Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
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
Please accept our humble and respectful obeisances at your divine lotus feet. We adore those lotus feet with the heartfelt desire to only serve them eternally.
The tremendous power of time forcefully keeps turning the blades of the churning mixer that is this material cosmic creation. Anything coming into existence immediately starts to deteriorate with the sun’s inevitable dawns and settings till it becomes nil.
But Your Divine Grace’s glories do not deteriorate. Not at all! On the contrary, your glories increase and increase more and more – exponentially at every tick-tock of time’s clock.
You reside in Kṛṣṇa’s heart. Thus, you are merged in that transcendental anxiety felt by Śrī Kṛṣṇa for the condition of the fallen soul, His part and parcel. Forgetting how much He loves us, we uselessly suffer, loitering here and there within the material atmosphere. You feel Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental compassion toward the fallen soul. Unlike the material compassion that only mourns the suffering of the mortal creatures, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental compassion is manifest in His longing to bring His part and parcel back home to rejoin Him in His eternal, blissful pastimes.
O dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you actually “are” the personification of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s intense transcendental compassion – so much so that you infuse that compassion in whomever comes in contact with Your Divine Grace. Please allow us to be your servants in satisfying that longing of the Lord.
*
“Alas!” – cries out the sinful soul –
“Why am I in this hell?
I’m swallowed by this dark black hole,
Where cries as echoes dwell.”
Making her way through countless forms
To fill this human frame,
The fallen soul perceives the thorns
Of this material game.
She reaches into empty air
To find a solid hand;
But finds a vacuum of despair
Where ghosts of shadows stand.
Now questions from millions of years
Filling the outer shell,
A tiny spark of thought appears
That could those doubts dispel.
But world’s cacophony rings loud;
Allured, she turns astray,
And blinded by the mortal shroud,
Again she falls as prey.
Thus, sinking back in the dark frost
Through endless forms of grief,
Once more that human chance is lost
To find the soul’s relief.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa sees the soul depart,
Forgetful of her place;
His sweet eternal, loving part,
Now lost in time and space.
But Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s deep connection,
Makes Him feel the soul’s strain.
As with a finger’s infection,
The whole body feels pain.
That Arjuna’s felt compassion,
The one Śrī Kṛṣṇa scorned,
In the world’s religious fashion,
Those who suffer are mourned.
It may nourish worldly sattva;
It’s not for Kṛṣṇa’s sake,
Nor for transcendental tattva.
The soul does not awake.
The Lord wants us with Him so much,
Much more than we can think.
Sends “you” to break the Māyā’s clutch
And thus restore the link.
O dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
You’re that Kṛṣṇa’s longing;
You’re the death of Māyāvada,
Our sense of belonging.
O Prabhupāda, our dear Lord,
If we could but reflect
That true compassion you have poured;
Even a tiny speck.
So many truly need saving!
Make us become your rays,
To sate Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s craving
For souls to join His plays.
Just as a cintāmaṇi stone,
Turns iron into gold,
You turn our feeling, sad and lone,
To longing for His fold.
You’re here to change our rebel mood
That as a painful dart,
When māyā holds the soul subdued,
Keeps piercing Kṛṣṇa’s heart.
You are the Lord’s compassion’s form,
So powerful! So strong!
You drag lost souls just like a storm
To where they do belong.
You’re making every soul aware
Of how Śrī Kṛṣṇa feels,
Since you, yourself, are Kṛṣṇa’s share
That He Himself reveals.
Without Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s presence,
Gaurāṅga sees all void.
Nonetheless, feeling that absence,
He’s purely overjoyed.
We feel that separation too,
We miss your “face to face”;
Yet we shall always be with you,
Craving “Your Divine Grace.”
*
Holding very dear that intensely unifying feeling of separation, we pray to the most magnanimous Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitāi to never let us forget your divine instructions and to kindly let us be eternally engaged in serving your divine lotus feet so that, even if we miss you so much, we shall still always be with Your Divine Grace.
Your humble respectful servants at Radio Krishna Centrale, Terni, Italy
(written by Narakantaka Dāsa)