Vrndavana dasa and Amrta-keli devi dasi

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah

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

Dear Guru Maharaja,

Please accept our most humble obeisances at the dust of Your Lotus Feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

naisam matis tavad urukramanghrim
sprsaty anarthapagamo yad-arthah
mahiyasam pada-rajo-‘bhisekam
niskincananam na vrnita yavat

“Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaisnava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Krsna conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.”  [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.32]

Our dear and loving spiritual father, we cannot fathom our fortune of coming in contact with the dust of the lotus feet of such a niskincana, Your Holiness. The more we recognize our condition of “very much inclined toward materialistic life,” the more we realize the need to hanker for the shelter and the dust of Your lotus feet. It is only by the causeless mercy of Yourself and Your representatives that we have continued to survive in our devotional journey, despite all the disqualifications and anarthas in our hearts. Our only hope and prayer is to recognize the rarity of this blessing of Your shelter, and gratefully grab the opportunity to serve You and Your instructions with all our hearts and minds.

This year has brought many blessings along with many internal struggles and challenges for us. We were fortunate to have Your extended personal association, though we could not take full advantage of it due to our busy lives. The virtual Vrndavana yatra was very enlivening and helped to form a relationship with Vrndavana and the six Gosvamis. The more we hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from You, the more we realize Your dedication and commitment; to live by those teachings and to share that to uplift us. Even though we could not hear from You regularly, it was very nourishing and uplifting whenever we got to hear. Those inspirations weren’t alive for long, but still, that experience is very powerful to deepen our faith and conviction in the potency of “hearing from the bona fide spiritual master.” You wrote in Your first email to us, “you both like to hear.” We had a little attraction for hearing at that time, but it gradually grew with Your blessing, to a point that “hearing sravanam” has become our favorite and most nourishing devotional activity. We are not able to perform much of any other devotional activities or services, due to internal and external challenges. We wish to continue to keep the “sravanam” dear to our hearts. We pray at Your lotus feet, to continue to bestow us vasudeva-katha-rucih, the faith, and attraction for hearing bhagavata-katha.

By Your causeless mercy and powerful vision for the Naperville congregation, the past year has been wonderful for Nanda Kisora, Abhiram, and other youth in our community. They had many opportunities to start developing a taste for kirtana in the association of friends. We feel very grateful to His Grace Mohan Lila Prabhu and Her Grace Sri Radhika Mataji for creating a wonderful sanga and opportunities for the youth in our community; encouraging them to participate in temple activities and festivals. The youth are slowly taking up active roles not only in kirtanas but also in other services. Krsna and the devotees were very kind to Nandu and gave him opportunities to train and lead other youth for mrdanga performances for various events. It was very encouraging to see Nandu’s leadership qualities and compassionate personality, for which the credit goes to the love and care he has personally received from many devotees in his life; especially from His Grace Sacikumar Prabhu and Her Grace Prema-tarangini Mataji. Mataji. Prabhu’s presence, guidance, and love in our lives have helped the kids and us immensely, to become better devotees and better human beings. We pray for the continued encouragement and blessings of Yourself and the devotees for Nandu, Abhi, and other youth in our congregation; to be engaged more actively to please Srila Prabhupada, and to keep progressing in their devotional journey.

Vrndavana dasa: Dear Guru Maharaja, I was personally encouraged by your presence in Naperville and hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from you. This reinforced my appreciation for Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Festival of the Holy Name retreat helped me to recharge my chanting of the Holy Name and to recalibrate my consciousness for chanting and helped me to focus on hearing.

Amrta-keli devi dasi: Dear Guru Maharaja, I feel very grateful and indebted to You for engaging me in a few direct services to You this year in a capacity that I never imagined I would be able to serve You and the devotees. The service opportunity to assist You with the material for six Gosvamis retreat helped me to dive deep into Their lives and meditate on Their profound humility, wonderful Vaisnava qualities, and very sweet dealings with Lord Caitanya. The Festival of Holy Name coordination was another service opportunity, which helped me to gain many insightful realizations. I do not have any qualification for that service. All I have done was “saying yes to You (and the service)”. As a result, I could see Your empowerment and Krsna’s kindness coming through the devotees’ untiring support and services, which resulted in a very nice retreat experience for all those who joined. By Krsna’s mercy and the bhakti-sastri teachers of ISKCON Naperville, I was able to complete the bhakti-sastri study this year (2022). I have also completed the Teachers Training course through virtual classes. I pray that I do not see these trainings as mere checkbox accomplishments, but to internalize these teachings and to become a better instrument (nimitta-matram bhava) in the hands and service of Yourself and Srila Prabhupada.

Through many of our struggles and weaknesses, we pray to take shelter of this powerful and hope-giving message You shared in the winter retreat. “Humility: When a conditioned soul sees his failures even to the point of hopelessness, unpretentiously begs Krsna’s forgiveness and engagement in the devotional service.”

Guru Maharaja, we seek forgiveness for our mistakes, shortcomings, and for the many offenses we have knowingly and unknowingly committed at the lotus feet of Yourself and the devotees. We pray for Your continued mercy and blessings for us to be engaged in serving Krsna and the devotees in the service of Yourself and Srila Prabhupada. Hare Krsna!

Aspiring to be your humble servants,
Vrndavana dasa and Amrta-keli devi dasi