Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

[In the early 90's] we had the good fortune of going for Jagannātha Puri ratha-yātrā . Our train was late by many hours and reached at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the day of r atha-yātrā . We had darśana of Guru Mahārāja and that afternoon at about 4 pm ratha-yātrā would begin.   Guru Mahārāja told us that they were going to Kolkata by train that night and from there to Agartala in the morning by flight.  He continued, “All of you spent so much money and came from so far for Jagannāthjī’s darśana,  but today Jagannāthajī has no wish to go to Guṇḍicā Devī's temple. Jagannāthajī may not go today, so you take darśana of Jagannāthajī following the footsteps of Param Pūjyapāda Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāja tomorrow morning after we leave.”   That afternoon Guru Mahārāja did kirtanas and played mṛdaṅga himself.  I felt as though Mahāprabhu Himself was playing mṛdaṅga . After playing for ten minutes, Amarendra Prabhu started playing  mṛdaṅga ....

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport on Wednesday, July 28th, 1999 at ll:00 AM. Immediately upon arriving at the Brooklyn home of Śrīman Ramesh Naudiyal, (Bensonhurst, Brooklyn NY), a warm saṅkīrtana-ārati welcome was accorded to His Divine Grace. His arrival in America marked the auspicious day of Guru-pūrṇimā, the advent day of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva, as well as the disappearance day of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. The U.S. tour of His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj has begun on a very auspicious note. Last night, Mahārāj spoke on the importance of Guru-pūrṇimā and guru-tattva . Though fatigued from a long 28-hour journey from India, Śrīla Mahārāj still insisted on honoring the day and holding an evening program that began at 8:30 PM. Rousing bhajan led by Bhūtabhāvana Das preceded his talk on the importance of guru , guru-tattva and the significance of Guru-pūrṇimā. After he was prompted to f...

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...

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...

The following observations and divine incidents related to Srila Gurudeva's sickness pastimes in Guwahati, 2013 were noted by Prahlad Das and sent out to those on the mailing list. We have compiled them here: ---- atah sri krishna namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuratyadah The pastimes of Supreme Lord and His dear associates are beyond the comprehension of a material mind. But only to a surrendered soul performing loving devotional service, They are revealed. Pure devotees descend from the Lord's Abode by Their own will and perform many extraordinary and seemingly ordinary pastimes. In the course of their every activity,  they instruct and inspire the souls of the world diseased with material vanity to perform loving devotional service to the Supreme Lord. But by playing the special pastimes of sickness they intensify the mood of loving exchange of surrendered disciples. Srila Gurudev spoke volumes and enchanted many, especia...

By causeless mercy of Our Most Revered Srila Gurudev, the Kartik-Vrat at Ludhiana started yesterday. To our surprise, only shortly after our arrival, Srila Gurudev suddenly joined evening Harikatha and spoke for more than an hour, during which He gave an introduction to Gajendra-Moksha dialogue in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Srila Gurudev expressed His desire to participate in the Nagar sankirtan this morning. He woke up and got ready when we entered His room and said that He wants to join the Nagar sankirtan for a very small distance. Devotees could not control their emotions when they heard this and became blissful. Pujyapad Madhusudan Maharaj lead the kirtan with "Jai dau Jai dau" while Srila Gurudev lead the devotees for about 50 m distance. Later, devotees danced in front of Srila Gurudev and proceeded further, while Srila Gurudev went back to His room. Another surprise came with Srila Gurudev's arrival at the house of Sri Anil Dave Prabhu, where Nagar ...