Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to try to remember the unlimited glories of His Divine Grace Śrīla Gurujī Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja. To glorify the Vaiṣṇavas is the perfection of speech, the perfection of the eyes is to behold the śuddha-bhakta , and the perfection of the ears is to hear their glories and the glories of the Supreme Lord. I heard that Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Mahārāja said, "I have many disciples, they are like the limbs of my body, but Tirtha Mahārāja is my heart." He lived up to my heart’s desires. He has given everything and because by giving his kāya , mana and vākya (by body, mind and words) and his very soul in the service of his Guru. He achieved all the wealth that was in Guru’s heart transmitted into his heart and therefore he was made the successor Ācārya after his departure in 1979. He was naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī his whole life. He never got married or had children, just like Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja who ...

I had the good fortune to meet Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja in 1990. I was called by my godbrothers and requested to offer some services to him in Singapore. When I went to receive him, he was staying in an unfurnished apartment in Singapore. I was a bit shocked to see how he was staying. He had no bedding, no pillows, or anything to lie on. He was actually sleeping on a piece of cloth. So I asked, "Śrīla Mahārāja, would you allow me to serve you by giving you some bedding?" He said, “What for? Why do I need bedding? Did Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sleep on a pillow, mattress, or anything? He slept on the floor with his arm as a pillow. I am following His footsteps and I have to follow this also.”  That answer shocked me as I have met so many sannyāsis in my time, but he seemed to be very simple. He was humble by nature and he attracted me to him when I rendered service to him. And he said, "I request something from you" and I said, "Yes Mahārāja...

My dear Gurudeva, Ever since I first me you, you have been a great source of inspiration, knowledge, and encouragement. This is true even in separation. Everyone on the spiritual path has their personal inspiration but there are three extremely bright beacons of light in my spiritual life: Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swāmi Mahārāja (my vartma-pradarśaka-guru ), Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja (my harināma initiating guru), and yourself (my dīkṣā guru). You are also my śikṣā gurus and you have taken me from the darkness of ignorance by opening my eyes with the torchlight of transcendental knowledge. I have learned so much and the learning continues, even in separation.  When I hear from my gurus I feel that I am hearing directly from Śrī Kṛṣṇa, from pure devotees; the transparent via media. My faith in my gurus is very strong and without you I am lost. My respect for you all is equal because you are Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotees. It is guru-varga . You have all touched my...

I heard something very deep and nice from a devotee that I met in Switzerland. He told me about how he had been staying at a temple there while Guru Mahārāja was visiting.  He said that the maṭha-in-charge expressed his desire that Gurudeva speak about Bhāgavatam. But then an order came that he was not allowed to speak there. In the room where the Bhāgavatam reading was, there was a young boy,. He was maybe only three months in the maṭha and recently came out of a completely material life, eating meat, smoking, etc. Anyway, he was the only one who had permission to speak about Bhāgavatam. And what did Guru Mahārāja do? He entered the room, bowed down to this boy and he sat in front of this boy and listened to his Bhāgavatam reading. This is his humbleness. This is always the way; they teach by example, not by punishing or whatever. When this maṭha-in-charge saw this whole situation, he decided in one moment to leave this institution forever. Although he left that organization, he ...

I remember that for a long time, I wanted to have a Gurudeva in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. I was already praying to Kṛṣṇa for many years, but I thought how can I choose Gurudeva on my own behalf? This is completely impossible because I would choose him using the wrong basis such as how he is looking, or if there was a nice community, or other types of social things. When I always prayed to Kṛṣṇa I told, "Please You choose my Gurudeva who is the best for me." And I remember one friend of mine, Arjuna, who afterward brought me to Gurudeva. One day he sent me the website of Gurudeva and when I was opening up that website such a laugh and light came into my heart and blew me away. And I immediately knew this was my Guru Mahārāja, this is my Gurudeva. And I never had any doubts since that day. And then I started to read the website and it was written that Gurudeva’s thought of being a Gurudeva was that he got that favor from his Guru Mahārāja because he thought he had to learn to serve ...

I know about those times when Gurudeva was taking dalia (broken wheat), ripe papaya, and a protein drink called "Resource" every day. In 2006 or 2007 during Kārtika in our Delhi maṭha, there was a celebration of Rādhā-kunda's appearance day. Gurudeva spoke about how Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī was following a very strict diet of only taking one bowl of buttermilk. So Gurudeva was explaining how this was possible for Raghunātha Dās Gosvāmī. It is not like Siddhartha Gautam Buddha who only wanted to renounce this world. Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī had so much positive attachment to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's service and was getting that transcendental bliss. So because of that, he could totally minimize all these worldly necessities. Before Gurudeva started to speak, I offered a garland to Gurudeva as devotees requested me to do so. Because of this service, while sitting and hearing his Hari-kathā, I felt such transcendental bliss coming from within my heart that I felt I would explode. Gur...

I remember once when Guru Mahārāja was eating prasād and suddenly began talking about his mom. He suddenly said, "atom bomb." I was just surprised and I said, "Mahārāja, what do you mean atom bomb?" He showed me a chili in his hand and said, "It is an atom bomb." I was puzzled and said, "Mahārāja, the atom bomb fell on Hiroshima in Japan." He said, "No, this one is." That made me laugh and he was smiling as well. My wife and I used to make different vegetables, different dals, and different types of chapatis in his kitchen and he loved all the cooking. He used to speak very gently and I could hardly hear sometimes. I always said, "Yes, Yes, Yes." And that was when he always had prasād.  When having prasād instead of taking the typical 15 minutes to half an hour, he used to take an hour and a half and everyone used to start worrying, thinking what is happening inside? He would take prasād so long.  When somebody starts speaking...