All varieties of devotional topics that don't fit under the other sections of the forums. However,
devotionally relevant topics, please - there are other boards for other topics.
Please tell something of your experiences -
gauraprema - Tue, 24 Sep 2002 08:27:04 +0530
Dear devotees,
Jai Sri Radhe!
Dandavats pranams! I was thinking that it would be very nice if all the devotees on this wonderful forum could share their own personal experiences with their special Gurus and Babaji Maharajas. I know Advaita Dasji has written some beautiful remembrances on 108 Krishna das Babaji Maharaja on the madrasibaba.org website and that was such nectar... I am hankering to hear more nectar about such relishable experiences with these Rupanuga Gaudiya Vaishnava Gurus, so if anyone would like to reach back into their memories and share the nectar, I would be very grateful. Thank you!
Jai Radhe Shyam!
YS
gauraprema
kamala - Tue, 24 Sep 2002 21:23:51 +0530
Jai Sri Radhe
I also like to hear the glories of the Gaudiya babji's in this form. Like I am very new to this raganuga bhajan. It will give a great insight to a new sadhaka like me to know the traditional babaji's. Please please contribute devotees,
Jai Sri Radhe
Mina - Thu, 26 Sep 2002 23:06:49 +0530
Well, it has been just about twenty years since I last spent time with our late Baba (108 Tinkuri Goswami/Kisorikisorananda Das Babaji). Memories fade over time. I will try to recall some details and post them in the near future. He always stressed chanting over anything else. In addition to the mahamantra he used to recommend doing ten thousand gopal mantras and kama gayatris daily. He did not push lila smarana on me in any manner. I had to literally pester him for the details and I had to get other people to help interpret the Bengali (Baba tended to speak way too fast for me to always catch everything he was saying) so I could write things down. Krishna Charan Das Babaji (a siksa guru of mine) was helpful in providing the various charts involved, which he allowed me to copy by hand - also he started an unbroken kirton at his ashram/temple at Kesi Ghat that ran non-stop 24/7. Ananta Das Babaji also was staying at his ashram at the same time I was, as he was lecturing in Vrindavan for several days.
I avoided trying to take up much of Baba's time, as a matter of being polite to the constant stream of visitors that were coming to see him daily. He would typically be alone in his room doing his bhajan until late afternoon, but he always had his hand in his beadbag most of the time, even when he was out in public and having conversations.
One day at Radha Kund I was asked by one of Baba's entourage to put some eyedrops in for Baba, which his doctor had prescribed. That was a rare golden opportunity to perform some personal guru seva. I felt honored to be chosen for the service. Plus, the eyes as windows on the soul are symbolic of spirituality. On another occasion at Village Govardhan I got to carry his water pot for about a half mile while he rode on a cycle rikshaw.
One guru bhai in Calcutta took me to see Baba's wife (Baba had never formally taken the vesha of the babaji order, so she really could not be considered a widow while he was still alive). I do not remember any details of the conversation. I could tell that she missed him very much, though, and it was somewhat awkward having a conversation because of that fact (she was living in Calcutta and Baba was living in Braj).