oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande paramānanda-mādhavam
My dear and most respected spiritual master and eternal father,
Please accept my most humble and respectful obeisances in the dust of your most merciful
lotus feet! All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
You are Kṛṣṇa’s ambassador directly from Goloka Vrindavan, carrying to the world an unceas-
ing stream of reminders of our forgotten relationship with Kṛṣṇa. This is not mere hyperbole, by
your own admission.
His Divine Grace told my friend Tamal Krishna Goswami: “In Goloka, Kṛṣṇa told me, ‘You go
down there and preach.’ I replied to the Lord, ‘It’s such a nasty place. I don’t want to go. Please
let me stay here.’ But Kṛṣṇa persisted and said, ‘Don’t worry about anything. I will make every
arrangement for your comfort. In the meantime, write your books, and when you have finished,
then you can return.’” Śrīla Prabhupāda concluded, “Then I said, ‘All right.’” (Nava-vraja-mahimā,
Śivarāma Mahārāja, volume 7, chapter 32)
Who can estimate the great fortune of being your disciple and eternal servant!
Honoring you in this mood, I want to share but a few inspirations which continue to propel me
forward in the senior years of my devotional life – a life singularly and exclusively dedicated to
you and your mission.
I take much inspiration from your own expression that you had the in-person association with
your Guru Mahārāja on only a handful of occasions, yet you never left his association and have
never felt separation from him.
To Śatadhanya, in Tokyo, 1972: “So far personal association with the Guru is concerned, I was
only with my Guru Maharaja four or five times, but I have never left his association, not even for
a moment. Because I am following his instructions, I have never felt any separation. There are
some of my Godbrothers here in India who had constant personal association with Guru Maha-
raja, but who are neglecting his orders. This is just like the bug who is sitting on the lap of the
king. He may be very puffed up by his position, but all he can succeed in doing is biting the king.
Personal association is not so important as association through service.”
There are many of us who, due to providential arrangements, can also attest to the modest
number of opportunities we had to be in your personal association. Much of my junior years of
brahmacārī life were physically distant from Your Divine Grace, yet I remain to this day vibrantly
inspired and connected to you, representing Your Divine Grace and your sublime instructions.
I fall at your feet with the earnest prayer for your mercy to always refine and amplify my aspira-
tion to become a qualified instrument in your ongoing mission.
I take as your blessing that, as the years pass, the vitality of my dedication to your mission and
to living by your teachings does not waver or fade in the least.
One of those teachings and examples set by you was your emphasis on college preaching, for
which I was personally on the receiving end!
For example, in December 1972 you wrote Śukadeva Prabhu in Seattle: “My request to you is
that you enter into the universities and colleges wherever possible and preach there with a view
to recruiting some first-class devotees for helping me manage and push on this movement all over
the world … That will be the best contribution. Now spread this idea also to the other leaders.
Appeal yourself to the high class of men, not the mass. Mass, too, we do not eliminate anyone, but
if best men are there to run on things, mass will follow later.” You even requested your secretary
Śyāmasundara Prabhu to handwrite a note at the bottom of this letter: “Kindly xerox and distrib-
ute copies of this letter to all temple presidents, GBC, and sannyasis.”
For decades, dedication to this part of your mission has occupied a major role in my life, as has
the encouragement to distribute your all-important, life-changing BBT books and your Bhakti-
vedanta purports.
Both delight and reassurance arise again and again when, over time, all the essential elements
as well as the subtle refinements found in your BBT purports trace directly to the writings of
the Six Gosvāmīs and other predecessor ācāryas. At the same time, your inimitable style of com-
munication makes access to even the most subtle points of philosophy so easy to understand and
digest!
Resting upon these and many more inspirations in my relationship with you as your faithful
disciple, for whatever days or weeks or years remain in this lifetime, please grant me the strength
to remain always aspiring to become your ever-more useful and effective servant.
For that matter, I beg to remain your eternal servant!
Romapāda Swami

Translate »