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
Dear Guru Mahārāja,
Please accept my most respectful obeisances unto your lotus feet.
All Glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda …!!!
All Glories to Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga…!!!
On this auspicious occasion of Your 74th Vyāsa-pūjā, we lovingly wish you a very blissful appearance day. We offer our heartfelt prayers to Lord Narasiṁhadeva , Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava Aṣṭa sakhīs and Pañca tattva to keep you in good health and let you be in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s service.
Guru Mahārāja, kindly accept this offering of love and gratitude. No words can duly glorify you or thank you for your unceasing, ever increasing loving devotional service. You are an example for one who executes param dharma- Ahaituky apratihatā: that unconditional devotional service cannot be checked by any material condition. Irrespective of your bodily condition, you engage in service without wasting even a moment. Guru Mahārāja, I thank you for your wonderful service and care, thereby inspiring all of us.
You are a real well-wisher to all, praying daily for each of your aspiring, sheltered, initiated and your śikṣā disciples. Thank you for your daily prayers for us. You share the nectar of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes everyday exhibiting the bliss of experiencing those līlā and carefully guiding us with the teachings of Lord Caitanya. Your mercy is seamless. I humbly pray that I may be allowed to receive a drop of your mercy.
I submit my prayerful gratitude to Lord to have given you as my spiritual father. When I was a child, I used to hear and read “Jñanappana” verses by Pūndānam, a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The prayers start by seeking blessings of Guru, requesting him that may Lord’s name always stay on my tongue and thus this human birth may become perfect. when I heard those lines, I as a 14 year old, used to think - How do I get a Guru in this era? the Guru- disciple thing was genuine in foregone days and now there’s no chance of getting a guidance like that After few days, I even dreamt some so-called saintly person demanding me to become his follower and that he will guarantee me with high scores or grades (that was what I was aiming at when I was a school student). But I thought, “No this so-called saintly person is not genuine as he is trying to attract / lure followership by offering some bribe”. So then I ignored the so- called saintly person or his service team etc., Later after many years I came in touch with ISKCON and your disciples. Still I wasn’t sure if it’s really spiritual or genuine once you appeared in my dream and I told you - the person whom you are looking for is on the other side of the bed (as he - my husband, was preparing for his initiation and I was just chanting and following regulative principles so as not to break harmony in family). So, even though I saw you in my dream for the first time, I didn’t feel excited or blissful of receiving your darśan. Little did I know that you are my greatest well-wisher ever. After a year, by your causeless mercy you accepted me also as a disciple even though I was so fallen Now when I think of these I realize the words of śāstra that
Those who are sincerely seeking the favor of Kṛṣṇa come in contact with a Guru, a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa (SB 5.7.11 Purport).
I didn’t know anything from śātra or the necessity to search for a bonafide Guru or how to find a bonafide Guru etc In fact, I was even doubtful of the Hare Kṛṣṇa association also. But Lord is so kind, He saw my desire and He arranged time and place in such a way that I received you as Guru when I was in Mathurādeśa. I thank Lord for giving you as my Guru.
Before getting initiated, I read your lecture in which you were explaining the verse SB 11.17.27
ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān
nāvamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruḥ
One should know the ācārya to be My self and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.” (SB 11.17.27)
I learnt this verse then and I remind myself again and again that my spiritual master is not an ordinary jīva, but he is a representative of Lord (sākṣād-dharitvena) and that I should never disrespect him. Gurudeva, you are an associate of Lord Caitanya and you have come to deliver fallen souls like us how can we ever thank you or glorify you duly?
As a disciple,
I pray that somehow, I may be able to please you through my insignificant services of preaching. Gurudeva, kindly bless me with potency to preach to youngsters and somehow or other be instrumental in bringing them closer, in to Lord Caitanya’s movement. Currently by your blessings and mercy of senior devotees, I have the seva of preaching to some college students and young house wives (in Thiruvananthapuram) and another session for few families. I always feel very inadequate and incompetent in preaching. I depend on prayers to you and I try to hear spiritual discourses more and more, seeking the blessings of paramparā. I seek your blessings on all my students/ Bhakti vṛkṣa- Satsanga members that they may advance in spiritual life and make their lives perfect through devotional service.
My dear spiritual father, after my children and I relocated to India (Thiruvananthapuram), we went through many material problems - mostly health related and other struggles. I know that you are always praying for our spiritual wellbeing. Still, considering the fact that my son is in teenage and my daughter is in kindergarten with non-devotee kids, I seek blessings on them to become attached to devotees and become devotees. I submit all my insecurities and prayers before you, my spiritual father because I believe you can only give solace to us.
Though I forcefully remind my mind to always pray and seek protection of Lord, I feel my devotional service is weak. I sincerely pray that I remain engaged in seva always and that I can study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam daily deeply.
I also pray that my mother and my other family members also be blessed with the gift of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kindly help me in bringing them closer to devotional service. Please shower your mercy on them so that they may also engage in the eternal service of ŚrīŚrī Rādhā Mādhava.
I sincerely desire that this is my last birth and that I may be allowed to go back to spiritual world after this lifetime itself Though I haven’t developed deep spiritual realization, I seek your blessings that somehow I may be able to perfect this lifetime and be able to go back to Godhead.
Guru Mahārāja, please forgive me for any offences I may have committed knowingly or unknowingly and I beg for your blessings for our spiritual advancement and to serve you and Kṛṣṇa in a better way. Please help us to improve devotee care and to increase our preaching activities with more love and care.
Śrīla Gurudeva, please bless us and all the devotees whom we are trying to care, train and help in their services, on behalf of you. Kindly bless us all so that we can overcome the present impediments and improve our preaching to more conditioned souls. Kindly help us to be free from all offenses so that we may develop a taste for the Holy names.
Praying for your mercy and blessings so that we perform our material and spiritual duties with the right attitude and service mood for the pleasure of Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga. Currently my husband is serving in Mathurādeśa and I and children are in Thiruvananthapuram, taking care of our parents. Though we all get opportunities of seva, we still are somewhat anxious because of not being together as family. We pray that we are able to engage in seva and please you irrespective of the material issues.
We humbly express our deep desire to be blessed with the dust from your lotus feet. I express my deepest gratitude to you. You are the greatest gift in our lives. We love you Gurudeva.
Once again, we wish you a blissful Gaurāṅga conscious appearance day.
Gaurāṅgaa!!!!
Thanking you
Your spiritual daughter,
Lakshmi Rādhā devī dāsī (Dīkṣā), India.
Vinaya Nitāi chand Dāsa (Dīkṣā), Mathuradeśa
Nandakishore (14 years)
Saumya Rādhikā (4.5 years)
Jayakumari (my mother, your aspiring disciple)