Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

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...

Afternoons here are very hot these days, and Srila Gurudev will speak the glories of Sun almost everyday. One day in the afternoon after watering Sri Tulsi tree, touching Her leaves and twigs with His soft hands, and offering obeisances to Her, Srila Gurudev glanced mercifully over the balcony upon the passersby. While proceeding towards His room with a smile on His face, He said, "Sun loves all. He is giving light everywhere without charging us." A few days previously He had said, "Don't become angry by seeing Sun. Pay your respects." —Sripad Bhakti Suhrid Paramadavati Maharaj (extracted from archives on SCGM mailing list)

If I would have to name five teachings of Srila Guru-Maharaj I value the most, then one of them would be his teaching of akhanda-guru-tattva, especially in relation to Srila Rupa Goswami. Akhanda-guru-tattva means that Sri Guru is always unlimited and comes to us not only in one, but in unlimited forms. Guru is not limited to our diksa Guru. Our most important Guru may not be our diksa Guru, but a siksa Guru. In one lecture, Srila Gurudev explained, that although Srila Narottam Das Thakura’s Guru was Lokanath Goswami, in his “Sri Rupa Manjari Pada”, he reveals that his eternal Guru is Srila Rupa Goswami, who is Sri Rupa Manjari in Krishna-lila. The way Srila Guru-Maharaj was relating this topic felt as if he was indicating his disciples to follow in the footsteps of Narottam Das Thakur. This teaching entered deep into my heart and I was thirsting to at least hear more about realization of such akhanda-guru-tattva. Then, in 2011, I planned to shortly go to Malaysia to get a new v...

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...

On the morning of Monday, June 26, 2002, Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja had a meeting with Father Alfred Agius, a Catholic (Jesuit) priest, who served as head of the Westminster Interfaith group which encompassed greater London. This meeting was intimate, with only Mahārāja, Father Agius, and a few other devotees present. After exchanging introductions, Father Agius showed the devotees a number of nice publications he had assembled for the Westminster Interfaith group, demonstrating his sincere dedication to presenting religious perspectives from various faiths. After perusing these materials for some time, Mahārāja engaged in conversation with Father Agius.  He explained the vital difference between the idea of the modern caste system, which is based on birth, and the varṇāśrama system, which is based upon the character of a person. He showed how the varṇāśrama system is a natural thing.  He said, "If someone has the tendency to worship and study scripture, he ...

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....

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...

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...

Gurudeva gave his full heart and mind to everything he did. He was very, very alert. I have seen so many times that whenever we used to do parikramā , Guru Mahārāja was dancing and singing and suddenly he stopped to offer daṇḍavat praṇām and said, "One vaiṣṇava is coming."  If even one tridaṇḍī svāmī was seen, even from afar, Guru Mahārāja was always seen bowing down. There was one Rāmanavamī Vyāsa-puja going on in Kolkata Library and Guru Mahārāja was sitting on the vyāsāsana while we were observing puja .  Suddenly, he got up from there and offered daṇḍavat praṇām because there was one senior godbrother, Dāmodara Mahārāja from Kṛṣṇanagar, that had just entered. Seeing this, he left his vyāsāsana and stopped the puja . Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja always sat on a chair. Guru Mahārāja would never sit on a chair in front of him, he sat on the floor. Whenever I have seen one guru-varga entering Guru Mahārāja’s room, Guru Mahārāja always immediately got up.  —Rasabihārī Dāsa,...