Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once we were in Chakdah Maṭha for Jagannāthajī’s Snāna-Yatra when the climate was very hot. Gurujī was doing saṅkīrtana loudly during the snāna of Jagannāthadeva. After that, he went on parikramā and then back to his room to honor prasādam . It was noontime and very hot. There was also no electric supply. Gurujī came out of his room with a hand fan.  When we said it is very hot, he replied, "Yes, but now dark clouds will gather in the sky, the wind will blow, and it will rain. Then the climate will become cool." As soon as he went into his room after saying this it started raining and everything became cool. —Śrī Bhakti Vilās Tridaṇḍī Mahārāja 

Gurudev was a living example of guru-gata-pran : he stuck to his Gurudev's instructions and simply endeavored to carry them out regardless of the results or whether anyone supported them or not. The scriptural dictum ājñā gurūṇāṁ hy avicāraṇīyā  [the order of the spiritual master must be obeyed without consideration] finds its actual meaning in the life of our Guru Mahārāja. That made our Param Gurudev Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja utter that "Among my innumerable disciples the one who is dearest to my heart is Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj."  He followed the orders of his Gurudev so perfectly, without the least deviation of even an inch from what was expected. He would always say it is the standing order of my Gurudev and by his ideal conduct, he demonstrated that this standing order has to be followed at any cost. There are umpteen instances that prove his guru-gata prana and one of them is when he followed the order of Śrīla Param Gurudev ...

Firstly, I offer flowers at his lotus feet and humbly pray to him to please show mercy and accept the flowers offered to him by this fallen one. Just as the appearance day of the Lord himself is extremely holy, his devotee’s appearance day is equally as holy. Today is the appearance day of the Supreme Human Lord Śrī Rāmachandra, and today is also the appearance day of our revered Mahārāj—it definitely bears some kind of significance.  The Lord appears on the face of this earth in order to save the living world, in this respect our most revered Vaiṣṇava, crown-jeweled Mahārāj appeared on the face of this earth for the welfare of the living being of this world as per the wishes of the Bhāgavatam .  God himself has said that more than my worship the worship of my devotee is great. Hence all of us will assemble together and offer our worship unto his lotus feet. With that, he will be extremely satisfied and happy with us and will shower us with merciful blessings.  Our most r...

When we decided that we will celebrate Rāmanavamī festival in Kolkata, we did not tell Gurudev about this in advance. While he was sitting in his room, a few godbrothers entered carrying a plate with garlands, chandan (sandalwood), flowers, incense, and a lamp. We saw that Gurudev was writing something. He looked up and asked, "What is this?" "Today is Rāmanavamī." we replied. "Yes," he said, "Rāmanavamī. Perform worship of Śrī Rāmachandra." We told him, "No, we want to worship you— today is your āvirbhāv !" He said, "Who said it is my āvirbhāv ? My birthday?" We explained, "Pujyapad Nitya Gopal Prabhu told us today is your āvirbhāv ." He said, "No, no! Do not perform my worship— worship my Gurudev. If you worship my Gurudev, then my worship is done." We said, "You will perform your Gurudev's worship, and whom shall we worship? And Śrīla Gurudev ordered, "We shall worship our Gurudev."...

All of us know today is Śrī Rāmanavami and we have assembled here to get the mercy of Śrīla Gurudev. The ideals that Lord Rāmachandra exhibited are the same ideals that Gurudev exhibited throughout his life. In 1987 during Govardhan parikramā through Vrāja-mandala parikramā there was no sufficient water supply and no proper toilet facility. Everyone went for parikramā and everyone returned in the evening, but Śrīla Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj did not return. He was not able to walk all the distance and he stopped along the way. The next day, Giridhari Panda told us that we will go for Manasi Ganga parikramā but Gurudev said, Until Śrīla Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj returns, we will not go on parikramā .” Then some devotees went to fetch Śrīla Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj and he took some time to walk all the way back. Some devotees thought now we can go, but Gurudev said, “Now he may be tired, let him take a rest, only then we will go. He is a realized soul and he knows the pastimes of the S...

During the annual Navadvip dhāma-parikramā festival in 2012, many devotees from different corners of the globe came to Māyāpur to take part. It was apparently impossible for Śrīla Gurudev, who was approaching 90 years old to physically participate in the daily circumambulation. However, he showed an enthusiasm unknown to anyone of his age by leading kīrtana in the early hours on the opening day of the parikramā . He also spoke about the glories of the holy dhāma to all the pilgrims. Every day he would come out of his bhajana-kuṭīra to see off the devotees going on parikramā and to welcome the devotees when they returned late in the evening. One day when all the devotees left for circumambulation leaving behind only a few servants and Śrīla Gurudev in the Maṭha, a few devotees from China had come to visit Śrīla Gurudev. They sat in front of Śrīla Gurudev’s  bhajan kuṭīra and started to sing Mahāmantra in a loud voice. For a long time, Śrīla Gurudev was sitting inside his...

Śrīla Gurudev's father gave him a kurta to wear to college. He wore it even though it was so long that the sleeves extended past his arms. When his friends saw this, they laughed at him and asked, "Are you wearing your father's kurta ?" The only thing he replied was "My father gave me this with a lot of love." During his childhood in Goalpara (his appearance place), the Śiva mandira near his home was his favorite place of worship and meditation. After he completed his MA in Philosophy at Kolkata University, he was offered a job as a District Magistrate. In one of his visits to maṭha to hear Param Gurudeva's hari-kathā , one maṭhavāsī told him "You will soon become a District Magistrate; will you get time for hearing hari-kathā ? You will only hear the public going on with their civic complaints." Śrīla Gurudev felt the truth in these words and refused to join this duty. When Param Gurudeva came to their place, he quietly followed him to the...

Right from his childhood, Guru Mahārāj had an affinity for meditation. He would sit for long hours meditating on Lord Śiva whom he had a particular affinity. In Goalpara (Assam) there is a temple where Guru Mahārāj used to sit and meditate. Now that place is called Tīrtheśvara Mahādeva.  Guru Mahārāj's name is Tīrtha and Tīrtheśvara is the Lord of our Gurudev. Also, tīrtha means pilgrim place, so it could be understood as the Lord of pilgrimage. Guru Mahārāj's name is Tīrtha and so it is named Tīrtheśvara Mahādeva. Anywhere he would sit and meditate was Guru Mahārāj’s favorite place. His parents were very worried to see such a small child sitting and meditating. They thought, what is this? His parents feared what will happen to him. They would call his name, but he didn't respond. One Summer when Guru Mahārāj was about five years old, his uncles and aunties came along with their children to Goalpara. Goalpara is a serene, scenic place with the Brahmaputra river flowing nea...

During Kārtika in Vrindavan, we had all gone for  Kāmyavana   parikramā . We started in the morning with Gurujī leading the kirtan for three kilometers, singing and dancing. We reached there and after kicharī   prasād and returned. While returning, all were feeling tired and doing kirtan in a sluggish way.  Gurujī saw this for half an hour, and then he came forward to lead the singing for kirtan .  When he started to sing "Nitai Gauranga, Nitai Gauranga" we all became enthusiastic and started playing mṛdaṅga . Gurujī led the kirtan for the entire two and a half kilometers. By the time we reached back, it was 10:30 pm and the assembly had begun.  During Kārtika, Gurujī was always present, in every sabhā . There were only five devotees attending the  sabhā  that night. Gurujī was alone on the stage. His eyes were red due to tiredness. We have seen that when Gurujī is extremely tired, he starts massaging his knees with his hands while si...

I understand that Guru Mahārāj started to write the Kārtik Handbook in 2002 out of compassion for foreign devotees who were coming to observe Kārtik-vratā as they had no guide to understand what was being spoken. For the benefit of all those devotees who could not understand Bengali or Hindi, Guru Mahārāj took a very special effort to translate specially selected portions from Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur's Bhajan Rahasya . During the time when he was compiling the Kārtik Handbook, Guru Mahārāj's extreme amount of care and affection was astounding. As I was listening to these pastimes being recounted, I could feel what genuine compassion Guru Mahārāj had for all those persons requiring translation. Day in and day out, he was contemplating the very best words to use. While eating, sleeping, and taking bath, while doing any activity—he was only concentrating on that service. I had the experience of sometimes feeling the need to interrupt Guru  Mahārāj's  service in order to ...

Gurudeva and I were going out together for some official work. Gurudeva went to pay obeisances to Thakurjī. I had been carrying a handbag containing some official papers and kept it on the highrise platform on which the deities reside. Then I also bowed down behind Gurudeva. Gurudeva noticed this and later voiced his disapproval of this act. He told me that the entire deity pedestal/platform represents Baladeva-tattva and only things directly related to Bhagavān which are meant for Bhagavān's sevā can be kept there. Anything that touches this surface should be used only those items used by the pūjārī for offering service and worship to Bhagavān. He gave examples of types of personal belongings that should never be placed there such as handbags, mobiles, cameras, eyeglasses, walking sticks, umbrellas, etc. Another grihastha disciple added he had heard Gurudeva say we are not supposed to even lean on or take help the platform to stand up after praṇāms.  It is important that we follo...

I neither have the strength to sing the glories of Śrīla Gurudev nor do I have the required knowledge or intelligence or some humility in my heart to speak about his qualities; this is cent percent true. A lustful mind full of material desires like mine cannot gather the courage to sing the transcendental glories of such a divine personality because I never had such a divine darśan . But still, by Gurudev's mercy, I will try to sing his transcendental glories from my observation and experience which are also described in the scriptures. The scriptures say an acārya or guru is adoṣa-darśī— one   who does not see any faults in anyone. This quality is manifested fully in Gurudev. Whenever anyone approached him and spoke about some faults or some wrong acts of others, Gurudev never accepted those words as such, but he always tried to convince them otherwise by saying such things as maybe you have understood or interpreted their actions wrongly, maybe others have misunderstood yo...

In 2003 when Śrīla Gurudev was in Mumbai, I saw that he was reading a newspaper. There was a headline that told about the arrest of a well-known leader within the Advaita Vedānta tradition, a sādhu in the line of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. Another headline detailed the destruction caused by a big cyclone that swept through Chennai and many people were affected by it. At that time I was young and stupid and made a random comment that reading the newspaper is a waste of time. He looked at me like a caring mother who understands the nature of her stupid son and he made me stay put and listen to what he was telling me. Making a very distinct point, he said, "I knew this was going to happen but did not expect it to happen so early. The cyclone that had hit South India had destroyed a huge amount of property and also the lives of so many people."   Then Guru Mahārāj expanded his statement specifically to say that whenever there is an attack on Sanātana Dharma and saintly persons, pure devo...

Śrī Ramcharitmanas sings the glories of Gurudev when Lord Śrī Rāmachandra Himself sings glories of Śrī Vasiṣṭha Muni. When the Lord returned victorious from Lanka, He said, Guru Vasiṣṭha kula-pujya hamare , (by his grace, I won the battle on Lanka.) Lord Himself is establishing here that without the mercy of Guru Vasiṣṭha, He could not have won this particular battle.  Also, we recall when Vibhīṣaṇ sees Hanumān in Lanka he says, "Oh Hanumān, today my faith in the Lord has become very strong. It has been proven that although I am staying in Lanka in the midst of all this material sense gratification, I have received the  darśan  of a sādhu like you and that is nothing but the sheer causeless mercy of the Lord.  Vibhīṣaṇ (Ravana's younger brother) also said, ab mohi bha bharosa Hanumān ..  bina hari krpa milenge nahi santa .. Like a wife who is feeling separated from the husband who is far away, until he arrives back home the wife is not happy; her pan...

One time Guru Maharaj's mother or father called him saying, "Kokha, go and bring some things from the grocery shop.  He was given some coins and asked to go and bring some items. After he returned with those things to the house, they asked, did you give the coin?  "Yes," he said, but explained this coin was old and was not in circulation,  but the shopkeeper had kept the coin with him. When he came to know this, he took a new coin from his father and went and gave it to the shopkeeper and took back the old coin saying it is not a valid coin. People like us think OK, I got rid of it.  But he is so honest, right from his childhood, he was honest in whatever he was doing.  There was no cheating tendency ever in his life, from birth on. All these things are the ornaments of the sadhu. —Sri Bhakti Suhrid Paramadvati Maharaj (As told by relatives who knew Srila Gurudev in early life. Transcribed from a recording made on Vyasa Puja, 2019)

A sādhu's  nature is para-dukha-dukhī , always unhappy to see the conditioned souls unhappy. Many times it has been seen that Gurudev's heart would melt hearing anyone speak about their difficulties and sufferings. He would take that upon Himself.  He is so compassionate that he readily gave up his small space to an aggrieved devotee so that they could stay comfortably.   Whether externally in gross vision or internally, he would take sheltered devotees' difficulties upon himself. We have to remember that this point relates to sheltered devotees. āśraya laiyā bhaje, kṛṣṇa nāhi tāre tyaje [Song 43— Vaiṣṇava-mahimā  Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura] Translation: "One who takes āśraya , the shelter of a devotee, Kṛṣṇa does not give him up. Kṛṣṇa accepts him." * So also, āśraya laiyā bhaje tāre, Gurudeva nāhi tyaje . He is so compassionate that even one who acts as though having taken shelter, he accepts them too, makes them his own.  This no o...

We are all very fortunate that by Gurudeva's mercy we are at the shelter of his lotus feet.  Our Gurudeva is wonderful, one without a second. There is no one equal to or greater than him and He is an incomparable treasure of good qualities: adbhuta, (marvelous), advitīya (without a second), asamordhva (no one is equal to Him). Whatever qualities of sadhu and guru that scriptures sing, our Gurudev is the embodiment of them all. While it is natural that the disciples sing the glories of their Gurudev, it becomes special when his guru-varga sings the glories of our most worshipful Guru Maharaj. Param Pujyapad Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev Maharaj, Param Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Sant Maharaj and others blessed him. Once when I was in Vrndavan, our Guru Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvami Maharaj were also in the maṭha along with their associates. At that time, Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvami Maharaj who is one of the most prominent disciples of Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhantha S...