Out of a desire to help all people, Ācārya Kesarī sent out invitations to join him for pilgrimage of the holy places. He would take loans to pay the travel expenses of those who were impoverished, and repaid it over the year from his collected donations. By staying with Ācārya Kesarī and the devotees for a month, traveling to places such as Odisha, Dvārakā, Rāmeśvaram, and Kedār Badri, people absorbed the affection of Guru and Vaiṣṇavas. After returning home, they could never forget their experiences. In this way, by remembering the Vaiṣṇavas, they naturally became inclined to bhakti.
In the summer of 1952, Śrīla Gurudeva went with Ācārya Kesarī and 250 pilgrims to Bāleśvara, Remunā, Kṣīra-corā Gopīnātha, Bhubaneswar, and Jagannātha Purī for Ratha-yātrā. They traveled by train to Bāleśvara, and walked the five kilometers to the Remunā Gauḍīya Maṭha with a large saṅkīrtana party. Hari-kathā, kīrtana, and prasāda were arranged, and hundreds of villagers assembled from the surrounding areas. Ācāryadeva first spoke on the appearance of the Deity of Kṣīra-corā Gopīnātha, describing a charming account of how Lord Rāma and Sītā had manifested Him from the Earth when They were exiled to the forest. Ācārya Kesarī next described how Gopīnātha had received His name ‘Kṣīra-corā’ (kṣīra: sweet-milk corā: thief) when He had hidden pots of kṣīra and sent His pūjārī (ceremonial priest) to take them to Śrīla Madhavendra Purī. He also spoke on the charming pastimes of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu, and Their associates at this place. After the discourse was complete, the generous villagers proffered gifts of sweetmeats and fruits to Ācārya Kesarī. Prasāda prepared by the brahmacārīs was then distributed to the congregation. Ācārya Kesarī desired to arrange a large amount of the special Gopīnātha kṣīra so that everyone could honor and savor the nectarean sweet.
The next day, the villagers gave a large quantity of fruits, vegetables, and milk to Ācārya Kesarī to be cooked for the Deities. Also, the head pujārīs and managers of the Gopīnātha-maṇḍira invited Ācāryadeva and all the devotees to honor prasāda at the temple. Ācārya Kesarī sent everything he had received to the kitchen. A large amount of the famed kṣīra was prepared, and after hari-kathā in the evening, the head Gopīnātha pūjārī presented a large pot of it to Ācārya Kesarī, saying, “Please accept this prasāda for yourself and those in your company.” Ācārya Kesarī happily accepted and had the brahmacārīs pass around the kṣīra.
The pūjārī later told Ācārya Kesarī, “A landlord that lives nearby desires your darśana.” A meeting was arranged. The landowner came in the evening and prostrated himself before Ācārya Kesarī. He arose and said, “I know you are an ideal ācārya and sādhu. Please accept my proposal. I have thirty acres of land at Korent Randia Haṭha, nearby Candana Bazaar, where I worship Gopāla. Gopāla has sent me to offer my land, temple, and farm to you. I also have many cows that I offer you for the further service of Gopāla.”
Ācārya Kesarī told Gurudeva to inspect the land the following day. Śrīla Gurudeva visited the area. A large orchard including jackfruit, coconut, and mango trees filled acres of the land. Adjacent were green fields of paddy, a lush grazing area for the kine, and a pond of clean water for them to drink from. The cows were healthy, peaceful, and yielding ample milk. The temple for Gopāla was simple yet elegant. It had rooms for residents, a kitchen, storeroom, and a sweet-water well.
When Gurudeva returned with his assessment, Ācārya Kesarī accepted the landowner’s offer, saying, “As this is Gopīnātha’s desire, we will maintain His temple and land.”
Gopīnātha appeared to Ācārya Kesarī in a dream that night and said, “I am worshiped lavishly here, but there is no unadulterated hari-kathā. Many faithful come, but they do not know the reality of My nature. They worship Me while maintaining sinful habits like fish-eating and smoking. Regularly come preach here to the locals and change their behavior.”
Ācāryadeva accepted the order of Ṭhākurajī and widely preached in that area. He sent brahmacārīs to each home to encourage the villagers to follow Ekādaśī, visit the temple, and properly follow the regulations of bhakti. Ācārya Kesarī presented hari-kathā morning and evening, and many pujārīs and locals were strongly influenced and relinquished their sinful tendencies. The donated land was inaugurated as the Gopālajī Gauḍīya Prācara Kendra. Ācārya Kesarī instructed his sannyāsī Harijana Mahārāja and other brahmacārīs to stay there and continue the preaching.
From there, Ācārya Kesarī proceeded to Bhubaneswar and stayed at the Tridaṇḍī Gauḍīya Maṭha. He went for darśana of Ananta Vāsudeva, the Liṅgarāja Temple, Gaurī-kuṇḍa, and other holy places in the city. The party then continued on to Jagannātha Purī and stayed in the Viṣṇu-bhavana, at the Gopīnātha Kutiya Ācārya Kesarī visited all the holy places in Jagannātha Purī. He offered respects at the birthplace of his Gurudeva, Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Then he went to the Ṭoṭā Gopīnātha Temple. Seeing that it was ill maintained, he organized a restoration. He next went to Koṇārk, the Sun Temple, and to Candrabhāgā, the lake where the Moon was bathed by all the holy waters—waters that counteracted the poison that had pockmarked him when the demigods and demons churned the celestial milk ocean.
Ācārya Kesarī described how once in Dvārakā, Sāmba, the son of Kṛṣṇa and Jāmbavatī, fell mysteriously ill and did not recover despite all attempts of the royal physicians. Jāmbavatī pleaded to Kṛṣṇa for a way to cure Sāmba. Kṛṣṇa advised, “We shall take him to Jagannātha Purī and bathe him at Candrabhāgā, nearby Koṇārk, on the upcoming Mākarī-saptamī. Then Sāmba will certainly be cured. All holy rivers appear there on this day. Indeed, Viṣṇu bathes at Candrabhāgā on Mākarī-saptamī.”
Subsequently, Sāmba was restored to good health by bathing in Candrabhāgā. Candrabhāgā became renowned for its healing power, and countless pilgrims go to bathe there on Mākarī-saptamī.
Ācārya Kesarī next led the pilgrimage party to Sakṣī Gopāla, the Deity of the Lord who walked thousands of kilometers from Vṛndāvana to testify on behalf of His devotee. Śrīla Gurudeva prepared breakfast for the group. Dozens of local paṇḍās approached Ācārya Kesarī and requested to partake of the meal. Ācārya Kesarī welcomed them joyfully, and they sat down to wait. Gurudeva approached Ācārya Kesarī and said, “What shall we do? Each paṇḍā is a gourmand and is as large as Bhīmasena.”
“Don’t dismay,” Ācārya Kesarī responded, “I will arrange for everyone and there will be no shortage.” He then announced to the brahmacārīs, “Today, I will distribute prasāda myself.”
Like magic, Ācārya Kesarī brought forth and gave the paṇḍās enchanting sweets. Eating them, they proclaimed, “We have never tasted anything so wonderful!” They ate sweet after sweet, until they could stomach no more. “Now,” the paṇḍās said heartily, “give us dakṣiṇā.” Magnanimous at heart, Ācārya Kesarī gave each paṇḍā five rupees, amounting at that time to the monthly wage of a postmaster or policeman. The paṇḍās danced in joy and cheered Ācārya Kesarī for the generous donation.
After meeting with his godbrothers at Sakṣī Gopāla, and orchestrating saṅkīrtana through the town and an evening of hari-kathā, Ācārya Kesarī and company returned to Jagannātha Purī for Ratha-yātrā.
In September of that year, Gurudeva went with Ācārya Kesarī and one hundred pilgrims to Haridvāra, Hṛṣīkeśa, Gaṅgotrī, Yamunotrī, Kedārnātha, Badrinārāyaṇa, and Badrikāśrama. The pilgrimage party first visited the holy places in Haridvāra, then Hṛṣīkeśa, and from there the party proceeded on foot to Kedār-Badri. After staying at Kedār-Badri, the pilgrimage party proceeded to Gaṅgotrī and Kedārnātha. Ācārya Kesarī spoke the glories of each place they visited. The pilgrims walked day by day from one hallowed ground to the next. Leading the party was a beautiful Deity of Caitanya Mahāprabhu seated on a decorated palanquin. Following Him was a kīrtana party consisting of the sannyāsīs, brahmacārīs, and householders; those who were unable to walk hired horses and mules. The locals had never seen such a large and well-organized pilgrimage party.
Every day, Śrīla Gurudeva and Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja went ahead of the party and arranged facilities for the pilgrims. Śrīla Gurudeva was always absorbed in service and hardly rested. He woke at three a.m. to have a chance to chant before the hustle and bustle of the day, and was surprised to see that Ācārya Kesarī had already chanted his gāyatrī-mantras and was absorbed in harināma.
The pilgrims walked for forty-five days. At that time there were no proper roads and one could only reach these places by foot. While walking through the mountain passes, boulders sometimes fell down, but by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy no one was hurt. Unperturbed, the pilgrims were mesmerized by the wondrous scenery.
One day when the party was at Badrinārāyaṇa, preparing to move out for Kedārnātha, Ācārya Kesarī stopped Śrīla Gurudeva and Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja from proceeding ahead to arrange the next place. He said, “Today is inauspicious. Don’t go ahead. We all must wait here until tomorrow.”
“Guru Mahārāja,” they said, “if we do not go ahead to reserve a place, we may not be able to get a facility for all the devotees to stay in the coming days.”
“No, you must stay back,” Ācārya Kesarī ordered.
On Ācārya Kesarī’s instruction, Śrīla Gurudeva and Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja did not proceed ahead that afternoon. The party was halted in a small, snowy village near Uttara Kāśī, high in the mountains. The village was close to the pathway leading up to the next place on the pilgrimage. While Ācārya Kesarī was presenting hari-kathā and Śrīla Gurudeva was preparing prasāda, an avalanche of snow and stones suddenly came crashing down the mountain directly where Śrīla Gurudeva and Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja would have been traversing—flattening houses, small markets, and injuring many on its way.
Śrīla Gurudeva and Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja prostrated before Ācārya Kesarī. “You know past, present, and future,” they said. “By your grace we have been saved from certain death.”
This calamity delayed the pilgrimage for four days while the government cleared the road. The pilgrimage was on a tight budget, and halting meant extra expenditure for accommodations and food. Śrīla Gurudeva searched around the local area for some means to help the pilgrims. In his search, he coincidentally met with his old friend whom he had saved from death as a boy and corrected for pride in mystic achievement. After Śrīla Gurudeva had left his home and began residing in the Maṭha, this young man had come and met him there. He took initiation into the Gauḍīya-sampradāya and received the name Prema-prayojana. He then left to do bhajana in the high mountains and became renowned as a great sādhu.
Prema-prayojana was overjoyed to meet with Śrīla Gurudeva, whom he considered his vartma-pradarśaka-guru, or he who first brings one to the path of bhakti. Hearing of the situation, Prema-prayojana, who had many followers in the area, happily arranged free food and accommodations for the pilgrims. The days waiting for the roads to be cleared passed blissfully in hari-kathā and kīrtana without difficulty. Finally, the party continued on their way.
After staying in the lap of the Himālayas for forty-five days, the faithful returned to their homes. At the time of departing, everyone offered prayers at the lotus feet of Śrīla Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja with grateful hearts and tear-filled eyes. He had maintained them all with the affection of a father. He treated everyone equally, not considering who had money or not, who was low caste or high.
In October 1953, Gurudeva accompanied Ācārya Kesarī and pilgrims to Kurmāñcalam, where Jagannāthajī sent Rāmānuja Ācārya to relieve the distress of His pujārīs; to Kabūr, on the banks of the Godāvarī, where Mahāprabhu famously met with Rāmānanda-rāya; to Panḍharpur, Kolhāpur, Mumbādevī, and Nāsik, where Sūparṇakhā’s nose was cut by Lakṣmaṇa and Mārīci was killed by Rāma; and then to Avantikā, where Kṛṣṇa and Balārama had studied under the tutelage of Sandīpanī Muni. They proceeded next to Nāthadvārā, Puṣkar, Jaipura, Karaulī, Vṛndāvana, Citrakūṭ, and Prayāga, finally returning to Navadvīpa after an expeditious journey of thirty-eight days.
Over the next year, Śrīla Gurudeva accompanied Ācārya Kesarī as his secretary on preaching engagements to large public venues in various cities, such as Rāmapura, where Ācārya Kesarī lectured for fifteen days in December 1953, and then on to other cities and towns, such as: Sarveḍiyā, Hoḍā, Ektārā, Nāīkuṇḍi, Maluvasān, Pichladā, Golvāḍā, and Maṅgalāmāḍa. Ācārya Kesarī engaged Śrīla Gurudeva and Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja in lecturing on the pastimes and tattvas of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa, and Śrī Rāma, with the accompaniment of a slide show.
In May 1954, Ācārya Kesarī preached in Assam, taking with him Gurudeva, Śrīla Vāmana Mahārāja, Trivikrama Mahārāja, Paramārthī Mahārāja, Nārasiṁha Mahārāja, and a dozen other residents of the maṭha. After arriving at the Golokgaṅja station in Assam, the party performed saṅkīrtana in the town. Ācāryadeva spoke for several days in Golokgaṅja, before continuing to Dhūvaḍī, where he stayed at the Prapannāśrama of his godbrother Śrīpāda Nimānanda Sevātīrtha Prabhu. Ācārya Kesarī spoke there before large assemblies for seven days on the Bhāgavatam. He also gave evidence from scripture along with sound logic that Vedānta is supreme amongst the six philosophical systems of India, and that bhakti is the ultimate subject of the Vedānta. Ācāryadeva and his retinue then traveled to Kacaharīhāṭa, Khākasiyālī, and then to Gaurīpura, where they were hosted by the prince of that domain, Śrī Prakṛtī Śacandra Baruā Bahādur. There, Ācārya Kesarī lectured daily on the Eleventh Canto of the Bhāgavatam at the Sanskrit school. His classes were attended and appreciated by the ministers and officials of Gaurīpura. The party next proceeded to the Kumārī village and then to the renowned Cāpara village. Ācārya Kesarī gave an impressive speech on eternal religion there on the grounds of the English high school, before a crowd of twelve thousand. In Cāpara, Ācāryadeva defeated in debate a famous alleged Vaiṣṇava guru of the area named Kṣetramohana Cakravartī before a large assembly. Ācārya Kesarī proved that the Cakravartī’s doctrine was imaginary, opposed to scripture, and not in line with any sampradāya. Subsequently, Ācārya Kesarī and the devotees went to the Abhayāpurī district on the behest of the state minister Bahādur. After lecturing there for some days, Ācārya Kesarī concluded the tour with programs in Cokāpāḍā and Boṅgāī, before returning to Uddhārāṅa Gauḍīya Maṭha in Chuṅchuṛā. Throughout the tour, Śrīla Gurudeva served Ācārya Kesarī wholeheartedly in many ways, and thereby pleased his spiritual master immensely. Śrīla Gurudeva prayed that he could spend his entire life as the personal sevaka of his spiritual master, always in Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s direct company; he was thus unprepared for the forthcoming change of circumstance.