Caru Candra dasa, Sundarangi devi dasi, and Rasamayi devi dasi
My dearest and most respected spiritual master and eternal father,
Hare Krsna! Please accept my most humble obeisance’s in the dust of your most merciful divine lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
“I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him.”
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Romapada Swami, who is very dear to Lord Krsna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.”
mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim
yat-krpa tam aham vande sri gurum dina-taranam
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, the deliverer of the fallen souls. His mercy turns the dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains.”
Today I find myself trying to glorify you. The sweetest nectar is glorifying Lord Krsna, but even sweeter is to glorify our beloved spiritual master. My words are empty next to your immense mercy that I have experienced during these years. Each time that I have fallen, you are there to continuously guide me in krsna-bhakti. If today I am each time steadier in Krsna consciousness, it is due to your immense mercy. You truly have Krsna in your heart, and you have been my complete inspiration. Your service to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, your complete surrender to him inspires me day by day and what maintains me by the hand of the devotees giving me the strength to let the process continue so that I may keep cleansing my heart and so that no dirt remains, only love.
Srila Gurudev you are the living example of the verse
utsahan niscayad dhairyat
tat-tat-karma-pravartanat
sanga-tyagat sato vrtteh
sadbhir bhaktih prasidhyati
“There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam – hearing, chanting and remembering Krsna], (5) abandoning the association of non-devotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service. [Nectar Of Instruction verse 3].”
Your enthusiasm is the same whether you are preaching to an individual or to a room full of people. Your joy when you preach ignoring your bodily ailments and the separation you feel when you speak about Srila Prabhupada shows how you don’t belong to this material world but yet you appeared to help us take up Krsna consciousness. Thank you for your patience with us and encouraging us in this path and leading us and picking us up though we slip and fall at every step.
Dear Srila Gurudeva, I am again so enthused to write an offering for your Divine Grace. Indeed, the pleasure derived from this transcendental activity is so great that it cannot be surpassed by any volume of material activities in this world. If I think deeply within my mind, why you came to this material world? The answer that reflects through my heart is this, “just to bestow your causeless mercy upon the conditioned souls like me”, who are simply servants of their senses and desires. Indeed, this world now needs the message of Krsna consciousness more than ever before, because of degrading consciousness of people due to material hardships for struggle of existence, corruption of mind and influence of violence, lust, anger, greed etc. The world has gone through so many changes in past years, and they are happening so quickly that people are completely bewildered as to what is their future. What surprises me is that despite of so many changes of circumstances you stand boldly to teach the timeless message of Bhagavad-gita, and it is indeed most difficult and challenging. All glories to you because you are doing this thankless task on behalf of Krsna. Whatever assets I am holding in spirituality as well as materially is the mercy of your Divine Grace, and whatever I will be holding in future is also because of your kind shelter and protection and care.
The last time when we met you gave a very important instruction – when we are feeling pain of your separation, that if we can just chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra always then we will be never be separated. On the material plane there is so called separation but on the spiritual plane there is no separation as long as we continue to chant Hare Krsna. These words gave me bit of relief of mind, as I often get upset and troubled due to material energy’s raving influence. So, in times like this I can also remain equipoised and do the right things. Your vani association helps me overcome any stressful situation as and when required. Now whenever I am stressed or panic, I just remember your instruction and immediately feel that you are personally present in front of me and helping me overcome that particular difficult situation. This is the power of your vapuh and vani association. I am still a neophyte and struggling to keep my initiation vows, but you kindly overlook all my mistakes and give me chance to continue to practice Krsna consciousness, as a loving father overlooks a child’s mistakes. This shows your infinite kindness upon a poor soul. On this occasion I beg to receive your mercy, that I will improve my standards and come to the real platform of unmotivated and uninterrupted devotional service. If you examine me, you will find no qualities. Your mercy is all that I am made of. If you are not merciful unto me, I can only weep, and I will not be able to maintain my life.
In a purport from the Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.20.17 it is explained “one who cannot understand that the human body is a suitable boat for crossing the ocean of material existence will see no need to accept a captain in the form of the spiritual master and will not at all appreciate the favorable winds of the Lord’s mercy. He has no chance of achieving the goal of human life. Acting against his own self-interest, he gradually becomes the killer of his own soul.”
“When one wants to cross a large ocean, he requires a strong boat. It is said that this human form of life is a good boat by which one can cross the ocean of nescience. In the human form of life, one can obtain the guidance of a good navigator, the spiritual master. One also gets a favorable wind by the mercy of Krsna, and that wind is the instructions of Krsna. The human body is the boat, the instructions of Lord Krsna are the favorable winds, and the spiritual master is the navigator. The spiritual master knows well how to adjust the sails to catch the winds favorably and steer the boat to its destination. If, however, one does not take advantage of this opportunity, one wastes the human form of life. Wasting time and life in this way is the same as committing suicide.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.23.28 Purport]
Many a time we think that people around us are a source of happiness and take shelter of them. But they themselves are in pitiable condition. So how can they help us or please us? A drowning man cannot save another person from drowning. So instead of running behind such false temporary shelters for our sense pleasure, we should take shelter of all blissful, eternal, Supreme Lord. We cannot separate ourselves from this material world. We have our family, prescribed duties etc. As Guru Maharaja says that doing our prescribed duties immaculately well as an offering to the Lord is also devotional service. Human life is a very rare and valuable opportunity. But in spite of hearing these words repetitively our mind, most of the times we do not realize the importance of the same. Only when the merciful Lord gives some jerks in life, then we come back to our consciousness. So how to keep us focused always on service of the Lord? How to avoid giving pains to the soul? The answer for this is in one of the lectures of Guru Maharaja Srimad-Bhagavatam verse 10.1.4, “Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the parampara system, that is, it is conveyed from the spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self?”
I pray to always remain free from drowning in the deep waters of ignorance and the relentless waves of happiness and distress brought on by the ocean of illusion that is maya, and always remain on this bhakti lifeboat guided into the ‘favorable winds of The Lords mercy’ by you, my eternal spiritual master. I hope to come to the standard outlined in your lectures and thoughts, to render service to you with a desire for service only and not some exchange, and then I may become eligible for your full mercy.
I do not know how to express myself sincerely enough. If I had at least a drop of decent sincerity, humbleness, and devotion I would glorify you unlimitedly. I probably don’t even realize properly yet how lucky I am and what significance Guru Maharaja have on my life. All I can truly say is that you change my life. Only your transcendental words can give full peace of mind and soul, encouragement, enthusiasm, will, power, excitement etc. to follow the path of Krsna consciousness. They protect me from my own ignorant self, from the effects of maya, and steer my mind towards my true nature, towards devotional service.
Despite lot of turmoil’s materially and spiritually, by receiving your daily preventive/vaccine doses we are able to fight the very strong material infection in this world. Today I feel that my offering to you is the change that I must do to always polish better my service in Krsna consciousness from the heart and not from the mind.
Thank you for your mercy and guidance and kindly allowing us to share these emails Guru Maharaja. I pray to Srila Gurudeva that I remain always determined and consistent in my sadhana in accordance with Your instructions irrespective of the onslaughts of maya.
I beg at your lotus feet again and again. Kindly shower your causeless mercy on this poor soul. Looking forward to seeing you soon dearest Respected Guru Maharaja!!!
Appreciate your time and help as always,
Thank You Very Much as always,
A servant of your servants,
Sundarangi devi dasi, Caru Candra dasa and Rasamayi devi da