Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

One year near Christmas and New Year's Day, I observed everyone exchanging cards and gifts, so I thought I would make a card for Guru Mahārāja and decorate it with birds. He opened the card, and I had written something inside. In a mood of shyness, I told him, "You don't have to read what I have written." I felt happy that he spent time looking at the birds that I drew, and he was touching them with his sweet hand and then kept that card on his table. After three or four months, I got an opportunity to serve him inside his room, and to my great surprise, I saw that this card was still there! This reminded me of how I had once heard a devotee describing one incident in which a Matajī had been standing quietly next to Gurudeva while clenching onto a one-rupee coin. There were many wealthy devotees around that were offering big stacks of rupee notes and opulent gifts. She felt shy to offer such a small thing to Gurudeva, but He saw inside her heart and extend...

Once some persons spoke ill about Guru Mahārāja, and at that time Parama-gurujī was sitting in his room and he could hear the ill words some persons were addressing to Gurudeva. Parama-gurudeva saw from a distance that our Gurudeva was standing there. He thought, " why are they speaking ill about him ?"  He called Gurudev's name, but Gurudev was doing some service and he didn't hear him. Then Parama-gurudeva sent one brahmachārī to get Gurudeva. He asked, "Why are those persons shouting at you?" Gurudeva said, "Who is shouting at me?" Parama-gurudeva said, "Those persons who were fetching water, were they not shouting at you?" Gurudeva said, "I did not hear." Parama-gurudeva said, "They were shouting so loudly, I could hear from my room, and you did not hear?” Parama-gurudeva said, "He is so absorbed that they were shouting at him and he did not even hear. I am not worried about Kṛṣṇa Ballabha Bra...

After our Guru Mahārāja disappeared, Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja served the maṭha untiringly and did not let the mission deviate an iota from pure devotional principles.  We had seen Mahārāja doing kirtan at a stretch for 2 to 3 hours while performing nagara- saṅkīrtana . Whenever we traveled even for a short distance, we needed a car, but Tirtha Mahārāja would go barefoot.  On the way to Narasiṃhapali, just after the area inhabited by the Muslims, there lies a banyan tree where it is nearly impossible to place one's  foot on the street due to the burning heat. Others got blisters under their feet, but Mahārāja came there barefoot.  We started wondering where his kharam (wooden slippers) were. I asked Mahārāja to wear his pair of kharam , but he would not.  One would want to go by car in that scorching heat, but Śrīla Tirtha Mahārāja arrived there barefoot. In such a state, he was performing such an amazing  kīrt...

Guru Mahārāja is not an ordinary person; he is sent by the Supreme Lord to rescue all of us. In the office, if we are working in one place, we may be deputed to another place to do some work. Similarly, Gurudeva has been deputed from Goloka-dhāma to help us. Guru Mahārāja has come here to fulfill the desire of Hari-Guru-Vaishnavas. In 1997, I received harināma in Gokula-Mahāvana along with my  dharmapatnī , my wife. Guru Mahārāja asked my wife, "If something bad has happened to you, how do you take this? As if Gurudeva is at fault, or as if other persons are at fault?” My wife replied, “Whatever happens, I think it is good for me, by your arrangement.” In 2013, my wife was detected with breast cancer, and later left this world. Some devotees came to the maṭha and gave the news to Gurudeva. Gurudeva replied, "She has gone to Goloka-dhāma." In the hospital, I remember when my wife was in the ICU, and the doctor came and told me, "Your wife is in the fina...

In 2005, I decided to visit Jagannāth Puri for Ratha-yātrā. It was my first visit to any maṭha after harināma . The first thing I did was to equip myself with a film SLR camera anticipating interesting moments and visuals. Every year from then on, the camera always accompanied me, so much so that most of the time, I used to take snapshots more than actually participating. In 2010 or maybe 2011, I was staying in Mumbai. A few devotees wanted to purchase a camera for the maṭha-sevā , and, supposing I knew a bit about cameras, I accompanied them along for the purchase. Some research was done, and we picked up a Canon SLR and a couple of lenses. Soon after that, we went off to Jagannāth Puri. We were excited about the visit. It was during Ratha-yātrā, and Śrī Gurudeva was there for some days. A special darśan was organized for the Mumbai devotees. We walked in and offered praṇāms . As usual, I was holding the camera and shooting from many angles. At some point, I went closer to join the ...

In Gokul, when people of a local political party destroyed the deity of Radha Gokulanandji, Guruji was in Jammu. Parampujyapad Srila Guru Maharaj, Pujyapad Narayan Maharaj, one devotee from Bathinda and I went to a MP (Member of Parliament) in Jammu to discuss this topic. From there, Gurudev went to Gokul. He was very sad and cried incessantly saying, “This has happened because of my offences. Gurudev has given me the responsibility to serve Them. I couldn't do Their service nor could I take care of Them.” Later some devotees consulted an advocate to file a case against the miscreants. The papers were prepared and taken to Guruji for signatures. They told Guruji, "Please sign these papers; we will file a case against those culprits.” Guruji read the papers and tore them into pieces. He told “Have we become eligible to file a case against Vrajvasis? Whatever has happened is due to my offences.” He was very cautious not to offend the Vrajvasis. Where can we find su...