Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

It is our great fortune that we are remembering, hearing, and singing the glories of the transcendental pastimes of Guru Mahārāja which take us beyond this fearful present situation of this material world through the pandemic. We get the feeling that Guru Mahārāja's merciful glance is on us all protecting us as said in the phrase avashya rakshibe kṛṣṇa vishvasa palana  (maintaining firm faith that  Kṛṣṇa will protect us). Our remembrance of him by his mercy proves that we are in his thoughts; he is thinking of us—our wellbeing, our eternal welfare.  So, every moment we have to be grateful to Guru Mahārāja who is giving us the qualification to sing his glories and so, we have to offer our heartfelt thanks to him. Thus,  yena kena prakarena  ( somehow or the other) we  will sing Gurudev's glories, be it my personal experiences or my spiritual experiences, or Gurujī's pastimes, I will share them with you and we will have iṣṭa-goṣṭhī among ourselves and sing an...

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj is very affectionate to his disciples. The reason he travels from one place to another speaking hari-kathā throughout the year is the causeless mercy and compassion he has towards all living entities for their eternal welfare. He will never let any hindrance come in the way of such activities, even when his health is not so good.   All his glorious activities, including his hari-kathā and articles in different languages such as English, Hindi, and Bangla are proof of his desire for the eternal welfare of all souls.  My understanding is that this desire for the eternal welfare of all souls does not stop him from his tours in Punjab in the severe summer or Simla in the cold winter. In this regard, I see his affection for all souls is many times more than that of a mother to her child. Those coming in contact with Śrīla Mahārāj individually experience personal attention and special regard towards them whether they go for darśana alone or with family and frie...

Today on the disappearance day of our Gurudev [Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja] we had the puṣpa samādhi of Tirtha Mahārāj and our Most Revered Gurudev and I am extremely happy about that. I have thought about all the disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda that have their puṣpa samādhis in Vṛndāvan at Śrī Rādhā Dāmodara Mandir. So I am extremely thankful that Muni Mahārāj has helped fulfill this desire in my heart. When Muni Mahārāj invited me, I thought, why will I not go? I will certainly go! Although there was a program arranged in Sarbhog maṭha where I stay, I left it because I had so much enthusiasm to come here.  I was nineteen years old when I came to see our Gurudev, Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. I had heard hari-kathā from both Pūjyapāda Yāyāvara Gosvāmī Mahārāj and Śrīla Gurudev, then I had a vision of Śrīla Gurudev in my dream. Immediately after that, I was feeling restless, I wanted to stay with him, and then I decided I will not stay home anymor...

Guru Mahārāj performs  kīrtanas in such a unique manner. Śrīla Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj noted the way he performed kīrtana by saying, “When Tirtha Mahārāj sings, Gaur Nityānanda personally come to dance in his kīrtanas .” Once during  parikramā , Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāj was proceeding in his car and saw ahead to the procession led by our Most Revered Śrīla Gurudev where he is singing “Kahan Nityānanda? Kahan Gaurahari? Kahan Nityānanda! Kahan Gaurahari!" It means, where is that Nityānanda? Where is that Gaurahari? Where can I get Him? In that extreme separation, with his red swollen eyes fixed in the sky, he is calling out the names of Gaura Nityānanda.  When the driver of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāj’s car is using the horn to try to make the sankīrtan party move to the side, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāj stops him by saying, “Don't honk! Consider it your great fortune to be following the kīrtanas of Śrīla Bhakti...

I am an absolute fool; a most wretched, sinful, and fallen soul. First of all, I am very grateful to the Bathinda devotees including some sannyāsīs and some brahmacārīs , who engaged me in guru-sevā .  By their mercy and through their Gurudev's mercy, I got the fortune of serving Gurudev. I am ever grateful to them. I do not know how to speak and have never spoken on platforms like this. Today is the most fortunate day of my life that I am standing here to speak even two words about my Śrīla Gurudev.   We say that Gurudev is performing pastimes of sickness, but I want to prove that Gurudev is hearing, seeing, and responding to our heart's desires.  There was an Incident in 1999 during Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā.  After we had reached Gokul Mahāvana, Śrī Amarnath Sharmajī and I got the fortune of receiving service in front of Gurudev's room. When Guru Mahārāja would get up, we would be ready for his service. One day it so happened we were ready and Guru Mahārā...

One should take complete shelter of Guru's lotus feet just like you have for Bhagavan. Gurudeva is Paramgurudeva's most favorite and loving disciple.  A disciple may have many good qualities, but no śaraṇāgati . Param Gurudeva, Prabhupāda do not see qualities in disciples but see only śaraṇāgati . Unless there is śaraṇāgati , Gurudeva's qualities will not descend into a disciple; just like Ananya-bhakti Bhagavan's qualities descend to a devotee.  If you become a favorite of Gurudeva, then you are a favorite of Bhagavan too.   yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto 'pi dhyāyan stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyaṁ vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam Our Gurudeva wherever he does kathā he speaks only His Gurudeva's words. He speaks so much about Param Gurudeva that no other disciple of Param Gurudeva speaks.  In the beginning, he says "I have orders from my Gurudeva that we have to hear and speak about what our Gurudeva has said."  This is his...

With a few words, I want to describe what I have learned from Gurudev. When I came to the maṭha , I had a desire to live in Vṛndāvana.  In 2003 I did kārtika-vrat in Delhi with Guru Mahārāja. In 2004 I attended kārtika-vrat in Bathinda. In 2006 I was coming from Vṛndāvana to Kolkata, Gurudev was in Delhi at that time. Gurudev called me and told me that I should go to Māyāpur where Śrī Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was in charge of Māyāpur at that time and I was to assist him. I had no desire to leave Vṛndāvana and go there, though I had no understanding of the tattva of Vṛndāvana.  Gurudev said so lovingly to me that I could not say no to him. I had heard that Gauḍīya-maṭha is like a spiritual school and we are the students, and the Guru and Vaiṣṇavas are like professors. So I came to Māyāpur on ekādaśī day. I had some biscuits given to me by a devotee and I gave it to a dog in the maṭha . At that time I did not know that grain should not be offered to anybody on ekādaśī . And when I ga...