Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Dear Vaishnavas of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Matha, Please accept our humble obeisances! All glories to Sri-Sri Guru and Gauranga! With deep grief the Vaishnavas of Russian ISKCON accepted the news about the departure of such a distinguished acharya, Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja. He was, by right, one of the most outstanding Vaishnavas among the second generation of the disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Together with the Vaishnavas of the Math, we are sad and thankful to God for the opportunity to get His endless mercy through the servants of His holy name. The Russian land once was blessed by the visit of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja who amazed everyone who was lucky to meet him by his humility, sincerity, and purity. His life and his departure once again remind us about the all-uniting nature of Lord Chaitanya's message, of how much today's materialistic society needs the knowledge about the Personality of Godhead, immortality of the ...

The following article is re-posted from  Mayapur.com : * Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj entered Nityalila on 21st April amidst 6 days long round the clock Sri Harinam Sankirtana, when His favorite bhajan, ‘Radha Kunda Tata Kunja Kutira" was being sung. Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj is a grand disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and disciple of His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaja, founder of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. He appeared on April 24,1924 at Amlapatti-Gwalpara, Assam, India, Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja joined the institution in 1947 after completing His Masters Degree in Philosophy at Calcutta University (India). He served the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math as its Secretary and took Sannyas in 1961. As per instructions of HH Jayapataka Swami, a full ceremony of honoring an Acarya was performed by ISKCON Mayapur. Maharaja was received with a big kirtan by devotees and special invocation...

I had the good fortune to have the association of Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja. His spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja was kind enough to allow me to stay in his ashram in Kolkata. He personally 
put me in the care of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja while I was there. Later, His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja was made a trustee of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust. After his departure to the spiritual world, His Divine Grace Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja was kind enough to continue the role of being a trustee of the AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Trust. It was customary that he would speak some Harikatha on the occasion of our meeting of those meetings He would speak so that we would all be reminded of our primary purpose of Krishna Consciousness to serve the Pancha Tattva with words, thoughts, and deeds. From then on, year after year, I met with him to work out strategies on how to preserve the holy ...

I am a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda Svāmī Mahārāja. I have a wonderful story to tell about my meeting with Śrīla Gurudeva in 1997, if I remember correctly. I was living in Hawaii, and we were experiencing a difficult time after the troubles with some of the so-called spiritual leaders in our organization. Many fall downs were causing confusion and resulting in a lack of direction for the ordinary devotees.  A very good devotee friend of mine who was from Indonesia and of South Indian ancestry suggested that a wonderful devotee from India by the name of Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī could be persuaded to come to Hawaii. We were in the middle of a deep discussion of what could be done to help the struggling devotees find proper direction again.  When Mahārāja’s name came up we both exclaimed, “Here is a real vaiṣṇava,” and we should invite him to come to Hawaii. Now remember, I had never met Mahārāja but just by hearing my friend's description of Mahārāja I was immediately inspi...