LOK er JEEVAN

A devotee from Philadelphia once shared a conversation he had with HG Agnidev Prabhu(ACBSP)during the Ratha Yatra festival.  "Today you very much reminded me of my dear Gurudev HH Lokanath Maharaj. Just like you, in New York Rath Yatra, he would lead kirtan in front of Lord Jagganath's cart all the way from beginning to end and then on the main stage nonstop. He is also a great kirtaneer like you.   "Oh, Lokanath Maharaj! He is a Mahajan...He is a Mahajan", Prabhuji exclaimed with a joyous smile.

  Parshuram was unable to attend the Vyaspuja program so he from Hyderabad travelled back to Juhu for his job. After Vyaspuja celebrations Gurumaharaj went to Juhu carrying the Prasadam from Pandharpur.  Knowing that Gurumaharaj came Juhu Parshuram managed to have his darshans  “You didn’t come to Pandharpur so Lord Vitthal has sent this for you.” said Gurumaharaj with a radiant smile while giving the prasadam to Parshuram. These small loving exchanges made Parshuram surrender to Gurumaharaj and do loving services as Paramatma Das.

After a month this meeting, Parshuram met Dongre Maharaj. “Dongre Maharaj Why didn't you give me initiation?” he asked to which Dongre Maharaj replied, "I’m not qualified to give you initiation. Do you know who is Sant Tukaram?"  "Yes, everyone knows Tukaram Maharaj”  “Tukaram Maharaj is still there on this planet and only he can give you the initiation" Hearing this Parshuram understood about whom Dongre Maharaj was speaking!

After the meeting, the next day Parshuram went to Gurumaharaj's place where he lived in a small room with a cot and some daily essentials. Seeing him Gurumaharaj welcomed him and had a conversation. "How did you got connected to Iskcon?"  “I used to hear Dongre Maharaj's harikatha where he preached the holy name to be the essence of Srimad Bhagavatam. He inspired people to chant Mahamantra but he wasn't connected to any authority. Inspired by him I took up the chanting of Hare Krsna" "My vysa puja would be celebrated in Pandharpur, would you like to join me?" asked Gurumaharaj while giving the amount to another devotee to book the tickets for both Parshuram and him. Witnessing the affectionate love of Gurumaharaj as if they had known each other for lifetimes he said, "I have lied and came here from my job in Juhu if I don’t go back then I will lose my job." The simplicity of Gurumaharaj finished the quest of Parshuram's search for his ...

With the desire to meet the sadhu, Parshuram returned to Hyderabad to attend the Ratha Yatra festival there. The kirtan of the festival was crowded with so many people chanting and dancing intensely for 4 hours to reach the destination! The hush of the crowd fogged the vision to see the person who was leading the kirtan. Parshuram curiously was standing to see who was the kirtaniya leading.  Prem Dhvani prayers began and everyone bowed down to offer obeisances and the kirtaniya left the place. Parshuram couldn't see who the kirtaniya was, suddenly a hand grabbed him removing him from the crowd, the devotee said " Come with me to have darshan of HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj"  The feeling of meeting the sadhu he heard about suffused Parshuram's heart and he forgot about the Kirtaniya.   “Gurumaharaj, this is Parshuram Sahu Prabhu, he is a very nice devotee, the other devotee said introducing Parshuram "Are you Marathi?" Gurumaharaj said glancing at Parshuram ...

In 1984, HG Sukdev Goswami Prabhu, a disciple of HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj was travelling with Parshuram Sahu a newly joined devotee to Kumbha Mela. "Would you like to hear from a person in whose character all the qualities of Srila Prabhupāda are reflected?" asked HG Sukdev Goswami Prabhu. "Yes, but who is that saintly person?" He's HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj, in his character everyone finds Prabhupada’s qualities. He doesn't limit himself to the service of any disciple, any temple or any area, or anything. He doesn’t have any fixed area of preaching or any fixed temple. He preaches to all widths and breadths of the globe! When everyone was having one temple, particular disciples and a particular area to preach Maharaj didn't restrict himself to fixed areas in preaching, he served all the temples wholeheartedly" The glorification of the glorious master increased the hankering to Parshuram Sahu to have the darshan of such a Sādhu!

HG Krishna Murari Prabhu, a disciple of HH Kirtanananda Swami Maharaj in Juhu was leading a sankirtan bus party which had many new people joining from Maharashtra. The newly joined devotees came to know about initiation and were curiously questioning to Prabhu about the hows and what's of initiations and from whom they should get initiated. "Can I suggest you something?" "Yes, please" the devotees replied "There is one saint in ISKCON from whom you can take initiation without a second thought" "Who's that" the devotees replied thinking that Prabhuji would name his Gurumaharaj   He is HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj, you can take initiation from him without a second thought such a great sadhu he is!

Once Gurumaharaj had to go on an unplanned trip so his servants began to pack all his paraphernalia and necessary items. As Gurumaharaj was on Padayatra seeing HG Istadev Prabhu there he said “Now we have to start, so pack your bags.” So Prabhu went running, and Gurumaharaj noticed that prabhuji was not wearing footwear. “Stop stop, you didn’t wear footwear, it’s not good walking without footwear, so wear your footwear and then do your packing, Gurumaharaj said stopping him. His love knows no bounds!

HG Panduranga Vitthal Prabhuji, being Gurumaharaj's servant would arrange everything properly from the handkerchief to the glass of water, from the camera position to the laptop settings everything was all perfect.  “When there will be a meeting just call me,” Gurumaharaj said.  As soon as  Gurumaharaj saw the arrangements made perfectly he would exclaim "Thankyou" with a sweet smile sitting on his chair. This was not a gesture once but this happened every time when the service was done. This unfolds the love and gratitude Gurumaharaj's heart holds for every little or big service we do for him.

The Six Goswāmis of Vṛndāvana had a special place for Giriraj in their heart and bhajan.  Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur during his last days sang Srila Raghunatha Das Goswāmi's Nija Nikata Nivasam prayers.  Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, a week before his departure was meditating on Giriraj.  Srila Prabhupāda had his last desire of going on a Govardhan Parikrama- the sweet desire close to the heart of all the acharyas was revealed to Srila Gurumaharaj by Srila Prabhupāda he said "I want to see you what would be a good time for you".  The desire which could have been said to anyone was only told to Srila Gurumaharaj, making us all know how special he is!  Due to Srila Prabhupāda's fragile health going for parikrama on a bullock cart was not favourable so a bus was arranged for the same.  Everyone present there was trying their best to go for parikrama, and Gurumaharaj thought to try as well. "May I also come Srila Prabhupāda"  "You will be our leade...

Kumbha mela is famous for Shahi Snan which is a specific muhrut when devotees take a dip in the waters where drops of nectar were fallen during the fight between demigods and demons as the belief is that the nectar is active during that specific time which grants liberation to the person who takes bath. Srila Prabhupāda used to go and attend Kumbh and following in his footsteps Srila Gurumaharaj to attended Kumbha in the 90s as his motive was "We go Kumbha Mela to preach and not to get delivered" The shahi snan had a process where the leader would be followed by others but during that time Iskcon didn't have a recognized akhada (a group) in Kumbha as an organization of Gaudiya Vaishnavas.  The Kumbha Mela samiti insisted on the selection of a leader from Iskcon to get a position in Kumbha. Deenabandhu Prabhu and Sarvabhauma Prabhu were elected but the protocols of the samiti that only Indian-bodied sannyasi can be chosen as leader, everyone's thoughts went "Why n...

Once a disciple was asking certain questions Gurumaharaj related to his spiritual life  “Maharaj, will I be able to see Krishna after this lifetime?” he inquired curiously.  To which His Holiness serenely paused, looked at him and said, “YOU ARE ALREADY SEEING ME”.

Another Devotee during the centennial namely Mathura Das loved Gurumaharaj and was attracted by his dedication and saintly nature.  "Maharaj does decide one day in the week and come to my home for prasadam”, he said once to Gurumaharaj. So once a week, Mathura das used to take Gurumaharaj to his home for prasadam. After two weeks of going there, Gurumaharaj was unwilling to go this time. When Mathura Das insisted he come to Gurumaharaj replied “this is not good you are feeding me alone and what about those devotees who come with me? You are serving me but what about them?  “Guru Maharaj I’m serving you first then I’ll serve them later. First, you take”, said Mathura das bringing a huge thali of Prasadam.  “Prabhupada used to say if you want to love me then love my dog. Prabhupada used to say this as a sign of Shudra if someone loves his Gurudev and loves God but is neglecting devotees then he is kanistha bhakt. He is dhongi trying to be a devotee.” saying this Gurumaharaj...

The 100th birth anniversary of Srila Prabhupāda- the centennial festival brought crowds of devotees from all over the world to Prabhupāda house, Delhi. Gurumaharaj being the president of the festival had his office East of Kailash temple which was managed by HG Prashanta Mataji. Various devotees assisted Gurumaharaj in the arrangements and one of them was Bhakta Harish from Pune, Maharashtra, he never spoke a single word before finishing his rounds for the day. Because of living with devotees for a long, he developed an affection for them yet he started finding faults in the devotees and showed them their faults with hands joined in a humble manner. His fault-finding attitude troubled devotees and they were unable to do their services properly. They went to Gurumaharaj and said “Either Harish prabhuji will stay or We will stay, it's your decision now" Gurumaharaj with a calm smile said  “the way you all come to do service here Harish prabhuji has also come. I personally couldn...

The vehicle was repaired and now devotees resumed their happy journey only to realize that they left the gas cylinder and carried only the stove. As the journey started early in the morning and the route was long to reach expectedly by 9pm there was no source to get food.  Guru Maharaj was about to go to a brahmachari’s house to stay there but that day the brahmachari's mother was not well and she had to be taken to the hospital.  The dusk rose and Guru Maharaj didn't honour prasadam yet, no one knew what to do next as they reached the village.   People of Charmoshi village curiosity came to see the Hare Krishna Sādhu and devotees and took all the 12 in groups of 4 to their homes for prasadam.  No one knew whether Guru Maharaj had prasadam properly that night or not. The brahmachari who was supposed to make arrangements came the next day and without asking him anything, Guru Maharaj asked the brahmachari “How is your mother? Let’s go to see her!" And after seein...

In 86-the 90s, Guru Maharaj used to go Chamorshi a place full of Naxalite people,  with few devotees and during that journey they had to cook on their own. The vehicle used for travelling purposes was small and devotees sat with all the utensils stuffed in between.  During one such visit, the vehicle stopped and devotees got down to push, seeing Guru Maharaj too came down and started helping devotees to push the vehicle.  He was a sannyasi everyone stopped him but he didn't hear anyone and said, “how can I take service from you, how can I sit inside the vehicle when you all are pushing the vehicle”. and he kept pushing till they reached the garage.

Once a devotee in temple premises was fighting with the temple president and in the heated argument, he spat on the president's face. Gurumaharaj witnessing this behaviour of Vaishnava fighting with others fainted. In the tenure of so many decades of Gurumaharaj being in Iskcon, no one would have ever witnessed him misbehave with anyone.

 During the festival, everyone got one dress for the whole year.  Gurumaharaj, as we can see in the old pictures, he is singing and dancing with no kurta as during those days devotees got a dhoti and a kurta, once in 6 months and they wore kurta only on festival days.

 During the initial days of Juhu, devotees used to stay under tin roofs with limited facilities. Those were the days when if you carry a bag load of books for distribution you were expected to return with empty bags only. The rule was, "Leave early in the morning and take prasad and do not come till the books are finished" Gurumaharaj too went for distribution, sometimes he used to reach late at night sometimes at 10 pm or sometimes at 11 pm. When Maharaj used to come late at night, he used to open the utensil and see some grains of rice there and there was no water left, he used to go to handpump and drink 2 glasses of water he used to go to sleep.

In the May of 1988, Gurumaharaj’s father got hospitalised, he used to think a lot about Guru Maharaj and he kept saying "Maharaj, Maharaj Maharaj" referring to Gurumaharaj. I want to say something to Maharaj, I want to say” Gurumaharaj at that time was in Delhi, and being busy with the services of the temple couldn't go.  His father passed away on 17th May 1988.  Due lot of services Gurumaharaj couldn’t go to the funeral. Everyone at home was sad as Maharaj didn’t come for the funeral. Gurumaharaj continued his service in Noida and did the funeral formalities on the telephone but his love wasn't just limited to this, after completing his services at Noida he went to Arawade, his village and from the start of his village to his home, he went doing Kirtan for his father, carrying out the duty as a loving son.

 The twin tower attack of 2001 made international security tight. Gurumaharaj was upset as he won't be able to carry his danda now with him. The GBC too announced, "After 10 years of Sannyas, it's optional to carry the danda along". Still, Gurumaharaj carried his danda along with him for 20 years every single day! His Sannyas Danda is currently in Noida and the one he carries is his travelling Danda which too is always along with him wherever he goes.

Once Srila Bhakti Vaibhav Puri Maharaj, Srila Prabhupāda's dear Godbrother praised Gurumaharaj saying, “You carry your danda so nicely I haven’t seen anyone like this. How do you carry it so gracefully? Once Gurumaharaj was travelling from Chicago to Newyork. While boarding the flight the lady attendant said, "I need to inspect your danda. Now you have to open this." "You aren't allowed to do so as per the scriptures," said Gurumaharaj, why don’t you discuss this with your pilot. After some discussion, the pilot asked Gurumaharaj to keep the danda in his cabin. "And that’s how my danda also took that flight, Chicago to Newyork” My danda has travelled to several continents, narrated Gurumaharaj with a sweet smile.