Garga Rsi dasa and Radhika Ramana devi dasi
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine
Dear Guru Maharaja,
To write an offering to the spiritual master, it must come from the heart with sincere love and appreciation. The spiritual master had made firm commitment to serve the Absolute Truth. In his endeavors to serve, he accepted the unknown tribulations he might encounter, but with Krsna as his goal and protector, marches on with faith and accumulated knowledge he received from disciplic succession and the acarya His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. He knows that his knowledge which comes directly from Krsna, is infallible and without doubt.
The spiritual master has seen the truth through the revealed scriptures and is convinced that Krsna, is who He is, the Absolute Truth, who enjoys wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation in the superlative degree. No one is equal to or above Him. This makes His representative His Holiness Romapada Swami a special person who is responsible not only to his disciples, but to all living entities. In the absence of Krsna, the spiritual master’s purpose is to follow in the footsteps of his creator and deliver the fallen souls.
The spiritual master is already qualified with the containment of the six agents of sense gratification: the tongue, genitals, belly, anger, mind, and words. “To accept such a spiritual master is the crucial point for advancement in the spiritual life.” “One who is fortunate enough to come under the shelter of a bona-fide spiritual master is sure to traverse the path of spiritual salvation without any doubt.” [Nectar of Devotion Chapter 7].
The attitude of the disciple is to satisfy the bona-fide master. Then it will be very easy for him to understand spiritual knowledge. This is confirmed in the Vedas, and Rupa Gosvami explains that for a person who has unflinching faith in God and the spiritual master everything becomes revealed very easily.
It is mentioned in the 11th Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam 17th Chapter, Verse 27, “One should know the acarya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.” He must never be considered on the same level with an ordinary human being. One should never be envious of the spiritual master. The spiritual master should always be seen as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and by serving the spiritual master one is able to serve all the demigods.
This is a powerful statement made by Lord Krsna. It shows how much confidence He has in His representative. He is actually glorifying His external manifestation who is empowered to deliver the fallen souls. The ordinary man cannot deliver the fallen souls. So the external manifestation is empowered by the worshipable Lord Krsna, to send the living entities back home from where they originally originated. Such a spiritual master deserves my moral and whatever support I can afford for the advancement of Krsna consciousness.
Your humble servants,
Radhika Ramana devi dasi and Garga Rsi dasa
Sri Vrndavana devi dasi