He Was Extremely Humble and Grave

Hare Krishna and dandavat Pranam to all Vaishnavas, I offer my unlimited obeisances at the lotus feet of my Guru pada padma - nitya leela pravistha om Visnupad asttotara sat Sri Srimad Bhakti Vijnana Bharati Goswami Maharaj.

I was first brought to Gurudev by the grace of my shiksha guru Srimati Syamarani didi. I first met him in Pune where he would give hari Katha and shiksha to the devotees there. My first thoughts when I met him was that he was extremely humble and grave.

His harikatha was full of siddhanta and it was full of rich details, examples and anecdotes. Years later I met Maharaj at Chandigarh where he gave me harinaam. Maharaj was very merciful towards all devotees and he would start the day handing out Prasadam individually to every devotee.

His lifelong service to Vaishnavas was his greatest wealth which he freely shared through his books - which were all written in the mood of glorification of the Vaishanavs and giving the readers the opportunity to associate with these Vaishnavas and to adopt key learnings from these experiences.

A few months before Srila Gurudev entered into the eternal pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Syamasundar, on the auspicious day of Sayana Ekadashi, Gurudev gave me diksha mantras in Jagannath Puri. I remember how he was very grateful to devotees for all types of service that they performed and thoroughly thanked them for their love and support towards him.

One of Maharaj's favorite quote from Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta was -

Guru Vaisnav Bhagavan- tinera smaraṇe haya vighna-vināśana anāyāse haya nija vāñchita-pūraṇa Adi Lila 1.21 Remembrance of Guru, Vaisnav, Bhagavan destroys all difficulties and very easily enables one to fulfill his own desires. I pray at the lotus feet of Gurudev to continue to guide me and inspire me to serve his mood. Hare Krishna Achyuta Krishna das