I can say that I have a wonderful life with many friends and many well-wishers. I thank you all from the core of my heart.
Without friends, life is an empty shell.

But in this blog, as a belated “thanks-giving”, I want to thank the most important three persons in my life.

First of all, I want to thank my most wonderful wife and soul-mate who is on the same journey like me and who is my best friend and of course, cliché cliché, the wind beneath my wings.
Without her, my life would never be like it is today. To wake up next to her and to go to sleep next to her is everything I can wish for.

Thank you for being the jewel in my life. And with the great Howard Wolowitz, I truly can say:

“I couldn´t have imagined, how good my life would get, from the moment that I met you, Govinda Priya.”

(Howard´s song)

Then I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart Srila Sadhu Maharaja who is like another father to me and a siksha-guru, and with whom we experienced most wonderful days during the last years.

His radiating love and his utter humility are such wonderful inspirations and from the moment we met in 2007, I fell in love with him instantly.

Since he travels around the world quite a lot, I could learn from him how a sadhu truly loves every living being.

To have Srila Sadhu Maharaja in my life is one of the greatest jewels a soul can possess. Thank you for your kindness, mercy and unending love.

My most heartfelt thanks go to the most important person in my spiritual life.

I can´t express in words what I feel towards my beloved Sri Gurudeva, Srila Ananta das Babaji. I still can hardly believe that he accepted me as his disciple back in 2004 and looking back since then, I couldn´t have imagined what a wonderful relationship would develop between this lowly fool and such a great mahatma like my beloved Gurudeva. He truly is the most merciful person and his love and affection overwhelm me every time I visit him.

In the scriptures we can read about the definitions of a bona fide Guru:

1) He is filled with realizations about the Personality of Godhead due to his firm faith and his firm adherence to the worship of the Lord. He has attained the grace of his own Guru by being similarly devoted to his Guru’s lotus feet.

2) He is very learned in the Vedas and in bhakti-scriptures that outline the Vedic purport such as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Thus he can destroy the doubts in his disciples.

3) Because he has transcendental realizations about Śrī Kṛṣṇa, he has attained His mercy-potency. Thus he has become so powerful that he is able to bring the disciple onto the path of bhakti and infuse this power within him.

4) He is not overcome by vices like lust and greed.

A saint who is endowed with such attributes and who is filled with parental love for his disciples, can attain the position of a bona fide Guru.

“Filled with parental love”…

I can only testify to that and still can feel his affection when I look at photos where I am together with him or at videos.

My Gurudeva fulfills these criteria to the topmost extent, but to me it was always very important to desire an affectionate and loving relationship with a true Sri Gurudeva. And since Sri Gurudeva is the raincloud of Krishna´s mercy and this raincloud showers us conditioned souls in ways incomprehensible to us, Sri Gurudeva reciprocates with the desire in the heart of even such a fallen sadhaka like me and my longing for such a relationship was accepted.

Whenever I think about my Gurudeva, unconditioned love engulfs me and although I should think of him much more often, this feeling cannot be weighed in all the money the world has to offer.

During my last visit in April 2015, Srila Gurudeva showered me and all who went with me to him with torrents of mercy and I would like to share this incredible darshana–video here as an attachment.

It truly shows how sweet and affectionate he is towards his disciples.

Madhavananda das (former Vaishnava Maharaja) filmed the darshana and when we walked back to our house at Sri Radhakunda he said:

“Tarunji, today Sri Gurudeva used you as an example  to show how much love he has for all of us, his disciples.”
I couldn´t agree more.

My godbrothers and godsisters are very fortunate to be at the receiving end of such wonderful mercy and love.

With all my heart I thank my beloved Gurudeva for being the sweetest person I ever met, for sacrificing his entire life in writing stunning commentaries to the works of our beloved Goswamis of Vrindavana, for always clearing any doubt arising in my heart and for accepting this crazy German person as your aspiring disciple.

Jay Sri Radhe.