Extraordinary Devotee (Album of photos)
Giridhari Swami: Feb. 16 marked the 16th disappearance day anniversary of His Holiness Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja. Many of Goswami Maharaja’s godbrothers, friends and disciples gathered for this event, held just beside his samadhi mandir. Radhacaran Prabhu served as the MC and called devotees to speak one after another. If there was one cohesive theme of the heartfelt talks, it was that Goswami Maharaja, perhaps more than any other devotee in the history of ISKCON, touched the devotional lives of a countless number of devotees. Some speakers described how he had made them devotees, others spoke of him being their sankirtan leader, temple commander or GBC. And in many cases, Goswami Maharaja had managed to stay in touch with these devotees through the years and continued to guide and inspire them. After the talks I was speaking with Jayadvaita Maharaja and we both concurred that Goswami Maharaja was a very extraordinary devotee and selfless servant of Srila Prabhupada. We just kept repeating the word “extraordinary” again and again and again. For me personally, Goswami Maharaja’s disappearance day anniversary is a painful reminder of that shocking event that took place in 2002. It was the longest, incredibly intense and most heart-wrenching day of my life. I can only take solace from the notion that Srila Prabhupada called his dear servant back to him and together with the Lord arranged that he should depart on the disappearance of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja, during the auspicious brahma-muhurta and at the sacred pilgrimage site of Phuliya, where Srila Haridas Thakur chanted 300,000 names of the Lord daily. Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja ki-jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki-jaya! Sama-veda-bhakta-vrinda ki-jaya!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/EvDiHp