nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate jayapatāka svāmin iti nāmine
nama ācaryapādāya nitāi-kṛpā-pradāyine
gaura-kathā-dhāma-dāya nagara-grāma-tāriṇe
Dearest Śrīla Guru Mahārāja,
please accept my most respectful obeisances to Your lotus feet.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!
All glories to You, my beloved spiritual father!
I'm Antaraṅga Śakti devī dāsī, from Italy.
Here I am addressing You, dearest Śrīla Guru Mahārāja on the occasion of Your glorious Vyāsa-pūjā, that for all of us, Your disciples, is the most important event as You, Guru Mahārāja, are the most important person in our miserable existence.
I constantly thank Śrī Nityānada Prabhu, the Supreme Spiritual Master, for having granted me the immeasurable mercy of having welcomed me into the ranks of devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's Saṅkīrtana Movement, of Śrīla Prabhupāda and placing me on Your way. I don't know what You saw in me, but for my great fortune You accepted me as a spiritual daughter and disciple.
Now I am here, thanking You, for all the compassion, mercy, patience, tolerance You pour out on me, as on each of Your spiritual children.
In recent times, many things have changed in the world we live in, but You have always given us enthusiasm and a solution to obviate the uncertainties in the changes, a solution that is summed up in the refuge and in the chanting of the Holy Names.
You have always given us an additional input to join and remain united, like a large family of brothers and sisters who love each other, dialogue, support and help each other. We are working on it and something is moving.
Objectively, dear Guru Mahārāja, I am not much of a devotee and disciple, I try, I try to commit myself, but my gaps are so many. Despite this, for Your mercy, I am here, at Your direct service, which I carry out in various fields of research and also through the translations of the Jayapatākā Swami APP. I am infinitely grateful to you for this! Thanks to this service I feel constantly in Your association, I participate in Your days, which are really intense, and I learn a lot, I take an example from You, because You are our example.
You are always fixed and concentrated in everything You do but at the same time you are detached from it, even in important or challenging matters, conveying the awareness that everything is under Kṛṣṇa's will and control.
From research I have done on current issues, from the last two and a half years to today, I have come to understand that the instabilities of these times help us to take more and more solid refuge at the lotus feet of the Spiritual Master and Gaurāṅga.
Awareness of what is happening is also a tool to understand ever more deeply the illusory nature of this material world, It’s liar component, It’s temporariness and instability. All this is useful for me to definitively break down the illusions related to this fictitious reality and focus on what is really useful, for ourselves and for all those around us.
In this I must confess that You are a source of inspiration and example. You always update on everything, but You are detached from it. I too am succeeding, in part of course, not like You.
I pray to Lord Narasiṁhadeva to always protect You and keep You healthy, to continue to guide and instruct us. I also address an "egocentric" prayer to the Supreme Lord: I ask Him to help me become a reliable devotee and allow me to be a useful tool in Your lotus hands, to satisfy You and Śrīla Prabhupāda.
It is night here, but in Vṛndāvana it is time for Maṅgala Ārati. I often follow the live program, since my day ends late, then I go to rest with the wonderful Lordships in my eyes and singing in my ears. Everything fills the heart with beauty.
I have asked Śrī Nityānanda, the Supreme Spiritual Master, to help me find the right words to express the gratitude, the feelings I have towards You, dearest Guru Mahārāja.
I do not think I have succeeded: your qualities are so many that it is impossible for me to just know them, what to say to understand them.
My prayer is that You continue to keep me in the service of Your lotus feet.
With eternal gratitude
Your "clumsy but evolving" servant,
Antaraṅga Śakti devī dāsī
Italy (Lecce)
