Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

I got maximum mercy and good association from my śikṣā-guru Ramanath-ji, father of Shyam Sundar-ji. There were many opportunities to accompany him to the railway station to welcome and later see Guruji and his prachar party off. As we reached the station, I would run towards the platform and Guruji would smile seeing me. Holding my shoulder he would get down the steps. While going to the maṭh Guruji would converse with me about prachar programs, hāriṇam initiations at previous places he visited, and enquire about Delhi weather. That time it was a small maṭh and Guruji's room was downstairs. Seeing him often taking his pocket watch out to see the time, I told him I would get him a wristwatch. But he denied my offer, saying sannyasis do not wear a watch or good clothes, what will people think if they see us like this? Such was his conduct. I went for Mayapur parikramā in 1991 for the first time. I hadn't had my initiation yet. Guruji was pleased to see me and arranged for my s...

My father used to say that Pakistan was made only for our family. If Pakistan were not there, then we would not have left there to come to Delhi and have the fortune of meeting Param Guru Maharaj and Guru Maharaj. They would often visit Delhi on prachar a nd we received their blessings. Param Guruji would advise his disciples not to even ask for water when they went for preaching at any devotee's home so as not to inconvenience them in any manner. Many of the devotees would go to see Guruji off at Delhi Railway Station, but Guruji would ensure that we all have bought platform tickets. By his conduct, he taught us how devotees should be honest in our daily affairs. On the same day he arrived in Delhi, he called me and cleared all the payments of the previous journey tickets. I still have some two and five rupee small notes he gave to settle payments from the praṇāmi received. He gave me small services such as sending seva (money orders) to various maṭhs. Up to 2004, I observed ...

In Guruji's shelter, we were fearless, even when he was playing sickness pastimes, we are assured he is there and we had no fear whatsoever. Like a peepal tree protects us from sun and rain, so also Guruji sheltered us under his protective glance so that inauspiciousness could not befall us. In that shelter, we were carefree and fearless. Now we are realizing we are lacking this protection. In earlier days when we were going with Guruji on prachar, he would not agree to go on the first-class train preferring to stay in sleeper-class along with the devotees. He would sit alongside us and sometimes would make jokes that made us feel a sense of togetherness. We used to go in a group of 15-20 people together on prachar then. One Ekadasi day on the train, our Sacinandan Prabhu (now Bhajanonmukha Maharaj) who was Guruji's sevak then brought two buckets of boiled potatoes, peeled them, and cut them into bits in another empty bucket, sprinkled pepper powder, salt, squeezed lemon, and a...

I came to the shelter of Gurudeva in 1979 when I was fourteen years old.  I failed to understand then that Maharaj's glories and mercy are like when a person is living near the Ganges but only knows her glories through the words of Vaishnavas and the sadhus. Like this, we can also realize Gurudeva's glories from listening to and following his teachings.  Guru Maharaj used to sing one kirtan:  ei mana durmati, samsara bhitare, padiya achinu ami  and say Mahaprabhu has sent all His associates to deliver us from this world.  He would always say, "Human birth is very very rare and anytime we may lose it, there is no guarantee, so we should immediately start bhajan ."  In Dehradun at Sri Lakshmi Narayana Mandir, Guruji was speaking about Vrtrasura's prayers to the Lord: please give me the association of Your devotees, make me a friend of Your devotees. I do not want anything of the material world's wealth or pleasures, not even Your Vaikunta. In the katha , he...

It is a very fortunate day for all of us that we are listening to and speaking the glories of Gurudeva and his remembrances which have the power to keep all our material problems and difficulties far away. If I am staying in the math now and serving deities and Gurudeva, this itself is Gurudev's glory. I have witnessed many wonderful, marvelous activities of Gurudev. When I was in Chandigarh math, there was one sweeper by the name of Khushiram who would clean the premises. He had a simple and jolly nature and would not speak much to anyone. One day while offering pranams to Gurudeva after Mangalarati, my feet touched Khushiram who was also offering pranams and was very close by. I thought, so what if my feet touched him, he is an ordinary man, not any great Vaishnava, just a servant of the math who does the cleaning. So I did not bother much. But Gurudeva had seen me. Later when Gurudeva was climbing upstairs to go to his room, I followed him and he turned around and smiled at me. ...

I wish to share some realizations of Gurudev and His mercy on me. I came to the math in the year 1979 when I was 23 years old. I came to become a sadhu and perform bhajan. After some 3-4 years I happened to meet Srila Prabhupad's disciple Sadhu Maharaj who was a good astrologer. I showed him my palm wishing to know whether I will be able to continue to do bhajan or not. Seeing the lines on my hand, he told me that there is a clear indication that you will not stay in the math for long, you will for sure enter family life. Though material desires had never entered me, hearing his words, I felt some fear. I asked him how I can save myself and if there any remedy. He said no, by around 30 years you will enter family life.  Later I showed my hand to another two astrologers who also predicted the same. After some time, Gurudeva sent me to Chakdah Math for Jagannath Dev's seva. As I was nearing 30 years of age, I felt disturbed in mind remembering the forecast of the astrologers. I s...

The most auspicious subject for us to listen to and speak about is the glorious and merciful pastimes and teachings of Guru, Vaishnav, and the Lord. I pray for the mercy of Gurudeva so that I can speak about his glories by his own mercy and to purify my mind and attain my eternal welfare.   He mercifully appeared in this world on Sri Ramanavami tithi in 1924 and performed pastimes for 93 years. Throughout his holy life, he gave us teachings through his ideal life and conduct; not just after he joined the math, but even from his very childhood. His divine nature was exhibited by worshiping and meditating on Tirtheshwar Mahadeva for long hours like Prahlad Maharaj.   We see from his ideal life that he had only one goal: to please his Gurudeva; except for his Gurudeva and his glories, he would not think of anything else, he would not speak about anything else. Guru Maharaj kept me as a servant for a while, and I remember his narration of one instance. When he had joined...