Nityananda Pran dasa, Hemangi devi dasi, and Prahlada Nrsimha

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine

mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim
yat-krpa tam aham vande sri gurum dina-taranam

Our dear Guru Maharaja,

Hare Krsna. Please accept our humble obeisances at your most merciful lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace and Srila Prabhupada.

Sage Karabhajana describes to King Nimi the different forms of the Lord during the previous yugas. While describing Krsna’s descent in Kali-yuga, he particularly identifies the Lord as hidden, yet identifiable by certain characteristics and activities.

tyaktvā su-dustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīṁ
dharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṇyam 
māyā-mṛgaṁ dayitayepsitam anvadhāvad
vande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam 

“O Maha-purusa, I worship Your lotus feet. You gave up the association of the goddess of fortune and all her opulence, which is most difficult to renounce and is hankered after by even the great demigods. Being the most faithful follower of the path of religion, You thus left for the forest in obedience to a brahmana’s curse. Out of sheer mercifulness You chased after the fallen conditioned souls, who are always in pursuit of the false enjoyment of illusion, and at the same time engaged in searching out Your own desired object, Lord Syamasundara.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.34]

One of those characteristics is “dharmiṣṭha” (faithful follower of the path of religion). This quality is unique because the general populace is fixed in irreligion, or unaware of religious principles, or worst of all, creating their own religious principles based on ignorance and/or defiance of true religious principles.

In the backdrop of these dark activities, the Lord’s activities fixed in pure religion are like the shine of a diamond on black velvet cloth. In fact, the contrast is most beautiful and allows for fuller appreciation of the beauty of the diamond.
Recently at the Dvaraka yatra, you explained at length the quality of Krsna’s standing by the truth as you wonderfully narrated the pastime of His about the Syamantaka jewel. Krsna, though on many occasions was acknowledged by all the saintly persons in the universe as the purest of the pure, most truthful, and having renounced the association of the goddess of fortune and all her opulence (as described above), Krsna went out of His way to reclaim the jewel and set the record straight about his character.

Your Divine Grace can speak about this quality of Krsna with realization, because you too have this quality bestowed upon you. There have been aspersions on you, doubts cast about your intentions, and (wrong) accusations made about your behavior in one particular situation. The rumor-mill was busy, the Chinese whispers phenomenon transformed the original rumor into many versions of it, and yet you remained detached from the whole scene.

Rather than take a combative stand, your refrain through all this was “I want to stand by the truth.” This meant going over the facts over and over again, hearing the false accusations repeatedly, and the most painful part of wondering how someone could go so low and out of their way to maim your character. Your godbrothers and godsisters have vouched for your being fixed in your service to Srila Prabhupada for over four decades and having taken on one of the most formidable cases for protecting all of ISKCON from a possible hostile takeover.

During this episode, you spoke in public and in private about your taking inspiration from the Syamantaka jewel pastime of Krsna again and again. And since you are effulgent from within owing to bearing such a wonderful quality of being fixed in truthfulness that no artificial jewel (of material profit, adoration, and worship) need to decorate Your Divine Grace.

Reminiscing on this incident is cleansing for the mind, nourishing for the soul, and sharpening for the intelligence. It removes fear from the heart. And most importantly, it assures us of being on the right path under the able guidance of our spiritual master.

To the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, we offer our grateful and humble obeisances.

bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās
tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayaṁ vibho 
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni
svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhṛtā 

“My lord, devotees like your good self are verily holy places personified. Because you carry the Personality of Godhead within your heart, you turn all places into places of pilgrimage.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.13.10]

Your servants,
Nityananda Pran dasa, Hemangi devi dasi, and Prahlada Nrsimha