nama om vishnu padaya krsna presthaya bhutale
srimate jayapataka swamin iti namine,
nama acharya padaya nitai kripa pradayine
gaura katha dhama daya nagara grama tarine
My dear Spiritual Father,
Please accept my respectful obeisance unto your Lotus Feet on the occasion of your Vyasa-puja. On the occasion of your Vyasa Puja I pray to Lord Narsimhadeva to grant you long life and good health.
Yet again I am fortunate and blessed to speak a few words on the very auspicious occasion of your Vyasa Puja. To speak about your glories require intelligence and qualification of which I don’t find myself befitting. But a disciples foremost duty is to follow the instruction of his Guru as a result of which I am trying to put a few words together to form sentences, which won’t be able to cover the great glories of your magnanimous personality.
Srila Gurudev a great pure devotee such as Yourself comes to this world out of his causeless mercy, with the sole intention to distribute mercy and to take back stubborn souls like myself. Your mercy is evenly showered to everyone just like the sun doesn’t discriminate to share its sunshine. Yet fools like me hide in the darkness of the shadow of sense gratification and deride the illuminating sunshine like knowledge and causeless mercy you share. Due to my miserly weakness I keep repeating my mistake of enjoying the mirage of happiness in this world and accumulating offenses thereby committing spiritual suicide when the real happiness lies at the dust of your Lotus feet. Srila Narottama das Thakur says, “The Lotus Feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service” yet after many years of trying to serve your Lotus feet I fail to relish the nectar of devotion, this is definitely the proof of my incapability to be faithful to your instructions.
When I read the scriptures on the qualification of the disciple I find nothing in me that the shatras declare to be quality of adisciple. Unqualified, lowly born, heart filled with all the vicious material desires and unfit to be a disciple and yet here I am as a disciple of yours. This is only due to your causeless mercy. A disciple is supposed to reflect the mood and qualities of the Guru, and all I do is bring more and more infamy and suffering to you. Yet all you do is accept me with utmost love and care. Alas! What have I done in any birth to have deserved a merciful Guru like yourself.
This year is the 50th sanyasa anniversary of yours. 50 glorious years as a statement of your dedication and faithfulness to Srila Prabhupada. Every year a statement of surrender, love, steady and increasing service to Srila Prabhupada. I hope to get a drop of any of the abovementioned qualities of yours so I can make my life successful.
In the C.C its mentioned
bhakta-päda-dhüli ära bhakta-päda-jala
bhakta-bhukta-avaçeña, — tina mahä-bala
The dust of the feet of a devotee, the water that has washed the feet of a devotee, and the remnants of food left by a devotee are three very powerful substances.
ei tina-sevä haite kåñëa-premä haya
punaù punaù sarva-çästre phukäriyä kaya
By rendering service to these three, one attains the supreme goal of ecstatic love for Kåñëa. In all the revealed scriptures this is loudly declared again and again.
(Caitanya-caritämåta 3.16.60–61)
This year I hope that someday I may be qualified to hold the dust of your Lotus feet on my head so I can get purified enough to serve you by being chaste to your instructions.
Your fallen Servant,
Akinchan Damodar Das