Subala dasa and Krsnarcana devi dasi
My dearest Srila Romapada Swami,
Kindly accept my humble obeisance unto the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Srila Prabhupada.
By your grace, in 2016 my wife and I began a new, exciting chapter of our devotional lives – retirement from work and the acceptance of the full-time service responsibility to you, Srila Prabhupada, and Sri Sri Kisora Kisori here in Chicago. As we (with enthusiasm) go through the required adjustments, we are grateful for your kindness.
There are few aspects that have been a constant meditation for me during this transition, going deeper into what it means to be your disciple, fully understanding and imbibing your mood of service to Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON, and the task of availing myself as your representative. Last year, in my Vyasa-puja offering, I quoted His Holiness Kadamba-kanana Swami, whose explanations on this regard has been a source of inspiration:
“The sentiments of the spiritual master, the thoughts of the spiritual master and the considerations of the spiritual master, are of a much higher level of refinement than ours and therefore we should try as much as possible to capture and penetrate into the mood of the spiritual master. The mood of the spiritual master is that sum total of his way of thinking and his way of dealing. It is not just the way in which he says things but also how he says it and how he does it. One must not only hear the words but one must also see how the spiritual master acts; this is very important!”
“So a disciple who is chaste tries to absorb the mood of the spiritual master and tries himself to act in a similar mood. He tries to take on this mood and not by imitating but by trying to understand the nature of that mood and trying to understand how the spiritual master is expressing trnad api sunicena, how he is fully expressing humility, how he is expressing tolerance, how he gives respect to others and how he manifests vaisnava qualities.”
Our great Gaudiya-Vaisnava tradition gives us perfect examples of discipleship, starting with Srila Rupa Gosvami, who, as the lead disciple of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, established the standard, and thus we offer him the pranama-mantra: sri-caitanya-mano-‘bhistam sthapitum yena bhtu-tale, glorifying his ability to fully understand what was within the mind of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and thus establishing the mission to fulfill the His desire.
Following the foot-steps of Srila Rupa Gosvami, I come to the shelter of your lotus feet, praying for your blessings so I may faithfully and lovingly serve you, making essential to my devotional life whatever is really important and essential to you. Let me always remember that your love and kindness is the root of my Krsna consciousness and my devotion to your service is my life and soul.
Your servant,
Subal dasa