Hari Lila dasa and Sri Madhurika devi dasi

Most Respected Guru Maharaja,

Hare Krsna. Please accept our most humble obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krsna gives us a simple way of going back to Godhead when He offers us yam yam vapi smaran bhavam (8.6) …. But we have heard that without mercy, it is impossible to remember the Lord at any time, let alone at the time of death. When Maharaja Pariksit inquires from Srila Sukadeva Gosvami about the duty of a dying man, he is at once including all of us, for, who is not a dying man? His question is clearly directed towards asking this most important question at any moment, “Is this pleasing to guru and Krsna or not”? Only a person who is constantly reflecting upon this question in his consciousness can also ask this question at the time of leaving his body and thus follow the Lord‘s instruction of yam yam vapi…

Srila Prabhupada by his immense compassion gave us innumerable practical opportunities to ask this question. But most importantly he trained his sincere disciples to ask this question of themselves always. When things are going well in one’s devotional life, it may appear to be easier to ask this question. But when circumstances are totally against and threatening everything in one’s life – health, wealth, and especially the mercifully obtained fortune of faith, devotion etc., can a conditioned person be trained to ask this most important question?

Among all the most important gifts that Srila Prabhupada handed down was his association through all the challenges he faced. Only a deeply compassionate and expert spiritual master will give this opportunity to his loving disciple – the opportunity to experience and feel the anxiety, the difficulties, the application of dharmic principles to difficult situations, always looking for the pleasure of guru and Krsna. The consciousness imparted in such a situation is what the disciple can treasure forever.

We have had many opportunities over the years to hear from our beloved teacher, Sir, of many such exchanges of his with you which he treasures as the most cherished moments of his life. These unforgettable exchanges with you have deeply imprinted in his heart this most important quest for the pleasure of guru and Krsna and endowed him with the ability to carry that consciousness into all aspects of his life and in turn train others to endeavor to do so.

We are indeed greatly fortunate to be trained very meticulously by our teacher to ask the same question, “Is this pleasing to guru and Krsna?” under the most testing of situations. On this most auspicious day of your Vyasa-puja, which includes the glorification of all the great parampara acaryas, we humbly seek your blessings to deeply imbibe this consciousness and live by it.

Your aspiring servants,
Hari Lila dasa and Sri Madhurika devi dasi