Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

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...

Now I am going to tell you about my condition when I first took shelter of the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva. I was staying with my brother-in-law who was an officer, and I used to go to Calcutta University for study. At my first meeting with Srila Gurudeva, I told him, "I have had an indifference to the world for a long time. I feel that the world is not eternal and that one day, my mother, father, brother, sister, and all others will be gone. All will be over. I become sad by thinking like this and feel like renouncing the world, yet I have lust and a desire to enjoy; therefore I am afraid of the thought of renouncing the world. If I somehow renounce the world but then have to return to it later, friends will make fun of me and people of this world will laugh at me. So now, please tell me, will it be good for me to renounce the material world or not?" In reply, Srila Gurudeva explained to me with great affection, "It is all right. You may lack something, but the Su...