Gauracandra dasa, Sri Bhadra devi dasi and Jahnava

Dear and respected Guru Maharaja,

Please accept our humble obeisances unto your divine lotus feet. All glories unto you! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Vyasa-puja provides us an opportunity to deeply reflect on your qualities and draw inspiration from your life and teachings. On this auspicious day, we are grateful for the chance to offer our gratitude to you – thank you very much!

The dictionary defines compassion as: “sympathetic concern for other’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it”. Compassion is not theoretical. It is an emotion that impels action. In the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.21.31, Srila Prabhupada, states the following: “A person in Krsna consciousness, a devotee of the Lord, is always compassionate. He is not satisfied that only he himself is a devotee, but he tries to distribute the knowledge of devotional service to everyone. There are many devotees of the Lord who faced many risks in distributing the devotional service of the Lord to people in general. That should be done.”

The past year has helped us appreciate this quality in yours. You tirelessly engage in distributing the knowledge of devotional service. Not a day goes by without your giving at least two lectures.  In the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.30.33, Srila Prabhupada writes: “The most important thing for a devotee is getting a chance to hear about the pastimes and glories of the Lord”.

Through your lectures, you have created opportunities for hearing. Thank you very much! You tirelessly travel all over the world, giving your physical association and creating opportunities for devotional service. Although many of these places are not always welcoming for spreading of devotional service, you still continue to go there and fearlessly distribute the process of bhakti. Your last visit to our place was in 2018 and due to our own limitations, we were unable to invite you again. Still, you never gave up on us; you would ask each time if a visit was possible. Now, by the efforts of several enthusiastic students, we are blessed with the opportunity to host you once again.

We take this opportunity to thank Her Grace Krsna Lila Mataji for helping us stay fixed on this bhakti path. We often hear that we are born in the darkness of ignorance. At the same time, it takes a measure of intelligence to be aware of one’s own ignorance. You have often mentioned that it is safe to assume one’s devotion as mixed. Her Grace Krsna Lila Mataji’s presence in our lives provides us with the necessary guidance to look within and understand what truly motivates us to follow this process. It is because of her help that we are able to see the mix we have. During the last year, she gently guided us to strive for authenticity and to honestly recognize where we stand in this process. Her constant reminders have been that we cannot trick guru or Krsna. Another one of her greatest gifts to us is to teach us the importance of taking responsibility for our situation, yet, at the same time, relying on Lord’s mercy in cleaning all that is troublesome in our hearts.

This offering will remain incomplete without expressing our gratitude to many devotees in our lives. We will always remain grateful to His Grace Jagadananda Prabhu for supporting us during our initial years in this process. His Grace Jagadananda Prabhu helped us appreciate the process of hearing. Any desire for hearing that we may have is because of the encouragement he provided us. His Grace Nityananda Pran Prabhu’s classes on Ramayana have been a constant source of strength and kept us grounded amid many challenges that came up this year. His enthusiasm and love for Ramayana is contagious. We thank him for helping us appreciate Ramayana. We also take this opportunity to thank devotees from Penn State, and devotees in Chicago and Naperville area. Their association has helped us to stay connected to you and take your association.

Guru Maharaja, thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to practice devotional service. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to engage in the hearing process and for the presence of devotees in our lives. We pray that we can cultivate sincerity as we continue to strive on this path.

Your servants,
Gauracandra dasa, Sri Bhadra devi dasi and Jahnava