Guru Maharaj in Bombay & deity pictures

Guru Maharaj is still in Bombay, he is attending the Bureau meetings. It's
amazing to see the way Guru Maharaj manages to take care of so many things at a short time. He sees time as Krishna's energy and He doesn't waste even a single second. I remember he used to say, "Even if you give me 26 hours in a day, it will still not be enough for me."

Even though he goes to sleep very late every day at 11:00, 11:30, the next morning you see him up on the alter during the mangala-arati. Couple of weeks ago, when we were in Vrindavan Guru Maharaj fell sick. He had fever and was feeling weak. That day he missed mangala-arati. At around 9am, when I came inside his room to check how he was feeling he looked at me and said with regret.."You know, Balaram, this is the first time I've ever missed mangala-arati in Vrindavan in the past 30 years. I feel so bad.."

Besides going for mangala-arati every day, Guru Maharaj does puja to his
personal Deities every single day. There was no day when he missed his puja, except one time while he was in the hospital with the gallbladder problem couple of years ago. His puja is very elaborate, and it takes approximately 1hr and 15 minutes every day. He massages Deities with scent oil, then bathes Them with warm water, dresses his Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai Deities, put chandan (sandalwood paste) with tulsi leaves on his Deities, then offers prasad, insense and a camfora lamp.

I'm sending you attached picture of Guru Maharaja's Deities. It was taken in Bombay on March 10th 2001, Gaura-Purnima day. He has some more Deities now, and I will send you the latest picture in a few days.

From left(top) to right: Sri Prahlad Nrisimha, Ugra Nrisimha, Laxmi Nrisimha, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, then a tray with a few shilas in it (I'm sending you a close-up picture of this tray, so that you can see the shilas better).

The shilas are (from top left, to bottom): Ananta-Shesha, Krishna's right lotus foot, Sankarshana Shila, Sri Sri Radha-Krishna Shila (one side of the shaligrama is white and one side is dark), Kurma Shila, small Ugra Nrisimha (the shila with mouth), Damodara Shila, Sudarshana-Chakra, another Damodara-Shila, and Calf's hoof with a flute or stick of Krishna imprinted on it.

If you have any problems with receiving the pictures, do let me know by writting on this address.

I hope this meets you well.

Your servant,

Sri Balaram das
(Personal Secretary)