Satyavrata dasa and Krtamala devi dasi
Our dear Guru Maharaja!
Hare Krsna. Please accept our most humble obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to your Holiness and Srila Prabhupada!
During the journey in our spiritual life over last twenty-five years we could see so many ups and downs in our life. We have gone through severe challenges. There was a time when we could not figure out what direction we are leading towards. For a time being, our journey was like a ship without a rudder in a turbulent sea. But by Krsna’s inconceivable mercy, somehow you appeared in our residence and rejuvenated our enthusiasm. I could recollect the episode which looked like a verse from the Varaha Purana.
nayami paramam sthanam arcir-adi-gatim vina
garuda-skandham aropya yatheccham anivaritah
“My devotees need not follow the path beginning in light. Riding on Garuda’s shoulders, I personally take them to My supreme abode.”
Also, Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita 12.7 that He is the swift deliverer from the ocean of material existence.
Our dear Guru Maharaja! That day, with a few moments of your association, we felt completely pacified and experienced so much joy to have such a befitting spiritual master in our life. What could be more fortune than this? Over these years we are fully convinced of the fact that it is not at all possible to know anything about Krsna without the grace of the spiritual master. How can we claim to see Him? We do not even know who we are!
Recently I was hearing about how one should choose his spiritual master – (i) see the life of the guru, (ii) see his Spiritual Master, and (iii) see his disciples. Today we are feeling so fortunate to have a genuine spiritual master in our life whose life is an embodiment of sastra, strictly following the footsteps of his spiritual master, ornamented with divine qualities as mentioned in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
In the midst of Kali-yuga when all the four pillars of religion are deteriorated by the misuse of the free will by the conditioned souls and everybody is suffering in this world in the dense darkness of ignorance, Srila Prabhupada had appeared and out of his causeless mercy and compassion he established the structure of Krsna consciousness based on the foundation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings. Now Srila Prabhupada is physically not with us, but we can see your good self in front of us as his dear and exalted disciple who is transparently representing him. This gives us faith and confidence to move forward in our spiritual life.
Without the presence of the saintly persons in this material world, there is no meaning to Krsna’s creation or we can say the creation is incomplete by the absence of saintly persons. This is the reason why Krsna personally descends and sends spiritual masters. dharma-sthapana-hetu sadhura vyavahara. “A devotee’s behavior establishes the true purpose of religious principles.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 17.185)
We are extremely grateful to you Guru Maharaja for taking full responsibility of our lives, removing all types of obstacles through the transcendental knowledge, reminding us again and again of our connection with guru and Krsna through inspiration and motivation, and engaging us in Krsna’s lotus feet and His devotees.
On this auspicious appearance day, we humbly seek your blessings to remain ever grateful servants at your divine lotus feet.
Your aspiring servants,
Satyavrata dasa and Krtamala devi dasi.