Sri Vallabha dasa
My dear and respected Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my most humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine
“Sustainability of love comes from sadhu-sanga – looking up to someone who inspires you.”
This was your message – cultivating bhakti and love for chanting the holy name during the 2024 Festival of the holy name in Naperville.
Dry as my heart is, those words are like nectarean drops that soothe this tired soul and give hope that much can be accomplished even now. The trials and tribulations of this life in the material world are a constant battle where only one opponent seems to be wearing out. The harder the effort, the harder it gets. The resilience to fight back diminishes with every blow. And the dizziness that comes with every sinusoidal wave grows and shouts, “What’s happening to me???!” Tongue-tied, twisted, just an earth-bound misfit is how this hopeless “me” feels. The forces of the external energy are so strong, that I feel like I’m:
“Standing alone, my senses reeled
A fatal attraction is holding me fast
How can I escape this irresistible grasp?
Can’t keep my eyes from circling sky
Tongue tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit
…
A soul in tension that’s learning to fly
Condition grounded, but determined to try” –
[Pink Floyd, “Learning to Fly”]
Try I will and I am, albeit like a spent swimmer in the stormy seas, gasping for that ray of hope. “We need hope that our lost battles do not end up in a lost war against maya”—your words again that ring though my ears. “Hope that is grounded in faith and purpose”. You gave an excellent analogy that resonated strongly within me. Our grounding needs to be firm and focused to light that flame of bhakti and transcend this miserable material world like placing a magnifying lens on a piece of paper in sunlight to light a fire.
Your messages through all your lectures and instructions emphasize faith that is strong and unwavering. During the last twenty five years that I’ve had the extreme mercy of your shelter and guidance, you’ve consistently exercised unwavering conviction in the scriptures. I have witnessed your clarity in explaining the most difficult topics about Krsna, your patience amidst a barrage of questions from the novice to the lifelong devotees, conveying sastric essence and instilling your faith in these countless souls, your lifelong dedication to the mission of your spiritual master and the guru-sampradaya. Your faith in guru and Krsna has been the candle in the wind that is strong and luminous, lighting up our material paths fraught with darkness and depravity all around. Can all this be measured by any material yardstick?
Through all your sacrifices for us, and your trials and tribulations that come with being the GBC, and through all your austerities, you’ve focused on one singular purpose … to give Krsna to everyone, and to ultimately, please Krsna. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura described bhakti as a path of love, where service is a natural outcome of one’s love for God. The more one loves Krsna, the more one desires to serve Him in various ways. You’ve also mentioned this several times reminding us of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s instructions “ … Anukulyena krsnanusilanam”—that service should be performed with a favorable attitude towards Krsna. This means that the devotee’s actions, words, and thoughts should all be directed towards pleasing Krsna. Is the meaning of ‘purpose’.
Chanting our way to remember Krsna, “It’s not number counting. It’s absorption, that is important”, as you so succinctly put it. “The tools themselves will not ensure complete absorption. Krsna’s mercy is imperative. So, we have to stay completely surrendered to Him. Focus on the intention … Anukulyena krsna…”. You’ve given us limitless lessons that point to being akincana or being completely surrendered to Krsna.
“Give them a purpose, and it will inspire them” – Anonymous. Is it perhaps, then, that we need to remind ourselves of that overarching purpose that you’ve been giving us so patiently and so lovingly for so many decades?
And finally, to bring it back to where I’d started on this discourse on how to sustain my love of Krsna and your instruction, “Sustainability of love comes from sadhu-sanga – looking up to someone who inspires you”, there is no better living example for me that inspires me the way you do.
Yes, dear Guru Maharaja, all I have to do is turn to you, your words, your actions, and your shelter. You’re the inspiration! If there is any hope in me, you’re the inspiration!
I am eternally grateful for your gift of inspiration. Please continue to bless me so I may rise and fight to win the war with maya and to do it in a way that pleases Krsna always!
Your aspiring and humble servant,
Sri Vallabha dasa