Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Mahābhāgavats come to encourage us and show us the path that is our only goal. We belonged here from before a time we can remember. Guru Mahārāj joined the Mission in 1947 and up to the time our maṭh was established by Śrīla Param Gurudeva, Guru Mahārāj was staying at Caitanya Maṭh with Param Gurudeva. Guru Mahārāj said we are also originally belonging to Caitanya Maṭh. Our saṅkīrtana party used to sit and take prasād in the open under so many trees. From there we used to go to Śrīvas Angan and then Kazi Samādhi.  Guru Mahārāj was worried about when it was going to become dark as many people could be lost along the way. I remember from Kazi Samādhi that everyone was tired. After prostrating, many were feeling like catching a rickshaw since we had been going on foot the whole day. Then I remember Guru Mahārāj getting up with his tridaṇḍa in hand. He started singing, "Haribol, bolo bhai" and he started running to the maṭh using the fastest stretch from Kazi Samādhi to our ...

I remember the Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā  that was performed in 1987. During the last days of the parikramā in Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, Gokul-Mahavan, our Most Revered Śrīla Guru Mahārāja, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāja, raised a question to himself in order to instruct us: “As we increase our endeavor for devotion, our attachment to this world increases rather than our attachment to the Supreme Lord. Why is this so?”   While Śrīla Guru Mahārāja was delivering a transcendental discourse from his lotus mouth, I recorded the divine and sublime words of Guru Mahārāja. To purify my heart and to please the devotees who have affection for Śrī Guru, I am making a small attempt to present the same transcendental words as they are: "Here I have done my self-examination. So many days have been spent doing parikramā , following vaiṣṇavas, and chanting the Lord’s name loudly. You might be thinking that I am doing a lot of kīrtana, and dancing. But what is the ...

During the 1979 Vraja-mandala parikramā, we went to Brahmand Ghat and the breakfast prasādam was prepared and brought from our Gokul maṭha. Although Śrīla Mahārāja was the Secretary of the maṭha , he had no dedicated personal servant; I used to serve him a little. That day I forgot to carry Mahārāja’s bowl. I was wondering how to serve prasādam to him. I looked for a leaf plate; it was also not available, but I had carried my bowl. Mahārāja accepted prasādam in that bowl. I was a brahmacārī at that time, but he had no ego of being a sannyāsī or being the Secretary of the organization. The more one is humble, the more Mahāprabhu showers His mercy on him. And also, the more one is advanced the more humble he is. —Śrīmad Bhakti Saudha Jitendriya Mahārāja

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 ...

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj is very affectionate to his disciples. The reason he travels from one place to another speaking hari-kathā throughout the year is the causeless mercy and compassion he has towards all living entities for their eternal welfare. He will never let any hindrance come in the way of such activities, even when his health is not so good.   All his glorious activities, including his hari-kathā and articles in different languages such as English, Hindi, and Bangla are proof of his desire for the eternal welfare of all souls.  My understanding is that this desire for the eternal welfare of all souls does not stop him from his tours in Punjab in the severe summer or Simla in the cold winter. In this regard, I see his affection for all souls is many times more than that of a mother to her child. Those coming in contact with Śrīla Mahārāj individually experience personal attention and special regard towards them whether they go for darśana alone or with family and frie...

I used to tell Gurudeva that I had not seen any other Maharaj doing nritya kirtan like him. He would reply that he had learned it from my Gurudeva and from Jajavar Goswami Maharaj, who was next of our Math and also very dear to Param Gurudeva and loves our Gurudeva very much. Guru Maharaj expressed so much feeling for Jajavar Maharaj. He said, "He taught me nritya kirtan."  Also staying in Chaitanya Math there was one Sarangadev Goswami Maharaj, who was also the in charge of the publication department. He used to engage Guru Maharaj. Guru Maharaj was telling that Sarangadev Goswami Maharaj taught him proofreading and printing. —Rasavihari Das, Jammu

During Vyasapuja after Guru puja, Srila Gurudev invariably speaks about Bhaktivinod Thakur and says, ye mana durmati samsar bhitare:  I am such a bad man, neck-deep in the material world. You sent your representative to me. Srila Gurudev said that Param Gurudev came to Goalpara for me. Did we go to the forest like Druva? Guru Maharaj came to us in this very city of Chandigarh. Srila Gurudev said that this kirtan Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote is for me.  He saw me fallen and poor, without the name of the Lord with me. He came to give me the good news. He told me to liberate people like you, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself has descended in this world.  Do not worry, he has liberated millions like you. Srila Gurudev says, "this kirtan is for me." —Sri Bhakti Vichar Vishnu Maharaj transcribed from Hindi, spoken in Chandigarh, 12/6/2015

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...

I experienced the glories of Harinam in Punjab where I stayed in a dharamshala (lodge) with Guru Maharaj, Sri Trivikram Maharaj, and Sri Krishnadas Babaji Maharaj. In that lodge, Gurudev and all Vaishnavas used to get up early morning at about 4 AM, but we were young boys who liked to sleep late. At that time, Gurudev started singing kirtans such as Shadgoswami Ashtakam and verses from Gita. It used to be so nice and so loud, we could hear him from a long distance. There was silence and all were hearing Gurudev’s stava . It was nice, so pleasing and soothing to the heart to listen to the clear sound of Gurudev giving such long "jais" to Thakurjis of various maths like Krishnanagar, Kolkata, Assam, etc.  We asked Guruji why he gave "jais" to all Thakurjis from all maths, since usually we only give "jais" to the Thakurji of the math we're staying in. He replied that different maths have different Thakurjis and different sevaks are serving them....

There is no doubt that our Most Merciful Srila Gurudev is an embodiment of patience, but we had the real experience of it when there was once a General Meeting held in Kolkata. There I happened to read the false accusations made upon Srila Gurudev by two Vaishnavas who had filed them in the court.  I  was surprised to see the serious and baseless accusations that so extremely attacked  His character.  Reading those accusations, I had felt great anger and also was surprised as to with what thoughts and intentions such senior Vaishnavas did this. In the assembly, all household Vaishnavas expressing their minds let out their anger and pacified themselves. Srila Gurudev did not consider it appropriate to speak anything against anyone and only said that whatever Guruji and Supreme Lord does is all-good. I was astonished seeing this extreme forbearance. —Sri Vishvambhar Das (B. L. Chotani), Manasa  Translated from Sri Krishna Chaitanya Sandesh July-Oc...

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...

When our mother was in the last stages of her life, the doctors in Ludhiana had suggested we cease treatment; there was no hope. We thought that now that Gurujī is in Ludhiana, it is good if we take her for his darśana and we took her in the van to the temple. When we went up and spoke to Guru Mahārāja about our mother, he asked, “Can I get darśana of Matajī?” We had brought our mother for Gurudeva’s darśana but when Gurujī spoke like this, I bowed my head down to his lotus feet seeing his humbleness. What more can be said about his compassion?  He came down from the top floor to the ground floor to give darśana to Matajī. He chanted Narasiṃha-mantra before her and gave tulasī leaf in her mouth and his blessings too. In this way I saw Gurujī’s boundless compassion and humility. —Puruṣottama Dāsa Sekhari, (Punjab) translated from Sri Krishna Chaitanya Sandesh, July-Oct, 1997

In the summer of 1991, when I was still a young girl, I made my first memorable trip to India with my older sister Rukmini Devi dasi, and my late mother, Smt. Devamayi Devi dasi. We almost immediately went to Jagannath Puri with our mother's Pishi, the late Smt. Aruna Didi, a dear and loving disciple of Srila Gurudev, Sri Srimad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj, and her friend LakkhiDi. It was on Jagannath Puri Ratha Yatra Parikrama that I first got real darshan of both Srila Gurudev Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj and Srila Guru Maharaj Sri Srimad Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami. (I try to respectfully refer to Srimad Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami as “Srila Guru Maharaj” and Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj as “Srila Gurudev”.) I still remember Srila Gurudev, Srila Guru Maharaj, and Sri Srimad Bhakti Kumud Santa Maharaj all sitting together, very affectionately, doing very enthusiastic kirtan in Gundicha Mandir’s courtyard. It almost seems like a dream now. My father, Ras...

Once when a court case was going on for our Puri Math (we subsequently won,) Param Gurudev and Guruji were in Guwahati. Param Gurudev told Guruji to go immediately to Jagannath Puri. He bought the ticket and was about to leave, he had a water bottle whose handle was broken. Guruji took a rope made of coir, tied it to the bottle and hung it on his shoulder. When Param Gurudev 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 qualities of Guruji his biggest quality is surrender towards Paramgurudev. Our Guruji was made acharya not because he is educated but because he is totally surrendered. Our Guruji never said anything other than his Gurudev’s words. He always says, “I heard from my Gurudev like this” or “my Gurudev said such and such words.” He is always singing his glories. He says, “My Gurudev has instructed me to only repeat the words of your Guru, Vaishnav, and Scriptures w...

The main thing about my whole experience of Parikrama with Guru Maharaj was the very high intensity of Gurudeva while loudly chanting Sankirtan and the way he would explain everything in very simplified terms. All sorts of people used to come in Parikrama – people from North India, Mumbai, Bengal, Assam, South India; there were people who were well educated and qualified, people who were from rural village backgrounds, and old ladies. All kinds of people were there, but I felt all were feeling spontaneous attraction for Gurudeva equally, irrespective of their bodies and backgrounds. Guru Maharaj always said, "You are acting as a Guru because you are sitting in front of me, and that is forcing me to think about Mahaprabhu and speak. That is what my Guru Maharaj ordered, and you are facilitating that – this is Guru Karya. Guru Karya means the work of Guru which you are doing.” I also have heard on Ramnavami day that Guru Maharaj would say, "Shishyas also act as Guru, bec...

In the earlier days, Guruji used to come to Dehra Dun twice a year. He would say, "Gangasagar ek baar, Dehra Dun baar baar." It meant that we go to Gangasagar once and to Dehra Dun repeatedly, twice a year— once in Summer and once during winter. It was rare for him to any other math twice, but he went to Dehra Dun because lot of his god-brothers are there and he liked to meet them. At that time, there were not many facilities in the math. They used to get supply tankers for water and it would come late at night. Now it is Gurudev’s mercy that water facility is good but at that time it was like that. One time during the night, at about 2 AM, Guru Maharaj saw that water had come. He wrapped a gamcha (towel) around his waist, and did not wear his khadao (wooden slippers) because they were noisy and he wanted to go quietly. He wanted the devotees to get nice rest without disturbance. He cleaned each of the pots one at a time and without making any noise. He was very care...

I remember an incident when Tatpara Mahārāja was cleaning Gurudeva's bathroom. He had to go somewhere, so he asked me to finish it. I waited outside and Gurudeva took a long time to come out.  Finally Gurudeva said, "I tried to clean it, but some marks are there. You please be careful."  Gurudeva had been cleaning it himself! When I went to the bathroom, it was completely clean. There were no marks. Gurudeva never thought, these are my sevāks. He called them "our helpers." Once we went to a devotee's house. Many devotees cooked, so there was not a burden on a single devotee.  When we came out, Gurudeva asked, "Have you taken all your utensils or not?" Gurudeva was recording and making note of each and every thing. He was so careful—so considerate. —Hari Prasād Dāsa, Delhi

In Gokul, when people of a local political party destroyed the deity of Radha Gokulanandji, Guruji was in Jammu. Parampujyapad Srila Guru Maharaj, Pujyapad Narayan Maharaj, one devotee from Bathinda and I went to a MP (Member of Parliament) in Jammu to discuss this topic. From there, Gurudev went to Gokul. He was very sad and cried incessantly saying, “This has happened because of my offences. Gurudev has given me the responsibility to serve Them. I couldn't do Their service nor could I take care of Them.” Later some devotees consulted an advocate to file a case against the miscreants. The papers were prepared and taken to Guruji for signatures. They told Guruji, "Please sign these papers; we will file a case against those culprits.” Guruji read the papers and tore them into pieces. He told “Have we become eligible to file a case against Vrajvasis? Whatever has happened is due to my offences.” He was very cautious not to offend the Vrajvasis. Where can we find su...

I have met many Maharajas, but our Gurudev is most humble. When in the West, he was very open. Anyone could come to him at anytime without asking anyone's permission. He was very available for us. When Guruji was giving initiation, he was doing everything on his own. First, he was offering guru-puja, then he delivered a long Harikatha and made us understand each and everything from beginning to end. Finally, he said, "Now offer dandavats to our Gurudev." He never said that he is a Guru. He always offered us to his Guruji. I organized a program. It was in a mill that was renovated and made into a big apartment that we rented. The owner and his 80-year-old mother were living downstairs. There was a big kirtan. The owner was frightened by the noise and came up to express his displeasure. Gurudev told us after that not to do loud kirtan. When we were planning for next year's program, Gurudev asked, "Will we be allowed for next year?" He never thoug...

Śrīla Gurudeva always liked to be very prepared and often planned his lectures ahead of time and requested the name of the institution we are going to. He and I went to some strange places in Phoenix (Arizona, USA.) We went wherever we could since not so many devotees lived there.  Once we went to some place called "Center for Expanding Consciousness." As he spoke on some verse of Bhagavad-gītā, one lady held up her hand while he was giving commentary.  He stopped and said, "Yes, you have a question?"  She replied, "Well, I have Bhagavad-gītā. I heard this verse many times, but it doesn't seem to me what you are telling me it means. What you are saying seems to have a different meaning." He just said, "I am so happy that you are reading Bhagavad-gītā," and smiled. She sat down. There was no conflict, no room for it at all. People have different interpretations, but there is no argument. He has no sense of conflict, free of animosity, condesce...