“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”
mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim
yat-krpa tam aham vande sri gurum dina-taranam
"I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, the deliverer of all fallen souls, whose mercy turns the dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains."
Please accept my prostrated obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet.
All glories to Your Divine Grace!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I humbly beg at your lotus feet on this day of your auspicious appearance to bestow upon this illiterate fool the ability to properly offer my respects unto you. Coming from such a degraded background many times worse than that of Jagai and Madai, inexperienced and unqualified, I am incapable to do anything without your blessings.
My mind is suffering from the pangs of pride, envy and lust. These concoctions encroach themselves like an ebbing tumor. The nature of the conditioned soul is to glorify oneself even in the midst of trying to glorify others, so thank you for tolerating my incompetence in this humble attempt to worship you. The mad mind involved with the false ego is the cause for bondage and suffering. "But the mind which is always engaged in Krsna consciousness is the cause of supreme liberation" (BG 6.5 purport). Indeed in the midst of this obstinate mind tormented by threefold miseries, you have engaged a wild animal in the transcendental activity of describing the unlimited qualities, forms and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. In the prayers of the gopis to Krsna, (SB 10.31.9) it stated:
Tava kathamrtam tapta-jivanam
"The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in the material world."
Maharaj, you have given me back my life and soul. By the purity of your chanting, you are able to inspire others to also take up the process of hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord. In this way you have soothed the burning passions of the mind and bestowed upon us the greatest wealth by which one becomes deathless.
Kavibhir iditam kalmasapaham, sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
"These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicates ones sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon who ever hears them. These narrations are spread all over the world and are filled with spiritual power."
O leaned sage, by sincerely following Srila Prabhupada you have compassionately expanded the Holy name to others. You have saved the suffering of countless souls by removing their ignorance. You have introduced the method by which to uproot the real cause of our distress, perpetually changing the fate of what could have been the greatest disaster: being cast off into various demoniac species of life. We would have been in complete forgetfulness of Krsna and His devotees. What would life be like without Krsna and His devotees! O great sage, you have dedicated your life to distributing Srila Prabhupada's books, fully convinced that these transcendental astras has the atomic power to guide the misguided masses producing a holocaust in their material lives and blowing them out of the dense dark well of material existence.
Bhuvi grnanti ye bhuri-da janah
"Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent."
Maharaj, you have distributed thousands of these astras throughout the world, simply by your desire to spread this sankirtana movement and therefore you are most munificent! You are imbibing the mood of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas; nothing can impede your way. This sankirtana movement is already victorious, there is no question of loss or defeat, because Lord Caitanya has already benefited us with this transcendental boon and it is generals like you who are spear heading this mission.
Maharaj, every day caught in the centre of a stubborn mind, I try to pray and beg to hear HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA, KRSNA KRSNA, HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA, HARE HARE, that I to can be a humble servant of the Vaisnavas and develop a fraction of your humility so that I may be always engaged in menial service at your lotus feet. In this way I can remain aspiring to follow in your footsteps.
Aspiring to serve the feet of the servants of the servants,
In your humble service
Ramesh Sharma