Nityananda Pran dasa and Hemangi devi dasi

Our dear Guru Maharaja,

Hare Krsna. Please accept our humble obeisances at your most merciful lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Srimad-Bhagavatam describes an incident in which Lord Sri Krsna was relaxing on Queen Rukmini’s bed while being attended to by Her and Her maidservants. The pastime unfolds into a series of statements He makes about Himself as being an unsuitable husband for Her. The purports to this chapter indicate that Krsna’s words crush Rukmini’s heart, but they provide us with insights by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura on the purpose behind Krsna’s speaking so. “…the lovely, chaste qualities of Rukmini will become manifest as a result of Lord Krsna’s apparently insensitive words, just as camphor’s fragrance becomes manifest when granules of camphor are crushed by a grinding stone.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.60.1 purport]

As Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains the nature of camphor, our thoughts naturally go to you who exemplifies this quality for us to appreciate more closely.

We are very sure you face many challenges in the course of your service to Srila Prabhupada. We know, from close quarters, of a particular challenge Krsna placed before you this year. And your response to this challenge was not an intellectual exercise; rather it came from your character. The more intense the challenge became, the brighter your saintly character shone!

The qualities decorating your saintly personality are ever existing in your personage, but not always perceivable to the conditioned eye. “It is said, vaisnavera kriya, mudra vijneha na bujhaya: even the most learned man depending on direct perception of knowledge cannot understand the activities of a Vaiṣṇava.” [Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya Lila 7.66 purport] We strongly believe, however, Krsna deliberately arranged this test so your glory can cut through the dense layers of ignorance that has conditioned our vision and simultaneously be appreciated by other saints in our institution, like the six goswamis of Vrindavana were liked by both “the gentle and the ruffians,” (dhiradhira-jana-priyau priya-karau).

We pray that we honor, not just in words, but deeply in our hearts, the privilege Krsna has given us in the form of your association, example, and instructions. And may that honoring of such a privilege manifest in how we imbibe the example you have set for us to follow. We pray that we prepare ourselves everyday so that when tests come by unannounced, our cores are fragrant like camphor and not offensive smelling wounds of victims of the modes of nature.

We pray that those who come in contact with us can attest to our being your disciples in real spirit and not just through the formality of initiation.

Thank you for engaging us in the service of Sri Sri Kisora Kisori and Their devotees!

Your servants,
Nityananda Pran dasa and Hemangi devi dasi