Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Once in Kolkata Maṭha (even after becoming Ācārya), Gurudev went quietly and started washing cooking vessels by himself after he heard the cook say that they had not been cleaned for the evening cooking. Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja happened to see Gurudev do this and made him leave it saying it would be taken care of. Like this, Gurudev gave us teachings through his conduct.

  During his final sickness pastimes in 2017 from 12th April to 20th April, Gurudev gave us instructions that we have to always perform nāma-saṅkīrtana , we have to read holy scriptures like Śrīmad Bhagavātam , and continue harināma-japa while endeavoring to perform deity worship. He called all disciples to him and inspired and engaged them in these services for eight full days. This is his mercy.

Gurudev is not an ordinary personality. I remember a few instances to demonstrate this.  Gurudev was in Delhi and some devotees came from Jalandhar to visit him for a weekend. They thought they will h...

Gurudev was a living example of guru-gata-pran : he stuck to his Gurudev's instructions and simply endeavored to carry them out regardless of the results or whether anyone supported them or not. The scriptural dictum ājñā gurūṇāṁ hy avicāraṇīyā  [the order of the spiritual master must be obeyed without consideration] finds its actual meaning in the life of our Guru Mahārāja. That made our Param Gurudev Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja utter that "Among my innumerable disciples the one who is dearest to my heart is Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj."  He followed the orders of his Gurudev so perfectly, without the least deviation of even an inch from what was expected. He would always say it is the standing order of my Gurudev and by his ideal conduct, he demonstrated that this standing order has to be followed at any cost. There are umpteen instances that prove his guru-gata prana and one of them is when he followed the order of Śrīla Param Gurudev ...

Today is the appearance day of Lord Śrī Rāmachandra and Śrīpad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāj, Ācārya of All India Sree Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭh. Appearance Day of both the Lord and His devotee has arisen together today. Singing the glories of Vaiṣṇavas is most beneficial for us.  It liberates the jīvas . Śrīpad Mahārāj did not take initiative to become Ācārya.  He accepted the position of Ācārya to fulfill the desire of his Gurudev.  A long time ago when I was at Goalpara Maṭha in Assam along with Pūjyapāda Mādhava Mahārāj, one of our godsisters asked Pūjyapāda Mādhava Mahārāj, “You are not keeping well. After you, who will perform the duties of Ācārya?  Have you made any arrangements for this?” Pūjyapāda Mādhava Mahārāj smiled and told her, “Yes, I know. I will make perfect arrangements before I go. She asked, "Who will you appoint?" Mahārāj replied, “I will not mention his name now, but the one whom I nominate will be even better than me.” I was also hearing this conv...

Today is the appearance day of my Śikṣā Guru Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj which is also the appearance day of Lord Rāmachandra. Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj was very dear and very close to my Gurupādapadma Śrīla Bhakti Kumud Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj who has given great encouragement to him.   Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to visit our maṭha often.  Our Gurudev used to tell us that if you want to please me, then you should satisfy Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha  Gosvāmī Mahārāj.  He also used to tell us that he does not see Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tīrtha Gosvāmī as himself, but he sees him as Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj. His glories are unlimited like Śrī Bhagavān Himself.   He has come to this material world to fulfill the prophecy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu that the holy name will be uttered in each and every village of this world, as stated in this verse: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma arvatra pracāra haibe ...

Firstly, I offer flowers at his lotus feet and humbly pray to him to please show mercy and accept the flowers offered to him by this fallen one. Just as the appearance day of the Lord himself is extremely holy, his devotee’s appearance day is equally as holy. Today is the appearance day of the Supreme Human Lord Śrī Rāmachandra, and today is also the appearance day of our revered Mahārāj—it definitely bears some kind of significance.  The Lord appears on the face of this earth in order to save the living world, in this respect our most revered Vaiṣṇava, crown-jeweled Mahārāj appeared on the face of this earth for the welfare of the living being of this world as per the wishes of the Bhāgavatam .  God himself has said that more than my worship the worship of my devotee is great. Hence all of us will assemble together and offer our worship unto his lotus feet. With that, he will be extremely satisfied and happy with us and will shower us with merciful blessings.  Our most r...

Today is the adhivas-tithi (preliminary function) when we cleanse our hearts so that Lord Rāmachandra appears here tomorrow.  Tomorrow is Maryādā Puruṣottama Lord Rāmachandra's Appearance Day as well as Lila Puruṣottama, Lord Kṛṣṇa's devotee, Śrīla Gurudev's appearance. The holy tithis are harmoniously coinciding. We all know that the whole world adores and respects our Gurudev. Śrī Rāmachandra is glorious as  Maryādā  Puruṣottama who lived an ideal life and never broke any rules of the scriptures and so also in the same way our Gurudev is equally glorious and in no regard less than Śrī Rāmachandra. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam : We seat the Supreme Lord within our hearts. A heart that is completely pure is called vasudeva . It is not a person's name. The Supreme Lord is called Vasudeva because He is the son of Vasudeva.  But the term  vasudeva has existed from time immemorial, as evidenced in the satya-yuga mantra : Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. ...

First of all, I offer my heartfelt obeisances unto the lotus feet of Śrīla Gurudev. Words fall short when I express my fortune and blissful association with Mahārāj. Dating back to the early eighties when I was a schoolgirl, I accompanied my family to attend his discourses at Lakshmi Narayan temple (Gandhi Nagar, Jammu). I used to look forward to the month of September every year when Guru Mahārāj visited and blessed everyone in Jammu with his big entourage of sannyāsīs and brahmacārīs .  The highlight of the two weeks program was a grand nagar-saṅkīrtana procession. All those images still flash in front of my eyes and I was reminded of them when I watched a video that had been recorded. Although I had so many opportunities and so many times to ask questions to Gurudev,  I hardly asked as I was intimidated and hardly had any doubts because looking at his smiling face, I would forget everything.  I had just entered class twelve when I took harinām along with my revered...