Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to You!
My name is Nitāibhavana Dāsa, a disciple of Śrīla Śivarāma Swami. I am writing to you from a small town in Hungary – Debrecen – on the occasion of your appearance day.
For more than thirty years, Śrīla Śivarāma Swami has been organizing the spread of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Hungary. Among his many services, he arranged for the translation of your books into Hungarian, installed Śrī Śrī Rādhe-Śyāma in Krishna Valley, and Śrī Śrī Dayāl Vijaya Gaurāṅga in Budapest.
I have been serving as the leader of the center in Debrecen since 2000, and since 2009 I have also been managing the Govinda’s restaurant operating as part of the center.
I am very grateful to you for allowing me to perform this service. My Guru Mahārāja has often reminded me of your expectations regarding the functioning of a Kṛṣṇa conscious center and community. He has repeatedly instructed me that I must always follow the principles you have established in your books.
By reading your books and hearing your lectures, I have gradually begun to understand your intention behind preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness worldwide. It has always been clear to me that you began spreading the bhakti movement globally in order to fulfill the desire of your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Over time, I have also come to understand that this preaching could only be successful because you were fully blessed by the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
From the descriptions of Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami, we have been able to closely perceive how the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu descended upon you. In your twenties you identified yourself as a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and embraced the ideal of an independent India, while at the same time being raised in a family of devotees, which naturally attracted you to the service of Kṛṣṇa. However, when you first met and spoke with Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Gosvāmī, you immediately accepted that the desire of Caitanya Mahāprabhu – that the culture of bhakti be spread worldwide – could not wait for a future independent India.
When I heard about this conversation, I immediately felt how bhakti can enter the heart of one whose heart is pure. Although you already possessed pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness as a devotee, it was still necessary to receive the strong desire of your spiritual master to begin this immense mission. A spark was needed to inspire you to fully embrace the efforts of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Gosvāmī. This story is very beautiful, and indeed it also inspired the events in Debrecen, as Śrīla Śivarāma Swami began preaching in Hungary with the same aspiration.
You said that practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness and sharing it with others is not easy, but even if we do not reach the end of the path within one lifetime, it is still worthwhile, for it means we have made the best possible use of our lives. Indeed, we can experience how perfect our lives are compared to those who have not yet accepted the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
You also mentioned that for householders, a very good form of Kṛṣṇa conscious service is to work in a restaurant where one can participate in distributing kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Day by day, I experience how – even though it is physically demanding – the time passes very quickly while making different preparations and distributing prasādam. Of course, this also includes chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in the morning and holding morning programs. Simply by accepting even a small portion of the boundless mercy you have given us, we are able to live a meaningful life.
The distribution and study of your books also hold an important place in our lives. Those who regularly and sincerely engage in these services experience a taste that cannot be matched by any selfish activity. Fortunately, these services occupy a central role throughout the entire Hungarian yātrā. Although there are no full-time devotees in Debrecen, many contribute to the spread of Kṛṣṇa consciousness according to their capacity. In the countryside, more and more practitioners are joining who follow the process at home and participate in collective service on a weekly basis.
You often quoted the verse spoken by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to the Kūrma brāhmaṇa:
yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa
Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 7.128.)
This is the guiding principle of the Kṛṣṇa conscious community in Debrecen, both in personal practice and in preaching.
We are very grateful for the direct care you have given us through your books and through your audio and video recordings. If we associate with you in this way even for a short time each day, then – as you said – we will not be carried away by the lifestyle of materialists. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also states:
kabhu nā bādhibe tomāra viṣaya-taraṅga
punarapi ei ṭhāñi pābe mora saṅga
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu further advised the Kūrma brāhmaṇa, “If you follow this instruction, your materialistic life at home will not obstruct your spiritual advancement. Indeed, if you follow these regulative principles, we will again meet here, or, rather, you will never lose My company.” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 7. 129.)
The example you set in following your spiritual master has deeply touched me. I could not fully explain why, but I felt it to be very beautiful and intimate. You often said that you did not create anything new, you simply spoke what you had heard from your divine spiritual master. Although you did not meet him very often, when you did, you listened with great attention. When Bhaktisiddhānta Gosvāmī accepted you as his disciple, he remarked before his other disciples that you listened very attentively.
From this we can understand that attentive hearing of the spiritual master, understanding his instructions, and following them are of utmost importance. This alone can grant all perfection. To teach us this, you placed great emphasis on the worship of the guru.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are a Vaiṣṇava ācārya who teaches not only by words but also by example. In a world of selfish people, such personalities are not to be found, because one who is not a devotee has no true good qualities.
yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā
sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ
harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā
manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ
All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge, and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord’s external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man? (Bhāgavatam 5.18.12)
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you possess pure and spotless love for Kṛṣṇa, and therefore you naturally feel compassion for all living beings. Indeed, you are the one who has sprinkled upon us the blessings of Lord Caitanya from the boundless ocean of mercy, extinguishing the blazing fire of our material desires. Without you, we would have remained burning in that fire, but now it is only a matter of time before we return to our original home.
This small Vaiṣṇava community in Debrecen is deeply grateful to you for bringing the transcendental realm to us as well: golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana … Now it is up to us to express our gratitude by passing on this inheritance that we have received from you.
On behalf of the Kṛṣṇa conscious community in Debrecen,
Your servant,
Nitāibhavana Dāsa