Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Everyone is aware of the controversies that have prevailed in the maṭha , but not a single word of abuse from Gurujī’s mouth was ever heard. During one particular incident In Kolkata maṭha , an ordinary meeting was called. Everyone expressed their faith in Guru Mahārāj and decided to take some stern steps toward envious people. They thought he would attend, but he did not. My Guru-varga Vaidya Om Prakashjī said that he went to Gurudev’s room and prayed to him that he should control the disputing parties, but Gurudev replied, “I have come to the maṭha to perform devotion. Our Gurudev will control or discipline others.  Whatever is happening here is all by Gurudev’s desire and we should not be disturbed by this. —Śrī Partha Sarati Das, Bhatinda  Translated from Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Sandesh, July-Oct, 1997 (Year 17, Issue No.4)

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...

Once Param Pūjyapād Śrīmad Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj came to our āśram in Haridwar along with about five hundred Punjabi devotees. Starting from Har Ki Pauri, Mahārāj entered our āśram dancing and singing in kīrtan . As I was about to do his ārati , he stopped me and told, “You should do Gurujī's ārati , not mine.” I told him, “You are also Guru. Ontologically Guru is one, and Param Gurudev Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj has whole-heartedly established you as Ācārya. He has his complete mercy on you and thus coronates you as Guru. So whose ārati  should I do other than yours?” He told, “No. Perform ārati to the portrait of our Gurudev.” He took the lamp from my hand and started doing Gurujī's ārati . I saw then his total dedication to Gurujī. According to me, Paramgurudev Srimad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj and Param Pūjyapād Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj are non-different. They came together to this world from the spiritual plane. —Śrīl...

One should take complete shelter of Guru's lotus feet, as one would have for Bhagavan. Gurudeva is Paramgurudeva's most favorite and loving disciple.  A disciple may have many good qualities, but no sharanagati.  Param Gurudeva, Prabhupada do not see qualities in disciples but see only sharanagati.  Unless there is sharanagati, Gurudeva's qualities will not descend into a disciple.  In ananya bhakti, Bhagavan's qualities descend to a devotee.  If you become a favourite of Gurudeva, then you are favorite of Bhagavan too.  Yasya prasadat bhagavat prasado...  Wherever our Gurudeva speaks Harikatha he speaks only His Gurudeva's words.  He speaks so much about Param Gurudeva that no other disciple of Param Gurudeva speaks. Before speaking, he often says, I  have orders from my Gurudeva that we have to hear and speak about what our Gurudeva has said." This is his special quality. Guru is Krishna's grace, the incarnate form.  So through Gu...

Earlier, we used to have the maṭha in a rented house at Rashbihari Avenue, Kolkata. Our Guru Mahārāja [Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja] used to call Kṛṣṇa Ballabha's name always and as soon as he was called, he would leave aside every other activity, including eating, to respond to him. In this way, he would serve Guru Mahārāja . I still remember an incident that took place in front of my eyes. One day, Mahārāja needed to go to a government office at 11am. Pūjyapāda Keśava Prabhu and asked him where he was going. He replied, "As per the order of Guru Mahārāja, I am going to an office for some work."  "It is nearly 11 AM, time for the bhoga to be offered to Ṭhākurajī, You should take prasādam before leaving," they said. “How can I take prasādam before all of you take? Also, the time I need to be there in the office as per the order of Gurudeva is approaching," Kṛṣṇa Ballabha Brahmacārī said. Despite his argument, they insisted that he s...

Once our Puri maṭha had won a court case. Paramā-gurudeva and Gurujī were in Guwahati. Paramā-gurudeva told Gurujī to go immediately to Jagannātha Puri. He bought the ticket and was ready to leave right away. He had a water bottle whose handle was broken. Gurujī took a rope made of coir, tied it to the bottle, and hung it on his shoulder. When Paramā-gurudeva saw this, he exclaimed, “You are traveling by air like this?”  He is such a renounced person that he never paid heed to the mundane world. Among all the qualities of Gurujī, his biggest quality is surrender towards Paramā-gurudeva. Our Gurujī was made Ācārya not only because he was educated, but because he is totally surrendered. Our Gurujī never repeated anything other than his Gurudeva’s words. He always said, “I heard from my Gurudeva like this” or “My Gurudeva said such and such words.” He is always singing his glories.  He said, “My Gurudeva has instructed me to only repeat the words of Guru, Vaiṣṇava, and Scriptures...