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Vyāsa-pūjā 1987

Vijay Kowtal (Bangalore, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hill Temple - India)

My dear Śrīla Ācāryapāda,

Please accept my respectful obeisances at your lotus feet. Even as I write my first Vyāsa-pūjā offering, I realize how incompetent I am of glorifying Your Divine Grace. I need your mercy here too. In spite of committing so many blunders in your service, you are so merciful and compassionate that you continue to give me more and more opportunities to serve you. You are the dearmost servitor of Lord Kṛṣṇa and only by your mercy I can learn to serve you more and more, better and better. I enjoyed taking part in your programs, during the year; Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī, the accompanying school programmes exuding Kṛṣṇa consciousness; Śrī Kṛṣṇa Test, where nearly 2000 school children and their families were engaged in reading Kṛṣṇa-līlā, narrated by His pure devotee, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda; immediately followed by Ratha-yātrā, Gaura-pūrṇimā, and now Vyāsa-pūjā. All these programs helped me to realize what it means to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, what it means to depend on Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is so variegated, so rich and full of personalism.

You told me that a Vaiṣṇava is humbler than a blade of grass, tolerant as a tree, fierce as a lion, full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls... Dearmost servant of his spiritual master. You are an ācārya, so I can directly see these and many other great qualities in you. These will be my ideals, I can aspire for, eternally.

You lifted me from the depths of darkness by your divine association. You removed the dark veil of nescience from my eyes by giving me transcendental knowledge handed down purely by disciplic succession, by the descending process, and not by experimentation.

Due to our long association with matter, our tendency to enjoy our senses is so great. With devotional service, it is so much easier to give up this bad tendency, by acquiring a higher taste.

In the material world we see, karmī social workers trying to tackle the social problem on a piece meal basis. You shattered my wrong concepts by explaining that by Kṛṣṇa Consciousness all these problems can be attacked simultaneously and effectively as was successfully demonstrated by the Vedic civilization. Your Divine Grace is, such a great teacher that even a fool like me can begin to understand the sublime concepts of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

All this and much more, you taught me, your erring disciple, so that I can follow your instructions and advance in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. You have done so much, so much for me. I am hardly aware of the great risk you are taking when I commit an offence. Please, please grant me your mercy so that I can learn to follow your instructions, as you desire. With all my selfishness, I still desire to serve you more and more, eternally. Please help me remain your most humble servant.

A fallen soul,

Bhakta Vijay Kowtal