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Vyāsa-pūjā 2023

Rucirā Rukmiṇī Devī Dāsī (Rampally, Hyderabad - India)

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate jayapatāka svāmin iti nāmine
nama ācaryapādāya nitāi-kṛpā-pradāyine
gaura-kathā-dhāma-dāya nagara-grāma-tāriṇe

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

Respected and dear GuruMahārāja,

Please accept my respectful obeisances at your Lotus feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. All glories to Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga.

Guru Mahārāja, you are an ocean of wonderful Vaiṣṇava qualities, but I am a very insignificant person with innumerable shortcomings and anarthas, incapable of uttering a single word describing your qualities. However, on the eve of your most auspicious Vyāsa puja, for my own purification, with the blessings of Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Madanmohan and all the Vaiṣṇavas, I would want to make this humble attempt to glorify you and express myself to you.

GuruMahārāja, this is Suśānta Dvārakeśa Dāsa, your second-initiated disciple from Hyderabad. My wife Ruchira Rukmiṇī Devī Dāsī and I have been assisting preaching services at ISKCON Rampally - Under the Aegis of ISKCON Abids Hyderabad(which you had visited recently last year on your way to Vijayawada from ISKCON Abids Hyderabad). Apart from serving as an active member in ISKCON Rampally core committee, I have also been conducting online Bhagavad-gītā classes everyday for new congregation members in Telugu for the past few months. I have also completed my Bhakti Śāstrī course and Teachers Training Course. My wife takes care of mātājīs and childrens’ preaching programs at ISKCON Rampally.

I have a 5 year old son Śrīdham, who has been studying in a school being run by devotees. My parents Chandramukha Gaurāṅga Prabhu and mother Ujjvalarūpiṇī Yaśoda Mātājī, have been rendering various services at ISKCON Abids Hyderabad under the guidance of His Grace Vedānta Caitanya Prabhu and other senior devotees. Attaching, few photos of me and my family members.

Guru Mahārāja, this year specifically, I am so extremely inspired by seeing your personal example, of extreme dedication and enthusiasm in scrutinizingly studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books.

Despite being the seniormost sanyasi disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, in ISKCON, for more than 50 years, despite being a GBC member, preaching so much all over the world, having thousands of disciples (first initiated, second initiated) and many sannyāsa disciples all over the world, the extreme challenges in your health and the hectic schedule of travelling, preaching and managing, you had enrolled in Bhakti Vaibhava Degree Course at Māyāpur Institute and studied Śrīmad Bhagavatam again, for which you had been felicitated and awarded degree in ISKCON Leadership Saṅga. Your enthusiasm in sharing the grades which you had secured in various assessments with disciples, shows how you always feel so fresh taking the position of a student, humble and eager to study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purports.

This shows your utmost dedication to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission and instruction as Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly said - “Books are the basis for our movement” and “These books are going to be law books for next 10,000 years”. By your personal example, you have been demonstrating how patiently, carefully, worshipfully and scrutinizingly one must regularly, time and again study and discuss Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purports in association of devotees, which is the very basis of one’s spiritual sustenance and the very oxygen for one’s right absorption and consciousness.

Guru Mahārāja, your profound personal example, as mentioned above, has inspired me and many other disciples and devotees so much that, this year, from 1st of January, I along with 50 devotees from our community at ISKCON Rampally and Singapore Township have enrolled for Bhakti Vaibhava course conducted by Bhaktivedanta Rajavidyalaya, ISKCON Pune (Affiliated to ISKCON Board of Exams) to systematically and deeply study Śrīmad Bhagavatam (Canto 1 to 6). Mādhava Gopīnātha Prabhu, the leader of our community, under leadership of Vamśīvadana Prabhu (Māyāpur Institute), has been very kindly arranging these courses for all the devotees. We are being taught these courses by various experienced and senior teachers from Māyāpur Institute etc. and I have been experiencing great inspiration and nourishment in studying Śrīmad Bhagavatam in such an association of likeminded and senior devotees. I have also been feeling very inspired to continue my preaching services, to the best of my capacity, in a way pleasing to senior Vaiṣṇavas. I beg your most valuable blessings that I be able to always give my best effort in this course and in my small preaching endeavors.

I fall short of words Guru Mahārāja, to express my deep gratitude to you for everything you have been giving us. I beg your most valuable blessings and I pray very deeply to Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Madanamohana for your good health and long life.

Your most insignificant, unqualified disciples,

Śusānta Dvārakeśa Dāsa
Rucirā Rukmiṇī Devī Dāsī
ISKCON Rampally, Hyderabad, India