Sundari Radha devi dasi

Dear Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your Divine Grace! All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada!

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

On this auspicious day of your Vyasa-puja, I humbly beg for the blessings of all your senior disciples assembled here, including my dear parents and my beautiful mentors, to please shower me with their mercy so I can attempt to offer you the simple prayers of my heart.

A few months ago, due to your causeless mercy, I found myself sitting in Conway Hall in London hearing the beautiful glories of Srila Prabhupada and Krsna from two wonderful devotees, Gaura-vani Prabhu and Radhika dasa. Conway Hall is especially important to us as devotees because it is where Srila Prabhupada gave a class and led kirtan in 1969, a few days after establishing ISKCON in England. Please see the photograph below:

While in Conway Hall, Gaura-vani Prabhu described Srila Prabhupada as the perfect teacher, using the analogy of a telescope. A telescope can allow us to see things that are so far away from us simply using multiple clear lenses. He described that a perfect teacher is like the lens of a telescope — completely transparent. Even if one of the lenses in a telescope is cracked then the telescope has no purpose. Srila Prabhupada is a crystal-clear lens connecting us to the disciplic succession of teachers before us, all clear lenses themselves, and finally allowing us to connect with Krsna and the holy name. His books, classes, temples, and the beautiful disciples he has made, all help magnify Krsna’s love in our lives. Hearing these beautiful descriptions of Srila Prabhupada immediately reminded me of you, my perfect teacher.

Thank you, Guru Maharaja, for being my perfect teacher. You are such a transparent source of Krsna’s love. The way you prepare meticulously for your classes, churning the different writings of the acarya’s, and thoughtfully constructing your seminars offers us an opportunity to connect deeply with the disciplic succession, especially Srila Prabhupada. You show us beautiful Krsna through the various esoteric writings of our acarya’s in a way that even someone like me can appreciate it.

You are my perfect teacher. You always show us how to live through your actions. You demonstrate how to completely surrender to Krsna in an active way. Endeavoring to serve him perfectly while always teaching us not to try and meddle with the results. As painful it is to watch things that are “unfair”, you’ve told us countless times “Don’t try to play Krsna’s role!” And you’ve shown us by your own example how to practically do that.

You are my perfect teacher. Your kindness, patience, and unconditional love provide shelter to irregular, struggling souls like myself. You never give up. Never. You carry Srila Prabhupada’s relentless love and continue investing in the spiritual life of so many souls. Most surprising is that you never consider anyone unworthy of this love.

For so many years I wasted your time speaking of my mundane struggles in this world, from my childhood squabbles, to my teenage angst, to any other frivolous material problems that came up in my life, not at all understanding that the person I am speaking to is a member of the spiritual world, someone who has a direct connection to Srila Prabhupada, a direct connection to Krsna, and a deep taste for the holy name. You have so much sweet nectar and I pray that this year I can ignore my own trivial calamities and focus on simply hearing this priceless nectar from You. I pray I can take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity I have to be your disciple and I pray I can learn how to serve you and be somewhat worthy of your love.

I pray that my life is guided by gratitude for you, my perfect teacher.

Your aspiring servant,
Sundari Radha devi dasi