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In Delhi, every morning, when Guru Maharaj would use the bathroom and get ready, a team of a dozen new, yellow-clad devotees would come in and clean his room under the direction of one of Guru Maharaj’s servants. One time, a few of these new devotees did some things wrong and were not cleaning properly, so the servant raised his voice a little and began chastising them sternly. At that time, Damodara Gaura Hari Prabhu was assisting Guru Maharaj in a different room. The stern voice of his servant was barely audible in that room, but of course Guru Maharaj heard everything. Guru Maharaj leaned over to Damodara Gaura Hari Prabhu and said gently, “You see, these devotees have left everything, their homes and their families, to live and serve at the temple. If we speak with them harshly, how will they feel? We should not deal harshly with them.” Hearing this, Damodara Gaura Hari Prabhu had tears in his eyes, thinking how humble, kind, and compassionate Guru Maharaj is to all the devotees. Guru Maharaj health was not good and had so many managerial problems to handle, yet he was concerned about the spiritual lives of these new yellow-clad bhaktas who had recently joined the temple. Guru Maharaj taught the new devotees to be humble and submissive to the senior devotees. Simultaneously, he taught the senior devotees to develop empathy, patience, and large-heartedness toward the junior devotees. Such is the love of Lord Nityananda’s personal associates!

One of Guru Maharaj’s Russian disciples was unloading a truck full of books when a large pallet fell on her, crushing her and leaving her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Guru Maharaj was crying as he recounted this story to the devotees in Delhi. He spoke about her selfless service and sacrifice, sharing how she would go out in sub-freezing Siberian weather to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. Guru Maharaj's love for his devotees runs very deep. I only saw him raise his voice twice. Once, after the Radha Parthasarathi Temple had opened and before the Mayapur festival, thousands of devotees were passing through Delhi on their way to Mayapur. Guru Maharaj had personally asked a Russian devotee to stand at the entrance of the temple to welcome any Russian devotees who didn’t speak English or Hindi and to assist them. After an hour, this devotee went somewhere, leaving the arriving Russian devotees without help. Guru Maharaj sent out a team to find him. When he returned, Guru Maharaj, who by this time was standing at the temple gate himself, shouted, “Where did you go? I told you to stand here. These devotees only speak Russian, and we cannot serve them properly without a translator!” This devotee was taken aback. Then, in a softer tone, he added, “You see, my heart cries when I see devotees suffer." Feeling that this devotee may have felt hurt, Guru Maharaj called him to his room in the evening and spoke with him at length. The second time I saw Guru Maharaj raise his voice was in Mayapur, when he chastised a leader for mistreating the devotees at his temple.

In March 2002, Guru Maharaj was in Mayapura for GBC meetings and festivals. Thousands of devotees from around the world were there for the Mayapura festival, including HH Tamal Krishna Maharaj. Guru Maharaj, Tamal Krishna Maharaj, HH Sridhar Maharaj, and HH Bhakti Caru Maharaj were all staying in the Conch building. Tamal Krishna Maharaj held nightly kirtans in his room, and the sound of the divine kirtan resonated throughout the building. Guru Maharaj was busy making phone calls, attending meetings, and meeting devotees. Occasionally, he would step outside his room to hear the kirtan while peering over the temple courtyard. He would say, “The kirtan is very nice. If you want to attend the kirtan, you can go there.” However, Tamal Krishna Maharaj’s room was always full with devotees, so we would listen from outside Guru Maharaj’s room. After the GBC meetings ended, on March 15, Tamal Krishna Maharaj left Mayapura to return to Cambridge, where he had just completed his PhD, to attend his graduation ceremony. On the way to Kolkata, the Tata Sumo SUV carrying Tamal Krishna Maharaj to the airport collided with a tree, and Maharaj instantaneously left this world to join Srila Prabhupada. Guru Maharaj was the first to receive the news. Upon hearing the fateful news, Guru Maharaj slowly sat on his bed in utter silence and began weeping. He wept and wept like a child who had lost his elder brother. Guru Maharaj generally always hid his spiritual emotions. I had never seen him sobbing so much. In the following days, the senior devotees shared their offerings and memories of Tamal Krishna Maharaj. Guru Maharaj was requested to speak. While all the other speakers sat on the vyasasana and spoke for at least 10 minutes, Guru Maharaj did not sit on the vyasasana. He stood and spoke one sentence, very loudly and forcefully: “I am convinced, without a doubt, that Srila Tamal Krishna Maharaj came from the spiritual world to assist Srila Prabhupada in his mission.” The entire audience was thunderstruck. No one had said this, and with such conviction. Clearly, Guru Maharaj was seeing something that perhaps one a few others could see. After Guru Maharaj entered Samadhi, HG Malati Prabhu similarly said, “I am certain that Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj was sent by Krishna to help Srila Prabhupada in his mission.” Alas, if only we had realized a little earlier how exalted is our beloved Guru Maharaj, who saves us from this material existence.