< Guru Maharaja | A - I | J - P | R - Z >
Homages to His Holiness Devamrita Maharaja
----------------------------------- R - Z -----------------------------------
Radha Prasada devi dasi
Dear Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to you on this most auspicious day.
Please excuse my feeble attempt in trying to glorify your wonderful qualities. Which I cannot adequately do due to my short-comings and misfortune.
Thankyou Gurudeva for being such an inspiration to us all. Your drive and determination to fulfill Prabhupadas mission is so wonderful to see. By creating urban preaching centres such as the Gaura Yoga Centre, you make it so easy for people to understand who they are and what they are a part of. Places like Gaura Yoga are essential in this day and age due to this world being so degraded. It creates an atmosphere where people can come and freely inquire into Spiritual life, and see first hand how it is being practised by your sincere disciples.
I am very grateful for the guidance and instructions you are giving all your disciples and I, you do it with such patience and care. Without your shelter I would be completely lost. Due to being such a fool I don't have a clue what is best for me. I pray that I can take your instructions deep into my heart. Please give me the intelligence and strength to follow and serve you.
Kind, selfless and compassionate are only a few ways to describe your exemplary character. You freely give yourself and use whatever you possess in Krsna's service, it is truly amazing to see.
I feel very blessed to have you as my Spiritual Master. Thankyou for taking me under your wing.
Your indebted servant
Radha Prasada devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to you on this most auspicious day.
Please excuse my feeble attempt in trying to glorify your wonderful qualities. Which I cannot adequately do due to my short-comings and misfortune.
Thankyou Gurudeva for being such an inspiration to us all. Your drive and determination to fulfill Prabhupadas mission is so wonderful to see. By creating urban preaching centres such as the Gaura Yoga Centre, you make it so easy for people to understand who they are and what they are a part of. Places like Gaura Yoga are essential in this day and age due to this world being so degraded. It creates an atmosphere where people can come and freely inquire into Spiritual life, and see first hand how it is being practised by your sincere disciples.
I am very grateful for the guidance and instructions you are giving all your disciples and I, you do it with such patience and care. Without your shelter I would be completely lost. Due to being such a fool I don't have a clue what is best for me. I pray that I can take your instructions deep into my heart. Please give me the intelligence and strength to follow and serve you.
Kind, selfless and compassionate are only a few ways to describe your exemplary character. You freely give yourself and use whatever you possess in Krsna's service, it is truly amazing to see.
I feel very blessed to have you as my Spiritual Master. Thankyou for taking me under your wing.
Your indebted servant
Radha Prasada devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Radha Sanga devi dasi
Dear Guru Maharaj
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupad.
The Lord expresses His love and compassion for the conditioned souls through His dear most devotees. I am taking this opportunity to again express my gratitude to you for accepting me and taking the responsibility for delivering me to the lotus feet of Sri Krsna.
Thank you for giving me entrance into the transcendental loving service to the Lord, the only way to liberation.
Thank you for giving me the loving sanga.
You are far and near; meditating on you I sometimes get the glimpses of the unlimited spiritual emotions.
Having experience of drowning in the illusion, my only hope is that you will always mercifully glance at me.
Your spiritual daughter
Radha sanga devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupad.
The Lord expresses His love and compassion for the conditioned souls through His dear most devotees. I am taking this opportunity to again express my gratitude to you for accepting me and taking the responsibility for delivering me to the lotus feet of Sri Krsna.
Thank you for giving me entrance into the transcendental loving service to the Lord, the only way to liberation.
Thank you for giving me the loving sanga.
You are far and near; meditating on you I sometimes get the glimpses of the unlimited spiritual emotions.
Having experience of drowning in the illusion, my only hope is that you will always mercifully glance at me.
Your spiritual daughter
Radha sanga devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Radhikesa dasa
My dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet.
All glories to you on this most beloved day of your appearance in this world.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you for enabling me to be with you, allowing me to be a witness of your expert seed planting, watering and nourishing abilities. Wherever we travelled, I noticed that those fortunate souls who gained your momentary association, regained their sense of duty: to be enthusiastically engaged in the service of the Lord and His representatives.
Wherever you go, with laughter we cry,
Devotees ecstatic, you bring the Lila’s alive.
Expertly preaching, backed up by sastra,
Impersonalist no more, now my dear master.
Swimming in the ocean, of devotee association,
Sensitivity and consideration, be your personal obligation.
In Budapest you sacrificed, brought in hope, you surrender.
Following you in: Sri Sri Dayal Nitai and Vijay Gauranga.
Your servant,
Radhikesa dasa
Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet.
All glories to you on this most beloved day of your appearance in this world.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you for enabling me to be with you, allowing me to be a witness of your expert seed planting, watering and nourishing abilities. Wherever we travelled, I noticed that those fortunate souls who gained your momentary association, regained their sense of duty: to be enthusiastically engaged in the service of the Lord and His representatives.
Wherever you go, with laughter we cry,
Devotees ecstatic, you bring the Lila’s alive.
Expertly preaching, backed up by sastra,
Impersonalist no more, now my dear master.
Swimming in the ocean, of devotee association,
Sensitivity and consideration, be your personal obligation.
In Budapest you sacrificed, brought in hope, you surrender.
Following you in: Sri Sri Dayal Nitai and Vijay Gauranga.
Your servant,
Radhikesa dasa
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Ramdas das
Dear Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Where ever one turns his face he sees sex life predominant, it is the focal point for all the activities for modern civilization. Some how or another you have distracted us from modern civilizations foremost goal. And you are enabling us to gradually transcend this monster magnet. All by your authorised and influential words.
I heard so many devotees older and younger, senior and junior describe how appealing your classes are and how hard you work and how very effective you are. I personally remember loving how Prabhupada spoke in his books and when I first came to the loft you had the same appeal. It wasn't just parrot like repetition of Vedic wisdom. It was like I read; Sukadeva was compared to a parrot not because of his ability to recite the Bhagavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men.
As time has passed for me I've come to appreciate the motivation behind your appeal. Behind your great continuous chain of sacrificial ceremonies is…. Anxiety; to do good for the perplexed people and devotees in general. We are so blessed to have your concern fall upon us at the risk of your own great personal inconvenience.
I was reading how the sages of Naimisaranya were very concerned for the public foreseeing the present age. So they asked for the easy means by which men could progress. I can see this is exactly what you do as well.
Foreseeing our appetite for devotional service, you have made it so easy. Lofts, yoga, mentor systems, real ashrama divisions. Contemporary bachelor ashrams, councillors, easy access to you. Maintainable city preaching centres. Such incredible planning takes so much analysis. And this is exactly what the sages of Naimisaranya did. You so scutinizingly follow the Parampara.
In Prabhupadas books I find so frequently your character being described so when I read his books I often find my self thinking "Gurudeva does like this or yes that describes the mood of my spiritual master.
I am praying to become compassionate like you are. But the qualifications for being compassionate are high, and I am very low.
Please bless me with real compassion and industrial strength to work as hard as you do for the benefit and upliftment of the conditioned souls
Hoping to become a sharp instrument in your hands,
your servant Ramdas das.
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Where ever one turns his face he sees sex life predominant, it is the focal point for all the activities for modern civilization. Some how or another you have distracted us from modern civilizations foremost goal. And you are enabling us to gradually transcend this monster magnet. All by your authorised and influential words.
I heard so many devotees older and younger, senior and junior describe how appealing your classes are and how hard you work and how very effective you are. I personally remember loving how Prabhupada spoke in his books and when I first came to the loft you had the same appeal. It wasn't just parrot like repetition of Vedic wisdom. It was like I read; Sukadeva was compared to a parrot not because of his ability to recite the Bhagavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men.
As time has passed for me I've come to appreciate the motivation behind your appeal. Behind your great continuous chain of sacrificial ceremonies is…. Anxiety; to do good for the perplexed people and devotees in general. We are so blessed to have your concern fall upon us at the risk of your own great personal inconvenience.
I was reading how the sages of Naimisaranya were very concerned for the public foreseeing the present age. So they asked for the easy means by which men could progress. I can see this is exactly what you do as well.
Foreseeing our appetite for devotional service, you have made it so easy. Lofts, yoga, mentor systems, real ashrama divisions. Contemporary bachelor ashrams, councillors, easy access to you. Maintainable city preaching centres. Such incredible planning takes so much analysis. And this is exactly what the sages of Naimisaranya did. You so scutinizingly follow the Parampara.
In Prabhupadas books I find so frequently your character being described so when I read his books I often find my self thinking "Gurudeva does like this or yes that describes the mood of my spiritual master.
I am praying to become compassionate like you are. But the qualifications for being compassionate are high, and I am very low.
Please bless me with real compassion and industrial strength to work as hard as you do for the benefit and upliftment of the conditioned souls
Hoping to become a sharp instrument in your hands,
your servant Ramdas das.
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhakta Ryo
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisance at your loutas feet.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
nama om visnu-padaya
krisna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-
svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve
gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-
pascatya-desa-tarine
It was great oppotunity for me to be introduced Hare Krisna consciousness through one of the devotees. It took long time for me to awakened what is important in our life, in other words what is important to be born as the human form as I was foolish. This is what I have been lookig for... what the meaning of my life is and what the value of my life. I am still not be able to find but Hare Krisna consciousness helps me significantly to find out these questions.
Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada
jaya Srila Prabhupada
I am slowly acquiring your drop of your merciful knowledge with reading through your great books. They inspired me to know what the life is.
However I was mode of ignorant, I could maintain my life by reading your books. In addition, they lead me proper way of life and association.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thanks for giving me an oppotunity to meet you, although I was not one of your devotees then. Your greatest pure heart and words opened my eyes. You and your devotees encourage me to progress my spiritual life.
I am afraid to say that I am unable to express how I feel and how much I appreciate your causeless mercy.
Your insignificant servant,
Bhakta Ryo
Please accept my humble obeisance at your loutas feet.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
nama om visnu-padaya
krisna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-
svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve
gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-
pascatya-desa-tarine
It was great oppotunity for me to be introduced Hare Krisna consciousness through one of the devotees. It took long time for me to awakened what is important in our life, in other words what is important to be born as the human form as I was foolish. This is what I have been lookig for... what the meaning of my life is and what the value of my life. I am still not be able to find but Hare Krisna consciousness helps me significantly to find out these questions.
Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada
jaya Srila Prabhupada
I am slowly acquiring your drop of your merciful knowledge with reading through your great books. They inspired me to know what the life is.
However I was mode of ignorant, I could maintain my life by reading your books. In addition, they lead me proper way of life and association.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thanks for giving me an oppotunity to meet you, although I was not one of your devotees then. Your greatest pure heart and words opened my eyes. You and your devotees encourage me to progress my spiritual life.
I am afraid to say that I am unable to express how I feel and how much I appreciate your causeless mercy.
Your insignificant servant,
Bhakta Ryo
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhakta Samuli Hirvi
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Guru Maharaja
Strugle for sense gratification leads only to frustration. Happines in material world is illusion. Its builded up by mind.
So one wants to renounce everything. One may think that spiritual means no activities ,no forms ,no relationships. And he wants to quit everything.
This is not a natural position for living entity.
You are ocean of mercy. You gave me service to do.
You asked me to make the chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra the most in inportant thing in my life.
You asked me to serve Prabhupadas mission under Tattvavada Prabhus order.
You aseked me to studie carefully Prabhupadas books.
In this way i can learn little by little how to use my senses, mind ,intellegence and words in their original position.
Thank you very ,very much
Your servent,
bh.sam
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Guru Maharaja
Strugle for sense gratification leads only to frustration. Happines in material world is illusion. Its builded up by mind.
So one wants to renounce everything. One may think that spiritual means no activities ,no forms ,no relationships. And he wants to quit everything.
This is not a natural position for living entity.
You are ocean of mercy. You gave me service to do.
You asked me to make the chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra the most in inportant thing in my life.
You asked me to serve Prabhupadas mission under Tattvavada Prabhus order.
You aseked me to studie carefully Prabhupadas books.
In this way i can learn little by little how to use my senses, mind ,intellegence and words in their original position.
Thank you very ,very much
Your servent,
bh.sam
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhakta Sam (Wellington)
Dear Devamrita Swami
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Reflecting on what is the beginning of my Krishna Consciousness career, I can see that at every major every major junction, every serious step of progress I made, you were the underlying cause.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Reflecting on what is the beginning of my Krishna Consciousness career, I can see that at every major every major junction, every serious step of progress I made, you were the underlying cause.
Bringing my chanting up to 16 rounds, moving in with Devotees, deciding my future. And all of this only began because of my reading of Perfect Escape last January. So, all the meaning and peace that my life has attained is directly attributable to you in one-way or another, Devamrita Swami.
Recently I have noticed that it is very easy to forget how profoundly unsatisfying life without Krishna Consciousness was, and that it is very easy to forget just how precious Krishna Consciousness is. I have heard the saying ‘A diamond in the hands of a baby.’ It is very easy to just become a victim of the mind and the senses if not striving with all intelligence for the Lord. This should never be allowed to happen, as it is utterly degrading to the wonderful gift I have been given.
It is my actions, more than my words that will show how grateful I am for your help. So, I hope to arrange my life so that I have the determination in the coming weeks, months and years to express to you my gratitude to you through my actions.
Hare Krishna.
Recently I have noticed that it is very easy to forget how profoundly unsatisfying life without Krishna Consciousness was, and that it is very easy to forget just how precious Krishna Consciousness is. I have heard the saying ‘A diamond in the hands of a baby.’ It is very easy to just become a victim of the mind and the senses if not striving with all intelligence for the Lord. This should never be allowed to happen, as it is utterly degrading to the wonderful gift I have been given.
It is my actions, more than my words that will show how grateful I am for your help. So, I hope to arrange my life so that I have the determination in the coming weeks, months and years to express to you my gratitude to you through my actions.
Hare Krishna.
Your Servant,
Sam Stewart-Jacks (Wellington)
Sam Stewart-Jacks (Wellington)
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Sandipan Krishna das
Please accept my humble obesiances, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am privileged, I really am.
To hear of your glories and lectures is so blissful and enlivening.
To read your blogs from your superb website is exciting. To listen to your classes from my MP3 players is refueling. And finally to be in your presence is hard to describe in words.
And Sri Shyamasundar has been so merciful that he has allowed my senses to be active to all these activities. Truly it is only by the mercy of the Lord, that one gets the opportunity to serve the devotees. I know this because it is not by quality or credits that I have been allowed into the realm of your service. Thank you.
My lifesaver. How I was saved. Your agreement to come to the Pandava Sena Trip in Italy saved me from a Management Meltdown! No one forgets your first lecture, a historical-biographical-philosophical-explosion. We all went from distant to engaged at your lotus feet within an instant. A roomful of 130 School-College-University adolescents all in awe, big smiles and connected, really connected.
Since then staying over at home, going swimming, cooking prasadam, driving; all came at once. So enlivening – memories to carry me lifetimes. I will never forget how intently Krsna is forever on your lips whilst chanting, reading, eating and even when checking email.
And it is such a sweet chant of 'Krsna, Krsna'.
Since, things have changed, but there are instances that I'll never forget. For instance, the 'double-take' and the resulting big-sunshine-beaming-life-inspiring smile as I sat on the tiled floor outside the quarters of all my Uncles in Pune. And if that wasn't enough, my Uncle stopped and took the time to ask what on earth I was doing at the Yatra.
Now in Toronto, I am somewhat unfortunate. I crave to be in your service. I mercifully got a couple of classes in London recently and that very hilarious Q&A session in the Library; how you dealt clinically with that slightly odd medical student!! I felt very much at home, sitting on the floor next to your lotus feet; laughing away as sweet answers poured continuously from your Krsna Kissed Heart.
Oh loveable Uncle, thank you eternally for your mercy. The explosive classes, ingenious insights, wonderful writings, precious presence and exhilarating experiences, have creaked open the door a little more in this little tramps heart.
I'll never be able to thank you enough. Please bless this fool, that he is able to make his Spiritual Master Happy in his efforts to serve Gurudev's instructions.
Thank you for warming my heart with Krsna.
In your service, with love.
Sandipan Krsna Dasa
(Disciple of His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami.
Former Pandava Sena Chairperson.
Currently in Toronto)
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhaktine Sandra
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All glories to your devine grace
Gurumaharaj, i am really lost for words.I do not know how to go about glorifying you.
It has been a year 6 months and thirteen days since i met you in Cape Town.I can still remember everything that day.What i was wearing,how you were sitting,the kind of watch you wore and everything around me.I thought a lot about what we spoke about and what we still continue to speak about.The other day i came across a journal that i had been keeping while growing up, in my teenage years and finally i found some letter that i had been meaning to send but i did not know who the recepient could be.I honestly feel that right now you are the person who can best fit this description.
A spaceman came travelling on a ship from afar, it was light years since his mission had began, over the ocean he flew from his home and his presence shone like a star.He made his way down to the tip of a continent where he found a child lying lost walking the streets but when she looked at him, she just saw a shining light, just like an angel.This spaceman spoke and said do not fear even though people in your country live only 35 years, i will give you your life back.I bring a message for all of mankind to hear and as soon as he beggan telling me his message the sweetest sound filled the air.That message was Hare Krsna Maha Mantra
My heart and body trembled all the time, i saw you for a good three days in a row and the last thing you said to me again filled the air with sweetness.
Gurumaharaj, the last time i read an offering to you i asked you to accept me as one of your daughters.Today i ask and pray that you always keep me at your lotus feet because i do not feel safer anywhere and i cannot live in this place without you.
You have taken me on a journey for a glimpse of paradise and brought me to where people sing for a way to go back home.It was getting really hard to find a place to go where there are peaceful waters flow.The only thing that can save the day is bhakti, and that you have given me with all that you have.I do not understand how i came across your mercy.I spoke to one of my sisters in New zealand and they told me how you speak about our first meeting all over the world while you preach in India, Los Angeles and in England.I do not get it.You are giving me so much more than i have ever wanted in life, your association.It is only because of your mercy that i am still here and that i remain in this house.
Only love can reach the shores of godhead.I am trying really hard to be good and cultured and be a servant but i know that i have disappointed you but you still carry on encouraging me and telling me how important i am to you.I only started having a real father after i met you and i cannot explain what that feels like.Thank you for bringing me here,forgiving me friends, family and a place to call home.
All i pray for on this day is that you keep me in this house beacause i cannot do it by myself.Please help me serve devotees well and be a good servant of the servant of the servant of the lord.
Your daughter,
Bhaktin Sandra
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Sandranandana devi dasi
For my spiritual father
Namo om visnu padaya krsna prestaya bhutale Srimate Devamrita swami iti namine
For your Vyasa-puja offering I wrote a story. Once upon a time, there was a heroic lion and a sweet lamb. They lived in the same part of the woods. Some of the animals often spoke together about the two. The owl remarked, “The lion is sharp in intelligence and therefore feared by all the other animals, the lamb on the other hand is the opposite. She is very meek and there are no confrontations with the other animals.”
The caterpillar replied,
“Oh, look at how the lamb prances and dances, using up so much energy uselessly, whereas the lion seems to sit within himself, fully satisfied, without any irritation from his environment.”
A deer who came to drink at the stream remarked, “Just see how the lion is well-practised at surviving in these forests, due to many steady years of living here, whereas the lamb is very frail and easily misled. I hope no danger will come to her.”
The peacocks then began to speak amongst themselves and one said to another, “If the lion would show his compassionate side he could protect and instruct the little lamb with his sharp intelligence, inner wisdom, and life experience”
Another said,
“He could adopt the lamb and teach him the principles of how to live in this dangerous forest like father, like daughter.”
Then one day a hunter came into the forest and spotted the little lamb as well as the big lion. He decided to aim first for the lion. The lion was aware of the dangerous situation fast unfolding and cunningly ducked down very low into the bushes. Due to his good position he wasn’t seen by the hunter who walked right past him. But, alas, the hunter soon came upon the lamb, and he pulled out his rifle to shoot...
The lamb, hearing a cracking sound, became nervous and began to leap into the air and tried to find some bushes in which to hide, but due to her being very young she wasn’t able to fully hide. The hunter caught up with her and aimed his rifle to shoot...
That moment there came a terrific ROAR that shook the hunters very self and he looked behind him and saw the same lion as before but now he was looking very fierce with his big sharp shining teeth, getting ready to pounce on him. The hunter quickly dropped his rifle and ran as fast as he could away from the lion, never to be seen again. All the animals in the forest praised the lion for his very heroic and compassionate deed and the story became well known all over the land.
May all the weak and frail lambs find a lion as brave and compassionate as this one for their protection from all dangers.
Gurudeva, may my small story that I wrote about you bring you some pleasure. Thank you for your mountain loads of inspiration for keeping me going out and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. You are the only hope in my life. May no evil things reach you, may you always feel transcendental pleasure in the service of your spiritual master, the Panca Tattva and Srimati Radharani and Sri Krsna.
Always seeking your pleasure and begging to assist you in the sankirtan mission,
your servant,
Sandrananda devi dasi
Namo om visnu padaya krsna prestaya bhutale Srimate Devamrita swami iti namine
For your Vyasa-puja offering I wrote a story. Once upon a time, there was a heroic lion and a sweet lamb. They lived in the same part of the woods. Some of the animals often spoke together about the two. The owl remarked, “The lion is sharp in intelligence and therefore feared by all the other animals, the lamb on the other hand is the opposite. She is very meek and there are no confrontations with the other animals.”
The caterpillar replied,
“Oh, look at how the lamb prances and dances, using up so much energy uselessly, whereas the lion seems to sit within himself, fully satisfied, without any irritation from his environment.”
A deer who came to drink at the stream remarked, “Just see how the lion is well-practised at surviving in these forests, due to many steady years of living here, whereas the lamb is very frail and easily misled. I hope no danger will come to her.”
The peacocks then began to speak amongst themselves and one said to another, “If the lion would show his compassionate side he could protect and instruct the little lamb with his sharp intelligence, inner wisdom, and life experience”
Another said,
“He could adopt the lamb and teach him the principles of how to live in this dangerous forest like father, like daughter.”
Then one day a hunter came into the forest and spotted the little lamb as well as the big lion. He decided to aim first for the lion. The lion was aware of the dangerous situation fast unfolding and cunningly ducked down very low into the bushes. Due to his good position he wasn’t seen by the hunter who walked right past him. But, alas, the hunter soon came upon the lamb, and he pulled out his rifle to shoot...
The lamb, hearing a cracking sound, became nervous and began to leap into the air and tried to find some bushes in which to hide, but due to her being very young she wasn’t able to fully hide. The hunter caught up with her and aimed his rifle to shoot...
That moment there came a terrific ROAR that shook the hunters very self and he looked behind him and saw the same lion as before but now he was looking very fierce with his big sharp shining teeth, getting ready to pounce on him. The hunter quickly dropped his rifle and ran as fast as he could away from the lion, never to be seen again. All the animals in the forest praised the lion for his very heroic and compassionate deed and the story became well known all over the land.
May all the weak and frail lambs find a lion as brave and compassionate as this one for their protection from all dangers.
Gurudeva, may my small story that I wrote about you bring you some pleasure. Thank you for your mountain loads of inspiration for keeping me going out and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. You are the only hope in my life. May no evil things reach you, may you always feel transcendental pleasure in the service of your spiritual master, the Panca Tattva and Srimati Radharani and Sri Krsna.
Always seeking your pleasure and begging to assist you in the sankirtan mission,
your servant,
Sandrananda devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Shastra Krit dasa
Please accept my humble obeisances unto your lotus like feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Many,many,many more happy returns of the day Gurudeva.
apane acare keha , na kare pracara
pracara karena keha, na karena acara
acara pracara namera karaha dui karya
tumi sarva guru, tumi jagatera arya
Some behave very well but do not preach the cult of krsna consciousness, whereas others preach but do not behave properly. You simultaneously perform both duties in relation to the holy name by your personal behavior and by your preaching. Therefore you are the spiritual master of the entire world(following in the footsteps of Prabhupad) , for you are( one of ) the most advanced devotees in the world.
In the puranas it is said
guravo bahavah santi sisya-vittapahaharakah durlabho sad-gurur devi sisya santapa harakah
O Devi, there are many gurus who are expert in plundering the wealth of their disciples, but a bonafide guru like you who can remove the miseries of his disciples is very difficult to find.
Bhagavatam says
tapyante loka-tapena sadhavah prayaso janah paramaradhanam tad dhi purusasyakhilatmanah
" it is said that great personalities(like your great self) almost always accept voluntary suffering because of the suffering of people in general.
This is considered the highest method of worshiping the supreme personality of Godhead, who is present in everyone's heart"
Caitanya caritamrita says
Guru krsna rupa hana sastrera pramane
guru rupe krsna krpa karena bhakta gane
According to the deliberate opinion of all revealed scriptures, the spiritual master is non different from krsna. Lord krsna in the form of the the spiritual master delivers his devotess.
Please deliver me.
kirti gana madhye jivera kon bada kirti?
krsna bhakta baliya yanhara haya khyati.
Sri caitanya Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Raya, " out of all glorious activities which is the most glorious?
Ramananda Ray replied, " That person (H.H Devamrita swami) who is reputed to be a devotee of lord krsna enjoys the utmost fame and glory"
Although i am unable to offer prayers to you in an adequate fashion ,out of duty i made an attempt to purify myself.
Please accept this humble offering Gurudeva.
Yours servant
Shastra krit dasa (New Dwaraka Dham)
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhakta Sergey
Please accept my obeisances at your lotus feet.
In your instructions you manifest fatherly care and love. You are anxious about how to encourage everyone to get the highest benefit and not be satisfied with whatever they already have. Like a loving father you are giving us the most valuable and preventing us from harming ourselves with all kinds of nonsense things.
You are revealing the nature of the material world by giving very simple and easy to understand examples, dissipating the illusion of enjoyment in the material world and instead you are giving us the understanding of the true position of the living entity.
For sometime I thought I was the most selfless person in the world. But seeing how you are traveling around the world to share with others the most valuable thing you have without asking anything in return I understood that all that I had tried before was caused by the selfish desire to enjoy, not by the desire to serve others. The positive example of your life and behavior gives us a great example for us to work on ourselves.
Your servant,
Sergey from Lutsk
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Sevamrta devi dasi
Dear Guru MaharajaPlease accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
This humble attempt to glorify you is, without a doubt, for my own purification and benefit, for you do not need glorification from me. I can only understand a tiny particle of your glories and even then, they are impossible to be realized and described by me. Still, I will try to glorify you, with your help.
Indeed, you gave me the inspiration through a lecture, 'Contemporary Urban Preaching', which you gave at Radhadesh in 2003. As I was hearing your mood of sacrifice, I could feel the contamination of pride and selfishness in my heart being washed-off. Understanding the mission statement of Gaura Yoga, as a preaching centre, swelled me up with pride and satisfaction over what a wonderful father I have.
We make it easy for you…
to come to Krsna consciousness
to grow in Krsna consciousness in a balanced organic way
and to distribute Krsna consciousness to others.
This one sentence-motto is a manifestation of your mood, divine qualities and activities as a dear servant of your spiritual master. And I feel inconceivably fortunate to be entrapped at Gaura yoga centre by this device of your mercy and compassion. Little did I know, before hearing your own explanation, which not all 'Hare Krsna' temples and centres around the world are like Gaura yoga! 'How does anybody become Krsna conscious then?' I thought (most likely, due to my foolishness). Now it is only by your endeavour that every bolt and knot of the Gaura yoga mechanism is extremely sensitized to give Krsna consciousness to others, and of course ourselves.
Śrī -guru karunā sindhu, adhama jan āra bandhu
" My spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor and lord and master of devotees"
(Śrī Guru-vandanā)
" My spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor and lord and master of devotees"
(Śrī Guru-vandanā)
Gaura yoga preaching programmes, a combination of direct and indirect, are the manifestations of your 'friendly' compassion upon the poor (bereft of hari-namamrta). What's more is that you pour the 'fatherly' compassion upon your disciples by providing us a solid foundation in bhakti-yoga career. You are giving me the best facility to grow in Krsna consciousness. Everything is there to equip us to go back to Godhead. What can I expect to learn more than;
* taking senior devotee counselling,
* chanting 16 rounds in one go with attention (try to),
* centering daily activities around 2 hours of Sadhana (reading Prabhupada's books)
* and endeavouring for the mastery art of giving Krsna consciousness to others
('Simultaneous transformation' - for one who receives Krsna and the one who gives)
"Preach, preach, and preach! Selflessness is better than selfishness"
Yes, Guru Maharaja, I would love to give Krsna consciousness to others. I would more than love to become a worthy servant in assisting you and Srila Prabhupada. However, I am so weak and useless on my own. I am ashamed to admit that I am not giving you all I have. Holding back so much for my self- what for?, I wonder. Unfortunately, I do not have strength and intelligence to 'try my best' to please you. I do not know how to beg for your mercy, so I'd like to pray to you through the mouth of Raghunatha dasa (praying to Lord Nityanada).
"I am the lowest of men, the most sinful, fallen and condemned. Nevertheless, I desire to attain shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Like a dwarf who wants to catch the moon, I have tried my best many times, but I have never been successful." Every time I tried to go away and give up my home relationship, my father and mother unfortunately kept me bound. No one can attain the shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu without Your mercy, but if You are merciful, even the lowest of men can attain shelter at His lotus feet. Although I am unfit and greatly afraid to submit this plea, I nevertheless request You, sir, to be especially merciful toward me by granting me shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Placing Your feet on my head, give me the benediction that I may achieve the shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu without difficulty. I pray for this benediction. " (Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Ch6, 128-133)
Guru Maharaja, my only desire is to attain shelter at your lotus feet.
Praying to be your worthy instrument,
Sevamrta devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Sita-pati das
Dear Gurudeva
Please accept my humble obeisances on the most auspicious occasion of Sri Vyasa-puja. Happy Birthday! :-)
Why does the Loft paradigm work in some places and seem to prove ineffective in others? What are the essential elements, and what are the details? These are questions that have engaged me for a number of years now.
In his book "All Marketers are Liars" Seth Godin writes:
"The only way your story will be believed, the only way people will tell themselves the 'lie' you are depending on and the only way your idea will spread is if you tell the truth. And you are telling the truth when you live the story you are telling - when it's authentic. (You) are not sitting around scheming up new plans on how to deceive the public.
Instead you are living and breathing your story.
This is what makes it all work: a complete dedication to and embrace of your story"
It could be yoga or something else, and in the first years of the Loft it *was* something else. Those of us who were there to witness the earlier years are well aware that Hatha yoga is a "circumstantial detail". The "active ingredient" are the devotees who are sincerely and seriously practicing the devotional processes (sadhana) of bhakti-yoga and making themselves available to the public on terms that both can agree on, meeting the guests where they are at. What matters are that the staff are authentic. They really are teaching yoga (or whatever it is that they do there), and they really are devotees.
People appreciate their authenticity at first in terms of what they are "overtly advertising", and gradually, as they have the opportunity to observe them individually and in community, the integrity of their lifestyle. They really are living the values that they profess, through and through.
Two misconceptions that I've observed that defeat the potency of the "Loft preaching paradigm" and render an implementation ineffective are (1) where devotees are pretending to offer something, while internally denigrating it, with the conscious or unconscious idea that what they are doing is trying to "trick people into becoming Hare Krishnas". People pick up on this inauthenticity. (2) where persons are engaged whose primary motivation is something other than distribution of Krishna Consciousness, in order to "attract the public". This doesn't have the primal shakti of pure motivation. Sometimes those people become purified through their engagement, but rarely does this lead to a vibrant and enlivening situation that creates forward momentum.
Under your expert and discerning guidance we are learning to walk the "razor's edge" of spiritual life. To be fully human and at the same time fully spiritual. To be in the world but not of it by desiring and utilizing everything for the progress of the mission of the Lord in this world. Beyond exploitation, the attempt to selfishly gratify the senses, beyond even renunciation, the reaction of disgusted rejection, you are teaching us dedication to Guru and Krishna - transcendental to both mundane attachment and aversion.
Everything in this world comes from Krishna, therefore everything belongs to Krishna, therefore everything must be utilized in Krishna's service.
I wish to pledge my service to you lifetime after lifetime. I do not care where I go either in this life or the next, as long as I can have some connection with you and your service to your Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
I am insignificant and can be overcome by the material energy at any time. At least at this moment I am conscious of this desire, and I wish that this desire can remain with me to the moment of death.
In this lifetime I would like to purify my heart of all the extraneous and distracting desires, misconceptions and conditioning, and become a more useful servant to you.
You once wrote to me: "With intelligence and determination surrender your life to Krishna." Thank you for being and continuing to be a shining example of how to do this.
your aspiring servant,
Sita-pati das
Please accept my humble obeisances on the most auspicious occasion of Sri Vyasa-puja. Happy Birthday! :-)
Why does the Loft paradigm work in some places and seem to prove ineffective in others? What are the essential elements, and what are the details? These are questions that have engaged me for a number of years now.
In his book "All Marketers are Liars" Seth Godin writes:
"The only way your story will be believed, the only way people will tell themselves the 'lie' you are depending on and the only way your idea will spread is if you tell the truth. And you are telling the truth when you live the story you are telling - when it's authentic. (You) are not sitting around scheming up new plans on how to deceive the public.
Instead you are living and breathing your story.
This is what makes it all work: a complete dedication to and embrace of your story"
It could be yoga or something else, and in the first years of the Loft it *was* something else. Those of us who were there to witness the earlier years are well aware that Hatha yoga is a "circumstantial detail". The "active ingredient" are the devotees who are sincerely and seriously practicing the devotional processes (sadhana) of bhakti-yoga and making themselves available to the public on terms that both can agree on, meeting the guests where they are at. What matters are that the staff are authentic. They really are teaching yoga (or whatever it is that they do there), and they really are devotees.
People appreciate their authenticity at first in terms of what they are "overtly advertising", and gradually, as they have the opportunity to observe them individually and in community, the integrity of their lifestyle. They really are living the values that they profess, through and through.
Two misconceptions that I've observed that defeat the potency of the "Loft preaching paradigm" and render an implementation ineffective are (1) where devotees are pretending to offer something, while internally denigrating it, with the conscious or unconscious idea that what they are doing is trying to "trick people into becoming Hare Krishnas". People pick up on this inauthenticity. (2) where persons are engaged whose primary motivation is something other than distribution of Krishna Consciousness, in order to "attract the public". This doesn't have the primal shakti of pure motivation. Sometimes those people become purified through their engagement, but rarely does this lead to a vibrant and enlivening situation that creates forward momentum.
Under your expert and discerning guidance we are learning to walk the "razor's edge" of spiritual life. To be fully human and at the same time fully spiritual. To be in the world but not of it by desiring and utilizing everything for the progress of the mission of the Lord in this world. Beyond exploitation, the attempt to selfishly gratify the senses, beyond even renunciation, the reaction of disgusted rejection, you are teaching us dedication to Guru and Krishna - transcendental to both mundane attachment and aversion.
Everything in this world comes from Krishna, therefore everything belongs to Krishna, therefore everything must be utilized in Krishna's service.
I wish to pledge my service to you lifetime after lifetime. I do not care where I go either in this life or the next, as long as I can have some connection with you and your service to your Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
I am insignificant and can be overcome by the material energy at any time. At least at this moment I am conscious of this desire, and I wish that this desire can remain with me to the moment of death.
In this lifetime I would like to purify my heart of all the extraneous and distracting desires, misconceptions and conditioning, and become a more useful servant to you.
You once wrote to me: "With intelligence and determination surrender your life to Krishna." Thank you for being and continuing to be a shining example of how to do this.
your aspiring servant,
Sita-pati das
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Sri Yasoda devi dasi
To my beloved spiritual father,
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
All glories to you on this most auspicious day of your appearance.
Dear Guru Maharaja, thank you for allowing me to be your disciple. This is the greatest gift, and to glorify you and hear glorification of you, is one of the sweetest tastes I relish in Krsna Consciousness.
I think of what you've saved me from.......a sinful, miserable life of repeated birth and death.
Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says " Where does anyone find such a merciful personality by whose mere audience all sins go far away?
After bathing in the waters of the sacred Ganges many times, one becomes purified, but just by the sight of you, the fallen souls are purified. This is your great power."
With that power and your great compassion you have saved so many from material existence.
S.B. 1.2.5 purport... Material existence is temporary, illusory and full of miseries. there is no happiness at all. There is just the futile attempt to get rid of the miseries, and temporary cessation of misery is falsely called happiness.
S.B. 1.1.13 purport... The whole atmosphere is surcharged with opposition. And considering this, one can see that spiritual emancipation for the common man in this age is very difficult.
S.B. 1.1.22 purport... Out of madness they frankly say that there is no need for self realisation because they do not realise that this brief life is but a moment on our great journey towards self realisation...
Learned men, therefore, must be cautious of this age, and if they at all want to cross over the dangerous ocean of Kali, they must follow in the footsteps of the sages of Naimisaranya and accept Sri Suta Goswami or his bona fide representative as the captain of the ship. The ship is the message of Lord Sri Krsna in the shape of Bhagavad-Gita or the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
And you are the captain of that ship, hauling in your drowning, spluttering crew from the ocean of kali and teaching us how to breath again. Reviving us with the medicine of the holy name and Prabhupada's books.
You make it easy for us to come to Krsna Consciousness, to grow in Krsna Consciousness and you teach us how to distribute Krsna Consciousness to others.
S.B.1.5.16 pp The expert devotees also can discover novel ways and means to convert the non devotees in terms of particular time and circumstance.Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the material population.
You are always so dynamic and expert at encouraging anyone and everyone. I love listening to your lectures when you're talking to people very new to Krsna Consciousness, you give everything, whatever mood they have, with such skill and style you capture their hearts and minds seemingly effortlessly.
I remember before I had ever met you, I had heard allot about you and listened to some of your lectures. I always assumed you were my spiritual master, I never considered whether or not I was qualified, or if I should ask anybody, actually I was so spaced out I don't think I really thought about it at all! It was so natural I didn't even notice. You made it so easy to come to Krsna Consciousness, thank you for allowing me to be your disciple and giving me your dear servants to associate with.
At my initiation ceremony you said "...from our side we're giving everything so that they can go the distance, and we pray to Prabhupada and Krsna that they will sincerely go the distance. It is possible, it is possible.
This ceremony marks the confirmation of what should be in their hearts, 'I will push forward', 'I will cross over the ocean of repeated birth and death', 'I'll learn how to master my senses', 'I' will go through the various appropriate vedic ashrams and execute them in such a way that I'll get the benefit of that ashram'.
We hope that each one of them will render some significant service to Srila Prabhupada's mission, it is needed so much."
These words echo in my heart and mind, and as I meditate on them I realise how far away I am from being your worthy servant.
How can I serve you better Guru Maharaja?
You have given me everything and I owe you everything.
Please take whatever you want from me, whatever I have is all by your mercy.
I am nothing without you please continue to bless me with your service.
Praying that I may always remain at the lotus feet of your servants servants,
Your servant Sri Yasoda devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
All glories to you on this most auspicious day of your appearance.
Dear Guru Maharaja, thank you for allowing me to be your disciple. This is the greatest gift, and to glorify you and hear glorification of you, is one of the sweetest tastes I relish in Krsna Consciousness.
I think of what you've saved me from.......a sinful, miserable life of repeated birth and death.
Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says " Where does anyone find such a merciful personality by whose mere audience all sins go far away?
After bathing in the waters of the sacred Ganges many times, one becomes purified, but just by the sight of you, the fallen souls are purified. This is your great power."
With that power and your great compassion you have saved so many from material existence.
S.B. 1.2.5 purport... Material existence is temporary, illusory and full of miseries. there is no happiness at all. There is just the futile attempt to get rid of the miseries, and temporary cessation of misery is falsely called happiness.
S.B. 1.1.13 purport... The whole atmosphere is surcharged with opposition. And considering this, one can see that spiritual emancipation for the common man in this age is very difficult.
S.B. 1.1.22 purport... Out of madness they frankly say that there is no need for self realisation because they do not realise that this brief life is but a moment on our great journey towards self realisation...
Learned men, therefore, must be cautious of this age, and if they at all want to cross over the dangerous ocean of Kali, they must follow in the footsteps of the sages of Naimisaranya and accept Sri Suta Goswami or his bona fide representative as the captain of the ship. The ship is the message of Lord Sri Krsna in the shape of Bhagavad-Gita or the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
And you are the captain of that ship, hauling in your drowning, spluttering crew from the ocean of kali and teaching us how to breath again. Reviving us with the medicine of the holy name and Prabhupada's books.
You make it easy for us to come to Krsna Consciousness, to grow in Krsna Consciousness and you teach us how to distribute Krsna Consciousness to others.
S.B.1.5.16 pp The expert devotees also can discover novel ways and means to convert the non devotees in terms of particular time and circumstance.Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the material population.
You are always so dynamic and expert at encouraging anyone and everyone. I love listening to your lectures when you're talking to people very new to Krsna Consciousness, you give everything, whatever mood they have, with such skill and style you capture their hearts and minds seemingly effortlessly.
I remember before I had ever met you, I had heard allot about you and listened to some of your lectures. I always assumed you were my spiritual master, I never considered whether or not I was qualified, or if I should ask anybody, actually I was so spaced out I don't think I really thought about it at all! It was so natural I didn't even notice. You made it so easy to come to Krsna Consciousness, thank you for allowing me to be your disciple and giving me your dear servants to associate with.
At my initiation ceremony you said "...from our side we're giving everything so that they can go the distance, and we pray to Prabhupada and Krsna that they will sincerely go the distance. It is possible, it is possible.
This ceremony marks the confirmation of what should be in their hearts, 'I will push forward', 'I will cross over the ocean of repeated birth and death', 'I'll learn how to master my senses', 'I' will go through the various appropriate vedic ashrams and execute them in such a way that I'll get the benefit of that ashram'.
We hope that each one of them will render some significant service to Srila Prabhupada's mission, it is needed so much."
These words echo in my heart and mind, and as I meditate on them I realise how far away I am from being your worthy servant.
How can I serve you better Guru Maharaja?
You have given me everything and I owe you everything.
Please take whatever you want from me, whatever I have is all by your mercy.
I am nothing without you please continue to bless me with your service.
Praying that I may always remain at the lotus feet of your servants servants,
Your servant Sri Yasoda devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Sukanthi Radha devi dasi
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Again, the most auspicious day of your vyasa puja is here, and I embrace this opportunity to humbly try and glorify you.
In Krishna book, Ch.32 (prayers by the personifies Vedas), Srila Prabhupada relates the inquiries of King Pariksit to Sukadeva Gosvami. King Pariksit’s inquiries were to ascertain whether the Vedas ultimately describe the Absolute truth as impersonal or personal.
Since the mind is material and the vibration of words is a material sound, how can the Vedic knowledge, expressing by material sound the thoughts of the mind, approach transcendence?
At the end of his questions, King Pariksit states:
I do not see how it is possible to understand transcendence from such expressions of material sound.
Similarly, how can I describe your transcendental glories adequately with this limited and restricted language? Indeed, how can I even conceive of them using my materially conditioned consciousness?
Prabhupada clearly tells us:
It is not that one is unable to approach the Absolute Truth by the senses and the mind. The conclusion is, rather, that the senses, mind and intelligence in the gross stage of contamination cannot appreciate the nature of the Absolute Truth, but when purified, the senses, mind and intelligence can understand what the Absolute Truth is. This purifying process is called devotional service, or Krishna consciousness.
Following in Srila Prabhupadas footsteps, you are practically and tirelessly propounding this personal approach to the Absolute Truth, clearly teaching us how to purify our senses in Krishna consciousness, hence sparing us from the impersonalist philosophy which is permeating Western society and robbing us of our individuality and Krishna’s Supreme Personhood.
Later in this chapter, Srila Prabhupada eloquently describes the pure devotee of Krishna.
Not only does a pure devotee purify his own personal existence, but whoever becomes his disciple also ultimately becomes purified and able to enter into the kingdom of God without difficulty. Not only can a pure devotee easily surpass death, but by his grace his followers also can do so without difficulty. The power of devotional service is so great that a pure devotee can electrify another person by his transcendental instruction on crossing over the ocean of nescience.
Like Prabhupada, you are very eloquent and poetic in your descriptions of all aspects of bhakti, and your words are enlivening and encouraging. You are an exemplary teacher and such a wonderful example to follow.
Srila Prabhupada further explains the effects of such a devotee on this desert like material world:
Some sparks fall onto the dry grass and thus ignite another big fire. This is in reference to the pure devotees who take compassion on the poor and innocent living entities. The pure devotee enlightens Krishna consciousness in the hearts of the conditioned souls, and thus the blazing fire of the spiritual world becomes manifest even within this material world.
It is plain to see that you have devoted your life to Krishna and are rigorously igniting dry grass throughout the whole world. Every place that you visit is extremely fortunate and your electrifying presence and instructions light up the hearts of so many parched conditioned souls.
Your bhakti, although incomprehensible to me, is like a beacon leading us confidently and expertly through the dangerous jungle of the material world. I long for the day when my mind, body and words will accept your guidance and follow your instructions wholeheartedly with no reservations. What benefit can one derive for oneself and others if this were to be the case?
Prabhupada goes on to inform us:
By his personal attempts, no one can get free from the clutches of material nature. One has to accept a bonafide spiritual master and work according to his direction. Then it is possible to cross over the nescience of material conditions.
Srila Prabhupada continues by quoting a verse by Sripada Sridhara Svami in this connection:
O all-merciful spiritual master, representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when will my mind be completely surrendered unto your lotus feet? At that time, only by your mercy, I shall be able to get relief from all obstacles to spiritual life, and I shall be situated in blissful life.
Prabhupada further describes you:
Great devotees of the Lord travel all over the world from one place of pilgrimage to another and on their way they meet many conditioned souls and deliver them by their association and distribution of transcendental knowledge.
Guru Maharaja, I cannot say that I realize the value of Krishna Consciousness, however, having glimpsed the powerful rays of the beacon which is you, I have full faith that I must try and follow you, in this crippled state, one way or another, so that in some future lifetime, Srila Prabhupada and Krishna may notice that I am running behind you.
Thank you for showing me the way out of selfish material consciousness by your deep selfless compassion.
Please excuse me for all offenses I have committed knowingly or unknowingly at your lotus feet.
I beg you to help me align my desire with your desire and make your instructions my life and soul, not desiring anything else except to be the humble servant of your transcendental instructions.
Trying to be your un-conditional servant,
Sukanthi Radha devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Again, the most auspicious day of your vyasa puja is here, and I embrace this opportunity to humbly try and glorify you.
In Krishna book, Ch.32 (prayers by the personifies Vedas), Srila Prabhupada relates the inquiries of King Pariksit to Sukadeva Gosvami. King Pariksit’s inquiries were to ascertain whether the Vedas ultimately describe the Absolute truth as impersonal or personal.
Since the mind is material and the vibration of words is a material sound, how can the Vedic knowledge, expressing by material sound the thoughts of the mind, approach transcendence?
At the end of his questions, King Pariksit states:
I do not see how it is possible to understand transcendence from such expressions of material sound.
Similarly, how can I describe your transcendental glories adequately with this limited and restricted language? Indeed, how can I even conceive of them using my materially conditioned consciousness?
Prabhupada clearly tells us:
It is not that one is unable to approach the Absolute Truth by the senses and the mind. The conclusion is, rather, that the senses, mind and intelligence in the gross stage of contamination cannot appreciate the nature of the Absolute Truth, but when purified, the senses, mind and intelligence can understand what the Absolute Truth is. This purifying process is called devotional service, or Krishna consciousness.
Following in Srila Prabhupadas footsteps, you are practically and tirelessly propounding this personal approach to the Absolute Truth, clearly teaching us how to purify our senses in Krishna consciousness, hence sparing us from the impersonalist philosophy which is permeating Western society and robbing us of our individuality and Krishna’s Supreme Personhood.
Later in this chapter, Srila Prabhupada eloquently describes the pure devotee of Krishna.
Not only does a pure devotee purify his own personal existence, but whoever becomes his disciple also ultimately becomes purified and able to enter into the kingdom of God without difficulty. Not only can a pure devotee easily surpass death, but by his grace his followers also can do so without difficulty. The power of devotional service is so great that a pure devotee can electrify another person by his transcendental instruction on crossing over the ocean of nescience.
Like Prabhupada, you are very eloquent and poetic in your descriptions of all aspects of bhakti, and your words are enlivening and encouraging. You are an exemplary teacher and such a wonderful example to follow.
Srila Prabhupada further explains the effects of such a devotee on this desert like material world:
Some sparks fall onto the dry grass and thus ignite another big fire. This is in reference to the pure devotees who take compassion on the poor and innocent living entities. The pure devotee enlightens Krishna consciousness in the hearts of the conditioned souls, and thus the blazing fire of the spiritual world becomes manifest even within this material world.
It is plain to see that you have devoted your life to Krishna and are rigorously igniting dry grass throughout the whole world. Every place that you visit is extremely fortunate and your electrifying presence and instructions light up the hearts of so many parched conditioned souls.
Your bhakti, although incomprehensible to me, is like a beacon leading us confidently and expertly through the dangerous jungle of the material world. I long for the day when my mind, body and words will accept your guidance and follow your instructions wholeheartedly with no reservations. What benefit can one derive for oneself and others if this were to be the case?
Prabhupada goes on to inform us:
By his personal attempts, no one can get free from the clutches of material nature. One has to accept a bonafide spiritual master and work according to his direction. Then it is possible to cross over the nescience of material conditions.
Srila Prabhupada continues by quoting a verse by Sripada Sridhara Svami in this connection:
O all-merciful spiritual master, representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when will my mind be completely surrendered unto your lotus feet? At that time, only by your mercy, I shall be able to get relief from all obstacles to spiritual life, and I shall be situated in blissful life.
Prabhupada further describes you:
Great devotees of the Lord travel all over the world from one place of pilgrimage to another and on their way they meet many conditioned souls and deliver them by their association and distribution of transcendental knowledge.
Guru Maharaja, I cannot say that I realize the value of Krishna Consciousness, however, having glimpsed the powerful rays of the beacon which is you, I have full faith that I must try and follow you, in this crippled state, one way or another, so that in some future lifetime, Srila Prabhupada and Krishna may notice that I am running behind you.
Thank you for showing me the way out of selfish material consciousness by your deep selfless compassion.
Please excuse me for all offenses I have committed knowingly or unknowingly at your lotus feet.
I beg you to help me align my desire with your desire and make your instructions my life and soul, not desiring anything else except to be the humble servant of your transcendental instructions.
Trying to be your un-conditional servant,
Sukanthi Radha devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhaktine Susan
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and to Srila Prabhupada all glories
What qualifications do I have to sit here and attempt to glorify your qualities? This is not meant as a self pitying statement, rather, as you read on, allow me to show the vastness that lies between a great mahatma and desert tumble weed, by recounting our relationship to date..
I recall our first meeting and only in hindsight see how blind I was to the lessons you were freely giving by the example of living your qualities. It was your depth of knowledge, on a topic I can’t remember, during a Sunday feast so inspiring I was compelled to ask you to sit at the table during dinner. Your humble nature not stirred as you had to pick up your own chair to join the table. With transcendental vision you maintained complete detachment in the company of my inappropriate attire, and your calm self assurance, unwavering under the onslaught of my skeptical and somewhat arrogant questioning.
You bestowed such mercy on me that night, patiently tolerating and then skillfully untangling my knotted understanding of the world around me. However, like a horse with blinkers on I could not see these subtle lessons, what to mention of the ones you were actually voicing.
I still remember my naïve questioning during our discussion of Karma. “So.. you have some sort of choice in your next body huh? You mean you could choose to come back a like a chicken or something? Have you chosen your next body?!”.
We spoke long past the last guest’s departure that night, you selflessly sacrificing your time on this confidently lost soul. Materially not knowing any other way to show my appreciation after our conversation, I asked if I could kiss you on the cheek. “I’M A MONK” came your to-the-point-reply. O-the offences you bore that evening.
That same night you inscribed on the inside of a Perfect Escape “To Susan, may a perfect escape be yours” – a book which I sadly admit to reading with materially puffed up vision. I had my concept of God and that was that.
We’ve previously discussed how having grown up under the bodily designation of a white girl in racist South Africa, complete with coloured maids, I find it ironic that I sit on the ground before your black lotus feet attempting to be your servant. Only now do I see the significance of Jada Bharata’s wisdom regarding the flickering positions of social externalities.
It is only thanks to your steadfast determination and that of your empowered devotees that I sit here today. Each time you came to Auckland I would pretend to be the great jnani, pontificating about this or that and you would knowingly smile, interjecting at the perfect moment with a scriptural quote that would burst my little know-it-all bubble. You would ask me how the Bhagavad-Gita was going, and I would tell you I was scanning the index for the topics I wanted to read. You would say read it as it is meant to be read and I would reply yes I will do that. We had this conversation on numerous occasions.
It took me 12 months and 3 continents to reach 16 rounds. On reporting this milestone you quickly put the drama’s and excuses I’d had to reaching it into perspective “So you’ve finally come in for a landing hey.. now it wasn’t thaaaaaaat hard was it?!” Your humor prevailing as I followed my new milestone with a reluctant surrender into Loft life “Susan, I’m a patient man, now hurry up and get past this phase so you can help me”
Devamrta Swami, you have given my life point. My piteous tears during that first meeting almost 2 years ago, replaced with a fulfilling assurance of direction and purpose. Unfortunately I am still so very blind to just how qualified you are to be directing my life; my short sightedness keeps me from being as useful to you as I one day hope to be.
And so in writing this, I give you full permission to continue smashing the thick layer of misconceptions I choose to ignorantly hide behind. Do with me as you will.
Your humble white servant,
Susan
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Syama Gauri devi dasi
Dear Guru Maharaj
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to you on this day of your appearance.
Ever since I had the rare opportunity of meeting you in this life, I have considered myself very fortunate to be in your hands. I feel like a hypocrite trying to glorify you even though I know there are no words I could use to show what a special person you are to me and many others. Very patiently you have scooped and cleaned up many of us from the sticky quicksand of material life.
Actively preaching with such bala (spiritual strength), conviction, fearlessness and as I have seen with my very own eyes, you have turned sensual beggars into divinely qualified, soft-hearted vaisnavas/vis. Many of the troubles you go through to give Krsna to others and to guide your disciples, I am not even aware of. I do know one thing though; that you can steal anyone's heart!, appearing as Krsna's external representation and expertly entering a person's heart without them even knowing it.
"Real love is shown through sacrifice" as you often say and show by example. The sacrifices you have made for me and many others are thankless. "I want you to have the best" as you always assure us. You Guru Maharaj have the best for us, because you represent the best; Sri Krsna.
To tell you the truth Guru Maharaj, I am trying to find better ways to express my gratitude to you for this life you have given me just out of your compassion. "As a naive disciple sometimes I forget that there will come a day when your vapu form will not be present before us, maybe some of us will be gone by then. This is a fearful thought for me, but this fear however pushes me to give myself more to your instructions and endeavor more to make you a proud father.
So as you have shown us the art of selflessly, unconditionally serving one's spiritual master according to his desire, I pray that I too can diligently follow your lotus footsteps for your pleasure. What way can I become useful to you Guru Maharaj? Again and again I try to search for words to let you know what you mean to me, so I'll put it simply and say "thank you, Guru Maharaj. Thank you for your sacrifices".
Mainly thank you for your bhakti, because of it many people are being transformed, and so many devotees are learning from you how to deeply enter into the spiritual world , even though we may not be even far at all, like myself. Intensely striving to be your unconditional servant.
your daughter,
Syama gauri devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to you on this day of your appearance.
Ever since I had the rare opportunity of meeting you in this life, I have considered myself very fortunate to be in your hands. I feel like a hypocrite trying to glorify you even though I know there are no words I could use to show what a special person you are to me and many others. Very patiently you have scooped and cleaned up many of us from the sticky quicksand of material life.
Actively preaching with such bala (spiritual strength), conviction, fearlessness and as I have seen with my very own eyes, you have turned sensual beggars into divinely qualified, soft-hearted vaisnavas/vis. Many of the troubles you go through to give Krsna to others and to guide your disciples, I am not even aware of. I do know one thing though; that you can steal anyone's heart!, appearing as Krsna's external representation and expertly entering a person's heart without them even knowing it.
"Real love is shown through sacrifice" as you often say and show by example. The sacrifices you have made for me and many others are thankless. "I want you to have the best" as you always assure us. You Guru Maharaj have the best for us, because you represent the best; Sri Krsna.
To tell you the truth Guru Maharaj, I am trying to find better ways to express my gratitude to you for this life you have given me just out of your compassion. "As a naive disciple sometimes I forget that there will come a day when your vapu form will not be present before us, maybe some of us will be gone by then. This is a fearful thought for me, but this fear however pushes me to give myself more to your instructions and endeavor more to make you a proud father.
So as you have shown us the art of selflessly, unconditionally serving one's spiritual master according to his desire, I pray that I too can diligently follow your lotus footsteps for your pleasure. What way can I become useful to you Guru Maharaj? Again and again I try to search for words to let you know what you mean to me, so I'll put it simply and say "thank you, Guru Maharaj. Thank you for your sacrifices".
Mainly thank you for your bhakti, because of it many people are being transformed, and so many devotees are learning from you how to deeply enter into the spiritual world , even though we may not be even far at all, like myself. Intensely striving to be your unconditional servant.
your daughter,
Syama gauri devi dasi
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhakta Steve
Dear Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisences at your lotus feet, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
This is the first time I have attempted a Vyasa Puja offering, and I am quite confident when I say it will be inadequate.
I have read other offerings from your deciples and well wishes and always thought how nicely they expressed the gratitude I feel in my heart for all you have done for me.
I could never be so efficient in expressing such joy and appreciation.
I will simply say thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.
It was through your mercy that the Ameyatma Das & Rama Das knocked on our door.
Thank-you for showing real care for my family & I.
Thank-you for showing what it really means to be a Human Being.
Thank-you for introducing me to Srila Prabhupada and thank-you for sharing your love for him.
Thank-you for encouraging me to chant the Holy Names of Krishna.
Thank-you for preaching all over the world.
Thank-you for showing me the real meaning of lasting happiness and complete joy.
Thank-you for reawakening my love for Krishna.
Mine is a debt which can never be repaid. All I can do is humbly pray to be able to offer some service at your lotus feet eternally.
Always trying to offer some humble service,
Steve
Please accept my humble obeisences at your lotus feet, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
This is the first time I have attempted a Vyasa Puja offering, and I am quite confident when I say it will be inadequate.
I have read other offerings from your deciples and well wishes and always thought how nicely they expressed the gratitude I feel in my heart for all you have done for me.
I could never be so efficient in expressing such joy and appreciation.
I will simply say thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.
It was through your mercy that the Ameyatma Das & Rama Das knocked on our door.
Thank-you for showing real care for my family & I.
Thank-you for showing what it really means to be a Human Being.
Thank-you for introducing me to Srila Prabhupada and thank-you for sharing your love for him.
Thank-you for encouraging me to chant the Holy Names of Krishna.
Thank-you for preaching all over the world.
Thank-you for showing me the real meaning of lasting happiness and complete joy.
Thank-you for reawakening my love for Krishna.
Mine is a debt which can never be repaid. All I can do is humbly pray to be able to offer some service at your lotus feet eternally.
Always trying to offer some humble service,
Steve
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhaktine Sujata
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All Glories unto you on your Appearance Day.
Guru Maharaja, this is the first time I'm writing an offering for you. So please excuse my offenses.
On this auspicious day of your Vyasa puja , I feel very fortunate of having taken shelter of your lotus feet.
Early this year in Los Angeles, when I had your darshan for the first time, you asked me - " Do you accept me as your spiritual master ?".
While I replied 'Yes' , I was completely unaware of the revolution that was waiting to happen in my consciousness and in spiritual life in the months to come.
You kindly invited me for a visit to Gaura Yoga and Melbourne this year. By observing the dedicated lifestyle of devotees, I learnt how we could actively engage ourselves 24 hours a day in devotional service.
Every morning ,I relished chanting with devotees; followed by the daily services of distributing books, preaching , cooking, cleaning etc. At the end of the day I used to get physically exhausted, nevertheless, I felt satisfied and fulfilled.
My heart fills with gratitude that you have mercifully set up such contemporary ashrams for encouraging newcomers like me.
Now, I have found the best program for leading a meaningful and purposeful life.
After this 3-month overhauling experience, I have come to appreciate the endless opportunities that lie for me in Krsna Consciousness. There is so much to be accomplished in Srila Prabhupada's mission ; so much to be read , so much to be understood and realized from Srila Prabhupada's books. And then endeavour to enlighten the less fortunate souls by distributing the mercy of Lord Caitanya.
Guru Maharaja, I beg to be used as an instrument in this most important welfare activity. All my talents and energies seek to be engaged in Lord Krsna's service.
But Guru Maharaja , but for your blessings and expert guidance, I would be like a fire covered inside a pot. So, please take me into your service and allow me to dedicate my life and soul in your projects.
What other reason could there be to live ?
Your aspiring servant,
Bhaktin Sujata
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All Glories unto you on your Appearance Day.
Guru Maharaja, this is the first time I'm writing an offering for you. So please excuse my offenses.
On this auspicious day of your Vyasa puja , I feel very fortunate of having taken shelter of your lotus feet.
Early this year in Los Angeles, when I had your darshan for the first time, you asked me - " Do you accept me as your spiritual master ?".
While I replied 'Yes' , I was completely unaware of the revolution that was waiting to happen in my consciousness and in spiritual life in the months to come.
You kindly invited me for a visit to Gaura Yoga and Melbourne this year. By observing the dedicated lifestyle of devotees, I learnt how we could actively engage ourselves 24 hours a day in devotional service.
Every morning ,I relished chanting with devotees; followed by the daily services of distributing books, preaching , cooking, cleaning etc. At the end of the day I used to get physically exhausted, nevertheless, I felt satisfied and fulfilled.
My heart fills with gratitude that you have mercifully set up such contemporary ashrams for encouraging newcomers like me.
Now, I have found the best program for leading a meaningful and purposeful life.
After this 3-month overhauling experience, I have come to appreciate the endless opportunities that lie for me in Krsna Consciousness. There is so much to be accomplished in Srila Prabhupada's mission ; so much to be read , so much to be understood and realized from Srila Prabhupada's books. And then endeavour to enlighten the less fortunate souls by distributing the mercy of Lord Caitanya.
Guru Maharaja, I beg to be used as an instrument in this most important welfare activity. All my talents and energies seek to be engaged in Lord Krsna's service.
But Guru Maharaja , but for your blessings and expert guidance, I would be like a fire covered inside a pot. So, please take me into your service and allow me to dedicate my life and soul in your projects.
What other reason could there be to live ?
Your aspiring servant,
Bhaktin Sujata
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Svetadvipa das
To my dearest Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisance's,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
All GLories to Sri Guru and Gauranga,
All glories to your relentless service.
What you mean to the world?
Basically everything. Everybody is harassed by the constant onslaught of
maya's taunts. But you are there with your pure kindness and genuine
concern.
What you mean to me?
Well, Everything and more. You are my connection to Krishna and Krishna is, well, Everything. And more
What you mean to Srila Prabhupada?
Everything really. You are his dear trusted disciple who is selflessly bearing the weight to carry forward his life mission for no other pleasure than he.
What you mean to Krishna?
Everything. For sure. "He who preaches my glories is most dear to me".Enough said !
Gurudeva, I am constantly stoked at your compassion and amazing concern for all the people of society who are genuinely lost and have no guiding light save for the one that you shine. How I've been so inspired by your last year of service to Srila Pabhupada. How you managed the special task of taking responsibility for Prabhupada's Movement with all its constant attention meanwhile having all the time in the world for sharing with your disciples. Anyway that's what it seems to me when I have a brief moment to relish your sincerity and purity of heart.
Thankyou on this special day. Thankyou on any day.
Forever inspired by you and forever indebted to you.
You aspiring servant
Svetadvipa Das
Please accept my humble obeisance's,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
All GLories to Sri Guru and Gauranga,
All glories to your relentless service.
What you mean to the world?
Basically everything. Everybody is harassed by the constant onslaught of
maya's taunts. But you are there with your pure kindness and genuine
concern.
What you mean to me?
Well, Everything and more. You are my connection to Krishna and Krishna is, well, Everything. And more
What you mean to Srila Prabhupada?
Everything really. You are his dear trusted disciple who is selflessly bearing the weight to carry forward his life mission for no other pleasure than he.
What you mean to Krishna?
Everything. For sure. "He who preaches my glories is most dear to me".Enough said !
Gurudeva, I am constantly stoked at your compassion and amazing concern for all the people of society who are genuinely lost and have no guiding light save for the one that you shine. How I've been so inspired by your last year of service to Srila Pabhupada. How you managed the special task of taking responsibility for Prabhupada's Movement with all its constant attention meanwhile having all the time in the world for sharing with your disciples. Anyway that's what it seems to me when I have a brief moment to relish your sincerity and purity of heart.
Thankyou on this special day. Thankyou on any day.
Forever inspired by you and forever indebted to you.
You aspiring servant
Svetadvipa Das
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Vaishnava Charan dasa
nama om vishnu padaya Krishna prasthaya bhutale
srimate Devamrita swamin iti namine
pracare purva-daksyam ca
bhaktacara-pravinta
pararthatapi karunyam
yasya sarve ca te namah
srimate Devamrita swamin iti namine
pracare purva-daksyam ca
bhaktacara-pravinta
pararthatapi karunyam
yasya sarve ca te namah
Dear Guru Dev,
Please accept my humble obeisance's at your Lotus Feet.
Although my attempt to glorify you is insufficient, still I thank you for the oppourtunity.
Over this year you taught me an important lesson, how to mature up in Krishna consciousness. My mind went through the flickering phase of ashram choice; through your Mercy you guided me to stay open till my mind is fixed enough to a degree, where Krishna will be the centre of my life.
You taught me how Krishna consciousness is above the varna ashram system practically.
You inspired me to stay sober and stay focussed on Krishna consciousness during this year of "future consciousness".
You encouraged me to read Srila Prabhupada's books & chant attentively, which has kept me alive to write this offering.
Thanking you Greatly,
Yours indebted servant,
Vaishnava Charan Dasa
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Bhakta Vikash
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
shrimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashcatya-desha-tarine
nama om vishnu-padya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
shrimate devamrita svamin-iti namine
om ajnana timirandhasya
jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri guruve namah.
shrimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashcatya-desha-tarine
nama om vishnu-padya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
shrimate devamrita svamin-iti namine
om ajnana timirandhasya
jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri guruve namah.
Dear spiritual uncle,
Another year has flown by and we come again to that time where we can congregationally celebrate your wonderful association, kindness and preaching activities. This year especially we have been reminded of how important it is to cherish our time with you as well as ensure we follow your instructions implicitly. In attempting to capture some small fragment of your wondrous nature, I was reminded of the first time we had the opportunity to serve you. We had just found a flat to rent in Melbourne and were asked to cook lunch for you one afternoon during your visit. My wife had never cooked in the flat before, nor used the pots we had just bought, yet in the end Krsna made all arrangements. Little was I to know that it was the beginning of my relationship with you, but know looking back I can only but be amazed as to how much you showered your mercy upon us who were truly unworthy of your affection. Throughout that year you continued to make time for us and ask about our wellbeing. You made us realise the true meaning of vaishnava care and how much time we should give to help others around us in their spiritual journeys.
Maharaja I am truly blessed that you have entered into our lives, you calming presence and wise instructions have enabled me to grow spiritually. I have realised that you are truly tasting such sweet nectar from your spiritual life and that if I can stay at you lotus feet then I can also get some of that taste. So on this day I want to truly thank you for being such a treasurehouse of mercy, care and wisdom, and for lovingly guiding me in my spiritual career. I pray that I can remain at your service as long as you allow. I thank you for tolerating all my shortcomings and myriad of faults and ask you to continue to reward me with you uplifting laughter and profound realisations.
Your servant,
Vikash
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Vraja Dhama das
Dear Guru Maharaj,
On this most auspicious day of your appearance, please accept my most respectful obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories to your empowered devotional service.
Time and time again I observe those who follow your sublime instructions reaching "lofty" heights in their spiritual progress. They emanate your enthusiasm for simultaneous self transformation through sadhana bhakti and mass distribution of Srila Prabhupada's books. They are always blissful in their attempts to assist you in your mission, which is purely to please Prabhupada.
As you weave your way through this material world, conditioned souls are becoming unstuck from the world wide web of illusion. Their ignorance is lifted and from their sad existences arise angels and demigods. Empowered beings ready to help in this fight against maya.
For some you help them to make their first baby steps in Krishna Consciousness, for others you show them just how far the rabbit hole goes.
On the other hand I see others who come to you for advice (myself included), who approach you as if you were a columnist for Woman's Weekly magazine. As if such advice given by you could be read and then tossed in the trash at a later date. As I am finding, there are no such sentimental darshans with the disciplic succession.
Your friendly advice has the power to subdue the entire material creation. Your guidance is a Lotus "Feet-seeking" missile, if I heard it rightly from one devotee. Why would I choose my own blurred vision, over the realized scriptural vision of an advanced transcendentalist.
"A foolish person who manufactures his own ways and means through mental speculation and does not recognize the authority of the sages who lay down unimpeachable directions is simply unsuccessful again and again in his attempts" - S.B 4.18.5
Please help this poor fool this year to hear, chant and remember the The Supreme Personality of Godhead – Sri Krishna, and to follow in your own glorious foot-steps.
Waiting to serve once more at your Lotus Feet,
your sluggish servant – Vraja Dhama das
On this most auspicious day of your appearance, please accept my most respectful obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories to your empowered devotional service.
Time and time again I observe those who follow your sublime instructions reaching "lofty" heights in their spiritual progress. They emanate your enthusiasm for simultaneous self transformation through sadhana bhakti and mass distribution of Srila Prabhupada's books. They are always blissful in their attempts to assist you in your mission, which is purely to please Prabhupada.
As you weave your way through this material world, conditioned souls are becoming unstuck from the world wide web of illusion. Their ignorance is lifted and from their sad existences arise angels and demigods. Empowered beings ready to help in this fight against maya.
For some you help them to make their first baby steps in Krishna Consciousness, for others you show them just how far the rabbit hole goes.
On the other hand I see others who come to you for advice (myself included), who approach you as if you were a columnist for Woman's Weekly magazine. As if such advice given by you could be read and then tossed in the trash at a later date. As I am finding, there are no such sentimental darshans with the disciplic succession.
Your friendly advice has the power to subdue the entire material creation. Your guidance is a Lotus "Feet-seeking" missile, if I heard it rightly from one devotee. Why would I choose my own blurred vision, over the realized scriptural vision of an advanced transcendentalist.
"A foolish person who manufactures his own ways and means through mental speculation and does not recognize the authority of the sages who lay down unimpeachable directions is simply unsuccessful again and again in his attempts" - S.B 4.18.5
Please help this poor fool this year to hear, chant and remember the The Supreme Personality of Godhead – Sri Krishna, and to follow in your own glorious foot-steps.
Waiting to serve once more at your Lotus Feet,
your sluggish servant – Vraja Dhama das
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Yadu Raya das
Please except my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Again you are giving us your disciples and aspiring disciples an opportunity to glorify you on this joyfully auspicious day of your vyasa puja, of course chanting your glories is not limited merely to just one day of the year, but today we will all take this extra opportunity to appreciate and honour not just your appearance in this world but what it is you have done for each and every one us.
Indeed you have given us the most precious gift anyone can give and that's the gift of Bhakti, yes the sublime opportunity to perform devotional service to the supreme personality of godhead Krsna as one of the foot soldiers in Lord Caitanyas Sankirtan army, guiding us at practically every step. Your guidance as our spiritual father has real value and needless to say importance in the lives of those seriously desiring to make spiritual progress, unlike the guidance for example from my biological father whom I had plenty of association with but could only give embarrassing suggestions like "don't become a welder son it will ruin your lungs and don't share sheep it will do your back in" not incorrect advice but hardly able to deliver me from the violent whirlpool of ignorance and insignificance.
In contrast although it has only been a few years since you caste your merciful glance in my direction, the benefits of following your advice, even if not always perfectly is transparently clear.
At this point I am wondering how it is that I will be able to repay this great dept to you for love you have given? and so with out making any exceedingly grand plans I will simply promise to try my very best at continuing to control my senses and engage in the duties you have allocated to me as devotional service for your satisfaction.
By you example you teach that absorption is the key to not only progress but also protection in this vicious material atmosphere, in this connection Prabhupada writes in the tenth canto that there three types of men in this world
(1) those who are liberated
(2) those who are trying to become liberated
(3) and those who are entangled in sense enjoyment
"out of these three those who are liberated chant and hear the holy name of the lord knowing perfectly well that to glorify the lord is the only way to keep one self in a transcendental position" you are revealing to those wish to emulate there mentor what it means to be constantly absorbed in un deviated devotional service using our energies to glorify Krsna and thus protecting our consciousness from flowing towards repeated suffering and an incalculable waste of time. The standard of absorption you set is indeed what we should all be striving for regardless of our current situation.
Because of your global efforts so many person are getting this chance to perform devotional service as you tirelessly pick us up and dust the ignorance and passion of and try situate us in a life Krsna consciousness, in this way your are helping to keep the connection to his divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada alive and also keep his Iskcon alive, you are providing us with a society of vaisnavas to associate with, you are giving us spiritual engagement , you are give us a sense of meaning to life, you provide us with shelter in so many ways I cannot count, you even provide us with cloths to ware.
Year after year we are captivated as you remind us of the importance of sticking to the basics and trying to makes steady progress in spiritual life, for example if one is not careful the benefits of devotional services like book distribution can easily be forgotten and the opportunity for individual transformation lost, but with a few loving, kind words you bring everything back into perspective making Krsna conscious life seem achievable. This is the reality of your association, around you there are no problems or any unnecessary concerns just desires to follow in your footsteps (sato vrtteh).
If I am aloud to ask for any blessings on this your appearance day then it would be to have the intelligence to take fall shelter of your Vani , your instructions and this way I will always have your association eternally…
Your servant,
Yadu raya das
- -- --- ---- ----- ----- ---- --- -- -
Vamsidhari das
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All glories to you on your wonderful, and all auspicious appearance day Gurudeva.
This year I have a simple poem to offer you, and though I know it if riddled with
flaws and errors, it is heart felt...
8 400 000 species of life I've now taken
And each time the goal of life I've mistaken
For eating, sleeping, defending and mating
While my Lord so kindly was watching and waiting.
Your real compassion for all is an ocean so deep
To awaken God's children from their nightmarish sleep
You've given me everything, far more than I've worth
A passage through this deluge of repeated death and birth.
Through the blazing inferno, through the cries, through the wails
Your Loft rescue crew of mercy now sail's
Giving medicine to those who believe they are well
You tolerate so much to pull us up out of hell.
Broken hearts, broken homes, broken dreams, so much pain
On books I see this again and again
Thanks to you these books touch the core of their lives
And give soothing hope, and a reason to survive.
Gurudeva make me a beggar, let me once taste that Name
Of Krsna and distribute His glories and fame
my home is now with these books on the street
And my heart I lay down at your soft lotus feet.
Independent I'm suffocating, under you I have breath
Like Lord Rama;s monkey soldier who fought to the death.
Searching for Vedic India, and a Perfect Escape
Have delivered this unqualified Kali-yuga ape.
No more free lunch's
The Mother of all battles
All glories to you on your Appearance day Gurudeva!
your struggling, aspiring servant
Vamsidhari das
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Vidyapati das
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
On this most blessed and auspicious day, I hope for my mind to be deep in contemplation over the mysterious indebtedness that arises as a natural result of the Guru-disciple relationship.
Srila Gurudeva, it's practically impossible for me to calculate exactly when my debt to you began. In the summer of 1998 I first met a disciple of yours, the first Hare Krishna devotee I had ever met, while walking in Whakatane township with some friends. I was full of envy and asked this devotee what it felt like to be a member of a cult. He just stared blankly at me, with my spiked up pink hair, facial piercings and dirty appearance and replied "Well…from my perspective it looks like you are the cult member." All my friends laughed, and instantly I was filled with respect for this devotee.
The following year an aspiring disciple of yours approached the door of my parents' house, and convinced me to give him a donation and thus I received the book Easy Journey to Other Planets. Over the following years, I frequently met your disciples in various cities in New Zealand. My brother and I spent ½ an hour talking to one disciple in Rotorua. Another gave me advice on asthma on Queen Street in Auckland. Often I would go looking for a Hare Krishna whenever I visited a city, and upon finding one I would walk past them repeatedly until they would talk to me. One day I even received a set of beads from a disciple of yours that I met on the streets of Hamilton, which lead me to start chanting Hare Krishna daily, for at least a little while. Your disciples fed me from their restaurant on many occasions.
In fact, several previous associates of mine even became your very serious disciples.
Somehow, Gurumaharaja, one of my previous associates, turned surrendered soul, convinced me to take a trip to your Gaura-Yoga centre, to see a world traveling monk. With no money in my bank account, I had to beg $3 to come for the Sunday feast, and with that
$3 I unknowingly placed myself into a debt of unimaginable proportions. On that night I heard you speak such obvious truths that I was ashamed to admit that I was so lost in a world of obvious illusion. We had a short discussion afterwards, during which you told me that I could only make a real change in the world if I first changed myself. From that night I felt a feeling of indebtedness to you, and in order to begin to pay it back, I tried to follow your advice faithfully, though progressing slowly.
Srila Gurudeva, somehow or other you dragged me from such a position of embarrassing suffering. One is automatically placed in an embarrassing position when they think they are the body, and I was so deep in such a position that I am now completely ashamed thinking about the situation, and thus I feel immensely indebted to you. And through your constant guidance, you have repeatedly given me the opportunity to begin to pay back my debt.
Srila Gurudeva, you placed me in the association of serious devotees, so that I could engage in serious devotional service to begin to pay back my debt to you. But, mysteriously, the happiness I felt by engaging in devotional service, in the association of devotees, only served to increase my feelings of indebtedness. Then, under your guidance, I began to try to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. It is clear that this is a service very dear to you, and I thought that perhaps by serving you in this way I might just be able to repay my debt to you. But Srila Gurudeva, the mystery is that the total opposite seems to be happening!
While in Auckland I met a boy named Jonathon, who had just returned to New Zealand from a student exchange experience in Denmark. While passing through the LA Airport, heading to Denmark, he ran into a disciple of yours who sold him a book. He read that book several times, and thus decided to become vegetarian. On the way back through the LA Airport he again met that same disciple of yours, receiving this time the Journey of Self Discovery. When I met him, he decided to buy a Science of Self Realisation. I sent you an e-mail about this story some time ago, for your pleasure, and as an attempt to pay off some of my debt.
But Srila Gurudeva, that story hasn't ended, and thus my debt has only increased again! Recently, I have made a brief visit to Wellington.
On the first Krishna Fest celebration I attended while here I had a boy come up to me, asking if I remembered him. He said I had met him a year and a half ago in Auckland. Since I had met him, he had met many other disciples of yours, and bought many more books to continue his collection, which he reads regularly. He has made himself familiar with a number of your disciples at your Gaura-Yoga Centre, he has started chanting a little bit, and seems enthusiastic to continue his associating with your disciples. As we talked I asked where he got his first book, and as he explained his story more, I realized who it was I was talking to. It was that same Jonathon who I wrote to you about over a year ago.
Srila Gurudeva, somehow or other, while trying to repay my debt to you, I have found myself to be an insignificant link in your chain of mercy which is working to pull conditioned souls out of the embarrassing ocean of material existence, out of the dark ocean of misery that is bodily identification. And as a result of being in this position I feel such happiness that it seems like my debt to you has just increased a thousand fold again!
Gurudeva, I don't know what kind of trick you have played on me, but I don't see any way out of this situation, for the only currency which you will ever accept for repayment of my debt only seems to increase my indebtedness to you more and more. But unlike my materialistic friends of yesteryear, who upon finding themselves in debt are feeling incredible pangs of stress and anxiety, for myself the thought of serving you for the rest of my life in order repay this great debt only serves to fill me with such a feeling of happiness and satisfaction that I am actually praying to you today that this debt will only increase a thousand-fold, year after year after year.
Your eternally indebted servant,
Vidyapati dasa
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Vilasini devi dasi
NAMA OM VISNU PADAYA KRSNA PRESTHAYA BHU-TALE
SRIMATE SRILA DEVAMRITA SWAMI ITI NAMIME
PRACARE PURVA DASYAM CA BHAKTACARA PRAVINATA
PARARTAPI KARUNYAM CA SARVE CA TE NAMAH
Dear Srila Gurudeva Devamrita Swami:
As you said in your homage to Srila Prabhupada this year,true disciples,no matter how advanced,always see themselve as perpetual students of their Guru.
You are a loyal disciple of your Srila Gurudeva.In cold or hot weather,morning or evining times,in Europ or American continents,no matter what,how,where or when,you are bringind us the seeds of love of Krsna's consciousness into our hearts.Brouthg once for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu,then for our dearest Srila Prabhupada,you are continuos the Paramparan of good disciples whom are triying to serve their Guru sincerly.
You and my goduncles are living eternaly into the heart of Srila Prabhupada,because your activities are pleasing his Srila Gurudeva(Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati),Krsna and Radha.
All glories unto your divine activities of preaching Srila Gurudeva.Thanks to those activities you gave and give birth many disciples,including me(the worts).Please dear father be mercyful with fallen soul,who ca not do nothing good for please you.Your are the light of this age of Kaly Yuga for all of us.
Requesting you forgivenes for my imperfections and ofensses,please give me always the chance to serve your lotus feet forever,even if you see that I have not cualifications to do it,please please,please,dont leave me alone in this ocean of miseries and darkness my dear father,my dear mother.
Giving thanks to Sri Krsna Bhagavam for the gift of love named Devamrita Swami I want to tell you THANKS GURUJI TO BE WITH US.
Your eternal servant and disciple
Vilasini dd
SRIMATE SRILA DEVAMRITA SWAMI ITI NAMIME
PRACARE PURVA DASYAM CA BHAKTACARA PRAVINATA
PARARTAPI KARUNYAM CA SARVE CA TE NAMAH
Dear Srila Gurudeva Devamrita Swami:
As you said in your homage to Srila Prabhupada this year,true disciples,no matter how advanced,always see themselve as perpetual students of their Guru.
You are a loyal disciple of your Srila Gurudeva.In cold or hot weather,morning or evining times,in Europ or American continents,no matter what,how,where or when,you are bringind us the seeds of love of Krsna's consciousness into our hearts.Brouthg once for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu,then for our dearest Srila Prabhupada,you are continuos the Paramparan of good disciples whom are triying to serve their Guru sincerly.
You and my goduncles are living eternaly into the heart of Srila Prabhupada,because your activities are pleasing his Srila Gurudeva(Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati),Krsna and Radha.
All glories unto your divine activities of preaching Srila Gurudeva.Thanks to those activities you gave and give birth many disciples,including me(the worts).Please dear father be mercyful with fallen soul,who ca not do nothing good for please you.Your are the light of this age of Kaly Yuga for all of us.
Requesting you forgivenes for my imperfections and ofensses,please give me always the chance to serve your lotus feet forever,even if you see that I have not cualifications to do it,please please,please,dont leave me alone in this ocean of miseries and darkness my dear father,my dear mother.
Giving thanks to Sri Krsna Bhagavam for the gift of love named Devamrita Swami I want to tell you THANKS GURUJI TO BE WITH US.
Your eternal servant and disciple
Vilasini dd
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Visnu-maya devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
To understand knowledge by personal endeavour, by exercising our imperfect senses, we will never come to the right conclusion. One must learn from a spiritual master, Oh Srila Gurudeva.
To understand things beyond the range of the material mind and senses, and to understand the mystery of the revealed scriptures, one must hear from a spiritual master, Oh Srila Gurudeva.
No one can get free from the influence of material nature by personal attempts; one must accept a spiritual master, and act under his guidance, Oh Srila Gurudeva.
My knowledge is so poor, my senses are so imperfect, and my sources are so limited that it is not possible for me to have even the slightest knowledge of the Absolute region without surrendering myself to you Srila Gurudeva.
Every moment I am being deceived by the knowledge of my own direct perception. It is all the concoction of my mind, which is always deceiving, changing, and flickering.
How can I know anything of the transcendental region by my limited, perverted method of observation and experiment?
I can only lend my eager ears to the aural reception of the transcendental sound transmitted from that region to this, through the pure medium of you, Oh Srila Gurudeva.
Harassed life after life by the laws of nature, I have wandered throughout this entire universe in different planets and different species of life. Somehow or other, I have been fortunate enough to come into contact with you. You have reformed my entire life. It is my duty to capture this opportunity to learn from Krsnas representative, Oh Srila Gurudeva.
I don't want anything that diminishes my relationship with you as servant to master. You have kindly accepted me as your disciple and instructed me how to live a life without regret. My body and mind tempts me to so many ridiculous propositions, but what use is a life discriminating between different flavours of illusion. The only way the mind is defeated is through superior guidance, Oh Srila Gurudeva.
You are so expert in preaching; you become fascinated by everyone's potential. You show us what sacrifice for Visnu is, and make it easy for us, as we just follow your example. You are patient as we go along at our speed, supporting all levels of spiritual immersion, but you also push us with earnestness to go deeper and deeper into the Bhakti laboratory.
I am so blessed to be under your shelter Guru Maharaja. Your blessings are my life and soul, without which I see nothing worth my while. You have shown me my real self-interest and prevented my stepping on the 'runaway freight train'. Oh Srila Gurudeva, you say 'one who is given much, much is expected of'; so I owe you my every hour, please engage me eternally in your service.
Trying to be your selfless servant,
Visnu-maya devi dasi
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Vraja Nari devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Thank you very much for allowing me to be your disciple.
I am praying, that there will be a day on which I will understand how much you have done for me and that all I am made of is your mercy.
Who else could be more merciful than you?
Who else would have picked me up from the dirty streets of Kali yuga, myself being not more than some dirt?
Who else would have given me some goal in life?
Guru Maharaja, I want to be serious about my Krishna Conciousness. I really want to be Krishna concious, I want to be a selfless servant, I want to be your servant; not an additional weight.
Therefore I beg you to help me to get strong so that you can shift some burdens on my shoulders. What else would be worth living for, than being your happy donkey?
I know, I don't have any credits and so many times I have proven myself to be a fullfledged fool.
There is just one thing I know, which is that by your mercy my life can be of some use. So again I beg you, please help me so that I shall become qualified to help you.
Your endeavoring, aspiring servant,
Vraja Nari devi dasi
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Vrindaranya devi dasi
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to you on this most auspicious day of your Vyasa Puja.
This is truly a joyous as well as sobering occasion for us all, a wonderful time of year where your dependents and well wishers come together as a spiritual family to offer services and praise in Your honour. It is most pleasing to see my spiritual father being glorified and loved by so many devotees.
Of course, even daily when I am conversing with my God sisters or God brothers, you always seem to some how slip into our conversations and our thoughts. I guess that is because you have had such a strong personal influence through out our time as devotees. You have made us feel important and valued. You have given us good and practical advice and how to best nurture our devotional creeper.
Actually, I have never met such an influentual person as you. In the time I have been practising Krishna Consciousness, I have seen how you have deeply affected so many individuals. You have offered great relief from a grossly materialistic lifestyle, to alternatively become a happy and selfless Krishna conscious practitioner. There are so many examples of your mercy here in Melbourne to this day, who have taken your words to heart and taken the initiative to bring spiritual success into their own lives as well as the lives of others.
I know when I was in high school for example and had just started associating with the devotees. It was a time when most of the students were contemplating their futures, like what will they do when they have finished their studies. Maybe travel, work, or go to university. I didn't know what I was going to do with myself. I certainly didn't envision my self standing on a busy street corner, trying to sell books to people who didn't necessarily want them. But somehow after meeting the devotees, and by a little inspiriation and mercy from Your self, I was able to overcome my insecurities and get out there and get purified, as well as help some others in the process.
Also, I must say that I really love hearing your classes. They often put things into perspective for my usually restless and uncooperative mind. Not to take my own mind too seriously but to take the Lords service and His teachings seriously.
Sometimes, it is just the simple things that you say. Like to chant our rounds with great attention, making that our priority for the day. To put our heart into any service that we do, and to perform our service to the best of our abilities. You have said that by giving Krishna to others we can easily get his mercy. I remember you saying that we should pray to Radha-Vallabha and ask them for their mercy and how to better serve them.
There are so many examples of what make you a really exceptional and magnanimous devotee, and I feel really fortunate to have had your association in this lifetime. Thank you for everything Gurumaharaja, I hope that I can always be of some service to you.
Your lowly servant and daughter,
Vrindaranya devi dasi
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