Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I had the mercy of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktiedānta Prabhupāda to connect with a civic group here in Hilo called the Japanese Cultural Association. Every year they put on a big parade through the streets of Hilo. So I thought, “Hey, we should do a ratha-yātrā !  The devotees made a miniature version of the raths in Puri. The carts were about fifteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twenty feet high including the canopy. By Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, Mahārāja just happened to be in Hawaii and when I found out I invited him to take part.  He stayed at my house for two or three nights. He had his servant with him who prepared his meals, and my overriding memory is of him sitting on the floor in the living room, looking up at a beautiful painting that my artist friend Khandita didi had painted of the Ṣaḍbhuja form of the Lord. He was looking so intently at it and I could feel he was there with Ṣaḍbhuja.   He has such a kind heart. When he first arrived, I brought him into my simple temple roo...

This is a very auspicious day; a very sad day, and a very happy day when these great souls go back to the eternal service of Sri Sri Radhagovinda. All are crying, all are happy— it's mixed. I can only share these remembrances due to the mercy of your Srila Gurudev. By his mercy, I met my Gurudev [Srila Bhakti Vaibhav Puri Goswami Maharaj] and by his mercy, I could appreciate my Srila Gurudev. If I had not met your Gurudev, I would not be here and I would not be able to continue in this line. I met Srila Tirtha Maharaj in 1999. I was not a member of the temple, I was outside. I had only been just coming a few times for Sunday feast. I was working and reading Bhagavad Gita. I was searching for a temple and in Vienna, I met Srila Bhakti Sadhak Muni Maharaj. When I saw all the rules and regulations, I thought it was not possible for me to follow; I thought bhakti was not for me. Although the Bhagavad Gita philosophy captured my interest, I did not have the desire to follow it. One day ...

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport on Wednesday, July 28th, 1999 at ll:00 AM. Immediately upon arriving at the Brooklyn home of Śrīman Ramesh Naudiyal, (Bensonhurst, Brooklyn NY), a warm saṅkīrtana-ārati welcome was accorded to His Divine Grace. His arrival in America marked the auspicious day of Guru-pūrṇimā, the advent day of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva, as well as the disappearance day of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. The U.S. tour of His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj has begun on a very auspicious note. Last night, Mahārāj spoke on the importance of Guru-pūrṇimā and guru-tattva . Though fatigued from a long 28-hour journey from India, Śrīla Mahārāj still insisted on honoring the day and holding an evening program that began at 8:30 PM. Rousing bhajan led by Bhūtabhāvana Das preceded his talk on the importance of guru , guru-tattva and the significance of Guru-pūrṇimā. After he was prompted to f...

I've been given this opportunity to glorify his Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Mahārāja who I consider my foremost śikṣā-guru . There are so many things to glorify. I remember some glories connected from his visits to Singapore and Malaysia. My remembrances may seem like very small and trivial things, but behind the small things are opportunities to understand the deeper meanings.  When Gurudeva was in Singapore on one or two occasions, I was given the service of being a chauffeur (driver). I had a white Mercedes Benz and I took him wherever he wanted to go— That was my duty. So in going from point A to point B, sometimes to temples or to devotees' houses, some words would be exchanged between Śrīla Gurudeva while I was driving.  Rasabihari Prabhu from Jammu was there; I believe he was the secretary while traveling. Viṣṇu Mahārāja was there too before he took sannyās , and another American sannyāsi named Hṛṣīkeśa Mahārāja. Hṛṣīkeśa Mahārāja was the one who introduc...

I had darshan of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj in India a couple of times and in the USA when he went to Phoenix one year. I remember being in so much anxiety to see him. I drove 7 hours from LA to Phoenix where He spoke at a new age center one evening. It was like heaven to see him, an oasis in the desert—literally! The evening went by very quickly but it was magical. I have 2 outstanding memories of that evening. One guest asked Maharaj to bless his special crystal.  Maharaj said no, we put our faith in the Holy Names, we do not give power to external things.    What he said was beautiful and so perfect. I remember that the guest with crystal was taken aback at first but was melted by the pure devotee before him . Then, after the class , I got an opportunity to speak with Maharaj alone. It was at the time when My Divine Guru Maharaj, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj became ill—toward the very end of our ability to se...

I met Gurudev in 1999 in Phoenix, Arizona [USA]. I was already a diksa initiated disciple of HH Romapada Swami of ISKCON. While living in Pheonix, I met Akincana Prabhu and his wife and they introduced me to Guru Maharaj when he was visiting in July 1999. I attended meetings and programs with Gurudev and then Gurudev and his servants left Pheonix. By the end of 1999, we moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Initially, I was not so much affected by Gurudev's association, rather it came gradually later on. Every month that passed, my affection for Srila Gurudev was growing and growing.  At one point I called my disksa guru Romapada Swami and told him I have so much love for Gurudev. I didn't know if I should leave and ask Gurudev for siksa and diksa initiation or not. Romapada Swami told me there's nothing wrong with getting siksa from anyone outside of ISKCON, but asked me to not commit any offenses to AC Bhaktivedanta Swami by criticizing ISKCON to others. That as never my ...

Guru Maharaj flew from Delhi to London. I joined them in London airport and waited along with them to catch a flight to New York. I was seated next to Guru Maharaj on the plane and I noticed with interest that he was reading the book "Perfect Questions Perfect Answers" by Srila Swami Maharaj, a very well-known book for beginners in Krishna consciousness. I saw Guru Maharaj reading that book with a lot of concentration. I wondered why he was reading that book because he knows everything. Even though I didn’t ask him, I found the answer myself: because he has perfect attitude of following Guruvarga, he wanted to follow the scripture of Srila Swami Maharaj as he was an authorized disciple and had been given the order by Srila Prabhupada to go and preach outside. Guru Maharaj was very cautious to never go beyond what Swami Maharaj had given. His attitude was never like he knows more or can give more in the West than what Swami Maharaj had. So he was reading the book to see what...

1997 may be remembered in history for a number of reasons, but in the minds and hearts of his devoted disciples, this was the year that most elevated and revered President-Acharya of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj, toured the Western Hemisphere for the first time. His Divine Grace Bhakti Sundar Narasingh Maharaj, who had previously visited these unworthy authors at our home in Phoenix, Arizona, USA in the fall of 1995, informed us that Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj was preparing for his first trip outside of India in the near future. Unfortunately, there were some difficulties in obtaining the necessary visas and, as a result of such obstacles, Srila Gurudev’s departure from India was delayed. Eventually, to our surprise and delight, we received a letter in late April of 1997 from Rashbihari das (director of the tour and intimate disciple of His Divine Grace) stating that Srila Gurudev and his entourage would be arrivin...

In 2017 we celebrated Ramnavami, Vyasa Puja in Kolkata when Guru Maharaj was present and now it is four years later. In 2024 his centennial 100th Appearance anniversary will be celebrated.  I just pray to him that I get a chance to glorify him again and again.  Whenever I got the opportunity to be with Gurudev as his servant on his tours all over India all over the world, I never had the aptitude to speak myself.  I am only interested in hearing from Gurudev.  That became my lifeline.   In February of 1998, we were in Honolulu, Hawaii (USA) and we were staying at the home of Mr. Kapur from India.  Guru Maharaj called me and he said tomorrow is the Appearance Vyasa Puja of Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He instructed me that I must speak tomorrow. I could not muster courage and I was in anxiety but somehow I did and after that, all my hesitation and shyness went away and I know by the causeless mercy of Guru Maharaj I got an opportuni...

Puru Prabhu insisted that I meet Srila Gurudev. I was reluctant because of the long lines.  He cut to the front of the line, embarrassing me greatly, as this is forbidden in the West.  I offered my obeisances and Puru introduced me.  I had a camera and I asked him if I could take a picture.  He asked me, how I could see him? The soul is 1/10,000 the tip of a hair!   I was mortified. Then a nice brahmachari reached out to me and grabbed my camera and took a shot.   —Bhutabhavana Das (Director and co-founder of the Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library)

This is a narration of a nectarean activity of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj that took place during His 1999 US tour. It describes a distressful, but spiritually instructive situation. His Divine Grace and His devoted followers left the New York area after many successful programs and arrived without incident at the Miami airport at approximately 2:30 PM on Thursday August 5, 1999. However, upon checking the status of their baggage, they found to their utter dismay that Srila Gurudeva's tridanda, which was in its own protective flight case, had not arrived with the rest of the luggage. Due to the ignorance and lack of sensitivity of the airline personnel, who did not realize the transcendental position of the person to whom they were speaking, no great effort was made to confirm the whereabouts of the sacred tridanda. This only made the situation worse. Maharaj would not take any sustenance, either liquid or solid, and would not leave the baggage area under ...

Whatever prayers generally were taken to Srila Gurudev, by the power of his omniscience, he would take care of those prayers. Externally he may not have promised as much, but he took care. Gurudev said when flower blossoms, it's fragrance spreads all around. No need to advertise.  Many devotees would approach Gurudev to say, Gurudev bless me to go on preaching (prachar). Yet, Gurudev said never have this mood of preaching. Perform kirtan bhakti. If you take up a mood of superiority to someone—that you can rescue them, help them, it may lead to your own fall. Repeat what you have heard from Guru varga for your own benefit, not with the mood to rescue anyone. Prachar is to be done in this mood.  We know that Srila Gurudev always imbibes and practices this. Example is better than precept. He never stopped practicing this, very unique. Until the end, he considered himself like this. Srila Gurudev presents himself and actually believes he's a conditioned soul. Therefore you ca...

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...

In late June 2002, this Vaisnava Thakur came to this house of mine without any pre-planning, giving us just about two days notice. I was in London on business when I got this call from Singapore asking if we could receive him on about the 25th. I was aware of Maharaj but just barely because I had been to Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math and stayed a couple of times in the mid 1990s; in fact my first darshan of HDG Srila Bhaki Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj was at that math but HDG Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj was not there each time.  Since I couldn't be back until the following day, the 26th, I called my wife Gopini to ask her if she could receive him. She was ever ready and made necessary arrangements with maybe 10 devotees, mostly family members. Maharaj and his party were staying at Sri Laxmi Narayan Temple. My son Radharaman went to fetch them. It was a long and rather wild drive through undeveloped kampong (Malaysian village) that got Maharaj wondering where Krishna was tak...

Dear Vaishnavas of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Matha, Please accept our humble obeisances! All glories to Sri-Sri Guru and Gauranga! With deep grief the Vaishnavas of Russian ISKCON accepted the news about the departure of such a distinguished acharya, Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja. He was, by right, one of the most outstanding Vaishnavas among the second generation of the disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Together with the Vaishnavas of the Math, we are sad and thankful to God for the opportunity to get His endless mercy through the servants of His holy name. The Russian land once was blessed by the visit of Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja who amazed everyone who was lucky to meet him by his humility, sincerity, and purity. His life and his departure once again remind us about the all-uniting nature of Lord Chaitanya's message, of how much today's materialistic society needs the knowledge about the Personality of Godhead, immortality of the ...

To most sacred, most beloved, most adored His Divine Self Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja : 
 Oh Vaishnava Thakur, please do accept my repeated most humble loving obeisances unto Your lotus feet. Today I was asked by one of Your most worshipable disciples to honor You, to glorify You, but because I have no qualifications to do so, I will try my best to remember You through the times I have had the immense blessing of meeting You. This great privilege of being in Your presence was given to me as I recall, 7 times. What is most outstanding to me from those meetings is the joy, the bliss which would arise in our hearts simply by being in Your presence; the softness and gentleness that would arise in our hearts simply by Your presence. The sacredness that the places would immediately be imbibed with as they were blessed by Your footsteps—Your presence made that place become beautiful and a holy land. Flowers in quantity would appear, everything, all the arrangements w...

I had the good fortune to have the association of Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja. His spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja was kind enough to allow me to stay in his ashram in Kolkata. He personally 
put me in the care of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja while I was there. Later, His Divine Grace Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja was made a trustee of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust. After his departure to the spiritual world, His Divine Grace Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja was kind enough to continue the role of being a trustee of the AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Trust. It was customary that he would speak some Harikatha on the occasion of our meeting of those meetings He would speak so that we would all be reminded of our primary purpose of Krishna Consciousness to serve the Pancha Tattva with words, thoughts, and deeds. From then on, year after year, I met with him to work out strategies on how to preserve the holy ...

His Holiness Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaja,  I bow my head and prostrate my body at your lotus feet.  Upon being invited to share my heart on the holy occasion of your Vyasa Puja, I am grateful.
  I am remembering the precious times that we spent together, sometimes in the hills of Sri Brajabhumi or at other times in the hills of Marin County, California. Wherever in the world you are, you are ever absorbed in dispelling materialistic and impersonal misconceptions while sharing your heart's love for the divine service of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga. We have all been blessed by your heartfelt humility, deep wisdom of the Bhakti Sastras, and profound compassion to all beings.  Your lifetime of loving service is a brilliant light that reveals, for people in this world of darkness, the infinite flow of grace that is forever descending from the hearts of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath and floods the world through the merciful Acaryas of our Gaudiya Parampa...