Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

My śikṣā-guru , founder of Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭh, Nityalīlā Praviṣṭa Om Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj is glorious. The jewel of his eyes and his necklace (garland) around His neck are all non-different from Him. The great personality whose disappearance we honor in this excellent ceremony today, my śikṣā-guru , Tridaṇḍī Svāmī Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj remains ever victorious.  Once we had gone along with Mahārāj on a preaching tour to Haldia. Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj, Ācārya Mahārāj, Yati Mahārāj and Tridaṇḍī Mahārāj had accompanied him. That program was organized by local devotees who were very poor. We stayed in a two-story, mud house. The stairs were difficult to climb, but Mahārāj was quite happy living there.  When we were having prasād , we criticized it, saying  “This is not good, that is not good..." At that time, Mahārāj came down and chastised us. “This is a poor person’s house. They have organized this program by begging. You are getti...

During Śrī Navadvīp parikramā at prasād time, devotees would line up. They were offered big leaf plates and were served salt, a green chili, and a slice of lemon. They served steaming hot rice ( anna ) piled up like a mountain. The dal was thin and watery. When the prasād was served we chanted mahā-prasāde govinde . After additional prayers concluded, everyone started honoring prasād .   As I observed hungry persons getting busy eating mouthfuls, I felt still, just sitting and thinking. I had not started when I saw someone standing near my plate and I lifted my head to see it was Guru Mahārāj. He had come to see me.  He understood that this was my first experience of prasād in Māyāpur. As he smiled, he told me, "This is prasād offered to Śrī Mahāprabhu." The moment I heard these words I started honoring prasād mouthfuls quickly. My taste of food changed there and prasād then was so simple, humble, only two-three items, that is all. On special feasts, the only addi...

Gurudev is like a Himalayan mountain and I am like an invisible bacteria sort of thing, how can I sing the glories of Guru Mahārāj?   The other day I was witnessing a video of vaiṣṇavas glorifying Gurudev. One of Śrīla Bhakti Kumud Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj's disciples was speaking about an incident when they had all gone with our Guru Mahārāj to a village in West Bengal and they were staying at a Vaiṣṇava's house who had arranged for prasād and kirtan . During prasād time. they were all complaining about the prasād saying that it is very ordinary, not so good. Gurudev heard this from his room upstairs and came down and chastised them. He said, "Our host is a devotee; though he is not a wealthy man, he has arranged for prasādam for all of us and has offered to Supreme Lord, and then it becomes mahā-prasād . And you are criticizing mahā-prasād ? This is not right!" Hearing him, everybody was stunned.  I recall an experience related to this topic from 2005 when we atten...

Guru Maharaj would always instruct me in a very gentle way. He knew I couldn't handle much criticism. I'm quite a fragile person, so Guru Maharaj was always very gentle communicating things I could have done better. Sometimes it was so subtle, He would just look at me for 2 seconds and I could understand what I did wrong. So gentle. Bindu Madhava Prabhu would often say, "Guru Maharaj gives exactly the right medicine in the right dosage for each person. Whatever they could take, he would give just the right amount." One time, however, Srila Guru Maharaj directly corrected me in front of everybody. It was during Tulsi worship when he used to come out into the library in Kolkata math. This happened because at that time I was cooking my own prasadam. Because of health problems, I needed to control my diet and wouldn't take the math prasad. He would always ask everyone, "Have you taken prasadam?" And when he asked me directly one day, I said, "No, Guru M...