nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya Kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate jayapatākā-svāmin iti nāmine
namo ācāryapādāya nitāi-kṛpa-pradāyine
gaura-kathā dhāma dāya nagara-grāma tāriṇe
My dear Gurudeva!
Please accept my respectful obeisances at your divine feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda, all glories to ISKCON, all glories to Śrī Gaurāṅga, all glories to you!
Guru Mahārāja, I have been reading your book “Vaiṣṇava Ke? What kind of devotee are you”, your commentary on a Bengali poem by His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, generally known as “duṣṭa mana”. I have finished reading till Verse-14 and I have found such eye-opening, not so obvious, novel, deep realizations and statements. Many of those have inspired me to aim for pure devotional service, I have listed below a few:
Devotional service is known to be difficult for persons with an inflated false ego, or an uncontrolled mind. (Introduction)
Kṛṣṇa cannot be won even by performing a great service, for all energy and ability stems from Him alone. All we can offer Him in all our activities is our pure devotional mentality. The Lord is known as bhāvagrāhi janārdana, or “the Lord who accepts the devotional attitude of His devotee. (Purport, Verse-1)
a person may consider that he is a pure devotee, theoretically considering himself to be fully surrendered, but his humility and tolerance are put to the test when directly rendering service in the association of devotees. (Introduction)
Desire for egotistic importance/fame/position within society of devotees would lead to dissatisfaction, which further would lead to envy to devotees who might be receiving such importance/fame etc. Envy to devotees would lead to committing offences against those devotees, which would lead to royal road of spiritual suicide, I.e. leaving association of devotees as devotees would appear as enemies. (in my own words from purport, Verse-5)
The mind must be trained to not imitate, but to perceive our level of devotional service. (Purport, Verse 7)
To rise up to the level of a Vaiṣṇava, a Brāhmaṇa must be completely free of all envy towards the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. (Purport, Verse 10)
Wealth, women and fame—these desires can devour devotional service. Just as a tigress rips out the heart of her prey, so these desires can rip out the heart of devotional service.
When a devotee becomes detached and pure, the material energy accepts defeat. Standing with folded hands, she offers her obeisances. Because her whole purpose is to help people surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is her success. (Purport, Verse 11)
Real detachment includes tolerating those difficulties that may arise while one is engaged in activities for the higher purpose of serving and satisfying Lord Kṛṣṇa. (Purport, Verse 12)
As a householder, a certain amount of activities related to maintaining the material bodies of family members, as well as social responsibilities, cannot be avoided. Although living in the midst of the material energy, a pure Kṛṣṇa conscious householder utilizes everything properly in the loving service of Kṛṣṇa. He does not exploit it for unauthorized sense gratification. (Purport, Verse 13)
Devotional service should be performed in an attitude of service and surrender to Lord Kṛṣṇa. It would be simply cheating oneself from pure love of Kṛṣṇa to engage in devotional service for any other reason. (Purport, Verse 13)
Guru Mahārāja, I am eternally indebted to you for giving us this subtle sīkṣā, which is a treasure for me, which I will be using as beacons in my journey to attain Pure devotional service and further to Kṛṣṇa-prema. Please bless me that the instructions of this book remain always in my heart, this is my desire.
Guru Mahārāja, I have started participating in IYF Boys preaching at ISKCON Chandigarh since Janmashtami 2023 and cultivating a few new devotee boys. I am also taking classes in IYF base near my house. I am continuing in assisting in Congregation program at ISKCON center in Mohali by taking weekly classes sometimes. Please bless me so that I perform these activities in the attitude of service and surrender to you, Prabhupāda and Lord Kṛṣṇa.
You instructed me through reply of my letter on 10 Oct 2021 that “you can give one day a week for preaching along with your wife and engage in that activity. While she is preaching, you can take care of the kids and then you can preach and she can take care of the kids.” We are trying to follow this instruction sincerely.
At last, I pray to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava, Pañca-tattva, Lord Narasiṁhadeva and Lord Dhanvantri to give you long life and good health so that you continue to guide us by your Vāṇī and actions and deliver many souls waiting all around the world.
Thank you so much Guru Mahārāja.
Your servant
Amṛta Kṛṣṇanāma Dāsa
Chandigarh (Dīkṣā disciple)
