The 100th Appearance Day of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Jaya Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga-Rādhā-Nayananātha Jīu!

Jaya Sītā-Rāma! Jaya Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān!

Jaya Saparṣada Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jaya Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja! Jaya Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja!

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Daṇḍavat praṇāma dear devotees.

Our reading group community has been hosting a three-day online program to commemorate the 100th appearance day of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja. Thus far, we've conducted two sessions, with the final one scheduled for tomorrow. In this post, I'll briefly touch upon highlights from both sessions and conclude by sharing Rūpa Mañjarī's heartfelt puṣpañjalī to her Gurudeva's lotus feet.

In yesterday's session (watch it here), Rukmiṇī Didi shared a short biography of her Gurudeva along with some fond memories. Nṛhari Prabhu also reminisced about his experiences with Śrīla Mahārāja in Hawaii. We then delved into passages from "Sweet, Sweeter, Sweetest," written by Śrīla Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja's personal servant, Śrīpāda Bhakti Suhṛt Paramadvaitī Mahārāja (previously known as Prahlāda Prabhu).

One story highlighted how deeply addicted Śrīla Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja was to glorifying his Gurudeva, disavowing any personal credit for any services he himself rendered. Another recounted his extreme urgency, love and care to write a response to a philosophical inquiry from one of his disciples. I'm still feeling inspired after reading those two passages and I encourage you to read or listen to them when you have a moment. You can watch/listen to it here (starting at 46:46) or read it here. I'm eagerly anticipating reading more from this book in tomorrow's session. 😄

In today's program, which ended just now, Rūpa Mañjarī Didi made her offering to her Gurudeva and shared some anecdotes as we looked through various images of him. We also read the chapter "Śrī Rāmacandra-avatāra" from Śrīla Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja's book "Daśāvatāra" and sang the "Rāmacandrāṣṭakam" by Murāri Gupta. You can watch the entire program recording here:

And now, Rūpa Mañjarī's offering.

Sri Guru Gauranga Jayatah! 

A Vyasa Puja tribute to my worshipable Srila Gurudev, Sri Srimad Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj, on the occasion of his 100th Birth Anniversary, Ram Navami Day Gaurabda 538

I am totally unqualified to glorify my Srila Gurudev, but it is both my duty, privilege, and supreme benefit to do so, so I humbly thank Madhukar Prabhu for providing me a forum and the devotees for accepting the role of audience. 

What has been striking me as this centennial approached is Srila Gurudev‘s extreme humility. He never wanted us to celebrate or even know his birthday. It was discovered by his nosy disciples eager to know it, much to his chagrin. He had zero desire to become Acharya or Guru. Sripad Navin Krishna Prabhu, who just recently left us, apparently was the one to retrieve him from Govardhan where he had gone to try to forestall Srila Paramgurudev‘s departure. He was crying so hard he couldn't see and kept stumbling and running into things, he had no desire to return to Kolkata and take up the appointed post. When he did so he did it in a deep mood of stewardship and servitude, taking the advice of the board very seriously, and always saying he had been given the post to be “kept busy and out of trouble.” 

Our late mother Devamayi dasi always reminisced to us how she could see, even as a child, how effulgent he was; that even when he was a young Brahmachari, Sannyasis would spontaneously do dandavat pranam to him and regarded him so highly. 70 odd years of being regarded like that did not put a dent in his humility and his keeping his Guru-varga over his head. His profound Nishtha for Srila Param Gurudev was exactly what drove his intense submission to Srila Param Gurudev's godbrothers, for he completely imbibed  Srila Paramgurudev's mood of unity and fraternity in the service of Jagadguru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Srila Prabhupad, and therefore saw Srila Paramgurudev in all his beloved “uncles.” My worshipable Srila Guru Maharaj, my Harinam Guru, Sri Srimad Bhakti Pramoda Puri Maharaj, always did him pranam, seeing in him his dear brother Srila Param Gurudev, and I have often said that no  uncle and nephew pair have had a closer more affectionate relationship than these two. Years into being Acharya, Srila Gurudev was completely submissive to Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Kumud Shanta Maharaj, and the few other close godbrothers of Srila Paramgurudev extant. That thirst for guidance, oversight, correction, and guardianship that the rest of us have to pray to even want—that thirst of surrender emanated from his every action like warmth from a flame. 

There were so many requests and questions where he quietly and gravely demurred with self-deprecation. If he didn't think someone was truly willing to accept an answer, he very often didn't give it, preferring to act as if he didn't know rather than giving them an opportunity to be offensive. He had no problem saying “I don't know,” such a difficult thing for one who has to manage and lead so many strong personalities. He was so careful to check his work even though he didn't make mistakes. Quality over quantity, quality over quantity! 

It might seem that his Harikatha was very basic. He repeated  the fundamentals over and over again. ”Atyanta Durlabha!” How rare is this human birth and this chance to get Bhakti. “Chant from the core of your heart!” He would roar. Almost every class he would spend a long time at the beginning slowly and gravely reciting 

granthera ārambhe kari ‘maṅgalācaraṇa’
guru, vaiṣṇava, bhagavān, — tinera smaraṇa

tinera smaraṇe haya vighna-vināśana
anāyāse haya nija vāñchita-pūraṇa

But even though we have been hearing, our entire lives, how precious and rare this path is, I do not actually feel that. I do not actually chant from the core of my heart. I do not profoundly remember the Lord and Guru-varga and the Vaishnavs before approaching any scripture. My habits are slapdash and casual, and wanting to speed ahead to the “fun stuff!” it is absurd how quickly I skip over actually cultivating deep and sincere moods in a clean and loving  heart. Srila Gurudev keeps telling me what I need to hear. 

Perhaps his most famous Kirtan was Jaya Dao. (Watch recording of him singing it.) It also seems basic, but when you hear him singing it you realize that every syllable is dripping with sambandha and that his love for Guru Gauranga is so overwhelming it is overflowing in connection to all these personalities. 

Similarly with his book on the associates of Mahaprabhu, his instructions for observing Kartik and Purushottam Vrat – on the surface, it's “just the facts,” but all together it is a magnum opus of sambandha and ras.  The quiet care with which he oversaw Srimati Radharani's kitchen and Sri Sri Radha Nayananath‘s Sringar, the deep focus of his taking Their Darshan, the soft intensity of his adoring Tulsi-puja – these observations we were blessed to make are impressed in our hearts.  He never told but could not help but show the truth of the verse, 

nikuñja-yūno rati-keli-siddhyai
yā yālibhir yuktir apekṣaṇīyā
tatrāti-dākṣyād ati-vallabhasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam 

“The spiritual master is very dear, because he is expert in assisting the gopis, who at different times make different tasteful arrangements for the perfection of Radha and Krsna's conjugal loving affairs within the groves of Vrndavana. I offer my most humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master.”

It will take me many lifetimes to unpack all the treasure he freely bestowed,  and longer yet to do it justice. It is my humble prayer that life after life he find me and give me the opportunity to observe his deep, concentrated mood and grow in myself some semblance of true saranagati. I know that everything else wonderful will follow from his causeless mercy. In the meantime, I pray that all the Vaishnavs who sincerely regard him will please give me their association and opportunity to serve them, because I know that will please him very much. 

His most useless servant,

Rupamanjari Devi dasi 

California 

Thanks for reading till the end. If you'd like to join tomorrow's program at 7 AM (India time), you can join our WhatsApp group where I'll share the Zoom and YouTube link before we begin:

By the way, we're nearly finished with Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, and in 22 days (May 8), that WhatsApp group will transition into the daily Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura kirtan group. We'll conduct a daily online program to go through every song composed by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. More on that later.

Alright, that's all for now. I hope to see you tomorrow!

-Madhukar das