Lord Jagannath Visits HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami

Radhanath Swami

After Jagannath Ratha Yatra in New York city, the deities of Jagannath, Baladev & Subhadra appeared, I believe it was a dream to Their head pujari, and said, “We want to go to Gita Nagari to see Bhakti Tirtha Swami M.” So what could the pujari do? He put large large deities of Jagannath Baladev & Subhadra in the back of a little van and drove about 5 hours to Gita Nagari. We got a phone call that Baladev Subhadra & Jagannath want to see Bhakti Tirtha Swami. Because he did not come to them, they are coming to him. We will be there later today. And they arrived right on time. Right to the house where Bhakti Tirtha Maharaj was staying. They pulled up in the drive way and they opened the doors of the van to face out at the front door of the house. And all devotees from Gita Nagari came from all directions in their parking lot driveway, and Bhakti Tirtha Swami was lifted up from his bed, put on his wheel chair and carried outside the steps and brought right before Jagannath Baladev and Subhadra mayi. It was a beautiful scene; even though he was really at very advanced stages, he led in an incredibly beautiful kirtan and gave a talk. He remembered that time when he see Jagannath in Puri and Jagannath allowed him in. He was experiencing such affection for the mercy of Lord Jagannath in his life. It thrilled the hearts of all the vaishnavas. It reminded me of Lord Chaitanya and Haridas Thakur. HT could not go in to see Jagannath, so Jagannath would come everyday to see Haridas Thakur. But in those days Lord Chaitanya would just walked about 5-10 minutes to Siddha Bakula. But in this case Lord Jagannath drove about 5 hours in a van to see his devotee. Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaj ki Jay !!!