Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

During the annual Navadvip dhāma-parikramā festival in 2012, many devotees from different corners of the globe came to Māyāpur to take part. It was apparently impossible for Śrīla Gurudev, who was approaching 90 years old to physically participate in the daily circumambulation. However, he showed an enthusiasm unknown to anyone of his age by leading kīrtana in the early hours on the opening day of the parikramā . He also spoke about the glories of the holy dhāma to all the pilgrims. Every day he would come out of his bhajana-kuṭīra to see off the devotees going on parikramā and to welcome the devotees when they returned late in the evening. One day when all the devotees left for circumambulation leaving behind only a few servants and Śrīla Gurudev in the Maṭha, a few devotees from China had come to visit Śrīla Gurudev. They sat in front of Śrīla Gurudev’s  bhajan kuṭīra and started to sing Mahāmantra in a loud voice. For a long time, Śrīla Gurudev was sitting inside his...

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)

Several years ago, Guru Mahārāj was traveling to Bhatinda from New Delhi for a religious assembly. The train that was scheduled to reach Bhatinda at 7pm reached at about 1am; it was late by 6 hours. It was double the discomfort due to the delay in the train’s start time in Delhi and later reaching so late in the night. I saw that the whole preaching party was disturbed due to hunger and tiredness and troubles along the way. Yet Gurujī’s face was adorned with that all-familiar smile.  Reaching Kundanlal Dharmashala, all were anxious to unwind and rest in their allotted places. Many did not even have prasād and went straight to rest. Inadvertently we had committed a great mistake as the prasād was oily, spicy, and rich food. The usual vegetables that were prepared for Gurujī such as papaya, raw banana, and cucumber were not available; nor were raw vegetables kept available in stock.  When Gurujī’s sevāk came to fetch prasād to offer to Gurujī, there was nothing available ...

The most difficult part of Vraja-mandala parikramā is Kāmyavana where on every step, sharp thorns would prick us. Gurujī was least disturbed whereas I, walking by his side, was in a very bad condition. Seeing my state, he told, "We do not want to take the holy dust of Vraja, but Lord is very merciful. Through the use of thorns, He is sending the holy dust of Vraj into our bloodstream." This type of vision is an indication of his transcendental quality of tolerance. In any difficult situation, he experiences the Lord’s compassion, which a conditioned soul of this world can never think of. — Śrī Kṛṣṇananda Das  (Bhatinda) Translated from Sri Krishna Chaitanya Sandesh , July-Oct, 1997 (Year 17, Issue No.4, Page 27-39) 

It is very clear by observing Guru Mahārāj's activities that he has a great longing to help deliver lost souls. He demonstrates this in all his actions including his responsibilities related to the management of the maṭha, his careful and timely replies to all the devotee's letters, and writing articles for the Bangla Monthly magazine Śrī Caitanya Vani. In addition to that, he accepted great austerities while preaching in Punjab and other places where he was speaking hari-kathā up to seven times a day. We cannot see this kind of tolerance and dedication elsewhere, in anyone else. Once Śrīla Guru Mahārāj took his pracāra party to Assam and we were returning by Kamarupa Express to Kolkata. While nearing the Bangla-Assam border, I listened astonishingly to Śrī Ananta Prabhu narrate an instance from the previous year. He said that this Assam-Bangla border is very dangerous; a deserted area where if a train does not arrive at the scheduled time, dacoits come inside the trains and ro...

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 must surrender to a person who is the most generous, magnanimous, merciful, and affectionate – closer than any mother or father you could think of. We got Harinām from such a guru who is both spiritually and materially very well-conducted throughout his life. For this reason, he has got tons of mercy from so many associates of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. It wasn't just that they gave mercy, but they were so happy to be in his company. He had so much service mood, he was always ready to carry out any order. He never thought, "Yes, I have done enough." At any time, even in the middle of the night, he was always ready. Śrīla Gurudev would not only consistently perform activities slowly, but he would also always say all the names of the āchāryas of our line. He would say all the names with so much feeling, very carefully. He was standing before me but I could see that he was in a completely different realm. Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev Goswāmī Mahārā...

In Gokul Mahavan in 1993 the deities were damaged. This news reached Srila Gurudeva at Pathankot where he was stationed then.   After hearing the news, without showing any external instability and keeping his pain suppressed within his heart, he consulted some Vaishnavas and sent them to Gokul.    Later after sometime when He came to Gokul Mahavan from Jammu, He saw all the damaged deities and remained completely silent. After that, he came to the assembly hall and began to sing Sri Narasimha prayers. He could not contain his pain and cried out so loudly that it seemed like the whole universe would break. Hearing the sound of those cries, the hearts of all present there were stirred.    No one would cry so much, even in separation grief from loved ones or relatives as much as Srila Guru Maharaj cried in separation grief from the Supreme Lord, and went on telling that due to my offenses Supreme Lord has deprived me of His service.   —Swarup Damodar ...

Sadhu is deena-vatsala. In Srimad Bhagavatam, Nimi Maharaj Navayogendra Samvad, it is said: just half a moment's association with a sadhu has the power to cut off and free an enslaved jiva from worldly life and tribunals. Such power is there in a sadhu's words whose conduct is one with his words and with the scriptures (virayavati katha). Our Param Gurudev's disciple who is a house-holder hosted Paramgurudev and his group for 3 days at his place in Icchapur for katha before they proceeded on Navadvip Parikrama. Gurudev went to look after arrangements in advance and later stayed for few more days for some work after the program. Then the householder devotee told our Gurudev, if you do not mind, if you do not feel unhappy, I want to say something to you. Gurudev said, you have served so much. Speak your heart, I will not feel bad. Then he said, your harikatha is just like our Gurudev’s, but the attraction and the power, the weight that is in Gurudev's katha is n...

One time during a Harikatha in Kolkata Math, Gurudev expressed his great concern about devotees who had a desire to visit the zoological park at Kolkata when they came there.
 His concern was really palpable when he said, "You go there to see the lions and tigers, but if you suffer a heart attack and die there out of fear hearing just one roar from one of them in close quarters, you may be born as a tiger or a lion next because your last thoughts were of them!"

By Gurudev's grace we see a lesson He is conveying to us, i.e. though death of the body is certain and I have no control over the date, time, place and circumstances of death, but I still have a choice to choose how I live now and so, let me only aspire and pray to live a devotional life in the association of pure devotees of the Lord.

 I found myself pondering on the words of Gurudev and could not get it off my mind easily. More thinking made me realize that Gurudev's concern was not like an ordinary m...

Our Guru Maharaj is the incarnate form of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s 3rd sloka of Sri Sikshastakam amanina manadena , not expecting respect for oneself but at the same time giving due respects to others, and this mood of his is unparalleled. Not a trace of desire of respect for himself. We can personally observe these qualities of Guru Maharaj in his day-to-day activities. In Sri Dham Mayapur, ISKCON’s Sri Jayapataka Maharaj submitted to Guruji saying, “Maharaj, you take many devotees to several places during Parikrama while performing sankirtans. So, please come to our place as well.” Guruji accepted his submission. One day Guruji was taking devotees along in Nagar Sankirtan and arrived at Sri Krishna Chandrodaya mandir. Sri Jayapataka Maharaj and math’s other sanyassis and brahmacharis gave a warm welcome to Guruji at the main gate. They expressed great joy on the arrival of Guru Maharaj and blissfully joined the sankirtan. With great respect, Guruji was lead to the Satsang...

Suchitara told that she was once in the math with her mother. That time her exams were also going on. Guruji asked her if she would sit for Harikatha before he was about to start speaking. She replied telling him she needed to go home to study for her exam. Again, Guruji said, "You should sit for katha." So, then she and her mother both sat then. When they reached home, they saw that the neighbor's cylinder had exploded in a location that was attached to their own kitchen. They knew immediately that Guruji had been aware of this incident when he repeated for them to stay. They could understand that Guruji must have known and stopped them as a way of protecting them from injury. —Sakshi Ratna (sent on behalf of Suchitara Sengupta)

Excerpted from a report dated July 19, 2010: Our Most Revered Srila Gurudev Om Vishnupad 108 Sri Srimad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj attended the Annual Ratha Yatra Festival of Lord Baladev, Subhadra and Jagannath in Sri Kshetra Puri Dham for the first time in 5 years. While in Puri Dham, Srila Gurudev initiated 46 devotees in to Harinam and 12 devotees took diksha on the day of Rath Yatra. Later in the afternoon, he had seen devotees pulling the carts of Baladev, Subhadra and Jagannath with devotion. We observed tears rolling down His cheeks on a few occasions. The next day, His Divine Grace went to Gundicha Mandir to have darsan of the Deities on the carts. One Brahmin named Sri Ram Panda took Srila Gurudev close to the Rath and cleared the crowd in front of Sri Jagannath. Devotees shouted "Hari Bol, Jai Jagannath" after getting His Darsan. A day after that, Srila Gurudev went to the seashore to take darsan. He offered His respects to the ocean, sprinkled some wa...

I never had any chance to interact directly with His Divine Grace because of His illness pastimes. But even then I consider myself a most fortunate disciple because of the firm faith I have that one of the reasons for his physical presence amongst us is to bestow his unparalleled mercy upon as many of the fallen souls as possible. I am writing this to express my heartfelt realizations since I have come in contact with His Divine Grace. I came in touch with Krishna consciousness through ISKCON around the year 2000 and I was also chanting 16 rounds on beads since 2008. But for one reason or the other, I did not get formally initiated. The prime reason for this was that I simply could not decide who had the qualification to become guru as this person was going to be responsible for taking me back to Godhead. Even though I had taken shelter of a sanyasi in ISKCON, but I could not make a decision to get initiated because of this dilemma. Then in 2013, my fortune arose when I was employed ...

To most sacred, most beloved, most adored His Divine Self Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja : 
 Oh Vaishnava Thakur, please do accept my repeated most humble loving obeisances unto Your lotus feet. Today I was asked by one of Your most worshipable disciples to honor You, to glorify You, but because I have no qualifications to do so, I will try my best to remember You through the times I have had the immense blessing of meeting You. This great privilege of being in Your presence was given to me as I recall, 7 times. What is most outstanding to me from those meetings is the joy, the bliss which would arise in our hearts simply by being in Your presence; the softness and gentleness that would arise in our hearts simply by Your presence. The sacredness that the places would immediately be imbibed with as they were blessed by Your footsteps—Your presence made that place become beautiful and a holy land. Flowers in quantity would appear, everything, all the arrangements w...

I have seen that many times devotees offer pranami (donation) in hundreds or thousands. In Assam, I have seen poor devotees offering gamcha/dhoti (towel) and one rupee along with it. Guruji first used to touch that one rupee coin on his forehead, then used to say that these devotees are poor and have chosen to give that to me on which their children has the right. He does not see the amount but he sees the mood of the devotee. Where will we find such a Vaishnava who looks at the bhava (degree of devotion) of the devotee and not at the amount! —Krishnanand Das, Punjab

One time during one of the internet webcast darshans, Dinabandhu Prabhu was doing Mahamantra kirtan and many of our god-brothers were there. All were very enlivened, and I was watching from my home and I was also feeling enlivened. Then I started regretting, thinking, why will this have to finish? While I was regretting, I got a message from Gurudev from within my heart that said, no, why should we finish? This will never finish. I am eternal, all these god-brothers are eternal, all our relationships are eternal. Vrindavan is eternal, so if you want to serve, this will always go on. This transcendental realm will always go on. 
Such revelation and encouragement I got from Gurudeva at that time. And there are so many other instances; there is unlimited Guru-katha. 
—Madan Gopal Das, Slovenia 


One time Guru Mahārāja was on the balcony in the winter season to get some sun. We observed him to be staring at a particular nearby tree for a long time, seemingly lost in some thought. I was sitting in front of him when he asked a question. He asked, ”These birds, they are going here and there. They bring food and they come back to the same place to nest. They have some small babies, so they go and bring some nice food for them and they come here again. They don't have any house.” I indicated, “Yes, Guru Mahārāja.” Then he inquired very innocently. “When it rains, how do they fly? Their wings get wet. Where do they get food from? They have to fly. We are using umbrellas, but they have no umbrellas. So in the rainy season, where will they go? How will they find food?” I said, “Actually, I don't know,” because I had never thought of it. People like me only consider myself—whether I am okay or not, whether I have sufficient foodstuffs in my storehouse or not, whether I have eno...

This morning, at around 9:30 AM, while Śrīla Gurudeva was taking his breakfast, I conveyed the heartbreaking message of Parama-pūjyapāda Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja's departure from this world. As soon as he heard, he was shocked. "Left the body?" He asked, his mouth fell open in shock. He paused for a while and again said, "He left the body? I was informed that his health had improved. Is it not?" I said that there was an improvement after what he had heard about Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja's serious health trouble in October but that he left the body at about 3:00 AM today. Śrīla Gurudeva then said, “Everyone has to leave one day. Anytime anything can happen. This cause, that cause is just instrumental.” He took his next spoonful of breakfast and said, "He roamed a lot outside India even at his advanced age. What is good is that he left his body in India and that too in a dhāma."  After a while, he asked about when and where the samādhi would take place....