Today is a super excellent auspicious day as it is the disappearance of nitya-lila-pravishta om vishnupada ashtottara-shata Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Gosvami Maharaja, who was the very nearest and dearest of our beloved Srila Gurudeva. I still cannot believe that he has departed from this material world. When we were staying in Sri Keshavaji Gaudiya Matha there was so much intimacy, love and affection shared between us.
Most of the time, I was preaching outside of India in Western countries and he preached mainly in Bengal. Sometimes, he would also go preach in Western countries. In my mind, he is still preaching in Bengal, or has gone to preach in some Western country or even China— Maharaja would often preach in China.
All of our Godbrothers would meet together twice a year, once during Navadvipa parikrama and then again for Kartika parikrama. Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja was always leading our parikrama and was very generous and magnanimous to all devotees. He was the senior-most amongst all of our Godbrothers and devotees, and all our Godbrothers gave much respect to him.
I have heard that when Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja left his house and went to Sri Devananda Gaudiya Matha, my uncle Srila Madhusudana Gosvami Maharaja engaged him in managing the store in Sri Devananda Gaudiya Matha. Srila Madhusudana Gosvami Maharaja’s name at the time was Krishna-kripa Brahmachari. Last year, he also departed from this material world. One month after Srila Tirtha Maharaja departed, Srila Bhaktivedanta Paryataka Maharaja also left this world — which occurred a few days before Srila Madhusudana Maharaja departed.
Actually that situation was very pathetic because at the time covid-19 was going on and, especially in India, the government was very strict. During those months, the entirety of India was completely locked-down and it was very difficult to travel in between states; there were many protective rules and regulations in place.
In just a few words I have mentioned how Srila Madhusudana Maharaja, who was the disciple of Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja and was the temple president of Sri Devananda Gaudiya Matha, also departed from this material world around this time.
Srila Tirtha Maharaja’s previous name was Subhananda Brahmachari. In the Mathа, Srila Madhusudana Maharaja engaged him in the bhandari post. And he engaged himself fully in the service of his guru and Vaishnavas. He completely surrendered to the lotus feet of guru and Vaishnava.
After a couple of years Gurudeva, Srila Narayana Gosvami Maharaja, came from Mathura to Bengal’s Sri Devananda Gaudiya Matha. Then, Srila Gurudeva, Narayana Maharaja brought him to Mathura, to Sri Keshavji Gaudiya Matha. And when he came to Mathura, Maharaja began to study Sanskrit as there was one school very close to our Keshavji Gaudiya Matha. Within only a couple of years, Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja learned all Sanskrit as he is very learned and very scholarly. Even all of the panditas from Mathura were very surprised at how quickly he acquired knowledge of the Sanskrit language.
He learned all the shlokas of Srimad-Bhagavatam, eighteen thousand in total. He learned everything, including all shlokas as he was very learned and scholarly. Why? Because he completely and absolutely surrendered to the lotus feet of gurupada-padma, and he served guru without duplicity and hypocrisy. I noticed his character when we were staying in Sri Keshavji Gaudiya Matha. Everyday, he served guru and Vaishnavas; he performed many sevas at the temple, even cleaning the toilets— all done with so much seva-vrtti.
Why am I saying this? Because our shastras state that if you serve guru and Vaishnava, guru’s mercy will automatically manifest in your heart. For this reason, our Gurudeva awarded him the title, ‘Bhagavad-bhushana’. In those times, Gurudeva would give different titles to different brahmacharis, according to their level. Sripada Bhaktivedanta Madhava Maharaja, whose name at the time was Navin-krishna Brahmachari, was given the name ‘Vidya-alankara’ (the one who is decorated with knowledge). Gurudeva gave Premananda prabhu the title of ‘Seva-ratna’ (the jewel crown of all servants). And my title was very small, ‘Bhakti-chakora’ (the one who is completely living through divine love alone).
In those days, Srila Bhaktivedanta Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja, Srila Gurudeva, nitya-lila-pravishta om vishnupada ashtottara-shata Sri Srila Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja, Srila Gurudeva, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja and all Vaishnavas, awarded him the title ‘Bhagavad-bhushana’. What does bhagavad mean? There are two kinds of bhagavad, one is grantha-bhagavad and the other is bhakta-bhagavad. And bhushana means ornaments. So the meaning is, one whose body is decorated with different kinds of alankara (ornament), is also called bhushana. Meaning that Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Gosvami Maharaja, who was named Subhananda Brahmachari, his life was ‘bhagavad bhushana’: he dedicated his life to serving Vaishnavas. He was always engaged in serving Vaishnavas, for this reason, his name was Subhananda Bhagavad-bhushana.
Another meaning of the name Bhagavad-bhushana is that his life was completely absorbed with Srimad-Bhagavatam. He regularly gave classes on Srimad-Bhagavatam and everybody would become completely intoxicated as they listened to his Srimad-Bhagavad kathamritam— most of the time he gave Bhagavata-saptaha kathamrita.
In those times, in our Gaudiya mathas, Bhagavata-saptaha was not often spoken. Perhaps you may ask, why? Karmi, jnani, yogis, even mayavadis are speaking Bhagavata-saptaha for seven days. However in those times, Gaudiya Vaishnavas were not giving Bhagavata-saptaha. Why? Because Gaudiya Vaishnavas believe that Srimad-Bhagavatam is their heart and soul - ‘nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā’, and nityam means they are already incessantly and continuously serving Srimad-Bhagavatam. So why speak it for only seven days? Do you understand this conception? So in our Sri Keshavaji Gaudiya Matha, for the purpose of preaching, Gurudeva first inspired Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja, “Okay, you give Srimad-Bhagavata-saptaha for seven days.”
I heard Srila Tirtha Maharaja speak his Bhagavata-saptaha many times. After he would finish speaking for seven days, then he would very soon start speaking another Bhagavata-saptaha for another seven days and then another one again afterwards. Because Indian people have this tradition that if you speak bhagavat-katha for seven days, many will attend and think, “O, I have to listen to this bhagavat-katha for seven days, then I will get delivered from this material world.”
For this reason, Gurudeva, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja inspired Srila Tirtha Maharaja by instructing him, “Okay, you give bhagavat-katha for seven days.” Eventually, many people, thousands and thousands of people, used to come to listen to him speak bhagavat-kathamrita in our Sri Keshavaji Gaudiya Matha— he would also preach everywhere. Now in India Bhagavata-saptahas are very important and when you speak, the temple becomes completely full.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Gosvami Maharaja was very expert in speaking Srimad-Bhagavata kathamrita. I saw how Gurudeva, Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja himself, would sit and listen to him speak Srimad-Bhagavata kathamrita. Srila Gurudeva himself would be seated and at times instructing him. Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja gave his sevenday Srimad Bhagavata-saptaha everywhere; in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, everywhere. In this way, he preached and actually fulfilled all of the desires of our beloved Gurudeva.
Many people in those times accepted diksha and harinama from him. He was also very expert in Sanskrit. Because of this, many panditas, scholarly persons, would come to listen to his tattva-siddhanta, Gaudiya philosophy. Despite him only completing seven or eight years in school, many professors and scientists would still come to listen to Gaudiya siddhanta from Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja. Even college doctorate professors with PhDs would come and sit in front of him to learn many tattva-siddhanta.
He learned all of our Gosvami’s granthas, especially Jiva Gosvamipada’s Six Sandharbas. If you have not read Shat-sandarbha, you will not become a Vaishnava. Thus, one must read and learn the Six Sandharbas composed by Jiva Gosvamipada. Then, you will become a perfect Vaishnava, otherwise not. Also, he learned all the rasa-shastra granthas and especially the topmost rasa-shastra grantha, Gita-govinda.
Gurudeva manifested Gita-govinda in English, actually, this was composed by our Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja. As Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja collected many commentaries of Gita-govinda, gathering many different authors. Then, what he had written, he gave to Gurudeva, and they manifested the English version of the Gita-govinda grantha. He was always absorbed in the separation mood of Srimati Radhika. When he spoke on Srimati Radhika’s transcendental madness - divya-unmada-dasha - from Bhramara-gita, he would cry and cry and cry.
During his last parikrama in Govardhana, he gave Bhramara-gita katha. For three or four days, he was weeping and weeping. I believe it was 2019 when he spoke this heartfelt Bhramara-gita katha— the song of bumble-bee. And when he spoke, he was continually weeping. Because of this, many devotees became completely intoxicated by his hari-katha.
He mostly preached in Bengal as Gurudeva instructed him to preach there. In Bengal, he collected two things, both internally and externally. Externally, he collected rice, dal and vegetables for parikrama. In preparation for Navadvipa parikrama, he would travel from house to house to collect these foodstuffs from Bengalis. And Maharaja would collect so much rice, even more than other Gaudiya mathas combined. To this day, there is still rice in our Sri Keshavaji Gaudiya that Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja collected two years prior— there is enough to probably last three or four years!
You may know that Bengali people are very poor materially, however, they are so intoxicated with the love and affection for Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja. And because of this, they gave everything. All brahmacharis and sannyasis from other mathas would ask, “How is Tirtha Maharaja collecting so much rice, dal and sabji?” Because Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja, was actually collecting the hearts of the devotees from Bengal.
So as I mentioned, he collected two things. Internally, Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja collected the hearts of the Bengalis, and externally, he collected many offerings of rice, dal and sabji. And this was because Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja had so much love and affection for everyone. He always had a smile on his face. We never saw him upset, rather always with a smiling face. Even though he was a learned scholar, a rasika-acharya, his nature was that of a small baby, very simple.
There are twenty six qualifications of a Vaishnava and all of these qualities were complete within him. He was very generous, especially to the many poor Bengali devotees who would come to Mathura during our Vraja-mandala parikrama. They would not have much money to offer for fees as they were very poor. Normally, devotees are asked to donate at least around five thousand to six thousand rupees to cover expenses, but since they were poor, they could at times only offer five hundred rupees. Regardless of what they could offer, Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja would invite them all to come.
In this way, he conquered the hearts of all Bengali devotees and Gurudeva was very pleased with him. He was so generous and worked very hard day and night. Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja also took the burden of the responsibilities of Vraja-mandala and Navadvipa parikrama. Most of the time I would see him holding one stick in his hand as he walked around and if a brahmachari was not serving, then he would lovingly hit him with the stick and say, “Hey, serve!”
Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja also fed every brahmachari and sannyasi. He cared for them with so much love and affection and everybody gave so much respect to him. His nature was completely different from others, even if his pockets were empty, he offered anything he received to anyone who needed it.
His sadhana and bhajana were very inspiring. At midnight he would be chanting the holy names, and sometimes even writing granthas. I would see how it would be one or two a.m. and Maharaja was up composing granthas. Perhaps he would rest for one hour or so, then wake up early in the morning and again attend mangala-arati and then continue his daily services. I, myself, noticed how in this way, his service was unique and unparalleled— no one can serve like him. For example, when our big festivals took place and thousands of people would attend, he would himself, cook all of the prasada for everyone.
I recall one pastime. Once, during our Navadvipa parikrama, ten thousand Bengali devotees arrived. Then, the cook did not arrive on time. So Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja quickly jumped and said, “Yes, I will cook!” And using a big pot, almost the size of this room, he cooked for all the Bengali devotees.
Afterwards, Gurudeva instructed, “He’ Tirtha Maharaja, come speak hari-katha.” And he quickly put on a gamcha, took the mic and began speaking hari-katha. He never prepared anything to speak, he would just take the mic in his hand and start to speak— he was always speaking hari-katha. Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja would say, “If I cannot speak hari-katha then a bad headache will come. But, if I speak hari-katha, I will have no headache.” Maharaja was always absorbed in speaking hari-kathamrita.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja engaged his life for both physical service and speaking hari-katha. If any devotee would become sick, he would go to their aid and ask if they needed any medicine or food. Because of this he maintained intimate friendships with all brahmacharis and sannyasis.
He even travelled here to Mexico before I had come, and was always speaking vraja kathamritam hari-katha. I would regularly associate with him as we were all staying at the matha together, learning shastra and preaching. He also established many temples in Bengal— I believe in total, around twenty five temples. He was very qualified and gave diksha, harinama and sannyasa to many. Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja always spoke hari-katha and he would never discriminate against anyone who would come.
So today, on his disappearance day, I remember his love and affection, and his preaching and many contributions to our mission. Gurudeva established two institutes, one is Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti Trust, GVST, and the other is International Gaudiya Vedanta Trust, IGVT. After Gurudeva departed from this material world in 2010, all within our Samiti decided that Sripada Bhaktivedanta Madhava Maharaja would now be the president of GVST. And Sripada Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja was appointed as president of the IGVT.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja so nicely served and arranged for many things during our parikramas and everybody gave so much respect to him as he did it all with a great love and affection. On his disappearance day, the entire society of Vaishnavas, vaishnava-samaja has lost a very valuable jewel. All good qualities, gunas, of Vaishnavas were found in Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Maharaja— he was a very learned scholar, yet always remained very humble.
He never glorified himself or his own accomplishments— he never spoke about himself. Instead, he always glorified guru, Vaishnava and bhagavat-kathamrita. Being a Vaishnava means never glorifying oneself, rather, without duplicity and hypocrisy, always glorifying krishna-katha and vaishnava-katha. This is why we sing:
antare-bāhire, sama vyavahāra, amānī mānada ha’bô
kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtane, śrī-kṛṣṇa-smaraṇe, satata majiyā ra’bô
Hari Hari! Kabe Mora Habe Heno Dina (2)
by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
[No disparity shall remain between my internal and external behaviour. I shall not desire honour for myself and shall instead offer respect to others. I shall remain constantly absorbed in chanting Krishna's names and remembering Him.]
One’s heart, internally and externally, should always be the same, with no duplicity and hypocrisy. And ‘amānī mānada ha’bô’ - always respect others and never hanker for your own name, fame and reputation.
Gaura Premanande!
Hari Hari bol!
Jaya Srila Bhaktivedanta Tirtha Gosvami Maharaja ki jaya!
Jaya Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja ki jaya!
Jaya Srila Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja ki jaya!
Jaya Srila Bhaktivedanta Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja ki jaya!
Jaya jaya Sri Radhe!
Date: 5 July 2021 Location: Mexico
Transcriber: Shyamapriya dasi (Holland) Editor: Sanatana dasa (USA) Integrity check: Chandrika dasi (UK), Divya-premamayi dasi (Slovakia) Proofreader: Chandrika dasi (UK) Image: Ananda-svarupini dasi (Poland)
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