Guru Maharaja's Appearance Day Manana

First of all I offer my respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of my Guru Maharaja, om visnupada Sri Sripad Bhaktivedanta Damodara Maharaja. Begging for a particle of mercy to share something of value.

Guru Maharaja leading Vrindavan parikrama, August 2013

Tomorrow is the Appearance Day of my Guru Maharaja, om visnupada Sri Sripad Bhaktivedanta Damodara Maharaja! Since he has a tendency to honor Vaisnavas and the Lord and the Lord's associates prior to, the day of, and sometimes after their Appearance Days (e.g., this year we got to hear Gaura katha one week before and one week after Gaura Purnima), I want to try to follow suit by blogging something on the lead up to his Appearance Day. Guru Maharaja has told us that the Appearance and Disappearance days of Vaisnavas are very merciful, and we should speak something and hear attentively these days.
     But today I feel the best way I can honor Guru Maharaja is to post links to his biography and hari-katha audio files (note: once the page displays, scroll down) and submit an entreaty that has already been perfectly composed to his lotus feet. I believe Sripad Dhyanachadra Goswami composed it since it is noted as coming from Arcana-paddhati:

he sri guro jnanada dina-bandho svananda-datah karunaika-sindho

vrndavanasina hitavatara prasida radha-pranaya-pracara

Oh Gurudeva, you bestow transcendental knowledge and you are the friend of the fallen. You bestow the spiritual bliss that exists within your own heart and you are an ocean of mercy. You are a resident of Vrndavana and the incarnation of auspiciousness. You preach about Sri Radha's love for Sri Krsna. Please be merciful to me.

    I also want to mention that tomorrow is also the spiritual birthday of Malati Dasi, who is one of the Didi's (the other being Madhu Mati) who came to preach in Philadelphia last summer. I am so grateful for her (both of them) because otherwise I would not be in Vrindavan, and I would not have met my Guru Maharaja.

Malati Didi (in white) at the samadhi of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

      One of our senior Vaisnavas told me that similarly, the person responsible for leading Param Gurudeva, Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Nayarana Goswami Maharaja, to the lotus feet of his Gurudeva, Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Goswami Maharaja was Sri Srimad Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja, whose pushpa-samadhi can be found at Radha-Damodara behind the pushpa-samadhi of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada. Click here (and scroll to the section titled, "Sadhu Sanga") to read more about how Param Gurudeva came to this sanga and to his Gurudeva.
     Param Gurudeva wrote in his article, "The True Conception of Guru-Tattva" that there are five kinds of guru. A Vaisnava who speaks fundamental truths about spiritual life and introduces the sadhaka to a sad-guru is called patha-pradarsaka-guru. So Malati dasi and Madhu Mati are my patha-pradarsaka-gurus. Then of course Guru Maharaja is my diksa (one who initiates faithful sadhakas in krsna-mantra and bestows sambhanda-jnana) and siksa guru (one who by imparting specific instructions on sadhana and bhajana, helps the sadhaka to enter into the realm of bhajana). The other two gurus are caitya-guru, Bhagavan Himself in the heart and sravana-guru, who by the medium of his hari-katha, attracts the sadhaka toward Bhagavan and helps him in sadhana-bhajana.

Jaya Guru Maharaja!