Akhiladhara dasa, Deepika, Rukmini, Jayanti and Vrnda
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave name
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine
Most respected and dearest Guru Maharaja,
Hare Krsna!!!
Please accept my most respectful prostrated humble obeisances. All glories to Founder-Acarya of ISKCON His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. All glories all glories all glories at the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to You.
Guru Maharaja, I am very grateful to you for replying to my letter after my father’s recent health complications and you mentioning two things in response to my questions regarding duty:
- “Prayers;” and
- “Become a pure devotee, so that appropriate spiritual benefit will go to seven generations”
The instruction is a lifetime project in itself. Please empower me so I can make it the mission of my life and fulfill it by the blessings of Nitai Gaura Nataraja and with prayers and blessings of all the Vaisnavas.
Guru Maharaja, there are many inspirations in the heart from the recent sanga I got during the Festival of the holy name. From the lecture titled “Hearing by The Spiritual Ear” presentation of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, I have taken the following sankalpa: “Let me learn to listen as I chant.” I need blessings of Your Divine Grace, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and the guru parampara to pursue this worthiest goal in my life and cultivate it on daily basis while chanting japa. The other most prominent tool to control the restless mind is explained from Srila Sanatana Gosvami’s Hari-bhakti-vilasa in the verse that begins with manah samharanam. I tried to practice that and I was able to concentrate on the holy name, bringing my mind back to the holy name in front of smiling Srila Prabhupada in the Naperville temple during the Festival of the holy name. This was an amazing experience.
Guru Maharaja, this year, by your divine blessings, I participated in gita-nagari retreat for the first time. My whole family and I spent a nice time on the farm. The theme of “Srimad Bhagavatam: The refuge for the age of Kali” was amazing and filled us with lot of inspirations. I am very grateful to you for so meticulously planning and arranging the whole schedule with the selection of speakers, and topics for the benefit of all of us. Various points stood out from the seminar, including:
- Krsna being non-different from His sound – His Holiness Romapada Swami
- Creating our own personal library, our own Srimad Bhagavatam, by listing down the reciprocations of Krsna in one’s personal life – His Grace Radhika Raman Prabhu
- Relishing Srimad Bhagavatam means srimad-bhagavatarthanam asvado rasikaih saha – His Grace Param Karuna Prabhu
- The material world, bhava-sagara, will become like water in the hoof print of a calf by the mercy of the Supreme Lord – His Grace Nityananda Pran Prabhu
Guru Maharaja I am very grateful to you for welcoming Nitai Gaura Nataraja in Naperville on the 23rd of September, 2023. Their presence in our lives is helping us, although we, as a family, are serving Them with bare minimum. But since They have come in Peoria, They have engaged us in various ways spreading Their glories amongst our friends and family. May we one day become humble servants to Them in the mission of the entire guru parampara and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. On the installation trip, we kindly received the English Srimad-Bhagavatam set from you. My daughters and I are trying to read Srimad-Bhagavatam to Nitai Gaura Nataraja almost daily and we have completed Canto 1 and are presently on Chapter 2 of Canto 2. Please empower me so I can understand the mood and mission of Lord Caitanya and become a warrior in His army.
Guru Maharaja, I am grateful for keeping us as a family under the kind shelter of His Grace Jagadananda Prabhu. Since I moved to the U.S., I had the great fortune to host him at my home as he mercifully extended himself to us tolerating all inconveniences and neglecting the shortcoming of our services. Prabhu is very merciful to me even though I am a very unqualified recipient. One of the great qualities which amaze me in him is his patience and calmness with which he carries out various things in his life. Prabhu is very simple and satisfied with whatever minimum things we can do to serve him. He gives personal time to my daughters, Deepika, and myself. His guidance for Deepika to hear while doing household things and to me to be present in whatever I am doing are in our focus, though as his limited servants, we are failing in many occasions. Prabhu lovingly extends himself to Vrnda and shares many stories with her while taking prasadam and Vrnda also has great love towards him. May we become nice servants to him.
Guru Maharaja, I am also trying to receive the association of Her Grace Krsna-lila Mataji as she is extending herself in various ways through Zoom meetings multiple times a week. Her wisdom is extraordinary and with my limitations, I am unable to understand fully her teachings. The one thing which attracts me is her sharing practical Krsna consciousness, including her own life experiences and realizations. I feel I need to be more attentive in her association to understand the wisdom she has to offer in the devotee community.
Guru Maharaja, I am aspiring to cultivate brahminical qualities and am reading weekly the document you shared during Vyasa-puja on brahminical initiation and understand the importance of the same. Please bless me so that I can cultivate the desired qualities for the pleasure guru and Gauranga and prepare myself for receiving the brahminical initiation.
We are very grateful to you, Guru Maharaja, from the core of our hearts for the numerous valuable gifts and Vaisnava association into our life. May I never ever take that association lightly and allow the contamination of familiarity to creep in. I seek forgiveness for any knowingly or unknowingly committed offenses at the dust of your lotus feet and all the Vaisnavas you have orchestrated in our lives.
vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca krpa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah
“I offer my respectful obeisance unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord who can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and who are full of compassion for the fallen souls.”
Your insignificant servants,
Akhiladhara dasa, Deepika, Rukmini, Jayanti and Vrnda