Dear Guru Mahārāja,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate jayapatākā svāmin iti nāmine
nama ācārya-pādāya nitāi-kṛpā-pradāyine
gaura-kathā-dhāma-dāya nagara-grāma-tāriṇe
Please accept my respectful obeisances unto your lotus feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! All glories to you!
On this auspicious occasion of your 76th Vyāsa-pūjā, I shall attempt to glorify you with some mere shallow words, although I have no qualifications.
Again and again, I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are fully attached to fulfilling the desires and instructions of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda and the previous ācāryas. By bestowing the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu and spreading the glories of the abode, transcendental pastimes, and instructions of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, you are delivering all the inhabitants of towns and villages.
I am ever grateful to you for accepting this wretch under your shelter. It is by the guru’s mercy that the dhāma is revealed, and I am forever grateful to you that, by your causeless mercy, someone as sinful and uncultured as myself was allowed to enter the pastime places of the Lord. By your desire, I was able to attend the Vṛndāvana safari last year.
It is by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy and instructions that the nitya-līlā-sthalīs, which were lost over time, were excavated and recovered. It is by the mercy of the sad-gosvāmīs, who were instrumental in recovering these places, that we can still see them today. It is by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy that the glories of these transcendental dhāmas have spread all over the world, and it is by your mercy, Guru Mahārāja, that I have been allowed to enter and hear about their glories.
One clear instruction that I remember reading before my initiation was to cry because we are not crying for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa while chanting. It has been five years since my initiation, and it is my misfortune that my steel-hard and offensive heart still does not cry. I pray to you, seeking your blessings so that I may fulfill your instruction.
You are antaryāmī, and I am ever grateful to you for guiding me through your lectures. I have subtle struggles in my bhakti that are very difficult to even express, let alone ask devotees for help. Yet, it is wonderful that I receive the answers I need through your classes, although I never asked them.
I beg for forgiveness for the offenses that I have committed, knowingly or unknowingly. I seek your mercy and blessings so that I may fulfill your instructions. I have started the Bhakti-śāstrī degree for your pleasure. I have also vowed to support some of the instructions given by Śrīla Prabhupāda to you. I seek your blessings so that this unqualified, incompetent, unintelligent, and lowly servant may humbly serve you.
I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the deliverer of all fallen souls, whose mercy turns the dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains.
Your useless and insignificant servant,
Rūpamayī Sudevī dāsī