My dear spiritual father,
Please accept my respectful obeisances unto Your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your divine grace, the epitome of mercy unto fallen souls like me. All glories to Your spiritual master, HDG A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda, by whose mercy we are sheltered under Your lotus feet. All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who has mercifully chosen to distribute love of Godhead through Your divine self, even to unqualified persons like me! All glories to Śrī Śrī Rādhā Madhava, Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva, Śrī Pañcatattva who have mercifully descended to Śrī Māyāpur, the dhāma close to Your heart.
Dear Gurudeva, a dear associate of Mahāprabhu, You have descended to assist Śrīla Prabhupāda and have mercifully accepted the great responsibility of delivering thousands of fallen conditioned souls afflicted in this blazing forest fire of material existence. Your love and care for Your disciples… Nay! all devotees… Nay! All living entities is exemplary. Aren’t we all attracted to Your lotus feet because of how secure we feel even though in this ghastly material world and how reassured we feel about Your taking us back to Godhead, through Your love and care?! I pray to Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva to bless us all with Your sweet, transcendental, physical association for many many years to come.
You demonstrate Your love for Mahāprabhu by ecstatically chanting the Lord’s name ‘Gaurāṇga! Gaurāṇga!’, swaying and dancing so sweetly, and most importantly spreading this intoxicating Krsna Prema even to persons who may not be fit to receive it. You are always engaged in worshipping the deities and never miss opportunities to serve Them. It’s bliss to simply see how You ecstatically participate in the temple festivals in Māyāpur and watch You shower the deities during flower abhiṣekas. Sometimes, we can even see You cry during such ceremonies, a manifestation of the ecstatic symptoms of a transcendentally realized person; as is verified by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his Guruvāṣṭaka prayers.
Golden old memories, of You walking blissfully in Navadvīpa Maṇḍala Parikramā affectionately talking to the villagers, roaring Gau…ranga! Gau…ranga! to the world, walking through rows of devotees ensuring everyone is comfortable and well fed, eagerly narrating pastime after pastime after pastime of Mahāprabhu in each island, even participating in the dramas which are imprinted in our hearts, Your dazzling smile and merciful glances is still so fresh in my memory and brings so much bliss by reminiscing on them. (I hope I can do this eternally.) Bhīṣma Pañcaka vrata in Mayapur with You is always so inspiring and blissful too. You are satisfied to see that the devotees are happy and inspired.
Following in the footsteps of our ācāryas, the six Gosvāmīs, You have showed us by example, (by completing Bhakti Śāstrī, Bhakti Vaibhava degrees) how important it is to scrutinizingly study the scriptures in order to advance in our Krsna Consciousness and appreciate our practices better. You are immersed completely in thoughts of Mahāprabhu and are on such a high transcendental platform and yet when You speak to us during Your lectures/classes, You present teachings in such simple and interesting ways that it captures even our dull brains and inspires us to surrender to Krsna.
You have so much spiritual energy that You render such materially incognizable amounts of services to Śrīla Prabhupāda, in spite of any limitations! I have heard (and have personally experienced as well) as to how it is so difficult to keep up with Your transcendental energy and speed! You are always blissful in Krsna Consciousness and are not affected by Your bodily inconveniences, even though such circumstances are humanly impossible to counteract. My tiny brain simply cannot comprehend how You do it!
Oh, how fortunate I am to have been blessed by Krsna, to become one of Your spiritual daughters! You have mercifully, personally extended Your time, energy and care to me and my family many a times although I do not understand how I have qualified to receive such mercy of Yours. Recalling such memories brings me so much happiness that I shall remain eternally indebted to You Gurudeva for such causeless blessings. You personally checked on my welfare while I was recovering from Covid; how did I become eligible for such love and care?! Please allow me to express by unlimited heartfelt gratitude to Your divine self.
On this auspicious Vyāsa Pūjā day, I beg you to bless my 'squirrel-like' endeavours in reaching out the youth girls in Māyāpur and Madurai. I am trying to inspire them to understand the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda to the best of my capacities. I beg for Your merciful glance to be always upon my family members so that we may always serve You better and better.
A humungous, onerous bundle of faults that I am, many a times I fall and fail and simply cry like a baby. Even though I get inspired and excited to serve You, I lack strength and abilities, due to my pride and carelessness. I beg at Your lotus feet today O Gurudeva, to please be merciful and kind to me as You always do and forgive all my redundant mistakes and please pick me up and shelter me as I fall. I have always hoped that this dull servant of Yours will eventually learn to obey and please You someday, for I have Your Divine Grace as my Lord and Master. I pray for blessings to never underestimate Your mercy and kindness. I beg to You for strength to render my sādhanā carefully and never offend Vaiṣṇavas. I beg to You to please bless me to become resilient through the tests that I have to undergo for my purifications and eventually be undisturbed by such circumstances so that I may continually serve the Lord and Your Divine Grace in a manner that is pleasing to You.
Craving for attachment to the dust of Your Lotus feet,
Your fallen daughter,
Rādhā Rati Devī Dāsī.
(Śrīdhāma Mayapur)