Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once In Gokul, quite a few maṭhavasis and others left. My job was to do the cooking in the morning and later clean the pots and pans. After maṅgala arāti one day, I saw there was a statue of Ambedkar in front of our temple. He had formed the constitution of India and had come from a lower caste and people of those castes considered him godly and almost worshiped him. They installed the statue of Ambedkar pointing his finger in the direction of the temple. They encroached on the maṭha property when they did this.  Politicians would play their politics and later blame it on somebody else, but they also instigated them. They had planned to disfigure the deities of our temple. They had a meeting in Matura and then another in Gokul. One day when I finished the sevā of washing vessels, I went to take bath. Sādhu Mahārāja and two brahmacārīs were doing kirtan and we found a crowd outside the temple making noise.  I woke up Rādhāpriya Prabhu (Bhakti Svarūpa  Akiñcana M...

We have to first surrender ourselves to Gurudeva and then we receive mantra from him.  As much as we surrender to him, that much we get.  Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante  tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11)  [Translation]: As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly.  Our Gurudev has given himself one hundred percent to his Gurudeva and so Pūjyapād Kṛṣṇa Keshava Prabhu (our Param Gurudev's god-brother) told us that our Gurudev is tape recorder of Madhav Maharaj, meaning his bhāva (mood) is as it is of Param Gurudev.  Pujyapad Puri Gosvami Maharaj said whom you see as Śrīla Tirtha Maharaj, I see him Madhava Maharaj. How did he get the bhāva of Param Gurudev? By gurugata-prāṇa (belonging to the spiritual master with one’s whole heart and soul). He knows nothing but guru .  He gave his everything to guru, cent percent. By simply following Gurudev's orders, did not do anything of his own will or desire. Param Gurudev also said Tirtha Maharaj is my he...

I observed how Guru Maharaj behaved with his guruvarga. I could see this particularly when Srila Sant Goswami Maharaj would visit him in Mayapur and also on with Srila Bhakti Sharan Trivikram Maharaj was in Kolkata math. In 2004 when Srila Gurudev’s Vyasa puja was organized in Kolkata, Srila BS Trivikram Maharaj was present. Only one chair was put on top and they wanted Gurudev to sit there, but he would not. We saw that Gurudev did not sit there. He made Sripad Trivikram Maharaj sit on the chair and he just sat near his feet on the floor. He was not accepting the special seat or anything; he was not ready to accept any respect, even after being in such a highly exalted position. In front of his guruvarga, especially in front of his godbrothers, he would always identify and present himself just as an ordinary disciple of Most Revered Paramgurudev Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj. Paramgurudev recognized his position by saying, I have many disciples, but the one who lives up t...

In 2005, we had grand celebrations of Paramgurudev’s Centennial in Mayapur and invited 108 mrdanga players. Pujyapad Madhusudan Maharaj made all the arrangements with devotees and we assisted him in that event. In 2011, we celebrated the 50th sanyass anniversary of Srila Guru Maharaj. The excitement and interest which Gurudev showed in 2005 during the centennial celebrations of Paramgurudev were hardly seen when the event was planned for 2011 for his sanyass anniversary. His sanyass celebration was so big, but for him, it appears as not very significant compared to the event in 2005 where he was seen monitoring each and every activity we were preparing for the centennial of Paramguru Maharaj.  For Srila Paramgurudev's festival, we purchased so many shirts for the mrdanga players and volunteers, nearly 500. We wanted to make some printing with a color image of Paramgurudev on the shirt with the idea that when we were seen walking on the road, it can be good publicity. When this news...

I heard that Most Revered Guru Maharaj was in Germany and a program was organized but in the auditorium, but no one came. Not one single person was there, and the organizers were embarrassed and worried about what to do. With no change of expression in the face of Srila Gurudev, he started speaking harikatha and I heard that Gurudev spoke for one full hour.  By the mercy of Most Revered Srila Gurudev, I got this chance to witness something similar in Cochin in  2004 at the Centennial celebrations of Paramgurudev. Although we organized a program, not a single person was present. It was a big auditorium and many chairs, but only one person was sitting. We didn’t even know how to react, what to do, but when Srila Gurudev arrived there, he spoke harikatha in the empty auditorium for one full hour and did so happily. Gurudev always said he is not preaching, he is doing kirtan, I was invited for kirtan. These are not mere words, but what he sees and what he teaches to the world. Whe...

Śrila Gurudev has a very special quality of not wasting a moment of his time; he does nothing but devotional activity. Every time we would go see him, he was always at his study table and constantly speaking harikathā or listening to harikathā . Śrila Gurudev is the personified form of these particular words: a pure devotee is always engaged in service. He was always spending his time writing or reading books. We got this chance to witness that divine darśan . I would see him constantly engaged in giving guidance to devotees. In Chandigarh or other parts of Punjab where there are so many devotees, he gave advice all day long and all the while he was  speaking harikathā . When there was no one there, he was busy in reading books, studying notes, and listening to harikathā of Most Revered Paramgurudev. One time I even got the chance to see this in Śrila Gurudev’s bhajan kuṭir in Chandigarh. In 2000, we were engaged in guarding the maṭh so that no thieves will come because Śri...

The first time I met Srila Gurudev was very special. It was more than something just emotional. When I was young in my home my father used to take me to visit saints in South India and they are all very powerful, opulent, very special. Yet somehow my heart was never attracted to any of them. But the first time I came to see Srila Gurudev, in that first meeting, my heart went exactly to him because he is simple and saintly. Vaishnavas are simple, not opulent. They don’t go behind any opulence. I saw this simplicity even before I even conversed with him; his first glance made me feel how easy it is to approach this personality. We read in the scriptures that by whose darshan the holy name starts to come out from your heart, understand he is not an ordinary person. In the first meeting when I saw him in the station, suddenly my heart told me he is your Gurudev, he’s your Gurudev, and that is all because of the simplicity seen in him. A few years after I got initiated by Srila Gurudev I sa...

I remember in my initial discussions with Srila Gurudev the question came up regarding how I came to Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. I said earlier I joined an ISKCON temple in South India and started speaking that I was not inspired there; I was thinking something negative to justify why I came to our math. Gurudev very clearly objected saying that it is very harmful to criticize, you have to restrain yourself from criticizing others, especially Vaishnavas. Don’t blame and criticize Vaishnavas and also don’t criticize the organization.  We take it so lightly, but Gurudev never saw ISKCON as a group of devotees. His vision of ISKCON is nondifferent from the personality of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. He was seeing the name of the organization as nondifferent from the founder of the organization. Math does not only mean some building by an organization, but the banner presented and installed by the acharya to preach the ideals and standards of the mission; in this, the achar...

One time the deities of Gokul Mahavan math were damaged by miscreants who were later caught.   Those people were waiting to be given punishment. Tridandi Swami Sadhu Maharaj was an eye-witness to the incident.    I observed all senior sadhus pressurizing Sadhu Maharaj to give witness in the court to make sure the miscreants were punished.   I myself was also favoring this stance strongly.    It was during that time that I saw Sadhu Maharaj’s saintly quality and his faith in Acharya Deva (Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj) and was very much surprised.   Sadhu Maharaj took his bag and went straight to Acharya Deva at Rajapura to take his advice.   When he met Srila Acharya Deva in Rajapura, coincidentally I was also present in Srila Maharaj’s room.    In reply to Sadhu Maharaj’s question about whether we have to proceed with the punishment, Srila Acharya Deva was referring to verses from Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta ...

One day our Gurumaharaj [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaj] came to Mayapur. At that time, three of us were staying together in Srivas Angan—Krishna Prasad Das Brahmachari (Ashram Maharaj), a disciple of Bhakti Vilas Tirth Maharaj named Vrindavan Das (Bhagavat Maharaj), and I. Gurumaharaj was going for preaching and called Krishna Prasad Das Brahmachari to tell him that Krishna Ballabh will also stay with us there. Guru Maharaj instructed me that I should not serve prasad to Krishna Ballabh in pattal (plate made of plant leaves), that he should be served prasad on his steel plate instead. He also said that I should never give him drum-stick in prasad. I asked Krishna Prasad prabhu, "We all take Prasad on a pattal, why does Gurumaharaj tell us not to give him prasad on pattal?" I could not understand the reason for this. We used leaves from banana trees in Mayapur, so why not serve him prasad on those? I could not understand why not. Krishna Prasad prabh...