Praṇamāmi Guru Tīrtha Padaṁ

A sādhu's  nature is para-dukha-dukhī , always unhappy to see the conditioned souls unhappy. Many times it has been seen that Gurudev's heart would melt hearing anyone speak about their difficulties and sufferings. He would take that upon Himself.  He is so compassionate that he readily gave up his small space to an aggrieved devotee so that they could stay comfortably.   Whether externally in gross vision or internally, he would take sheltered devotees' difficulties upon himself. We have to remember that this point relates to sheltered devotees. āśraya laiyā bhaje, kṛṣṇa nāhi tāre tyaje [Song 43— Vaiṣṇava-mahimā  Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura] Translation: "One who takes āśraya , the shelter of a devotee, Kṛṣṇa does not give him up. Kṛṣṇa accepts him." * So also, āśraya laiyā bhaje tāre, Gurudeva nāhi tyaje . He is so compassionate that even one who acts as though having taken shelter, he accepts them too, makes them his own.  This no o...

We are all very fortunate that by Gurudeva's mercy we are at the shelter of his lotus feet.  Our Gurudeva is wonderful, one without a second. There is no one equal to or greater than him and He is an incomparable treasure of good qualities: adbhuta, (marvelous), advitīya (without a second), asamordhva (no one is equal to Him). Whatever qualities of sadhu and guru that scriptures sing, our Gurudev is the embodiment of them all. While it is natural that the disciples sing the glories of their Gurudev, it becomes special when his guru-varga sings the glories of our most worshipful Guru Maharaj. Param Pujyapad Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev Maharaj, Param Pujyapad Bhakti Kumud Sant Maharaj and others blessed him. Once when I was in Vrndavan, our Guru Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvami Maharaj were also in the maṭha along with their associates. At that time, Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvami Maharaj who is one of the most prominent disciples of Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhantha S...

It is only the Lord who can give love and become friends with those who act like His enemies. Our position is we do not want to see even the face of those who become our enemies, we turn our face from them. This is the nature of the conditioned souls. Enmity takes birth from pride. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā māna-den ; to give respect to enemies and become friends with them is very difficult. When I was made the maṭh-in-charge at Mayapur maṭh, I asked Guruji some questions: how can I adjust with many sevaks who have different natures? A maṭh-in-charge is supposed to be inclusive of all the sevaks and carry out various sevas smoothly, but how is it possible? It is very difficult even in a household life to see adjustments between family members. Guruji told me, "Your sacrifice should be a hundred percent, meaning even if someone grudges you, becomes your enemy, you should not have enmity towards him; your behavior should be like that of a friend. If someone is a...

To follow the conduct of pure devotees of the Lord is essential.  When Pujyapad (Bhakti Pramod) Puri Gosvami Maharaj was speaking harikathā , a foreign devotee (Nrsimha Maharaj) placed a tape recorder in front of him.  Puri Gosvami Maharaj asked him what it was.  He replied that it was a tape recorder.  Then Maharaj asked, "What does it do?"  He knows everything, but still, he asked.  He explained that it records your kathā simultaneously, which we can hear again later.  Then Puri Gosvami Maharaj made a gesture indicating his heart region and said, "You record it here. There is no benefit of recording on the tape recorder.  If you really want eternal benefit, you have to record it in the heart."   Guruji was in Agartala for Kartik-vrat during the year of Mahaprabhu's five hundredth appearance anniversary. A photographer was called to take Guruji's photo for the local newspaper.  Before taking the photo, the photographer asked G...

Once I was sleeping on the terrace of Chandigarh math next to Gauranga Prabhu (Pandeji's son). It was quite cold there and we slept somehow even though all we had was a quilt underneath us and no warm coverings.  When I woke up I saw that Gauranga Prabhu was not there, but someone had covered me with a blanket.  After maṅgalārati when I went to offer praṇaṁ to Guruji he asked, "Did you feel cold in the night? Then I understood that it was Guruji who had covered me with a blanket.  This incidence very much touched my heart and I remember those words of Guruji's very often.   About thirty years ago  I was back I was in Mayapur for parikramā and I got malaria. So I decided I will go on parikramā the next day and rest, but when Guruji started kīrtans in the morning I put aside my blanket and joined. Though I was following much behind when we reached Nrsimhapalli Jyoti Maharaj started kīrtan  and I began jumping.  Only by Guruji's mercy, I could ...

I got my dīkṣā in Gokul-Mahāvan. Then I went to Chandigarh.  That time Amarendra Prabhu was attending to Guruji's cooking.  Suddenly a thought came in me, I have been doing sādhan for these many years, how can I know I am doing it properly?  And I was thinking about it while doing my chanting late into the night.   Again in the morning, I thought that if I get direct sevā of Guruji today, I will consider my practice going on correctly. I was in the kitchen and suddenly Cidghananda Prabhuji called me and said. “Today you will be cooking for Guruji.” I told him I had never done this service, so I wasn’t sure how. He said, “I do not know, Guruji has selected you.” So remembering Sri Radha Krishna, I prepared bitter gourd curry with khuskhus (poppy seed), very thin, nice roṭīs, and also some khīr . Just when I finished my sandhyā , Guruji requested, “Call Karunamay quickly; today I am feeling very hungry.”  I lost my presence of mind and wondered what inspir...

I will speak about Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj's humility. After  Vraj-mandal parikrama  in 1990,  we came to Delhi. At that time, there was not this big  maṭh , it was in a small building. My name was Godhari Das Brahmachari then. Maharaj told me that there were no  sevā ks  there then, so if I could stay there it would be good.  Maharaj is senior to me, so he could have given me direct orders to stay, but he said this very humbly. In Kolkata  maṭh,  I was Maharaj's  sevā k . At that time, Maharaj spoke evening  katha  daily.  Sometimes when he was busy in writing, he would tell me to ask Sri Keshava Prabhu or sometimes Srila Bharati Maharaj if they would offer  bhagavat-katha  that evening. He would not give anyone orders; he had such a humble mood always—no pride at all.   Abhaya Prabhu of Medhnipur had given me a tape recorder with cassettes of Guru Maharaj's [Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Mahara...