I offer my humblest prostrated obeisances to his holiness his Divine Grace Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj who has descended to this world to bless us with his sweet nectarean past times and gifted the entire world with the mercy of Guru and Gauranga.As a fallen soul with no qualification to serve and or follow the instructions of my Guru Maharaj I pray for his mercy and blessings and the opportunity to find a way in my heart to engage in serving his lotus feet with full commitment.Having had the opportunity to share precious moments of my insignificant life in his presence I feel the need to share these visions with those who may not have had such occasions to associate with such a Maha Bhagavat. When I first met Guru Maharaj he was sitting quietly on his bed, deeply immersed in his morning bhajan, chanting Gayatri and a long series of profoundly moving Mantras which was part of his daily ritual which he began in the early hours and continued throughout the day with his hand always clasping his japa beads while chanting Maha Mantra or carefully going through a small box of sacred items and texts, holding them to his head and carefully replacing them after intense chanting. I had no eyes to see the greatness of this divine personality who was granting me the unprecedented opportunity to have his personal association – a gift of a thousand lifetimes which, due to my profound ignorance, I was, at that point , completely unaware of the significance of such an auspicious and life changing event.I recall many hours of the day sitting quietly at Guru Maharaja’s feet, listening to him chant softly while birds chirped in the background whilst the first rays of light extended into the room from the East. It was a good while before Guru Maharaj directly acknowledged my presence and one of his disciples came into the room to help translate. It was at this precise moment when the full import of this auspicious occasion began to take root in my feeble mind. Here I was, at the feet of one of the last remaining disciples of his Holiness Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj – a pure devotee fully immersed in his bhajan pastimes offering his personal association to us western scoundrels. From my limited perspective I was still a relatively a young man seeking a spiritual connection after a lifetime of searching and Krishna had given me this opportunity with little effort. The environment was surreal and otherworldly, as if I had stepped into another realm where time and space no longer were relevant considerations – and only the opportunity to exchange intimate questions and seek his divine instruction remained worthy activities – and I dove into this ocean of nectar without reservation.
From that moment on, this was the quest and our lives measured out in relationship to making the pilgrimage to India where we would spend as much time in Guru Maharaj’s personal association as was physically possible, traveling two or three times per year from the West to Mayapur, Puri or Vrindavan, carrying loads of books which we spent our time and efforts preparing as offerings to Guru Maharaj annually. Guru Maharaj was so happy to see these beautiful publications and it brought sincere joy to his heart and to all those who read his inspired writings. The Heart of Krishna and so many others which continue to be published right up to this day are the direct extension of his preaching and we are blessed to be of service to that agenda which has helped so many devotees around the world have a deeper understanding of the divine truth especially the unfettered humility which was at the essence of our Guru Maharaj’s interaction with all those who were fortunate to have his association. To see such a great exalted Vaishnava become so pleased with this service was the highlight of our existence – what else could we possibly achieve in this life of any meaning other than to please his Divine Grace in this way. We were and are so honored and fortunate and sincerely blessed to have the opportunity to offer our hearts and souls in this service with full enthusiasm and know that it would be so profoundly reciprocated-These were glorious moments which will remain epic in our hearts to the end of days.Guru Maharaj blessed me with initiation the following year and I remain forever indebted to my brother Ram Das Prabhu and his Holiness BB Bodhayan Maharaj for recommending my poor ignorant self as a candidate for such a high honor such as to be connected to a pure devotee of the Lord which is surely a quest requiring many lifetimes of austerity to achieve. It is with these fond and heart wrenching memories of his Divine Grace that I make this humble offering and reflect on those precious moments where we were so supremely fortunate to be honored with his purifying association and receive his blessings and instructions without which our lives would be bereft of any meaning or purpose.I offer my millions of obeisances to his Divine Grace Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaja whose mercy is the gift of life and without whose blessings my existence would be totally meaningless.
Written by Govardhana Das and Anuradha Devi Dasi Oct 2023