nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate jayapatākā-svāmin iti nāmine
namo ācāryapādāya nitāi-kṛpa-pradāyine
gaura-kathā dhāmadhāya nagara-grāma tāriṇe
Hare Krishna dearest Guru Maharaja,
Please accept our respectful obeisances at your merciful lotus feet.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to your holiness on your auspicious appearance day!
I remember writing in my last year’s offering to you about how merciful you are. My amazement keeps growing manifold whenever I meditate on how loving, caring and merciful you are towards every one of us.
For the past 8 years I have been suffering bad health undergoing many surgical procedures and was always feeling guilty that I was not able to serve you like you wanted us to. Having promised during initiation that I would help you in spreading Srila Prabhupada’s mission, unable to do anything was always eating me up.
Though this pandemic has created a very unpleasant and stressful situation around the world, though every one of us has lost many dear ones for this virus, it has a silver lining too. When we try to look at the positive side of it, it has done many good things, especially for us aspiring devotees/preachers.
Last year was filled with stress, fear and anxiety for most of the people. Ironically, this past year has been good for me in terms of my health and it was the only year since 2013 that I did not have to go in to the hospital. Due to the lockdown, I was able to start something by the encouragement of Amala Manjari mataji and my husband which finally relieved me of my guilt. Thanks to zoom that all the temple programs have gone online which gave me confidence and opportunity to take baby steps in my preaching journey.
I just wanted to highlight some of the good things that the pandemic helped us to understand/realize.
1. It has helped us to focus on preaching and outreach.
2. It has increased the bonding within the congregation despite the rough times everyone in the congregation had to go through pertaining to the issues in the temple.
3. It has taught us the very important lesson that we should not take things for granted and to be grateful for everything we are blessed with.
By your mercy and Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, currently we are engaged in the following services.
1. I’m running a Gita study group where we study Gita in detail along with practical lessons/tips.
2. I’m also doing a ladies Bhakti Vriksha and also facilitating Srila Prabhupada’s book reading group.
3. I have also got a wonderful opportunity to serve you Guru Maharaj by translating your classes to Tamil. I have translated 11 classes so far.
4. My husband co-ordinates Food For life in South London where we have distributed 1863 plates of prasadam since March 2020. We are looking to distribute 5000 plates of prasadam this year as an offering for Srila Prabhupada’s 125th anniversary.
5. We have also set ourselves a target of distributing 12500 books this year.
6. We as a temple are organizing a 125-hour kirtan offering for Srila Prabhupada’s 125th anniversary called “Kirtan125-keeping the spirit alive” in which we are trying to have kirtaneers from across sing for Srila Prabhupada. This is happening on the last weekend of every month from 1-5 PM UK time. We had HH Lokanath Swami inaugurating this event on the Gaura Purnima day.
7. We are also trying to buy a new place for the temple which will include small patch of farm land and goshala. It is a humongous task for a little temple like us. But we are sure that we can do that with your blessings guru maharaja. We have already started to visualize that you are inaugurating the temple. Hope it turns to reality very soon.
Please bless us Guru Maharaja that we will be able to fulfill all these pledges and make a meaningful offering to please Srila Prabhupada and show him our gratitude in our little capacity.
What motivates us and keeps us going in spite of all the challenges is your darshan Guru Maharaja. We are so fortunate to have such a kind, compassionate, merciful, selfless, caring, loving father does not fail to amaze us and inspire us every single moment. You are my biggest inspiration Guru Maharaja. We are left speechless when we think about how you never allow anything deter your enthusiasm to speak Gaura katha, to serve your spiritual master, to preach and deliver as many souls as possible and we are sure there is much more to add to this list which we cannot even think of. Your zoom sessions have made us and continues to make us feel that you are personally present with us and has also made us feel secure and reassured that by holding on to your lotus feet, we can effortlessly cross over anything and nothing can trouble us.
Thank you so much Guru Maharaja for everything. Thanks is just a word and it cannot possibly convey how much we are grateful and indebted to you dear Guru Maharaja. We hope, pray and beg you to continue to shower your mercy on us so that we can be little puppets in your hands fulfilling your instructions.
We love you so much Guru Maharaja.
Your insignificant children,
Brihat Gaurahari das and
Utkarshini Simantini devi dasi
South London, United Kingdom