My dearmost Guru Mahārāja,
Daṇḍavat Praṇāma.
All glories to Your Divine Grace!
All glories to Your tireless service to Srīla Prabhupāda!
All glories to Your ocean of love for Lord Gaurāṅga!
All glories to Your appearance day!
Dear Gurudeva, by Your inconceivable potency of understanding and by Your loving dealings with us, Your disciples, You mercifully purify our false ego and elevate us from our level of surrendering by guiding our minute independence to the level, the spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa.
The living entity, inflicted with the false ego of the material body, creates a fearful situation in which he undergoes repeated birth and death, as described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37): bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād – Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda is saying in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 1.46), quoting the verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.17.27) (ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān) – Kṛṣṇa was specifically instructing Uddhava that how a brahmacārī should behave under the care of a spiritual master.
“The spiritual master is also called ācārya, or a transcendental professor of spiritual science. Manu-saṁhitā (2.140) explains the duties of an ācārya, describing that a bona fide spiritual maser accepts charge of disciples, teaches them the Vedic knowledge with all its intricacies, and gives them their second birth. The ceremony performed to initiate a disciple into the study of spiritual science is called upanīti, or the function that brings one nearer to the spiritual master. And after this saṁskāra, or purificatory process, the spiritual master actually begins to teach the disciple about the Vedas. A person born a śūdra is not barred from such spiritual initiation, provided he is approved by the spiritual master, who is duly authorized to award a disciple the right to be a brāhmaṇa if he finds him perfectly qualified.”
Your Divine Grace is making even a śūdra qualified to be a brāhmaṇa by putting the study of Bhakti-śāstri as a prerequisite. You are a true ācārya. In the Vāyu Purāṇa an ācārya is defined as one who knows the import of all the Vedic literatures, abides by their rules and regulations, and teaches his disciples to act in the same way. And Your Divine Grace is making ācāryas.
Dear Gurudeva, it was in 2016, Detroit, for the first time I expressed my desire to serve as a full-time brahmacārī, and asked blessings from His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami during his visit. And he blessed me with the Jagannātha’s stick and told me to think and then take a decision. Now, here in Māyāpur, Your Divine Grace gave me shelter at Your lotus feet and gave me second birth as your eternal son.
“Only out of His immense compassion does the Personality of Godhead reveal Himself as the spiritual master. Therefore, in the dealings of an ācārya there are no activities but those of transcendental loving service to the Lord. He is the Supreme Personality of Servitor Godhead. It is worthwhile to take shelter of such a steady devotee, who is called āśraya-vigraha, or the manifestation or form of the Lord of whom one must take shelter.”
It is inconceivable mercy of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu, that I could find Your merciful shelter at Your Lotus Feet.
As explained in the verse from Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 4.192-93):
dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa
sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama
“At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa accepts him to be as good as Himself.”
And “The Lord is attracted by the loving devotional service of His pure devotees and thus becomes entangled in the network of their loving relationship with Him. For example, after the Battle of Kurukṣetra, when Kṛṣṇa was leaving for His own city, Dvārakā, the loving appeal of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira forced the Lord to remain for several more weeks in Hastināpura. Similarly, when the elderly gopīs of Vṛndāvana clapped their hands, Kṛṣṇa would dance like a puppet, keeping time to their rhythm.”
As the Lord is attracted by only the pure love, it’s Your loving care, teachings and mercy invoking the spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa and making me completely surrender at Your lotus feet for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa on this most auspicious occasion of Your Appearance Day.
Though I was inspired by different devotees in the beginning and got conviction by hearing kṛṣṇa/gaura-kathā for a few thousands of hours and reading Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta in GEV, it’s only by hearing of gaura-kathā from your nectarean mouth for a few hundreds of hours through Caitanya Book service and by serving Your lotus feet, now I experience the glimpse of bliss in the service of Guru and Gaurāṅga. So, now I am completely surrendering being partially purified of my false ego, becoming fearless under the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, without any reservations at Your Lotus Feet. I want to serve Your Lotus Feet with any instruction from Your Divine Grace for the pleasure of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu.
It’s in 2019 in Barsānā, during Kārtīka-yātra, I met and talked sometime with one of disciples of Your Divine Grace, who resides at Rādhā-kuṇḍa doing kṛṣṇa-bhajana, (he was in matted locks). I was mesmerized by Your mercy of connecting all kinds of souls to Kṛṣṇa and facilitating their desires to serve Kṛṣṇa according to their mood.
Though I was repelled by the un-saintly nature of the devotees and authorities and preferred to do nirjana-bhajana, remembering the struggles faced and sacrifices made by Your Divine Grace and Śrīla Prabhupāda and understanding the lessons from Saubhari Muni and Ajāmila, for the welfare of my long-term bhakti and as the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā, 18.68-19, that “no one is dearer to Him than one who actually preaches the glories of the Lord to convert the nonbelievers and nondevotees,” I want to serve any instructions from Your Divine Grace, to help our society and humanity at large.
In Śrī Caitanya Book, for the verse, 17.114 of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā:
jyotiṣīke kṛpā o premadāna
ye hao, se hao tumi, tomāke namaskāra
prabhu tāre prema diyā kaila puraskāra
Your Divine Grace commented: So normally a brāhmaṇa would go house to house and offer his services which may be medical, astrological or ecclesiastical. And then the householder would give him some alms. So, he came to the house of Lord Caitanya and offered his astrological services. Then He saw that Lord Caitanya was Kṛṣṇa. Whatever You are, whoever You may be, I offer my respectful obeisances to You, and in remuneration the Lord gave him love of Kṛṣṇa!
The inconceivable pastimes like Gaurāṅga’s Amazing Mango and experiencing the mood of His own avatāras like, Narasiṁha, especially Nityānanda who can only be pleased by Vāruṇī drink, enjoying kīrtana-rasa in Śrīvāsa’s Aṅgana and etc., which were the pastimes, where only His intimate associates were allowed, can only be relished by the words of His intimate associates like Your Divine Grace.
So, I want to serve Your Divine Grace in my full capacity, in any way, directly or indirectly, in our preaching movement, in the mood of a servant of the servant - gopī-bhartuḥ padakamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ.
As a remuneration, as above, Mahāprabhu gives to the brāhmaṇa, if it pleases Your Divine Grace, I would like to experience the bliss of the kīrtana-rasa of kṛṣṇa/gaura-kathā by serving Your Lotus Feet each and every moment, eternally.
Just as Mahārāja Pṛthu says, “My dear Lord, I therefore do not wish to have the benediction of merging into Your existence, a benediction in which there is no existence of the nectarean beverage of Your lotus feet. I want the benediction of at least one million ears, for thus I may be able to hear about the glories of Your lotus feet from the mouths of Your pure devotees.”
Your insignificant and ignorant son,
Rasa-sāgara Govinda Dāsa