Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I am very insignificant, the lowest of mankind, and do not know much about Gurudeva, but I will repeat whatever I have heard from the lotus lips of vaiṣṇavas. How can we develop transcendental love for the lotus feet of Gurudeva? When we develop devotion for the lotus feet of Gurudeva, we attain auspiciousness. Until devotion arises unto the lotus feet of Gurudeva, we cannot attain auspiciousness. When we attain devotion, we reach the Lord's eternal abode, the transcendental abode.  Māyādevī expands her illusory powers and obstructs our proper darśana of Gurudeva, then what we see is with material vision. We see that Gurudeva has become old, Gurudeva is sick, diseased, angry, etc, but it is not so. It is Māyādevī's work that she does not allow us proper darśana of Gurudeva. Why does she do this? Because we will leave her world and go to Vaikuntha-loka, the transcendental world, so she works to hinder that.  Secondly, we think we will see Gurudeva, we try to measure and assess ...

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

guru, vaiṣṇava, bhagavān, — tinera smaraṇa tinera smaraṇe haya vighna-vināśana anāyāse haya nija vāñchita-pūraṇa ( Caitanya-caritāmṛta , Ādi 1.20-21) How did a person like me get the fortune of attaining the shelter of the lotus feet of our Gurujī, a pure Vaiṣṇava? No one in our village nor our family has attained the shelter of a pure vaiṣṇava like I did. I had no strength of piety, knowledge, or austerities; it was only by Gurujī's causeless mercy that I attained his shelter. There are many sādhus (gosāis) in Assam who give mantras but lack good conduct.  My elder brother was living in the railway quarters in Guwahati and during my holidays, I went from Medhnipur to Guwahati. I had not studied much up until that point. As I was wandering around, I came across our Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha which is near my brother's quarters. I entered slowly and found vaiṣṇavas performing arāti-kirtan . I had only heard about the Ramakṛṣṇa Mission and Bharat-sevā saṁhiti but had not seen G...

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...

Mahārāj has a very, very strong dedication to Śrī Guru within him. There are many instances of this when we were trying to recover Sri Prabhupāda's janmasthān in Purī. Many tenants were there and some of them had developed enmity towards us. Sometimes they used to trouble us very much by making fun of us and by eating fish and throwing bits of fish into our rooms.  One time Guru Mahārāj [Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja] had come to Purī. We were all coming from somewhere to the place where our maṭha now stands. One tenant came in front of Guru Mahārāj with a plate full of onion fries and expressing artificial humility said, “Mahārājī, I am very poor, I cannot serve you properly, please mercifully accept these few fries I have brought for you.” He did this even though he was fully aware of the fact that we do not eat onions; he did this with the intention to make fun of us. Gurujī glanced at the plate he was holding and hearing his words, answered smilingly, “You kno...

Lord's compassion and mercy are described as unlimited, boundless like the ocean. This is realized only by His devotees. His affection is compared to the affection of crores of parents put together. One who has the experience and realization of the Lord's boundless mercy will never keep faith in the material world.   I will give an example of how much śiṣya-vātsalya our Gurujī has for his disciples. When Pujyapad Bhagavat Maharaj requested Gurujī to send a pūjārī to Tejpur Math, Gurujī told me that you have to go to Tejpur.  I said, "Yes, Gurujī." But Gurujī became thoughtful. At that time, terrorist activities were on the rise in Assam with news of bomb blasts, including occasionally on trains. Gurujī said it is risky to travel by train, so you will go by flight directly from Kolkata to Tejpur. The ticket fare was then Rs.300/- and he got the ticket booked for me. Then he told, it is very cold in Assam now and if you take an early morning bath in cold water you wil...

How can we learn to speak and listen to Gurudeva? In Bhagavad-gita  it says: tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ (BG, 4.34) Translation:   Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.* Praṇipāta is offering prāṇam  in a surrendered mood. Paripraśna questions should be posed for our eternal welfare, ātyantika-śreya . Questions should be asked as Śaunakādi Ṛṣi and Parīkṣit Mahārāj did. Śrī Rāmānujācārya asked his disciple, how far is death?  The disciple replied that we sleep in the night and do not know whether we will get up in the morning.  But Śrī Rāmānujā said this is very far,  but death can be very near. Actually, we are not sure whether we will take our next breath.  Pūjyapāda Bhakti Hṛday Bon Mahārāj went to hear hari-kathā...

It is only the Lord who can give love and become friends with those who act like His enemies. Our position is we do not want to see even the face of those who become our enemies, we turn our face from them. This is the nature of the conditioned souls. Enmity takes birth from pride. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā māna-den ; to give respect to enemies and become friends with them is very difficult. When I was made the maṭh-in-charge at Mayapur maṭh, I asked Guruji some questions: how can I adjust with many sevaks who have different natures? A maṭh-in-charge is supposed to be inclusive of all the sevaks and carry out various sevas smoothly, but how is it possible? It is very difficult even in a household life to see adjustments between family members. Guruji told me, "Your sacrifice should be a hundred percent, meaning even if someone grudges you, becomes your enemy, you should not have enmity towards him; your behavior should be like that of a friend. If someone is a...

To follow the conduct of pure devotees of the Lord is essential.  When Pujyapad (Bhakti Pramod) Puri Gosvami Maharaj was speaking harikathā , a foreign devotee (Nrsimha Maharaj) placed a tape recorder in front of him.  Puri Gosvami Maharaj asked him what it was.  He replied that it was a tape recorder.  Then Maharaj asked, "What does it do?"  He knows everything, but still, he asked.  He explained that it records your kathā simultaneously, which we can hear again later.  Then Puri Gosvami Maharaj made a gesture indicating his heart region and said, "You record it here. There is no benefit of recording on the tape recorder.  If you really want eternal benefit, you have to record it in the heart."   Guruji was in Agartala for Kartik-vrat during the year of Mahaprabhu's five hundredth appearance anniversary. A photographer was called to take Guruji's photo for the local newspaper.  Before taking the photo, the photographer asked G...

I will speak about Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj's humility. After  Vraj-mandal parikrama  in 1990,  we came to Delhi. At that time, there was not this big  maṭh , it was in a small building. My name was Godhari Das Brahmachari then. Maharaj told me that there were no  sevā ks  there then, so if I could stay there it would be good.  Maharaj is senior to me, so he could have given me direct orders to stay, but he said this very humbly. In Kolkata  maṭh,  I was Maharaj's  sevā k . At that time, Maharaj spoke evening  katha  daily.  Sometimes when he was busy in writing, he would tell me to ask Sri Keshava Prabhu or sometimes Srila Bharati Maharaj if they would offer  bhagavat-katha  that evening. He would not give anyone orders; he had such a humble mood always—no pride at all.   Abhaya Prabhu of Medhnipur had given me a tape recorder with cassettes of Guru Maharaj's [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Mahara...

It is very rare to have darśan of such a Mahatma in this world as Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj; we are all very fortunate, I got my Guruji and he gave me the service of Tirtha Maharaj. A Babaji from Nityananda Prabhu's birthplace, Ekacakra-dhām came to our Guru Maharaj [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj] and requested him to accept the sevā of maintaining the temple there. Then Guruji went there with his associates Tirtha Maharaj, Bharati Maharaj, and others, and on reaching there in the evening, he did a lot of sankīrtan in great bliss while visiting all the holy places and temples there. On return from nagar-sankīrtan in the night, Tirtha Maharaj got a high fever. The next morning Guru Maharaj called me and said, “Gadai, you go with Tirtha Maharaj to Kolkata, carry his bedding with yours.” We traveled by local train from Ekacakra-dhām to Kolkata. It goes via Bolpur where Shantiniketan University is located and there was a great rush of students on...

First I would like to remember the teachings of my Guruji [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj]. He would ask us to sing śrauta-vāṇī kirtan , i.e. to recapitulate the words which are heard from the lips of our Gurudev and śuddha-vaishnav , also called guru-vāṇī ānukirtan . He also said to speak Gita and Bhagavat-katha ; to not speak our words and thoughts. By this whoever listens is benefitted and whoever speaks is also benefitted. Another teaching of his was that we can reside in the maṭh when we forget our selfish desires and serve Gurudev's orders. Like for example, I reside in Guwahati or Goalpara and wish to participate in Navadvip parikrama or visit Vrindavan. If Guruji says, not to leave now, you can go later, you have to honor his words and not try to fulfill your desires. Then you are doing his ānugatya : the real way to follow—otherwise not. Once we were on a preaching tour in Assam lead by Tirtha Maharaj. Srikant Prabhu's father and Jagadananda Brahma...