Sadasiva dasa and Karunya Rasa devi dasi

Most Respected Guru Maharaja,

Hare Krsna! Please accept our humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

We are grateful for this opportunity on the occasion of your Vyasa-puja to reflect on the potency of descending mercy in our lives.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.19 says – tada rajas-tamo-bhavah
kama-lobhadayas ca
ye ceta etair
anaviddham
sthitam sattve prasidati

“As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature’s modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy”.

The suffering a living entity undergoes due to absorption in lower modes of nature and the resulting actions are very, very painful. Although the path of pure devotional service (particularly hearing the pure glories of the Lord and His pure devotees) is the only remedy, the performance of it requires very careful guidance particularly in the practicing stage in order to loosen and eliminate completely the deep rooted impressions of lust and greed.

We consider this opportunity to daily hear from our spiritual teacher as the most valuable gift we have received in our lives. As we experience progressive freedom from lower modes of passion and ignorance through such hearing, we truly feel in our hearts much deeper clarity, increasing happiness, and satisfaction, and our dependency on the descending mercy through the hearing process has very much increased. We feel extremely fortunate to receive such mercy in our lives.

On this auspicious day of your Vyasa-puja, we wish to express our gratitude for the selfless sacrifices done for us to elevate us from lower modes and we sincerely pray to continue to stay in the shelter of the descending mercy we are receiving.

Your aspiring servants,
Sadasiva dasa and Karunya Rasa devi dasi