we honor in this excellent ceremony today, my śikṣā-guru , Tridaṇḍī Svāmī Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj remains ever victorious.  Once we had gone along with Mahārāj on a preaching tour to Haldia. Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj, Ācārya Mahārāj, Yati Mahārāj and Tridaṇḍī Mahārāj had accompanied him. That program was organized by local devotees who were very poor. We stayed in a two-story, mud house. The stairs were difficult to climb, but Mahārāj was quite happy living there.  When we were having prasād , we criticized it, saying  “This is not good, that is not good..." At that time, Mahārāj came down and chastised us. “This is a poor person’s house. They have organized this program by begging. You are getti...

When Śrīla Guru Mahārāja's final pastimes were manifest I was very fortunate to be there and got the sevā of bringing medicines, coordinating things, etc.  Eight days before he entered into mahā-samādhi things were getting more and more critical and many devotees had gathered in the Kolkata Maṭh. I got a very strong feeling that we must do kīrtan , and so did some devotees like Rasbihari Prabhu and our Gaurasundar Prabhu from England, but somehow it was not appreciated, some thought it would disturb Guru Mahārāj. So we just sat a little bit to the back of the balcony, not too close to Guru Mahārāj, and started maṅgalācaraṇa prayers there and started the kīrtan on a low volume, and gradually more and more devotees joined and the kīrtan slowly grew.  Once the kīrtan started it never stopped and it went on for eight days, day and night. Śrīla Bhakti Niketan Turyāśramī Mahārāj, who is one of the senior-most god-brothers of Guru Mahārāj also consented.  Devotees who wit...