Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

When I was a young boy at the age of thirteen or fourteen, I used to have a dream. In India I was given astrological advice by a Paṇḍitjī that explained that I must go to a Śiva temple every day in the morning to offer water to the Śiva-liṅga. I used to dream that somebody took me to the top of a hill and I screamed while they pushed me off but somebody was underneath and he caught me. That dream had been continuing for a long time. When I came to England, I told my wife that we have to build one Śiva temple somewhere and she agreed. But it never happened until I met Guru Mahārāja in Delhi. One day he suggested that we go with him to Assam. At Guru Mahārāja’s appearance place in Goalpara, the janmasthāna temple was still being built. We met Mr. Lumba there and he explained that one of the devotees from Jammu is putting a lot of money into building a temple and he would like to ask somebody else to donate for that.  He asked me to come with him so he could show me where the temple ...

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...

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...

A sadhu came to our house when Maharaj was very young and told, "This boy will not enter family life. If you wish to contain him in the household you have to get him married as soon as he finishes his education and gets employment, otherwise, he will leave the house." The sadhu also said that if he does indeed leave the house, the entire earth planet will be benefitted. - Arindam Guharoy - Son of Gurudeva's younger brother, became a disciple in 2007. Gurudeva delivering Harikatha in Janmastan, Goalpara (Assam) One time a sannyasi came to our house when Guru Maharaj was a child. He told my father-in-law that the child would not get married or remain with the family and that he would become very famous in this world. He clearly said that it would be impossible to contain Maharaj within family life. -Arati Guharoy - Gurudeva's younger brother's wife

Gurujī told us that in his childhood he used to go to the Shivajī temple near his house crawling on his knees because there was no other way through the forest. He would sit for hours, he said, "together" there. He spoke only this much, nothing more about it. From whatever little he spoke we got the hint of his teaching that Shivaji is vaiṣṇava vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ (SB 12.13.16) and if you pray to him from the core of the heart, he will bestow you the wealth of Kṛṣṇa-prema , Kṛṣṇa-nāma and engage you in sevā .   I recall how Gurujī came down to the main road and showed us the open field just opposite which is called Hari Sabhā, the place where Gurujī had the first darśan of his Gurudeva and from where Param Gurudev delivered a very powerful ( tejīyas ) harikathā . Nearby Hari Sabhā is a small pond by the name Kāśimitra. Gurujī went near the pond and said, “I used to take bath in this pond.”  Though we felt we should take the water of the pond upon our head, we dare...

In 1994 when I first came to Goalpara, Śrī Tatpar Mahārāj (then Madhusudan Prabhu) took me to Gurudev's birthplace. At that time, no road led to the place; there was only a tin shed sheltering the Śiva temple where the local people living down the hill would perform pūjā . We crossed their property and climbed up the hill.  The area was covered by forest with big trees and some dilapidated portions of the house which belonged to Gurudev's family. Retaining only a small portion of the land, all the rest was donated.   Goalpara Maṭh's annual function is celebrated from the last part of January to the beginning of February every year.  After Gurudev arrived we went on nagar-kirtan .  At Gurudev's birthplace, all devotees offered pranāms .  I did not know anything more than this is the birthplace of Gurudev.  Later we heard that the disciples of Gurudev from Kolkata contributed the donations and got this place to build a maṭh and temple there.  After...

One time Guru Maharaj's mother or father called him saying, "Kokha, go and bring some things from the grocery shop.  He was given some coins and asked to go and bring some items. After he returned with those things to the house, they asked, did you give the coin?  "Yes," he said, but explained this coin was old and was not in circulation,  but the shopkeeper had kept the coin with him. When he came to know this, he took a new coin from his father and went and gave it to the shopkeeper and took back the old coin saying it is not a valid coin. People like us think OK, I got rid of it.  But he is so honest, right from his childhood, he was honest in whatever he was doing.  There was no cheating tendency ever in his life, from birth on. All these things are the ornaments of the sadhu. —Sri Bhakti Suhrid Paramadvati Maharaj (As told by relatives who knew Srila Gurudev in early life. Transcribed from a recording made on Vyasa Puja, 2019)

In 2007 Sri Ramanavami festival was grandly celebrated in Goalpara. Before Guruji arrived, I thought that we have kirtan books in Bengali, Hindi, and English, so if we have it in Assamese also then it will be good. Later I tried two to three times to speak to Guruji about this, but could not because I found Guruji is surrounded by so many devotees, or when got the chance, I forgot to speak. On the festival day in the hari-kathā, Guruji said, "Bhakti is not propagated through language, bhakti is transmitted through conduct." I was dumbfounded as the question that was within my mind for so many days was answered by Guruji perfectly. Then I realized that there is no need to express all our thoughts or ideas to Guruji verbally, he can read our minds. There was a time when I was unable to perform my services well in the maṭha and I was sick too. I went to Kolkata, but at that time, Guruji was playing pastimes of sickness and not speaking to anyone; we could see him, but not speak...