My Dear Guru Mahārāja,
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Please accept my humble and respectful obeisances to your feet!
All Glories to Guru Mahārāja and Śrīla Prabhupāda!
On this auspicious occasion of Your Appearance Day, I would like to convey to you my heartfelt gratitude and regards for accepting me as your disciple. It was on 02 May 2004 that Myself and my wife and my brother and his wife were fortunate to have begun the journey Back Home, Back to Godhead by formally accepting you as our Spiritual Master. These 18 years of journey, although fraught with many challenges and pitfalls, has been an exhilarating one. During this journey of 18 years, many a times I have rejoiced and many a times I have grieved, rejoiced when I carried out your orders well and grieved when I am unable to reign in my mind and as a result had a fall down from the lofty standards which you have set for me. However, every time I fell down, I have struggled to rise myself again and bring in a semblance of spiritual normalcy again in my life.
Dear Guru Mahārāja, off late I have been desiring to have your Blessings and Mercy more intensely than at any point of my journey during these 18 years. Yes Guru Mahārāja, your Blessings and Mercy alone can provide succor and happiness to my parched consciousness steeped in matter. Your Blessings and Mercy alone can transform my consciousness from material to spiritual and it is Your Blessings and Mercy alone which can extinguish the blazing fire of lust and greed in my heart. Dear Guru Mahārāja, I am not an adept in matters of life in general and Kṛṣṇa Consciousness in particular, so please bestow your attention on me on a regular basis. Please don’t ever be under the impression that I am now well versed in the nuances of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and just leave me alone to do my sādhana. No, a big no, I need you now more than ever, I need your love, compassion and sympathy in profuse quantities and promise me that You will be with me till the very end when You will hold my hand and take me to the Spiritual world far away from this horrible world of Birth, Death, Old age and Disease.
Dear Guru Mahārāja, The Covid Pandemic has come as a bonanza for me as my preaching efforts has been more than doubled. I conduct 3 Bhakti-vṛkṣa’s and also regularly preach in Govardhan pravachan Mandir, Mysore and also in ISKCON Bahrain Kannada Bhakti Koota. These Preaching activities keeps me quite busy in addition to my office responsibilities; however, I am happy as I am able to study the scriptures scrutinizingly and as the saying goes “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop”.
Guru Mahārāja, the Govardhan pravachan Mandir in Mysore is going stronger by the day and on Sundays and special occasions, a large congregation assembles to conduct Ārati, pravachan, Nagar Saṅkīrtana and Prasāda and Book distribution, this has been possible by Your Blessings and Mercy. It is my ardent wish that I will be involved with Govardhan pravachan Mandir activities and Preaching on a full time after my retirement. Dear Guru Mahārāja, as encouraged by you, I find my fulfillment in reading and preaching and please Bless me to carry out this service to You.
Guru Mahārāja, my mother Śrīmati K.S. Lalitha, my wife Kunja Viharinī Devī Dāsī, my daughter Sindhu Kavya, my brother Nanda Mukunda Kṛṣṇa Das, my sister in law Subhasinī Rādhe Devī Dāsī and my niece Vṛndāvana Priya join me in offering your feet our humble and respectful obeisances on this auspicious occasion of Your Appearance Day. In closing Guru Mahārāja, I once again reiterate my request that You, Your Blessings and Your Mercy is all I need and You would shower these on myself and my family copiously so that we all can aspire to Go Back Home, Back to Godhead in this very life time itself.
Your loving and humble spiritual son
Rāgānugā Bhaktimān Dāsa
Balaramdeśa Yātrā