nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate jayapatākā-svāmin iti nāmine
namo ācāryapādāya nitāi-kṛpa-pradāyine
gaura-kathā dhāma dāya nagara-grāma tāriṇe
My Most Beloved,
Dear Guru Mahārāja,
Please Accept My Humble Obeisances
All glories to You on the auspicious occasion of your appearance day
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda
All glories to Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurānga
The Lord has been very kind to me, especially in the last many months of your struggle through the surgery. Though it was very uncertain, but by His mercy you’re still with us. What greater benefit could I achieve than this?
Your unwavering and ever-increasing desire to carry out all the instructions given by Śrīla Prabhupāda to you has overpowered the laws of the all-powerful material nature and thus you have been defying it and exhibiting things which would otherwise be impossible. You often extend yourself and go beyond the conditionings and modes of material nature because of overflooding desire to serve your spiritual master.
As told by Śrīla Prabhupāda, you’re an associate of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If you so desired, you could have very much left this material existence and entered into the nitya-līlā of the Lord. Who could stop you from doing that? However, your desire to serve is so enormous that you chose to remain here and continue to serve even when undergoing such extreme physical pain. Your example will be a testimony for the generations to come. You’ll continue to enhance the glory of ISKCON, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Śrīla Prabhupāda for generations to come.
The philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness sometimes seems to be very good theory/story to discuss or to follow ritualistically and it may remain so without a proper example. Even among devotees, some adulterate the message to fulfill their ulterior motive or follow whimsically missing the central point of carrying out the order of previous Ācāryas. Through your lifestyle and teachings, you’ve proved your purity and dedication to Śrīla Prabhupāda and previous Ācāryas. Your example is all that makes it practical for people like me to put faith upon and follow wholeheartedly. Your example has been a source of great inspiration for me to go ahead. Without you, the process would seem impractical. You continue to preach through your example and instructions.
During last one year, I’ve continued to remain in Chennai in a yoga center with a group of devotees. We do have a temple like facility, and I try to utilize this opportunity to the best extent. We offer our services to ISKCON Chennai. One of them is a new preaching project in a prestigious engineering college in Tamilnadu. This has been started under the guidance of His Holiness Bhānu Swāmi Mahārāja. I have been assisting few devotees in this project and we hope to bring few students to the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I have been reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam regularly and hearing your lecture recordings. Through many of your lecture recordings I’ve come to understand two important principles: the importance of cooperation while serving and the loyalty we should have in carrying out the orders of previous Ācāryas without any adulteration. Recently, I came across a statement in one of your lecture describing Śrīla Prabhupāda pastime:
"They just don’t understand, don’t understand. They think that Bhaktisiddhanta is stuck there in the ground. They do not realize that he is sitting by my side, and every moment guiding me, helping me! The kanistha adhikārī thinks that one is worshiping his spiritual master only when he is ringing the bell at his arati. They can't see that by carrying out his order, a pure disciple is intimately connected with his spiritual master more than at any other time, and that connection is so strong and sweet, that he may even override some ritual, absorbed in that mood of satisfying his innermost desire. What will carry out and satisfy his intention, that is the higher principle. But blinded by envy, blinded by ignorance, blinded by material contamination, blinded by imperfect vision, one can see a defect in someone where there is no defect.”
You’ve put the message so nicely that it has just stuck in my head and I’ve developed firm conviction that if one carries out the order of the spiritual master purely, one can always be in an intimate connection with him. Moreover, you yourself are an example of this. You’ve given your whole life and soul to the service of Śrīla Prabhupāda, beginning from the early days of Māyāpur through the development of ISKCON up to the manifestation of TOVP.
I’ve been undergoing many ups-downs in devotional service. Sometimes unable to follow some principle and if I followed then I became proud. Sometimes I feel I’m doing good but at other time, I’m really put to test and think how much attachment I have actually developed to the limbs of devotional service, to serve and please Vaishnavas and how much do I actually follow your instructions. I wish to become steady in devotional practices and develop true spiritual attachment to it. I wish to rise above showing off mentality, insensitive behavior, sulky mood and various other anarthas. I seek to be exemplary in behavior which make others develop appreciation for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I seek your blessings for all these.
In few months to come, I would be serving in setting up a center for the preaching project I’ve been assisting in. Within next one year to come, I have planned to finish the first time reading of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam too and later I would start over again for a deeper understanding. Please bless me Guru Mahārāja that I be able to offer these services to you in your next Vyāsa Pujā. Please bless me that I do them wholeheartedly as an offering to you and Śrīla Prabhupāda.
I’ve been unable to follow many of your instructions out of neglect and ignorance. Please forgive me. I do desire to improve myself and seek your blessings for the same.
Your Unworthy Disciple,
Sucāru Murārī dāsa, (Dikṣā disciple)
Chennai, India