Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once in our Kolkata Math, a bramhachari did not behave respectfully towards a householder devotee during a festival program, and Srila Tirtha Goswami Maharaj was not pleased with that.  He said: Household devotees come to math for a few days leaving aside all their material duties. They come to associate with the sadhus. It is not appropriate to be disrespectful towards them. If we have an ego that I am a brahmachari, I am a sanyasi, and they are grihastas, then we will not get the grace of the Supreme Lord.  We should give up all types of false ego. Mahaprabhu has instructed: yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta—hina, chara krishna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vicar Anyone who takes to devotional service is exalted, whereas a non-devotee is always condemned and abominable. Therefore in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord, there is no consideration of the status of one’s family.  (Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya-lila 4.67) Whoever performs bhajan is exalted; there is n...

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 2005, I decided to visit Jagannāth Puri for Ratha-yātrā. It was my first visit to any maṭha after harināma . The first thing I did was to equip myself with a film SLR camera anticipating interesting moments and visuals. Every year from then on, the camera always accompanied me, so much so that most of the time, I used to take snapshots more than actually participating. In 2010 or maybe 2011, I was staying in Mumbai. A few devotees wanted to purchase a camera for the maṭha-sevā , and, supposing I knew a bit about cameras, I accompanied them along for the purchase. Some research was done, and we picked up a Canon SLR and a couple of lenses. Soon after that, we went off to Jagannāth Puri. We were excited about the visit. It was during Ratha-yātrā, and Śrī Gurudeva was there for some days. A special darśan was organized for the Mumbai devotees. We walked in and offered praṇāms . As usual, I was holding the camera and shooting from many angles. At some point, I went closer to join the ...

Once I prepared prasādam for Gurujī and served it to him. Seeing the plate, he said, "You should put the whole chili in the foods that someone may choose to eat it or to leave it." The next day when I prepared  prasādam , I put the whole chili in the preparation and took it to Gurujī. Gurujī started honoring the  prasādam  while I sat near him. Suddenly he cried, "atom bomb!" I was confused at first but soon understood that he was referring to the green chili. We both started laughing. Then I asked him if he had ever prepared prasādam for his Gurudeva. He told me there was only one occasion. "When I asked Gurujī how Parama-gurudeva liked it," he explained, "He told me it was nice, but when I tasted the remnants, there was no salt in it. That was the only time I made prasādam for him." Gurujī never told anybody that he wanted to eat any certain thing. Whatever the brahmacārī prepared for him, he had it. Once Gurujī told one brahmacārī wh...

When I first came to the maṭha , the love that I got from Śrīla Gurudeva, in the beginning, was unique because I was such a small child when I came here; I am not sure if anyone else had an experience like mine.   When I came to get harināma from Gurudeva, he asked, "What is your name? And I told him.  Then he asked, "What is your father's name? And, again,  I told his name.  Then he said, "Oh, you are the son of that devotee? Do you want to come to Delhi with me?"  Before Guru Mahārāja had finished giving me harināma , as he was extending the mālā to me, he was telling me to come to Delhi with him. I thought I will miss my home and so I felt like weeping. I thought in my mind, Guru Mahārāja, it is very difficult for me to stay away from my family, so I will stay in Agartala maṭha and serve from there, I will not go anywhere else.  The next morning Guru Mahārāja saw me. I paid obeisances to Guru Mahārāja, and then he asked me, "Is your stomach okay?...