Srida dasa and Krsna Mohini devi dasi
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Holiness Romapada Swami, who is very dear to Lord Krsna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.”
To respected and our dear most Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and unto you!
Guru Maharaja, today is your most auspicious and merciful appearance day and we want to make a sincere attempt to glorify you with our heart’s content. Guru Maharaja, my first encounter with you was through your disciples. Their friendly behavior, Krsna conscious practices and devotion have all attracted me so much that they left a permanent mark in my heart. I could understand that the qualities the good disciples carry are actually not their own but are imparted by the merciful words of Sri guru which happened to be you, Srila Gurudev!
It is said:
brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
“Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Krsna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service”. [Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 19.151]
You have actually made us fortunate with your presence in my life Srila Gurudev! I have always assumed myself very pious coming from a traditional family background but actually all I knew in my life was becoming puffed up although I did not have anything valuable. Never I had any sense who was the Supreme Lord. At the most, I knew that Krsna was one among millions of the demigods. The most important questions in life such as who am I, what is the actual goal of my life, what is Bhagavad-gita never even occurred in our minds. In other words, I was totally in an ocean of darkness and ignorance with no hope of shelter and was falsely proud before coming to Krsna consciousness. But, as I associate with devotees, I am now understanding better that there are many such lost souls like me who are impudent, making sense gratification business as the final goal of life and are always against the will of the Lord. So kind is our Supreme father, Sri Krsna and his pure representatives like you, Srila Gurudev. You took pity on all of us and manifested yourself in this material world. You have reconnected many lost souls like us back to our Supreme father, Sri Krsna by speaking to us the real tattva (bhakti). We consider this as the super most and supremely excellent service than any other. That’s why, we feel it is totally apt for us to celebrate your appearance day today and by worshipping you, glorifying you at your lotus feet we seek for your blessings, Srila Gurudev!
Guru Maharaja, your first assignment as sadhu, was to make a wet wood to dry wood and then fire the spark of Krsna consciousness within our hearts. You have achieved this in a single stroke by speaking about Krsna and his supremacy and our relationship with him. Starting with our tongues, you have kindly engaged our senses in relation to Krsna following in the footsteps of acarya’s and bhakti scriptures: hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate – Because Krsna is the proprietor of the senses – He is the proprietor of this body – so when this body will be utilized for Krsna’s service, that is our perfection of life.
Guru Maharaja, your dedication to Srila Prabhupada and strict adherence to principles always inspires us. One incident that has inspired us a lot was when you were asked in an ista-gosthi lecture about your inner feelings of how you processed the loss of your spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada – you mentioned that the reflex was to take to service of Srila Prabhupada at the same time without losing the feeling of deep sense of loss of your Guru Maharaja. Your whole life depicts your heart replete with gratitude to your spiritual master. Your endless enthusiasm to assist in your Guru Maharaja’s mission, tirelessly travelling to different places around the globe, hearing their hearts, correcting them, guiding them through emails to give Krsna consciousness leaving aside your family and personal comforts totally boggles our tiny and worthless brains. This is because no ordinary person can do this job even within their minds. Please accept my most humble obeisances Srila Gurudev!
Guru Maharaja, we generally see sometimes that even materialistic parents take so much special interest for their children by giving their time. The love in your heart for all the conditioned souls, especially for those who took shelter at your lotus feet is far greater than a material parent. You continuously give your association and guidance online in the form of your daily lectures speaking about Krsna. Hearing and discussing Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam and by the regular association of those devotees who are serious in the path of bhakti, we can surely say that our vision of external things and judgement is far better than before our good fortune has arisen. We become blissful hearing and feel so much connected asking questions to you, although we both are separated geographically being in different parts of the world. The separation we are feeling from your personal association is pacified to a greater extent by following and remembering your instructions and engaging ourselves in the service of Krsna. But as neophytes, who cannot be so philosophical, we miss your personal association so much Srila Gurudev!
Your holiness being a book distributor yourself for 12-14 years sacrificing your prime youthful years shows what you talk is what you walk in life.
It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.16):
susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha-rucih
syan mahat-sevaya viprah
punya-tirtha-nisevanat
“O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vasudeva.”
You always harped on the very same message and engaged us in serving Srila Prabhupada by distributing his transcendental books. Inflated with pride, I could not even fathom the power of your transcendental words that shook hearts of many sincere seekers of truth in the past until you have mercifully planted the seed of mood of service in our hearts and to render service to all the Vaisnavas and acarya’s. In regard to this, I would like to report regarding book distribution by a team of devotees in Singapore: By your causeless mercy and blessings from Sri Gauranga and Vaisnavas, from 1 July 2021 to 25 Aug 2022, we have so far distributed 652 books in Singapore through street book table, of which 452 are big books.
Following the example of our param guru, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, you have always raised the quality of our services by setting new bars. Guru Maharaja, your transcendental challenge for all of us to reach non-Indian bodied people to give Krsna consciousness is constantly being reminded in our hearts when we are rendering book distribution seva. We do not have any spiritual strength and are fallen. So, we simply seek your mercy to perform this seva as an instrument in your hands.
We pray for your well-being to Lord Nrsimha deva. We wish all glory for you in every attempt of yours in sankirtana yajna of performing glorification of our Supreme Father, Sri Krsna! param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam!
Hare Krsna!
Your servants,
Srida dasa, Krsna Mohini devi dasi