Tattva-viveka
2011 Vyasa Puja Offerings
Nitaisundara Das - March 14, 2011 1:51 pm
Between now and Friday the 18th, please post all Vyasa Puja offerings in this thread for Guru Maharaja to read. Please also refrain from commenting until after GM has read them so that things do not branch out.
Jaya Guru Maharaja! Jaya Sri Gaudiya Vaishnava Guru-parampara!
Audarya-lila Dasa - March 14, 2011 3:22 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
In so many ways I feel like my spiritual journey is about to begin. I’ve been involved in some way with Gaudiya Vaishnavism since 1977 and with your mission since 2000, but my involvement in direct seva to your mission has been extremely limited. My kids have moved on finally and I am winding everything down planning to move in as a full time sevaite in your mission in the next few months. To say I am excited and enthused would be an extreme understatement.
When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was describing the process of devotional service to Rupa Goswami he said, “Unless one is favored by a pure devotee, one cannot attain the platform of devotional service. To say nothing of Krsna-bhakti, one cannot even be relieved from the bondage of material existence.”
I have been praying to gain your favor since I first met you and will continue to do so throughout my life. These past few years have be monumental for me. They have been the hardest years of my life in many ways, but in the ways that matter most, they have been the most rewarding and progressive for me. I have seen all that I was attached to materially slip away from me in a very rapid and profound way. My marriage, my wealth and possessions, my health - all have been broken and almost completely lost. Somehow my health has improved and given me the chance to move forward in dedicating myself to you. All the circumstances that kept me bound in my family life slowly dissolved before my eyes one after the other over the past several years such that I am now able to step firmly forward.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that none of this would have happened the way it did without your blessings and genuine care and desire for me to progress in spiritual life. Knowing that you have prayed for me and that your desire is for me to be able to engage in sadhana bhakti full time I can only conclude that I am lucky beyond belief to have such a well wisher as you in my life. You have consistently taught me and held my hand through all the troubles I have gone through and you have kept your faith in me as I have in you.
I can’t say what is next on this wonderful journey, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I will be happily engaged in your service throughout all the rest of the days of my life.
Yours in surrender and service,
Audarya-lila dasa
Braja-sundari Dasi - March 14, 2011 4:37 pm
Dear Guru Maharaj,
On the ocean of siddhanta, swimming like a white swan,
You are the precious treasure of the Madhuvan dham.
Joyful and sober, dedicated and strong,
Absorbed in Krsna seva all the day long.
Always filled with compassion for the conditioned souls,
You give us your association despite our faults.
Sharing your experience, you show us the goal.
Your teaching delivers Krsna`s clarion call.
Full of affection, your heart swells with bhav,
One foot you have here, the other above.
Desiring your mercy, I pray at your feet:
Please make me your servant in eternity.
grateful for ever,
Braja Sundari dasi
Guru-nistha Das - March 14, 2011 6:18 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
even more than before, this year I have been appreciating your uniqueness in the international Gaudiya Vaishnava community.
As my own understanding of our tradition is gradually expanding, proportionately it is easier for me to place you in its context and thus more clearly see how incredibly different and ahead of your times you are.
I'm not particularly proud of it, but what first attracted me to you was your socially progressive interpretation of the Gaudiya doctrine and lifestyle. My friend Jananivas added my email address to the Sanga list about four years before I ever met you or had any personal contact with you.
But when I actually met you at Kamalaksa & Krisangi's house some seven years ago, I quickly realized that your social progressiveness was the smallest factor that set you apart from the Gaudiya herd. What really made you so unique was your spontaneous feeling for the path and everything connected to it. It was simply indisputable when listening to you that you had fully integrated devotion with your being. Otherwise how could you ever speak like that? I was mesmerized. You really were something completely different. The same "suspicious difference" that some other small-minded devotees had made me doubt about you turned out to be the greatest thing!
Since you actually live bhakti instead of trying to practice it, you don't have to play by the book (although your whole life is naturally fully in line with the teaching). This, I believe, makes you so different. Most of us can't feel bhakti since our hearts are so frozen over. We have to place our faith in following the prescribed practices and rules instead, and your spontaneous devotion profoundly challenges our shallow understanding. You can be yourself fully and still be completely Krishna conscious. This is something that doesn't even compute with us who still wade in the deep muds of anarthas.
Your spontaneity blooms in various ways in the context of your mission: everything from the aesthetics of your ashrams to the way you treat your students, to your writing and lecturing is an undeniable testament to your deep feeling for bhakti. And that is also the bond that ties you so tightly together with your own teachers and the rest of the Parampara. Us externally-minded devotees have to project that same connection to external things and thus strict following amounts to imitation of appearances. No wonder that the vast majority of the Gaudiya world can't decide what to make of you, a swan in the duck pond!
My intention is not to put others down in order to glorify you, but I can't help but feel that you are distinguished from the rest of us and that in fact is the only hope for sadhakas: that there are devotees who are above the rest. I'm extremely grateful that you are who you are. I have learned how much you have had to suffer because of staying real to yourself and to the truth, no matter what. I feel embarrassed that we are able to enjoy the fruits that were ripened solely through your perseverance and tolerance of the pettiness and small-mindedness of so many devotees. But I hope and pray that I can grow up to follow the same example and be different like you and have a bond with you based on feeling instead of a formula.
This is the only thing I want to want.
Your eternal sevaka,
Gurunistha dasa
Madan Gopal Das - March 14, 2011 8:22 pm
Dear Guru Maharaj,
You are a daily presence in my life and I am so happy to feel steadily absorbed in hearing from you, following your activities and rendering you some seva. I am truly deeply satisfied by any service I can offer. But I know I must do more…
Recently I received some mercy from you in a class. You told your audience that you were giving us some special mercy by advising us not to participate in bhakti with the idea that we will win the lottery, or be benedicted with some krpa-siddhi, rather we should practice as if our prema-prayojana was something we could achieve through our own effort. I am ashamed to say that though I have taken a vow to follow "the four regs" 
I continue to fall victim to gambling tendencies. I know that I tend to make excuses for myself, but I would submit that coming in touch with you and rendering you small services has entrenched me in the idea that my odds for "cashing in" have at least quadrupled. Can I be blamed for neglecting my sadhana practices or ritual activities when I have opportunity to serve you or to execute your desires? In fact, my falldown into gambling is entirely the fault of your sanga. Currently I get two or so lottery tickets per year and if I am lucky you only tempt me with some service and sanga a few more random times. I refuse to contemplate an existence in which you are not prominent or which I feel I cannot access you even if only in my heart.
Nevertheless, despite the contradictory nature of your kripa-siksa, I will not depend on the kripa-siddhi available by serving you, a man with “connections” in the cowherd community of Vraja. From today I resolve to follow this recent instruction to practice as if prema depended on it. I won’t depend only on rolling the dice, winning the lottery, or cashing in on your kripa. But please, I beg you, do not withdraw my drug. Please continue to feed my addiction with your sanga and seva.
My name is Madan Gopal das, and I am a compulsive gambler, and your eternal servant.
Prema-bhakti - March 14, 2011 10:16 pm
Dandavat pranams. All glories to you on this auspicious occasion.
I started writing my offering to you at last year’s vyasa-puja celebration. I had experienced a few challenging months prior and I was feeling rather pained and mental. I wanted to connect with you but I was struggling to find my bearings. An opportunity came up to make a garland for you and I eagerly took up the seva. It was a rose petal garland. Thin with a few small flowers in the middle. I had worked on it for quite a long time and then I showed it to Vrinda for approval. I decided that I would garland you. After your mic was in place, I walked up and placed the garland around your neck and then sat in the back of the temple room against the wall. I was thinking in my mind how happy I was to be able to do that for you and how beautiful you looked. Then an adjustment needed to be made to your microphone and you took the garland off and it came undone. My heart dropped. I felt I must have exhibited too much pride and I felt so embarrassed. I wanted to fix it but I didn’t want to make a disturbance going up there and you had already placed it down on the book holder. As you started to recite your mangala carana, you made eye contact with me and held up the broken garland. I felt you were giving me the okay to fix it and I went up and took the garland from you, retied it and placed it back on your neck. As I smoothed it out over your chaddar, I whispered, “Sorry”. That one word represented so much regret I was harboring in my heart and all the remorse I was feeling. As I sat back down to listen to the lecture, I immediately reflected on the fact that you had kindly given me a second chance. A chance to fix a mistake that I had made in serving you. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude and moved by your generosity. Later that day on your way to the kitchen, you saw me and stopped. You said I had a made a very nice garland but it had broke and then as if you had just remembered you shook your head and said with a smile, “Oh, but you fixed it.”
You suggest to your students that when writing a vyasa-puja homage they reflect on what they have learned over the year. In reminiscing about this instance and the evolution of our relationship over the past year, I have learned a lot about your magnanimity and generosity. I learned how the hard as a thunderbolt and soft as rose reactions to my attempts at serving you are all meant for my ultimate benefit. One monk recently joked with me that I was one of the most recent examples of your magnanimity. It’s a difficult thing to hear even in jest yet an important fact to understand. Without gurudeva's magnanimous nature we are nowhere. He may act in ways our small minds may not comprehend yet we should have the confidence and trust in his handling. Visrambena guroh seva. We should be eager to some day serve in that spirit. I bow down to you my dear eternal master and friend on this day and pray for such spirit to come within my heart. I offer my pranams to your nearest and dearest who so kindly set the example and assist me in serving you.
May I always be close to you whether you handle me roughly in your embrace and in any and all circumstances. Please accept this humble offering with love, gratitude, and in service,
Prema-bhakti
Shyamananda Das - March 14, 2011 11:25 pm
Dandavat pranams to you, Om Vishnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara Sata Sri Srimad Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Maharaj!
Om
Srila Sridhara Maharaj said: "The Vedas tell us, "Om!" Om means a big "Yes!". "What you are searching for, that is! Don't be disappointed."
You represent that for me, along with your abode, disciples and friends.
Vishnupada
You won't compromise with the essence of revealed knowledge.
Paramahamsa
Siddhantotpala-sara-nitya-rasikam hamsam vilasatmakam
Parivrajakacarya
You travel both by foot, and by the wide circulation of your books.
Astottara-Sata
You take us from negative numbers and all the way up to 108.
Sri Srimad
You are dedicated to Radha Krishna.
Bhakti Vedanta
You are a leading teacher of devotional vedanta.
Tripurari
I'm still curious why Srila Prabhupada gave you this name of Lord Shiva.
Maharaj
The personification of grantha raj on the simhasana, ruling over my beastly senses.
-Ki?
-Jay!
Your admirer
//Shyamananda das
Nama-dharma Das - March 15, 2011 4:39 am
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
I remember listening to you speak in Portland just about two years ago and thinking, singing kirtan with this sadhu makes me feel like I am home; the sweetness coming from this person is the heart of everything I love about the world; what he is saying is what I have long felt but have never been able to put into words. I am incredibly fortunate that you have been so generous with me from that day on.
I wish that finding some way to say thank you for everything you have given me was enough to express my fullest gratitude, but I get the sense that it would only further widen the gap between what my heart feels and what my capacity for language allows me to put into words. I doubt I will ever be able to fully appreciate the scope of your guidance, or show sufficient gratitude to you for coming into my life and sharing your immense generosity, compassion and loving heart. I only hope that I can learn to live in such a way that will allow me to honor everything you have given me and all that you represent.
Your aspiring servant,
Nama-dharma dasa
Bijaya Kumara Das - March 15, 2011 7:19 am
Dearest Guru Maharaja:
After a turbulent year with emotions being stretched to the limit I pray for your mercy and smoother sailing through the material world to our ultimate destination.
Yoga maya had thrown every thing at us and your association made all the difference in the world.
Big battles ahead for the next year and with your guidance may I make all the right decisions to sever you better.
--
Bijaya Kumara Das
Bhrigu - March 15, 2011 7:57 am
bhaktānāṃ paramaṃ vande
vana-vāsinam īśvaram
sac-chāstra-nipuṇaṃ śāntaṃ
tripurāriṃ sadā-śivam
I worship Tripurāri, Sadāśiva
The best of the devotees,
The Master who dwells in the forest,
Who is expert in the true scriptures and calm.
Dear Guru Maharaj,
Please accept my humble obeisances. Happy birthday!
I think that in my letter to you last year I moaned about how difficult that year had been. Alas, this year has been far worse. Still, in the midst of all difficulties, I have been able to stick to my devotional practices with surprising ease. Doing my morning puja, chanting my rounds and reading the shastras really feels like a life-line. I think of the saying that the Lord never gives us challenges that we cannot overcome if we do our best, and this gives me solace. Nothing happens without a reason, and now the Lord wants me to grow in new ways. I also think of various verses in the Bhagavata. At the moment, the following is one of my favorites (Bhagavata 11.20.17):
nṛ-deham ādyaṃ su-labhaṃ su-durlabhaṃ
plavaṃ su-kalpaṃ guru-karṇadhāram
māyānukūlena nabhasvateritaṃ
pumān bhavābdhiṃ na taret sa ātma-hā
When this human body now has been easily gained,
An excellent and very rarely attained boat,
Shri Guru is the pilot and My grace the wind to drive it on,
One who does not cross the material ocean is a killer of the self.
This text is often seen as a “heavy” verse, warning us not to misuse this rare human birth. This is the line followed by Shridhara Swami and Vishvanath Chakravarti in their commentaries. However, I feel that the verse can be read in another way as well. Now that this rare boat of a human body has been so easily gained (just by birth!), and even more importantly, now that we have a true Guru as the pilot and Shri Krishna’s grace as the wind to propel to boat onwards, who but a self-destructive person could not cross the ocean of birth and death?
However, I have also come to realize that it is not enough to allow Shri Guru aboard the boat of our life; we also need to give him or her space to do the work of the pilot. Shri Guru may not like to interfere into every minute detail of our lives, and is surely happy to see his or her protégées develop self-sufficiency, but that does not mean that we should always think that we know best how to navigate rocky routes in our lives. I tend to be over-wary of troubling you with mundane matters, but I am amazed at your ability to step into my life at just the right moment, asking me to do some seva or sometimes just to give an opinion on some scriptural detail, but by doing this, reconnecting me with the true direction of my life. Please continue this, and I am sure that no storms will sink this boat.
Your servant, Bhrigupada Dasa
Devyah-pati Das SERBIA - March 15, 2011 9:49 am
Dear Guru Maharaj,
Please accept my most humble obeisances.
If I could write this offering, prostrated in dandavat to your noble self, that is how I would write it to you.
Since I am not in direct contact with you like many of your disciples, I will use this opportunity to tell you what I was doing since last Vyasa-puja of yours, and in this context glorify your grace.
In the last year what I was doing steadily is that I am consistently listening your lectures every day (at least one hour), and I am participating on the Tattva-viveka regularly as you told me to do.
Unfortunately, I had very little taste for chanting japa, sometimes I sing Maha-mantra and other Vaisnava songs and discuss philosophy with selected devotees (non-offensive to SSM). Lately I was praying to you to get the taste for the Holy Name, and miraculously it worked. At least some force is making me disciplined to sit and chant every day, with some concecration.
When I started to read SP books, started chanting, etc, and especialy when I became full time devotee in the temple, I got an impression that I have so many realizations. But now, I must admit that my level of real spiritual vijnana is very low, if not nil. I am not pesimistic about it, but it is a fact. It is finaly uncovered. The situation is not glorious.
I do not even have realization that I am not this body, my metaphysical self image is very much material, just theoretically spiritual.
Now, when all false pride is gone, when other devotees are not any longer around, to praise me and tell me: “Jay Prabhu, you distributed so many books, you sing so nice in all these concerts, you are so great, so good, etc...” Now I am left alone. Alone with my materialistic thinking and all kinds of unimaginable, stupid desires. Poor state. Practicaly no hope.
My ONLY HOPE is you. You say that Krsna extends Himself to us through Guru, and I feel that. Every day when I hear your voice I feel like Krsna is speaking to me through you. Although my heart is dirty, I am confident that by hearing your divine words it will be cleansed, and I will be able to see clearly. Actually, this is already happening, but slowly, since I am so immersed in matter. I feel that your words are potent enough to change my stubborn character, which is not willing to surrender to Krsna.
The positive change is great, and I am cleansed a bit: I am not filtering any longer what
I hear from you, and like Arjuna I am telling you – From now on, I accept all that you speak as truth. I just listen, allowing the nectar of your words enter directly into my heart.
This feeling is liberating. I am happy. Your words are with me all the time, and I can more often remember some of your instructions, and I put them into practice.
I pray to Krsna to allow me to be able to listen to your words on and on, since they are
the nectar for which I was always looking for.
Trying to become your grateful servant,
Devyah-pati das
Gopesh Dasa - March 15, 2011 11:18 am
Dear Guru Maharaja
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
Every year comes the time where I find hard to express with words my feelings and appreciation, as usual I become speechless.
This past year has been one of great fortune, especially after your visit in London, and I evermore realize the importance of having spent some time at Audarya even if is already been two years far away from the peace. I hope the future will have me return again.
I always find excuses within my selves to spent time away from your vision and I have to admit that focus is a big problem in an unfocused world. I feel like lost in darkness.
For I don’t know what love is and don’t understand what spiritual life really means. I can only pray, with the utmost sincerity, for the day when my heart is uncluttered and my every breath goes to the service and glorification of my Gurudeva. I can never pay you back for what you've given me. I hope that one-day I will realize how fortunate I am and make the choice to come again in your midst. Yet I try, and it is hard, to put in practice all your teaching into my life.
Loosing wealth is nothing, losing health is something, losing Krishna is everything, and I feel I’m loosing Him.
Wish you a great appearance day of yours. Looking forward to see you this summer in Poland. May God keep blessing you forever and ever.
My most thanks goes to you, please accept my apologies for all the sins I have committed in my life.
Your in service
Gopesh dasa
Ekanatha - March 15, 2011 4:00 pm
Dear Tripurari Maharaja,
Many of our God-brothers have laid down their lives for the sake of preaching Krishna Consciousness throughout the world, despite numerous difficulties and obstacles, thus pleasing Srila Prabhupada very much. You are among those few fearless souls who stand out. Thank you so much for giving us the ambrosial delight of Krishna Consciousness, despite your foolish critics, who are enthralled by the ‘nectar’ of blasphemy. I appreciate all that you do for Srila Prabhupada, and your unique ability to inspire your thoughtful audience with fascinating talks on spiritual topics and Vaisnava history. You have such a profound and wonderful way to genuinely spark our mindfulness in spiritual life. So personally I am very grateful for your association, and am glad to have met you in this life-time. I am confident you’ll be fully successful in your mission to spread the glories of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Looking forward to your next visit.
Thank you very much!
I remain your servant,
affectionately,
Ekanatha dasa
Gopala Dasa - March 15, 2011 5:06 pm
Dear Guru-maharaja,
Your beloved diksa guru punctuated his writings and discourses with many memorable examples and analogies. While making an essential point about sambhanda-jnana with these devices, Srila Prabhupada might reveal something too about the scientific and cultural worldviews of the time. For instance, Prabhupada many times spoke of the “cooling” and restorative effects of the moon’s rays after a day’s labor, likening this to the pada-kamalam of Sri Nityananda prabhu, or to Sri Krsnacandra’s pacification of the damsels of Vraja-bhumi. Indeed, poetic evocation of the moon is widespread in Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Even so, I found your guru-maharaja’s use of the analogy to be somewhat foreign.
In late summer I spent some time serving at Audarya, a place where the physical moon shines brightly, undiluted by the reflected light of city skylines. After a day of service in the sun and heat, I would gaze skyward at the silhouettes of Audarya’s trees against the emerging stars and moon. I recalled your recollections of the pioneering days at Audarya and the magic revealed by the forest and constellations overhead, associated as they are with the divine couple. I recalled how the moon rays of hari-nama, which I received from you at Audarya, are said to open the white lotus of the heart. I remembered also how you have likened Srila B.R. Sridhara Maharaja’s ascension to a quietly-rising moon, the rays of whose discourses soothed your godbrothers and godsisters.
In a small way, I realized something about the poetic language and vision of our tradition, and how that language comes to life in connection with you. I felt that I was in the real world, a place where we can be nourished not just by nature from above, but also by the descent of something far more wonderful. I felt I understood the “cooling effect” of the moon-like appearance of sri guru in the darkness of a struggling sadhaka’s life. Without such radiance, my world is a dead place, scorched lifeless by separate interests, and slicked with the sweat of selfish labors. Without that effulgence, my world is illumined only by artificial light.
You have said that Gaudiya Vaisnavism is a feeling, and that we should go wherever that feeling may be found. I find that feeling, that sense of safety, that sense of being in the right place – that soothing panacea for material life – when I hear from you. Thank you, guru-maharaja, for rising in fullness over the ridge of Audarya, and for casting benedictions on this undeserving sadhaka. May I have the good sense to serve you more closely and attentively. May I someday learn to recognize bhakti’s language of love everywhere, and see sri guru with eyes tinged with something more than counterfeit devotion.
Your servant,
Gopala dasa
Gauravani Dasa - March 15, 2011 5:36 pm
From Drsta dasa and Rudrani dasi:
"Here is the remedy for eliminating all inauspicious things within the heart which are considered to be obstacles in the path of self-realization. The remedy is the association of the Bhāgavatas. There are two types of Bhāgavatas, namely the book Bhāgavata and the devotee Bhāgavata. Both the Bhāgavatas are competent remedies, and both of them or either of them can be good enough to eliminate the obstacles. A devotee Bhāgavata is as good as the book Bhāgavata because the devotee Bhāgavata leads his life in terms of the book Bhāgavata and the book Bhāgavata is full of information about the Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees, who are also Bhāgavatas. Bhāgavata book and person are identical."
SB 1.2.18 (Srila Prabhupada’s Purport)
Dear Swami,
We offer our obeisances to you on this auspicious Vyasapuja Day.
It is not often that one is fortunate enough to get the association of a saintly person who can open one’s eyes and deliver transcendental knowledge to the heart. The saintly devotee or person Bhagavata can help us cross over the ocean of material nescience and begin to understand the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We feel that we have met such a saintly devotee in your good self. You have reawakened the aspiration for pure devotion within our hearts and have lit the fire of desire to preach the message of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya to the conditioned souls suffering in this material world.
We pray that we will continue to receive your association and spiritual inspiration in the years to come. We also pray that we will be instruments in helping to spread the glories of Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri Douji-Gopal throughout the world.
Gaura Premanandi.
Your servants,
Drsta dasa
Rudrani d.d.
Lila-mayi - March 15, 2011 6:21 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Deepest pranams on your appearance day! I am fortunate beyond measure to be able to share it with you.
Through my immense good fortune, knowledge of you and your mission came to me through my dear friend and your devotee, Hari-bhakti, more than 7 years ago. Knowing my ever-growing interest in bhakti, she was kind enough to me to share, little by little and as I was ready, your writings and lectures. Finally, in a visit to Portland to give programs here, I was able to come and hear you in person. I had already been transfixed by your writing and speaking so openly, generously, and beautifully about bhakti, but this was something else entirely.
Just simply being in your loving presence brought me instantly to tears, for reasons I cannot explain other than feeling overwhelmed by your loving kindness. With all the sincerity in my heart, I wanted to know more from you. I clearly recognized my position, but wondered how I could begin to ask you my growing cadre of questions amassed from a life of confusing teachings, contradictory spiritual practices, and a relationship with a guru that I had no personal access to.
So Hari-bhakti gave me your personal email address! This was terrifying; I felt sheepish and ridiculous for the childishness of the questions that I had. But confusion was dominating my life at that time and while I held onto your email address for months, debating whether or not to actually hit “send,” I thought about you every day. Would you answer? And why did my needs deserve any attention from you at all? Wracked by fears, doubts, and incredible difficulty, I was flagging terribly in my spiritual practice, questioning everything, losing my clarity of purpose. So I sent you an email, a long one. I felt embarrassed and guilty for taking so much of your time; you didn’t even know me.
When your lengthy and generous answers started coming in via email and at programs, my understanding of your love and kindness continued to grow. You hardly ever hesitated, methodically and thoroughly answering my questions.
I didn’t realize what you were doing at the time, but it seems that you were taking an interest in me, spiritually. This was not an experience that I was familiar with at all, and even as I write this, brings tears to my eyes. No relationship in my life thus far had created the feeling of tenderness and care that began to understand when I saw that caring for (and actually attending to) someone’s spiritual well-being and progress seemed to be one of the highest possible forms of love.
Your sangha has been so open and welcoming, allowing me to quietly take part in festivals and programs without the benefit of a proper initiation. This is a testament to your tolerance and openness to all who desire to know bhakti and loving devotion. One’s company, I suppose, is truly one measure of their greatness. You have drawn to you so many wonderful devotees, and I feel nothing but blessed to be fortunate enough to associate with them, both at Audarya and in Portland.
Over these past few years, you sat with me and tolerated my growing pains, answered my questions, and prodded me along a little at a time. You insist that I can take my time as I grow more certain that I am ready to commit to being your student and all that I know it involves. Remember last year when I told you that my doubts had been removed about the path and practice? It is still true, except for the doubts I have in myself about whether I can actually to live up to the commitment on this end. I would hate to disappoint you in any way, after you have been so kind to me, so generous.
Guru Maharaj, I have no idea how I can serve. I have no idea even if I can serve. But I long to be in your company, this I know for sure. I know that the only way I will make any progress at all on this path is with relevant questions, humility, and selfless service to one who has realized the truth.
I have asked some pretty irrelevant questions so far, but through your association and that of your devotees, I am learning slowly. I selfishly thought that I was living with humility, but your mission and the monastics at Audarya showed me that I was totally mistaken about what real humility is. I hope to find that purest of qualities through your grace. And that last one? Selfless service to one who has realized the truth? Of course that’s you. May I live up to this one some day.
When you last visited us, you took the time to teach me how to pray, and now, even though what I am praying for is terrifying to me, I can pray every day, in just the way you taught me. I know that I will stumble and falter continually but I realize that I sincerely want to learn how to feel. The only way to do this is to learn to love God. I believe you can teach me how to do that, and to use it for real service.
Thank you seems crude and paltry, but it is all I have for the moment. If you see me fit to become your student, please know that I aspire to even begin to know what that means. And even though I am pretty sure it is inappropriate to ask, I humbly request to be of service to you in any way you see possible for me, for you have already given me so much.
Yours,
Lisa Mae
Gopala Dasa - March 15, 2011 6:34 pm
Posted on behalf of Annie:
Dear Maharaj,
In a recent Sunday call, you talked about the importance of bhakti yoga being a descending path towards humility and service versus the common conception of yoga as an ascending path. As someone raised in the Catholic church, I was taught at an early age that spiritual advancement had to do with “paying down your spiritual debt” as it were -- going to church every Sunday, going to confession and doing your penance, taking your communion -- all of these were methods to pave your ascending path to a reward in the afterlife and put money in your spiritual bank account. I was skeptical about how all of this “payment” in this life seemed selfishly motivated -- designed to ascend the self and “buy” one’s way into heaven. As a result of this skepticism, I turned away from spirituality and doubted organized religion. It wasn’t until I started listening to you speak and reading your books that I began to understand that the real point of life is to descend in service to something greater than oneself. Furthermore, part of this service entails serving those who are dear to He who is greater than oneself.
As beginner in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, I struggle on this path, with orienting my spiritual practice and focusing my mind, softening my heart, and developing proper humility.
Your example, wisdom, and generosity with both is fixed even as everything else in my practice is on shaky, newborn legs. Your willingness to speak to questions I raise that you have no doubt answered several times over in the past is beyond kind. You have helped me see (and more importantly feel) that rather than accumulate “good deeds” to “cash in” in to ascend, a person should give the fruits away -- that one’s life is most full when it is empty, having been given to the perfect object of love and those dear to Him.
Thank you not only for making this perspective clear but by embodying it and demonstrating that it is more than an intellectual realization.
Thank you for accepting me as your devoted servant and student. Haribol.
Annie U.
Abhay Krsna Dasa - March 16, 2011 9:41 pm
Guru Maharaja,
While many may claim to be a Vaishanva, or to be under one. The fact is that a real vaishana, is so rare in the world. People will try to put forward so many static reasons to prove why someone is for sure a pure vaishnava. But in reality a Vaishnava is completely above any static claim someone might have.
A real Vaishnava's credibility will not be debated by anyone in fact, unless they actually are an offender to start. Perhaps not due to their own fault, as they may just be blindly following a superiors orders. Devotees may cry foul due to missteaching ****, but the common material man, he will fall at the feat of the devotee. Every time. They might not consciously realize they met a Vaishnava. But they will be charmed. They will feel obliged to give in what ever way they are currently ready to give. If they put down their wall for just a moment and interact with a Vaishnava, then that's all it takes.
****(actually if these blind followers saw, really saw a real devotee they would change their heart right away too)
I remember hearing about the ordeal you had to go through to get Rohini, the short horned milker we had for a few months at Audarya. A farmer was hired to care for someone's cows. He made money by selling the milk. After mistreating the cows however the real owner of the cows fired him and gave us permission to take the milker to Audarya. However you had to retrieve Rohini from The Drunken farmer who's material life was starting to crumble around him. There he was, drunk, mad at the world. He was probably ready to spit at the first guy to look at him wrong. Now here you come, not to give him a dirty look, but to take his cow! Of course as you first arrive and state your intent you are met with his Drunken discontent. He threatens all kinds craziness including writing a story for the local paper telling what a thief you are. But as you begin to speak and reason with the man, in what some could call a small miracle, this man, deep in the reasonless well of toma guna, with a few bottles of gin tossed into the well, fell on his knees. Ok so not literally. But considering where he was at in life, and to what extent he could, "fall on his knees" he did just that. He started apologizing for his earlier behavior. He told you something along the lines of, "hey man, your alright". And he totally relented in letting you take the cow.
On some level this man saw something in you. To some extent he felt the deep, real, respect and love for every soul, no matter how degraded the state, that a Vaishnava exudes. And he couldn't help but give. He gave by stepping down off his drunken high horse. Apologizing, when moments earlier he felt the whole world was out to get him, and he need apologize to no one. He did a one eighty. And by doing that 180 he fell on his knees as best as he was able.
The fluid ever increasing charm you grace the whole world with is one of the many true beauties of a real Vaisnava. It's so rare and so nice.
And you have charmed me too.
Your Servant
Abhaya Krsna
Karnamrita Das - March 17, 2011 2:05 am
Once upon a time my wife and I—
“regular” working householders or
your average ISKCON institutional das & dasi—
were mindin’ our own devotional business
when out of the blue, in 2001,
there came a knocking—tap, tap, tap
in my email, from the Sanga online newsletter
which I really liked to read.
This Sanga said something important to me
so I bought your Gita and loved it
prompting me to buy all your books—
I reasoned that since my usual fare of reading
were channeled New Age, angel, crystal, or healing topics,
why could I not read a Godbrother Swami
who spoke to my heart and soul?
filling a spiritual lacking in my life.
Then the CDs began arriving
stretching our conceptions of KC
shaking up the placid status quo
while trashing unexamined misconceptions
expanding the shore of our known world
bring up answers that my wife and I
had never imagined forming questions for
making our path broader and accommodating.
Inspired, I asked you if you would come,
never thinking you would—yet surprisingly, you did
and the flood has continued ever since
sweeping us and many others away
from our provincial, sectarian ideas
causing us to wonder how we lived without this
opening up our world of Gaudiya Vaishnavism
to aliveness, depth, application, and meaning in real time.
From your first foray
into the broader devotee world
your influence, mission have widely expanded
which we knew would happen
as we reflected after your fourth visit in one year—
that this secret will be revealed to reach
the spiritual hankering of others, and alas,
our home would no longer be your only travel stop.
We are happy to see bright new faces
of devotees you have attracted
as well as us old Godbrothers and Sisters
who have a new lease on devotional life,
though we don’t know where it goes from here
as others are on the forefront of your preaching
while we are happy to assist from the background—
still, we pray for your company, and interest in our lives.
Karnamrita Das - March 17, 2011 2:13 am
(For Archana-siddhi dd)
My dear Swami,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
Srila Prabhupada gave me the shelter of the holy name.
Upon his departure from the world, I have been fortunate to receive good guidance from his disciples.
Ten years ago I became connected to your siksa.
You overpowered my initial resistance by the potency and purity of your presentation of Gaudiya siddhanta.
Your talks are refreshing and inspiring, filled with practical application of the timeless wisdom from scripture.
Hearing from you is deeply satisfying.
Your eloquently articulated realizations give words to my sometimes vague and undeveloped stirrings in my heart.
Your association has ignited within my heart an internal explosion.
I have been challenged, stretched and purified, challenged, stretched and purified…
It continues and intensifies.
Almost every day I listen to one of your talks—we have hundreds of your CDs now—
They are my opulence and my shelter.
I thank you for continuing to give me your siksa, even though I am unworthy.
Your aspiring servant,
Arcana siddhi dd
Vrindavandas - March 17, 2011 3:12 am
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
As I reflect on the last year, I think about the opportunities that I had to learn very valuable lessons as a spiritual practitioner. For the last nearly 20 years, I was the "mouth" - vocal about all things, sticking my nose in other peoples business, and attempting to preach very aggressively. 2010 was a year of deep reflection for me, I made many vows, in terms of personal commitment including listening to Krishna Conscious material every day, increasing my chanting and starting and ending each day with reading something spiritual. As I listened more closely, particularly to your lectures, I noticed how important it was for me to be silent. In silence, it afforded me the opportunity to help others more, and actually have compassion. Silence also allowed me to let barking dogs pass, avoid conflict and controversy, and cling to authentic sadhu sanga, both far and near. It was a very refreshing undertaking and I have continued 2011 on this path. Although many of your lectures and topics, seem so advanced for me, little morsels distill within my heart and at times come out when I least expect. My realization is that you embody the very nature of two titles from Prabhupada's books: "The Nectar of Instruction" and "The Nectar of Devotion." You are a living example of these books, and of what Srila Prabhupada wanted all his disciples to be. We receive from you such a deep extension of Prabhupada's mercy, it is no doubt he is smiling upon you. I understand now the meaning of what Prabhupada meant when he said "If you can't chant 16 rounds sleep less." Without chanting, we suffocate in maya. 16 rounds isn't the achievement, it's only the beginning. While I never had a problem keeping to 16 rounds over the last 2 decades, it was my arrogance to think that this tiny number was the pinnacle achievement. As I dove deeper and increased in 2010, I realized more than ever, that I was only starting to scratch the surface. The fire burns brighter inside, and the thirst for nectar becomes insatiable.
I pray that you have mercy on me so that in some way, I may be of service, and that I may continue my personal bhajana quietly without disturbing others.
Your aspiring unconditional servant,
Vrindavana das
Caitanya-daya Dd - March 17, 2011 4:00 am
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Dandavats. It is that time of the year when I must offer you my words of gratitude, and without fail I realise how much I lack the ability to express the importance that you truly have in my life.
You are one of my greatest inspirations. On a regular basis I think of snippets stated in lectures or written in commentary and those words touch me to the core. They help fuel my essence as I maneuver through this world. For certain I am no special disciple/devotee; therefore, it only shows to your magnanimity that you accepted me into your family and that I even get the privilege and luck to be privy to one of greatest hidden (that is, hidden to many but obviously not all) treasures in this universe, namely yourself! This is the mercy of Lord Nityananda Rama working through you.
As I told you when I last saw you, although I may not be an important or prominent person who is in the forefront, I am always there behind you, not making much noise, but constantly gathering the foot dust you leave behind as blessing and kindness for those such as myself. May I never leave your shelter or company. Jaya Nitai!
Your servant,
Caitanya daya dasi
Gauravani Dasa - March 17, 2011 11:18 am
From Nama Chintamani:
PUCCA
Dripping with pears the old tree stands against the golden light of September.
With few limbs left, it is mostly a trunk; it's form foretells few tomorrows.
It has seen many corn fields come and go like the one that was just plowed under, leaving sharp sticks in the ground.
Offering a harvest during Autumn's blush, the pear tree serves without bias as to whether its fruit is taken by human hands
or let fall to the ground.
Does anyone appreciate the generosity of this most tolerant tree?
Deprived of appendages, her hard pears cascade around her like a dress to hide her missing limbs.
Never before have I seen so many pears on a tree.
I pull off three, tugging to make her release them. She resists since they are not ready to be given up,
but I am passing through and am touched by the sight of the tree and the bounty she yields in her advanced age.
People have long ignored her offerings as proven by the ring of pears lying on the dusty earth.
Immeasurably greedy, I cling to the fruits of my actions; I have made little progress this past year.
You said, "Life is short" in your message, yet it feels like life is an interminable dream whereby I keep mistaking myself for someone else.
As the pear tree deviates not from the mandate of material nature, I wish to be steadfast to your instructions, withering away from the attraction for this life, to grow strong roots in the attraction for transcendental life.
Days later the small pears are fully ripened. I cut up the flesh and arrange it on a plate for Krishna's pleasure.
From Shyamlal:
I have tried to expand my Krishna consciousness with expressions in art. Breathing with colors, working with the brushes and palettes help maintain my centeredness as I simultaneously offer the process and result to Krishna.
Expressing multifarious aspects of the divine is a profound experience. It is also a lesson in detachment. In releasing the results I also relinquish any sense of ownership. Painting is an almost daily puja filled with wonder, grace and the presence of Krishna.
Thank you for being our guide, our support and our inspiration.
Gauravani Dasa - March 17, 2011 11:21 am
From Radhika-seva dasi:
Dearest Guru Maharaj!
All glories to you on this auspicious day of your appearance.
I offer my respectful obeisances unto you and all the previous Acaryas whom you so faithfully serve; carrying out their missions.
siddhantotpala-sara-nitya-rasikam hamsam vilasatmakam
audaryakhya-sudhama-sevaka-dhanam visrambha-bhakti-pradam
yacna-yukti-vicaksanam tv aghabhido vaisista-saktyah sada
vande 'ham tripurari-namaka-yatim sri-bhaktivedantinam.
I cannot find words to describe, how much I'm grateful, that You are in my heart, that I am your student.
You are such an inspiration in my life and I will always be indebted to you.
nama-shreshtham manum api shachi-putram atra svarupam
rupam tasyagrajam uru-purim mathurim goshthavatim
radha-kundam giri-varam aho radhika-madhavasham
prapto yasya prathita-kripaya shri-gurum tam nato 'smi
"I bow down to the beautiful lotus feet of my spiritual master, by whose causeless mercy I have obtained the supreme holy name, the divine mantra, the service of the son of Shachimata [Lord Caitanya], the association of Shrila Svarupa Damodara, Rupa Gosvami, and his older brother Sanatana Gosvami, the supreme abode of Mathura, the blissful abode of Vrindavana, the divine Radha Kunda and Govardhana Hill, and the desire within my heart for the loving service of Sri Radhika and Madhava [Krishna] in Vrindavana."
he guro jnana-da dina-bandho
svananda-datah karunaika-sindho
vrindavanasina hitavatara
prasida radha-pranaya-prachara
"O spiritual master, O giver of divine wisdom, O friend of the fallen, you are the giver of your own bliss and you are the only ocean of mercy. Although dwelling in Vrindavana, you have descended for the welfare of fallen souls like myself and you are preaching the divine love of Radha for Krishna. Please be kind upon me."
It is said that Sri Guru gives the disciple the gift of desire – desire to serve Krishna, an urge to turn towards Mahaprabhu and his mission instead of the world. This is a gift that leaves the disciple in eternal gratitude, a gift so big given to the most undeserving, that it ties the disciple to Gurudev’s lotus feet not by external force, but by the force of love and affection. Even I can say – as materialistic my understanding may be – that I have a feeling that you are the person in my life, who loves me most.
My prayer is that I may come to understand more deeply the gift of prema that you've come here to give so freely and so mercifully and that I may take full advantage of this golden opportunity.
Dear Gurudev, you have said that seva is the guiding light...
It is the only thing worth living for... I pray that I'll always have the opportunity for guru-seva...
Without your mercy and affection I have nothing.
Thank you for your mercy...
Your eternal servant,
Radhika-seva dasi
Gauravani Dasa - March 17, 2011 11:25 am
From Maharha dasi:
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to you, Tripurari Maharaj.
I dreamt about you twice, recently. Each time you were speaking to a very large crowd of devotees and having a strong influence on them.They were really enjoying your talks.
Following these dreams, I turned on a tape of Prabhupada speaking about syaktavesa avatars.
He said there are two kinds: One comes directly from the spiritual world and is directly empowered for a particular mission. The other is a living entity, not on the level of Vishnu, from the material world, that has special powers and opulences to glorify the Supreme Lord. They have uncommon powers not found in an ordinary man.
Lord Caitanya said that we can understand someone is a syakatavesa avatar by his symptoms, activities and influence on others. An avatar comes to glorify the eternal existence of the Lord.
It seems that you are one such devotee. You have been empowered by Prabhupada and Krishna to guide souls back to Krishna. When you speak it has a powerful influence on those who come in contact with you. Even though you only have a High School education, your vocabulary and explanations of the philosophy are extraordinary. Your character is impeccable. Your centers that you develop are awe-inspiring and in line with what Prabhupada wanted.
I appreciate hearing you say once you would give your life for your disciples. They are very important to you.
Prabhupada said that his duty as a guru was to see that his disciples did not fall down. He stressed chanting and reading.He said if we read we will be strong in our beliefs and Krishna will be pleased with us. One who does so will be especially recognized by the Supreme.
To me you are an example of all that Prabhupada wanted in a devotee.
You have changed my life. I am constantly feeling rejuvenated by your lectures and your example.
You once said if we serve an advanced devotee we will one day emulate their qualities. I am happy if I can serve you, for one day this will be my fortune.
Yours in service,
Maharha d.d
P.S. After writing this, I had a dream again last night about you. You were going to give a talk at Arcana's house and there were lots of devotees coming to see you. As a matter of fact , there was a long line outside. Prabhupada was also in the line, being carried on a palaquin. He was coming to hear you speak.
Gauravani Dasa - March 17, 2011 11:29 am
From Nityaseva dasi:
HARE KRSNA
MY DEAR GURU MAHARAJA
There is a saying I am sure most, if not all have heard. The saying I am referring to is from the bible, “ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE”.
Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
That is exactly what I did. I prayed with all my heart, day after day after day, my prayer was; “My Dear Creator, Creator of everything that exists in all Universes. My Creator, whoever, or whatever you may be, I want to know you, I want to know who or what you are, and know all about you and Your plans”.
After praying this simple prayer morning, noon and night for many months, my answer was provided, via YOU, Dear Guru Maharaja. It came in a way least expected by me.
On a regular, frequent basis, my Mother would go shopping ‘in town’ and before returning home she would stop someplace and have desert. One day when having her desert at Govinda’s Vegetarian Buffet she saw a flyer about lectures being given. She took a flyer and gave it to me.
I attended the ’lecture’. The reading was my very first ‘introduction’ to both KRSNA and PRABHUPADA. With a little ‘time’ I came to realize this was the answer to my prayers to know my Creator.
For this, Guru Maharaja, you will ALWAYS – FOREVER be LOVINGLY HELD IN MY HEART, for being the source of the answer of my prayer to KNOW MY CREATOR. There is not much I can say other than ‘THANK YOU’, I AM MOST GRATEFUL TO YOU, AND WILL BE THANKFUL TO YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY, FOR YOU HAVING PROVIDED THE ANSWERS I HAD BEEN SO INTENSELY SEARCHING FOR. HARE KRSNA.
By introducing me to Prabhupada and Krsna, you put me upon the Spiritual path thereby making this life worthwhile. My Life has been given completely, to Krsna/ Prabhupada. Now Krsna Consciousness and pleasing PRABHUPADA and KRSNA to the best of my ability are the ONLY things that matter in life.
HARE KRSNA, HARE KRSNA, KRSNA, KRSNA, HARE, HARE,
HARE RAMA, HARE RAMA, RAMA, RAMA, HARE, HARE.
HARI BOL,
YOUR NITYASEVA
Tulasi - March 17, 2011 12:42 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga!
Once again I wanted to thank you for all the inspiration from your
lectures and sangas. Last year was quite hard for me. I am still in
shock after my mums death. It was difficult to get up from bed and so
much more to do something constructive, so to be honest I wasn’t that
Krishna conscious as I could. Actually I was thinking about Krishna
only when I was listening to yours lectures. I got from them a lot of
encouragement. While listening to them I wasn’t afraid about myself,
my family or that I will never meet you.
I don’t want to complain about last year because even it was
difficult year in the same time I learn a lot, about myself, life, I
was working on my terrible character and I was thinking a lot and I
came to conclusion that it is very important to know what we want from
life, who we want to be, what is our goal. I would like to be a good
person, good bhakta. I think that slowly, step by step I will get
there, with some help from my friends. This thought makes me really
happy.
It still amazes me, that person which I never met in person have
such an influence on me. Many books, many authors had some impact on
me, but what you are doing to me it is pure magic and poetry, and in
the same time it is logical and concrete. Your lectures include
everything.
In this moment I am counting down to July, when you will come to
Poland and finally I will meet you. Once again thank you for your care
and warmth.
All the best to you.
Hare Krsna
Your servant
Tulasi Priya dd
Tadiya Dasi - March 17, 2011 2:13 pm
Dearest Gurudeva,
I have been drawn to Kuntidevi's prayers in Srimad Bhagavatam often, and from her prayers one stanza has always stood out and has become my personal prayer. There are many reasons why this particular stanza speaks volumes to me. The stanza I am talking about is this one:
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.42: "O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You, without being divided to anyone else."
First of all, in it, Srimati Kuntidevi addresses Krishna as ”Madhu-pati” which refers to Krishna killing the demon Madhu. Sridhara Svami comments on Krishna being called the killer of the demon Madhu (Madhusudana) like this: “False ego is as sweet as honey and resides in the heart of everyone, making one forget his own identity. It intoxicates everyone. He who destroys false ego with the torchlight of knowledge is called Madhusadana.” Kuntidevi is addressing Krishna as the killer of this particular demon but the name ”Madhu” also takes my thoughts to Madhuvan, thinking about Krishna as ”Lord of Madhuvan” and you as the agent of Madhusudana in my life: ”Who destroys false ego with the torchlight of knowlegde.”
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
”I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him.”
I like this stanza because it reminds me of you and Madhuvan. Thoughts that flow towards you and the Lords of Madhuvan are the real sweetness, the honey, in my consciousness and the right use of the faculty of the mind...The mind becomes pure like the Ganges when I manage to hold both of my Prabhus - Krishna and you - in my mind if even for a minute. Unfortunately, my mind is crowded place. It's also a dark place all too often. It's the darkness of kaitava that has clouded over my mind: a cheating heart desiring of dharma, artha, kama and moksa. Consciousness being drawn to the wrong things. Intoxicated by the false ego.
Mahaprabhu made it clear that there is no space in the Krishna-conscious heart for the desire for dhanam (wealth), janam (followers) or sundarim kavitam ( beautiful people, wisdom etc.). Krishna wants our whole hearts. Our whole lives. Complete surrender. I know you want this of me, too. And I also know that so far, I have been holding back. Giving perhaps a part of me here, another there. But not my whole self, my entire heart. I pray for the courage to give more of myself this coming year. I pray that this year might be the year that I take myself off the center stage of "my" life and make space within my heart through saranagati.
I remember once in Audarya, you said to me something I still remember. You said: ”You know, Tadiya, one of these lifetimes you will have to totally surrender, give yourself fully.” I know this to be the truth but as it turns out, complete surrender may sound easy on paper and even touch the heart deeply much like good poetry does because it echoes some ancient truth in one's soul – but the problem is the distance between my mind and my heart. What my heart knows to be true, my mind – my conditioning, my false ego – resists. The mind and intellect, unless harnessed and used in service of Bhaktidevi are hindrances on the path.
The prayer of Kuntidevi also addresses my number one problem in spiritual life: Lack of nistha. It has become increasingly clear to me that this lack of one-pointedness and dedication is why I am not making as much progress on the path of loving Krishna as I should. My mind is flowing to so many directions, being attracted to this and that. And I have allowed my life to take other directions other than the route that leads to the Forest of Honey, Madhuvan.
I am still very much missing the forest for the trees, so to speak. Allowing myself to be divided in pursuit of things other than pure bhakti. I pray for nistha. I pray that my mind and my attraction might constantly be drawn unto the Lords of Madhuvan, Dauji-Gopala and their dearmost servant and my beloved Gurudeva, you. May I enter the Forest of Madhu and be forever lost in it and eternally serve you there.
Your love and mercy are so powerful that sometimes they manage to cut through the chatter of my mind and I suddenly remember you. Something happens and reminds me of you – and my consciousness is effortlessly directed in the right direction. I say effortlessly because every memory that I have of you is filled with love. And in love, there is no effort. Those moments are the real sweetness in my life. You once said that Krishna-consciousness is a feeling. My saving grace is that I have some feeling for you in my heart. Though, whatever feeling I have towards you is a gift from you. Your mercy. You love me so completely, so purely, that I cannot help but try to love you back a little.
I know that this feeling for Krishna-consciousness that you so very much embody is what bhakti is all about. It is attractive by nature. When people see you and spend time with you, they are touched by this feeling. They are transformed without them even being aware of it. I know this because it has been my experience. I am always touched by this feeling emanating from you when I am blessed enough to be able to spend some time with you. I am so very thankful that you have given me a little taste of this feeling. The mind may distract me, the false ego may even distance me from you momentarily but this feeling is beyond the mind and I will always have a memory of it. And I know that it will always – eventually, somehow – guide me back to you. This is real mercy, a real miracle. What can I say, except: Thank you. Your mercy is oceanic and sweeter than honey.
I end this offering with the words of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, praying for a drop of your mercy:
”O my master! When will I be benedicted with your mercy and finally be successful in my life? I am so fallen that I have no strength or intelligence. Kindly take my soul and make me like you.”
Sri Sri Guru-Gaurangau Jayatah!
With love,
Tadiya dasi
Krsangi Dasi - March 17, 2011 7:33 pm
Dear Swami
You once said in a talk that being with Prabhupada was the best place for a devotee if it meant he or she could do service to him. During the year that has passed we've of the thought about this as we've mostly tried to do service to you from a distance, attempting to find the best way to help your mission while also growing spiritually.
One could say that the results of this experiment are mixed. We've gained quite a lot of attention for a book that indirectly encourages people to acquaint themselves with you and your writings. But at the same time we've found ourselves having difficulties with our daily sadhana, weary with all the burdens of work and personal life. It's clear that to feel more inspired in our practice we need to be closer to you. You are the fuel that we need to keep going, and embarrassed we must admit that we aren't steady enough in our faith to make it without being in your direct presence. We admire the devotees of Audarya and Madhuvan who give everything to your mission regardless of whether there's a physical distance between you and them.
We wish that this year will again bring us more chances to be with you and to serve you. It seems that our devotion isn't strong enough to brigde the geographical gap between us. Please accept our fledgling attempts to serve you, and may fate allow us to do so directly!
Your servants
Krisangi & Kamalaksa
Gaura-Vijaya Das - March 17, 2011 7:43 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Every year I realize more and more how significant it was for me to take your shelter. The recent discussions with other practicing Gaudiyas have illustrated that you are unique in your ability to speak on siddhanta, while adjusting the details to deal with the modern world. This year was good for me because I was able to move closer to Audarya. I hope I can make a better contribution to the mission and grab this opportunity with both hands.
This year, I look forward for your NY tour and I expect an overwhelming response to your presentation there. I am sure in the next ten years, the world will have to acknowledge your unique contribution to Gaudiya Vaisnavism. The parampara has to move on and you have to bear the mantle of leading the sampradaya without doubt. I wish you a very long and healthy life, so that the world can benefit from your nectarine realizations.
Regards
Gaura-Vijaya dasa
Vrindaranya Dasi - March 18, 2011 12:17 am
You are a storehouse of devotional conclusions, having fully immersed yourself in the tattva of bhakti-rasa. Serving the mission of your Gurudevas is your life and soul. You have no other interest, and you never waver from that undertaking. Your nistha for Guruseva is immovable and lofty like the Himalaya mountains: a guidepost and shelter that can accommodate unlimited devotees. You nourish the devotees with your affectionate generosity. Aho saragrahi Vaisnava! You are my life and soul, my shelter and my aspiration. That day is going to come when all you are talking about will come true: you are giving us a glimpse and walking with us the distance. What else do we need to do but follow along?
**************************
Dear Guru Maharaja,
You are a magnificent mango tree,
laden with ripe fruit and giving shelter to all.
You are not a young sapling but grand exemplar in the height of maturity.
Your extensive roots penetrate deep into the teachings of the previous acaryas,
and you do not waver but stand unshaken in all situations.
The branches of your insight extend far,
and overloaded with mercy in the form of heavy fruit,
those branches reach down to benedict one and all.
May we all gather under the shelter of your benevolence.
Drinking the nectar of the your ambrosial guidance,
we will pass out, only to rise and drink again.
Aspiring to reside always within the shelter of your boughs
and to drink deeply of your nectarean insight,
Your servant, Vrindaranya dasi
Gaurangi-priya Devi - March 18, 2011 12:25 am
Dear Gurumaharaj,
Dandavats to your beloved form, which brings joy to my heart and those of so many devotees. All glories, all glories to our param gurus, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and
Srila Bhakti-raksak Sridhar-deva Maharaj, and to the illustrious line of gurus in our Bhaktivinoda Parivar. My gratitude to them and to you for carrying on their important legacy, is immense.
I don't have much to offer you today, but even though my words may be simple and few, I didn't want to miss honoring you on this special day of your Vyasa-puja.
Gurumaharaj, you live in my heart, and know my heart so well. I wish all I had in there was purity, devotion, and dedication, but you still accept me with all my shortcomings, and doubts, and material desires. The fact that you do accept me even with the ugly in my heart, makes me all the more desire to serve you purely. You have given me the greatest gifts that I could have received in this lifetime, and when I really think about those gifts and the highest ideal that you want to bring me to, it is scary. Scary, because I cannot repay you for those gifts unless I fully give up listening to my mind, and trust in your will. I am holding on so tightly to the idea that I am the controller, and the condition I am in is definitely scary and unbecoming. Service is not easy, and means giving up my ego and dedicating for the long haul, through difficulties and joys, hardships and pleasures. I pray for a steadiness in guru-seva, and I hold those monks that have dedicated their lives to your service and mission as my shining light. Their example is inspiring to me on a daily basis.
Yesterday I was reading from Sri Guru and His Grace by B.R. Sridhar Swami, and this part touched my materialistic heart.
"To a disciple, his guru's position is Supreme, even more than God. This is said in the scriptures. The guru is more near and dear to us than God Himself. God has many things to deal with, but guru is concerned only with my welfare. The guru's position is more helpful to the disciple than God."
Such is the grace of guru, and the fact that such grace has entered my life is not an ordinary thing!
You are my inspiration. You are my heart's ideal in physical manifest form. You are a treasure to this world. You are my connection to all that is divine.
I pray that I can continue to have your sanga, and little opportunities to serve you and your vision for spreading the teachings of Mahaprabhu. Thank you for allowing me to bring your Krsna-Balarama Deities for you from Vraj. It is a memory I will treasure forever. I also know that that service was minute and now the task lay ahead for me to actually assist you somehow in Their worship.
with respect,
Gaurangi-priya devi
Gokula-candra Dasa - March 18, 2011 12:33 am
Dear Guru Maharaja,
today on the most important day for all your students, I would like to express my gratitude for everything that you are doing for us, your enthusiasm, mercy and kindness.
It is very difficult to find a person like you and what to say about being under your guidance. I really feel the most fortunate person.
Thank you so much that you have kindly accepted our invitation and came to London. I cannot really say how honored, privileged and happy we felt when you were here. We all thank you very much, that you have changed your plans for us.
Because of your mercy I have realised, not only theoretically, but foremost in my heart that the most essential, nourishing and important in the process of bhakti is a company and service to Krishna Bhakta, a person who is very dear to Lord Krishna. Service to guru is the real life of bhakti.
sadhu-sanga, sadhu-sanga - sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya
Now I can see the real meaning of these words - it is your company and service to you.
I really hope in my heart that I will be in your presence as often as possible and be able to render some sincere service to you.
Your servant,
gokulacandra dasa
Krzysztof_R - March 18, 2011 1:01 am
Dear Swami,
Thank you for what you say
Thank you for what you write
Thank you for what you are
Your similes make me tick
Your heart outpouring with imagery
Worth remembering forever
Teaching that giving is getting
By which we’ll move to the other side
Away from the land of doubt
Where we’re suspended in animation
How nicely put on citta-nivritti,
The surface of a lake with gentle ripples
Is more attractive than mere stillness
And your words are like pebbles cast inside
My mind dances to them to my ego’s amazement
And my icy heart melts carried away by another
Teachable moment of clarity
Getting an inch closer to sensing
How Sugar tries to taste himself
Well, maybe I haven’t even started the journey
But you have beaconed the The Golden Jewel
Against the Śyam backdrop, from cover to cover
How nice that reverence can be replaced with rapture
And the intellect will once retire.
Yes, I must admit you capture me.
Happy birthday, Maharaj!
Gaurasundara Das - March 18, 2011 1:46 am
Guru Maharaj
Every year as your appearance day approaches I start getting nervous because of my inability to glorify you in the way I wish I could. You are self-effulgent and have all good qualities, but I have not been fully attentive and so I find myself at a loss for words. At the same time, as this day approaches I also can't help but reflect on my good fortune in being drawn into your company. You have the God-given gift of being able to engage everything in service, even stones and rocks. I have seen it. My heart is much harder than any stone, but somehow by your kindness you have given me some service. This good fortune of your association, your help, extends to the whole Gaudiya community as well. You are constantly giving yourself, making yourself available to all the devotees. There is simply no one else out there with your knowledge, realization and dynamic application. On one hand you are divine and otherworldly and on the other you are the most normal, well adjusted person I have ever met. The Gaudiya world is full of misconceptions and misrepresentation. The atmosphere is often fanatical, simplistic and embarrassing. But in all this, your personality and dealings hold this great tradition up and give it the dignity and respect it deserves. In all honesty if it wasn't for you and your presentation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism I don't think I would be able to be a devotee today. I know many feel this way. We owe everything to you. Gaudiya Vaishnavism survives and flourishes in these times because of you.
Your servant,
Gaurasundara dasa
GopalNandini - March 18, 2011 1:46 am
Happy Vyasa Puja Swami,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you and your loving service.
When I was pregnant with Tilak, I was not yet an aspiring devotee of Krishna. But having a child on the way made me take a long hard look at my life and I knew I needed to find some meaning in this life for myself and my little son. I knew there had to be more than what I had to give him. Not long after really deciding to change my life and re-dedicating myself to vegetarianism, my brother met the devotees in New Orleans. I had had association with devotees only a tiny bit, but had several of Prabhupada's books and used to eat loads of prasadam at the Sunday Feast regularly years earlier (though I never stepped foot into the temple.) I knew the very basics of the philosophy and when my brother called me and told me about this wonderful thing he had found, it was like a light bulb went off in my heart and in my mind. That was it, the answer was before me all that time and I had never seen it! I had found the way.
Fast forward twelve years. I attended your lectures at Gaurangi Priya and Madan's house and that same light bulb re-lit in my heart and mind. Though I was committed to Krishna , I had found myself becoming disappointed with devotees in general and even began to wonder, does the process really work. I saw so much mistrust, disrespect, illogical behavior, and general misapplication of the philosophy that I began to wonder if I could even continue in the devotee environment. But at the same time, I deeply longed to find a guide to match my heart. Just as Krishna Consciousness matched all those things I felt were true in my heart all those years ago, you matched all the things I feel are true in my heart today. And just like before, it had been right in front of me all those years, and I never saw its nectar. I've been attending your lectures when you visited NC for years, and I never heard you. Now, when I listen to your classes, it's as if you are reading my mind.
As I have told you before, I'm tired of following my mind around and getting nowhere, that's why I am recommitting and re-surrendering my life to you and your mission. I'm so relieved by your love, devotion, understanding, and practicality. Thank you for allowing this scatter brained fool to receive your mercy.
Your aspiring servant and hopeful pioneer,
Gopal Nandini dasi
Krsna Caitanya Das - March 18, 2011 3:57 am
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjama-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
Please accept my sincere obeisances.
It is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam:
ayur harati vai pumsam udyann astam ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-ksano nita uttama-sloka-vartaya
"Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead." (SB 2.3.17)
Over the last couple of years I have come to identify with the first part of this verse. More than once, I had confided in my wife that I felt as if I were just passing time each day, day-in and day-out, slowly dying. I had gradually come to that point after almost 15 years of trying to be a devotee. What had started as a joyful process had degenerated into a seemingly impossible and, possibly, unwanted process. I wasn't so sure that I wanted to be like many of the devotees I had seen over the years. At the same time, I didn't really fit in with the so-called regular world either. Maybe I felt like a riven cloud. I didn't have much enthusiasm for the spiritual society I knew of or the material world. So I felt like I was just passing time.
Along the way, sometime, maybe about 7 or 8 years ago, I started seeing your Sanga Q & A articles. Sometimes I thought they were good and other times I wasn't sure what to make of it. Whenever you started coming to Prabhupada Village I would also sometimes come to hear your talks. Most of the time I thought they were really good, but sometimes I couldn't quite handle what you were saying. Either way I would buy some of your books and/or give some donation. And then the Harmonist website came out. Compared to all of the other Vaishnava websites I had seen, I thought it was the best. There were topics that others wouldn't talk about. There were discussions that sometimes went on and on. I started reading it all the time. I especially liked to see the answers that you would give people. Slowly whatever misgivings I had were going away. I started adding some of the instructions that I would get from the Sangas or the Harmonist to my dying spiritual practice. I also started to associate a little closer with some of your disciples and followers. Soon after that, you came again to North Carolina. After the first talk that I attended at Madan Gopal's house this last time around, some sort of switch was turned on. My misgivings were gone and I could finally start to appreciate you without reservation. Certainly I have material desires that get in the way and I am sure that I misunderstand plenty of things, but I have faith that you are the guide for me and if I try to follow what you say it will bring me closer to what I thought I was getting involved with in the first place 15 years ago.
Anyway, I felt like I was slowly dying before, just passing the time. But, now I feel like I am slowly coming to life. I thank you for that. I am very happy and relieved to find in you the inspiration I have been looking for.
Your servant,
Krsna Caitanya das
Babhru Das - March 18, 2011 4:09 am
Dear Swami,
Considering those things for which we may be grateful to you, it’s not hard to come up with a pretty good list:
1. Audarya
2. Festivals at Audarya
3. Cows at Audarya
4. Gaura-vijaya Mandira at Audarya
5. Sri Sri Gaura-Nityananda at Gaura-vijaya Mandira
6. Madhuvana
7. Dauji-Gopala at Madhuvana
8. Cows at Madhuvana
9. Kirtan Manjusa
10. Rasa: Love Relationships in Transcendence
11. Joy of Self
12. Aesthetic Vedanta
13. Sri Guru Parampara
14. Sri Tattva-sandarbha
15. Bhagavad-gita: Its Feeling and Philosophy
16. Gopala-tapani Upanisad
17. Siksasatakam of Sri Caitanya
18. More CDs of talks and kirtans than we can easily count
19. swamitripurari.com
20. Most of the above books and a growing number of audio and video files available for free on swamitripurari.com
21. The Harmonist
22. Your example of representing the our guru varga and Gaudiya vaisnava guru-parampara faithfully and boldly
23. Your example of presenting the teachings of Lord Caitanya with a broad vision
24. Your example of a life dedicated solely to presenting the teachings of Lord Caitanya with a broad vision
25. Your humor and wit
26. Your gentle—and firm—nudging on the path of spiritual progress.
27. All the opportunities for service presented by all the above, and more
This is certainly not a comprehensive list, and the list continues to grow as you progressively share your vision. It is, though, a humbling list.
Perhaps, though, at present I’m particularly grateful for the nudging. So many of my Godbrothers have been nice to me, but no one else has shown me the kindness, the mercy you have in your nudging. I had a good situation in society, a good profession, a good, Krishna-conscious family, and a good house in my favorite part of the world. Practically everyone else was happy to see me, and to leave me, in such a nice life. But your association made the inadequacy of all this too clear for me to ignore. Your influence has also made it difficult to ignore Srila Prabhupada’s call: “But I wanted you to teach this Krishna consciousness cult.” As so here I am, reluctantly struggling to answer that call, aware that the debt of gratitude I owe to you and to him can never really be repaid. But I can renew my plea, which will, of course, put me deeper in your debt:
prasida suhrd artanam prasidaudarya-dharine
raga-soka-bhujangena dastam mam uddhara guro
Please be kind to me, dear friend to the distressed. Be kind, my guide, o reservoir of munificence, and deliver me, for I have been bitten by the snake of attachment and lamentation.
Although I feel inadequate to the task, it’s my prayer that I will be able to express my gratitude progressively through service to the mission. My hope is as simple as that.
Yours in service,
Babhru das
Nitaisundara Das - March 18, 2011 5:33 am
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Another year flown by so quickly. I am happy that I have been able to offer you some service, and I am humbled knowing that ultimately, absolute dedication is the goal and an opportunity that is made readily available in your association, were I willing to actualize it. You are so unique, and in service to you I have been able to glimpse how you embody your predecessors:
Like Bhaktivinoda Thakura himself, your vision for Gaudiya Vaishnavism looms large on the spiritual landscape, separated from reality only by time. One of your aims, like the Thakura, is to affect the "Bhadraloka" of the modern day, and in pursuance of this you selflessly dedicate time to understanding important issues and forming a cohesive Gaudiya stance that, as one admirer recently put it, "does not insult the intellect" of your readers. Closer to home, your ability and willingness to reevaluate and reform the presentation and practices of Gaudiya Vaishnavism have made you a distinguished figure amongst saragrahi bhaktas worldwide.
Like Srila Gaura Kishore dasa Babaji, you are very difficult for most to understand. And while Babaji Maharaja relished nirjana bhajana and you kindly put your beads down to hold us up, your wealths of love have moved each of you in ways that others struggle to comprehend. You are not a trained Sanskrit scholar and your formal education is unextraordinary, but like the blind and illiterate Babaji Maharaja, you have fully embodied bhakti siddhanta, as evidenced in no small way by both your command of sastra and your exemplary character. Blessed are those of us who have been given some ability to recognize you.
Like Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, you fearlessly stand on the ground of Mahaprabhu's teachings even when that means standing in opposition to Gaudiya Vaishnavas for whom you care. You are not the lion-guru as we know him, but your internal passion for Gauranga Mahaprabhu is one and the same. While holding and honing a vision for the future of Gaudiya Vedanta, as did Bhaktivinoda, you simultaneously manifest and give shape to it, as did Bhaktisiddhanta. You are loved by some, feared by many, but beneficial to all.
Like Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhara Deva Goswami, you circulate the world through your teachings, performing incalculable "relief work" to a community that has even further splintered since his departure. Your sweet speech, novel articulations of siddhanta, and unmatched ability to harmonize divisive issues all serve as strong testament of the impact Srila Sridhara Maharaja had on you. You carry on his seva of soothing the many bhaktas that have been scorched by years of turmoil, both within and without; and you have done as much as or more than anyone to rectify widespread misconceptions about your glorious siksa guru.
Like Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, you have forged your own way. Instructed early to "organize freely," you have done so expertly as circumstances have mandated. Boarding the Jaladhuta of Srila Sridhara Maharaja's siksa, you were at first considered mad by many of your godsiblings, but as time goes on the fruits of your seva become increasingly apparent to them and some are coming forth, grateful and enthusiastic. You welcome them with open arms. As Prabhupada captured you and so many others with his deeply-rooted affection, so too you have captured us, and instilled in is a sense of purpose. Your vision, your mission, is the modern representation of Prabhupada's revolution, giving us current access to that dynamic and absorbing existence that we so often hear longingly recalled by our elders.
The father that is Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's guru parampara has certainly been reborn in the son that is my guru. All that remains is for me to serve you as you have served them. For this I will need the well-wishing of all those mahajana's mentioned herein and the application of those wishes to my life by you, their dear heir.
Your aspiring servant,
Nitaisundara dasa
Gauravani Dasa - March 18, 2011 11:37 am
From Rohininandan das:
Dear Guru Maharaja
I want to thank You for Your support and love. It must be love, because only when you love somebody, you give something without expecting to get something back in exchange. I wish that one day i could do the same thing for You. I thank You from the bottom of my heart for beeing my teacher and friend.
Always Yours,
Rohininandan das
Taruna Krsna Dasa - March 18, 2011 1:59 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
As I find myself starting to write you this offering in celebration of your most auspicious avirbhava, my mind and heart are filled with such deep gratitude and amazement at your limitless loving affection and generosity. Audarya is a place where we can get a glimpse into your heart, and the holy place you have created for us to nurture our spiritual growth is aptly named! Your heart is indeed magnanimous.
Eight years ago you blessed me with initiation and told me that you wanted me to live with you my whole life. I wanted to fulfill this request with all my heart, so it was heart-wrenching when I realized that I could not live the life of a brahmacari. I was too young and foolish at the time to follow your encouragement that you would instead train me to be a good house holder, but instead stayed at a distance hiding in shame. For this, I am deeply sorry.
Thankfully, however, only a relatively short period of time has been wasted. I am still young, perhaps still a bit foolish, but I now have the good fortunate of having a wife who encourages my spiritual growth, and even more fortunate to have such an amazing and affectionate guru whose loving embrace is so effulgent that it has wrapped around both of us, and is holding us both so close to your heart. It is a testament to your magnanimity that I am able to fulfill your desire for me to live with you.
When I sat listening to your class on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's appearance day in Madhuvan last month, I couldn't help but find myself marveling at how fortunate all of us are to have you as our connection to the Bhaktivinoda Parivara. Your deep understanding of Gaudiya Siddhanta, and especially the teachings of your param gurus, has always mesmerized me, but it has especially stood out to me in the last several months when I got to witness your prowess when debating and discussing very elevated topics with those of alternate opinions. You know the siddhanta inside-out, backwards and forwards, and even though you have such deep realization, you can take the highest topics and break them down into understandable and bite-sized pieces so that even those of us with little-to-no realization can understand and benefit from the discussion. The way you apply the ancient teachings to the modern era is unparalleled. You walk the walk and talk the talk, but what makes you so so profound in embodying the heart of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is your well reasoned and balanced approach. I know with all my heart that you make your gurus proud.
You said last night in your class that on our own we have little prospect to make advancement, but that if we can attach ourselves to an ocean of prema, that our otherwise meager efforts will have substance. Your heart is an ocean of prema and I pray to be connected to it always.
I am so very fortunate to be able to call you my guru. I look forward to many joyful years to come of serving you, and learning all that I can from you.
Your servant eternally,
Taruna Krsna dasa
Priya-narma Dasi - March 18, 2011 1:59 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
I offer my obeisances today and always. Through even the seemingly short time I have known you I feel I can wholeheartedly say “it is an honor to honor you”. I feel overwhelmingly privileged, or perhaps its a similar feeling to winning the lottery but not realizing you held a ticket; unexpected, but holy cow this is amazing! I can truthful say I did not expect to meet you, or anyone like you. I didn't think it was possible that I would or could meet someone who could shift my existence through their inspiring example. That that person held the keys to wisdom and love, and how to have a relationship with God. You personify the perfection that is love of God, and I am grateful to be at your side and learn from your example.
Your presence and guidance has been nourishing to my soul. It is like a gardener tending to plants, yet you do more. You are more like a gardener who is a mentor to others, teaching us how to tend to the garden of our own soul. You give us the tools, techniques and resources we need to succeed to cultivate our soul for Krsna. What you show and teach us is pure love and devotion. Then the fruits that manifest and pour out from you, you offer right back to Godhead. I am amazed and inspired by you, and I see you as a true friend of God.
As time passes and I am more exposed to serving you and Krsna, I am finding my heart more overwhelmed and joyful than I could have imagined. I have spent some time reflecting on the prayer:
“sri-guro paramananda premananda phala-prada
vrajananda-pradananda-sevayam ma niyojaya”
“My dear spiritual master, who gives the fruit of the highest bliss--the bliss of love of Godhead--please engage me in the blissful service of Sri Krsna, who bestows bliss upon the land of Vraja.”
I hope always to serve with my heart, and that you will always engage me in service so that I may be closer to that bliss.
Your servant,
Priyanarma Dasi
Krsna Rati Bainum - March 18, 2011 3:18 pm
Dear Guru-maharaja,
I do not know how I am supposed to put into words the overwhelming love, respect and deep reverence of you along with the desire to follow you anywhere into words but out of that respect and love I will try my best.
This past year has been an evolutionary whirlwind of mundane and spiritual changes. You accepted me as your servant and student just this past year after I finally gained the courage to again ask both my mother and you, if now I could take initiation. This year was the official start of my devotional evolution as your disciple. However, the truth of the matter is that you have been the Guru of my soul and heart perhaps even when I was in my mother’s womb. I cannot recall a time in my life where, Guru-maharaja you were not there, either guiding my mother and father or teaching me. And for that fact alone, I could endlessly lay at your feet and thank you in inexpressible gratitude. This fortune doesn’t escape my notice that I am now a student who can.
This past year upon reflection has not only revealed again the almost unconscious necessity of being near you, but more about you as a Guru and person that Krishna is most certainly giving his message through. On this first visit to Costa Rica, I experienced your mercy like never before. To me your love and care of your disciples has always been a gentle presence that flows with every need of those around you. But in Madhuvan, I felt it most on one day that stuck out for me this year.
It was another beautiful morning in the tropical paradise where Douji-Gopal reside. My mother had for reasons beyond my recall, told you of my boredom and in response you gave me the priceless service of attending to you that day. Asking for tools and need materials as you worked in the power shed, getting fresh fruit and avocados, water and any number of things was all I did that day. As you sat and thought of things you could have me do all I could think was of how much you truly cared. There are people in this world that care and some that pretend to care but the love for your disciples you should with this simple idea against boredom showed to me how deeply you think of us. Your followers and students eager for the knowledge we can receive and service we can give.
It was just one day, but it revealed for some reason more than others the person you are. Guru-maharaja, I am uncertain if through this long attempt I have shown the importance you hold in our world but I hope to let you know that you are appreciated and loved. That every year that goes by we can’t help but move closer to you and by any means necessary see you and hear you more often.
There is so much more I would like to express but am left wordless and feeling overwhelmed with those feelings I hold dearly in my heart. Without you and all that you give, I cannot even imagine the new species of trouble I could get into. And for that I am sure my mother is also grateful.
So here I will stop, saving whatever else for next year. On this special day I hope to see your smile and not
for it has been a while and that radiance is a much needed medicine for the illness of Maya.
Your humble servant and unrealized student,
Krishna Rati Dasi
Hari Bhakti - March 18, 2011 3:30 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Heartfelt dandavat pranams.
Now more than ever I am struck by your generous nature. The first time we met, I landed on your doorstep in Eugene Oregon. I was very young and had no idea what I was doing. After a few more visits you said to me “I think you should spend some time here.” Fortunately for me I agreed and you took me in. Despite all of your kindness I was unable to take full advantage of my windfall opportunity.
Many years later I found myself standing on a large cliff in Costa Rica, watching you, arms raised overhead, jump into the pool of water below. When you emerged from the water you looked at me saying “jump!”. With some hesitation I opened my eyes and took the leap, it felt like a second chance. Resolved to stay in your company and try to serve, you have since given me many opportunities and kindly put up with my shortcomings. A couple months ago your god-sisters Mahara send me and email saying “You are very fortunate to have him as your guru. If you do as he says he will take you back to Krishna.” It was so heartwarming to hear her glorify you, and on her good advice I will try to do what you say. I know it will not always be easy, but this is my life’s desire.
Guru Maharaja, you are a wellspring of wisdom and inspiration for all who come in contact with you. You are the most excellent servant, constantly raising the bar in service to your Gurus and Krishna. You are a trailblazer, fearlessly forging ahead, slowing only to turn and reach a hand out to help the rest of us along. I do not know how to reciprocate that generosity, but I pray you continue reaching your hand out to this hard-hearted sadhaka as I stumble along.
Happy Birthday!
Your servant,
Hari-bhakti dasi
Citta Hari Dasa - March 18, 2011 4:26 pm
In the vast darkness of space swirls a cloud of stars and cosmic dust known to some as the Milky Way. In one of the spiral arms of that galaxy there is a small yellow star, around which orbits a blue jewel of a planet that is home to sentient life. For billions of years she waited patiently until the conditions were right to host higher life forms, culminating in the most charming and most silly of species called humanity.
Endowed with the power to determine one's own course and the logic to assist in making dreams real physically, humanity roved for millenia across the face of the world, searching: for food, for mates, for power, and once in a while, for meaning. Some concluded that the meaning of life is food, some mates, some power. Others concluded that life is meaningless. And still others, endowed with greater intelligence and depth of heart, concluded that the ultimate meaning of life is to love. And so it was, on this rare blue speck of a planet floating in the colossal void of space, that this quirky, flawed, yet noble species came to recognize its greatest necessity, the necessity not merely to survive and perpetuate the species, or to control others, but to give.
In all the eons since the planet's birth a mere moment ago saw this necessity being answered by the appearance of another blue jewel, the splendorous sapphire from Vraja with all his entourage. A simple cowherder and connoisseur of love, whose every movement demonstrates giving at its most perfect, with two arms like one of those silly noble humans. A mere boy, it seemed. Who in their wildest imaginings could conceive what this boy, playing a bamboo flute in the forest, herding cows, dancing with fresh-faced girls with dark braids could mean to the world? All the eons of killing one another, scrabbling in the dust and dragging through the hollow moments without knowing what it's all for culminated in the redness of his lips? That his sidelong glance of amorous love directed at his girlfriend could hold more meaning for humanity than all the art in all the world's museums?
Difficult to understand, and so, a mere cosmic moment later he came again, this time as one searching for the very thing he had previously demonstrated. The jewel had turned golden, and introspective. The connoisseur seeking to relish himself, mad with his own sweetness, a fountain of love inundating silly noble humanity with love. His own people, tasters in their own right, did their best to put that giving, that wondrous love, into words, words the likes of which all the prior eons on this blue jewel had never borne witness to. Inspiring, charming words, words of depth and power and meaning. Words to change the heart from seeking only selfish ends to seeking only the benefit of others. Sweet and true, words to live by, forever.
But words alone are not enough. I know this because the words came into my life, but it was not until I met a person who lives by those words, whose heart seeks only the benefit of others, who wishes only that others will live by them also, that the words came to life and began to change me as well. And so on this day I offer a few words in honor of that most noble and compassionate person; the one who fully embodies giving; in whose heart the blue jewel shines forever; the dust of whose feet I take upon my head in utmost humility: my dear friend and guide, Guru Maharaja Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Swami Tripurari. May you bless us all.
Syama Gopala Dasa - March 18, 2011 6:17 pm
Dear Srila Guru Maharaj,
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
Before I met you, someone asked me "it must be difficult to be a devotee?". To which I unknowingly replied, "it's okay". I had no clue how far off the mark I was. Not whether being a devotee is more or difficult than being a materialist, but the idea of what it really means to be a devotee. These past years since you gave me your blessing of harinama at the beach in Finland, I've been trying to get my head around and I still don't know what it means. The only thing I know is that coming closer to you and so serving you, will help me realize it. And that is the goal I am aspiring for, moving closer step by step and crossing the ocean that is between us. But that may be a physical reality in this lifetime and not a spiritual one.
When I met you again at Madhuvan last year, I realized how fortunate I was to have met you. Places like Audarya and Madhuvan give me the opportunity to serve you and your disciples, and at the same time help me realize what gaudiya vaishnavism is.
So on this day I cherish that I was fortunate enough to meet you, and may I be able to show my gratitude by my service to you.
In service,
Syama Gopala dasa
Vijaya Govinda Das - March 18, 2011 6:31 pm
Dandavat Pranams Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my obeisances,
Last August you blessed me by giving Harinama initation in the midst of your most dedicated students at Sri Audarya Dhama. I truly cannot comprehend this mercy fully. I had the chance to see how those who are dedicated to you, devoid of self-interest, serve you in the most selfless way known to me. Although I am personally very much at a disadvantage when it comes to bhakti-marga, I hope to be sincere when I feel that I wish to do eternally good charity to myself in imbibing the service attitude and most importantly the feelings of those near to you. Of those feelings, I feel that your students have the feeling of immense gratitude for you as is evidenced by their service attitude. To paraphrase a part of your commentary to the second verse of Sri Siksastakam, you have written that sadhakas become fit for spiritual practice as a result of showing gratitude to the preceptor. Thus I conclude that the service attitude in devotional service exhibited by your dedicated disciples is owing to the gratitude that they have for you. I truly hope that regardless of whatever I lose, I never lose gratitude to you and your students because that would be like losing myself. Although I am ashamed to say I don't have the magnitude of gratitude that your students have for you, I beg that I'll become eligible to eternally increase this feeling of gratitude to you and your students even if I lose everything else.
Your aspiring student,
Vijaya Govinda dasa
Mayapurcandra Das - March 19, 2011 3:24 pm
Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you and your mission.
I am to small and to unqualified to say anything about Sri Guru. But just by your grace and mercy I can say that I feel something about the nautre of the Guru.
Time which I spent with you brought me to the wider perspective of life, showing how colorfull and dynamic spiritual practice can be.
CC Ādi 1.62 says: "Saints are My heart, and only I am their hearts. They do not know anyone but Me, and therefore I do not recognize anyone besides them as Mine."
This verse from Caitanya Caritamrita stucked in my mind very deeply when I was in Audarya.
For me you are such a saintly person, who always keeps The Lord in his heart, and out of your compasion and love you share this tresure with persons dear to you.
So whenever I think about you, this verse comes to me immediately. You bring the meaning of this verse to me.
Deeply in my heart I'm crying for your mercy and Holy engagement.
Looking forword to your visit I'm praying unto your lotus feet.
Have a great day, dear Guru Maharaja! Happy Birthday!
Yours humble, Mayapurcandra dasa
Vamsidhari Dasa - March 19, 2011 9:47 pm
i am reposting here because due to my recent delirium I did not see this thread at all. Apologies. I am much much clearer today!
Dearest Guru Maharaja,
Please accept my dandavat pranams. Sri Guru Gaurnga Jayate!
Although my heart aches in separation from you on this glorious day of celebrating your appearance I am joyful that at least I can offer a few words to glorify you as my spiritual teacher and my dear and loving friend. My words are not scholarly, scriptural, or theological because although all those disciplines speak of the Guru profusely I only have my heart to speak from. I hope that you will accept this humble offering from your loving servant.
The appearance of a guru in once life is a truly wonderful thing. It is like the rising of the morning sun that illuminates the world that helps us see all very clearly all the beauty and value in the world. Coming under your shelter made my life worth living and when the clouds of the world obfuscate my view of you, by not being able to see you and serve you makes everything much harder.
You have given us so much and continue to offer yourself and share the glories of Vraj with us. Even though your words often are too big for my small ears few drops of your spiritual teaching melt my hardened heart and always put me in touch with a fount of Love emanating from your pure heart.
Thank you for being in my life and your patience with my innumerable flaws that keep me away from you. I hope that I will be able to one day fully bask in your glorious presence and never take your life giving light for granted.
I am always your loving servant.
Vamsidhari dasa
Sridama Dasa - March 20, 2011 1:56 am
Dear Guru Maharaja,
I was very reluctant to post an offering this year, not because there is any less love in my heart for you, but due to extreme embarrassment over my lack of initiative and repeated inability to become the type of devotee that I know will please you. The last year has been yet another series of starts and stops, high hopes and deep disappointment (in myself). Perhaps even more than ever, this year has been one marked by confusion and filled with questions I have not been able to answer.
But when I see you in person, hear or read your words, or even watch a video online (like today), all of the confusion that has tied my head in knots fades to the background. Your demeanor is so kind and unassuming. Your words so poetic and heart-melting. Your delivery appears so natural and easy. It makes even someone like myself feel as if the sky truly is the limit, if I could only let this baggage go and just hold on tight.
After finishing the preparations for tonight's feast, my wife and I walked outside for a few minutes to look at the "supermoon" – apparently the fullest moon we'll see for many years to come. As we looked up at the sky, I could only think of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his moonlike smiling face. You have taken shelter of Mahaprabhu and the glorious succession of teachers and students who have followed him.
Now, as we celebrate your appearance not only in the world but also in our hearts, I am reminded again – as if I should ever, ever forget – that you have come to collect us all up, as you've said any times that Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada came for you, to take us to a land where there is no confusion and there is no pain – there is only opportunity.
I am literally begging myself to someday let go of what binds me and hold on to you, because, honestly, nothing else really matters.
Sridama dasa
Gandiva Dasi - March 20, 2011 4:33 am
Dear Swami,
Please accept my most humble obeisances.
I am sorry I only now came to realize that I missed your actual Vyasa-Puja day and suddenly realized that I really want to write something, that your presence in my life although I am so dull and unexpressive, is important to me. I am procrastinating to say the least, struggling to cling on to shreds of some imaginary life but in my rare coherent moments my mind and heart always come back to you and your sincere disciples. You allowed me to begin to find answers to questions that I had buried so deep, afraid that if I explored them I would lose any faith I had. You allowed me to feel hopeful again since the departure of my own Gurudeva. I deeply respect your integrity, courage and thoughtfulness. I find solace in your mission, knowing that you are moving forward, writing; knowing that you are there in Audarya or Madhuvan with your loving disciples and cows putting into practice this simple living, high thinking ideal.
I wish you all success on your upcoming East Coast Preaching tour and always pray for the protection of you and your disciples. I also pray for some intelligence, strength and sincerity to be able to reciprocate better.
Your servant,
Gandiva dd
Hong Kong
Nava-yauvana Dasa - March 20, 2011 11:18 am
nama om krsnapadaya
rama presthaya bhutale
sri srimad bhaktivedanta
tripurari iti namine
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Tripurari Swami, who has taken shelter at Krsna’s lotus feet and is very dear to Balarama.”
namaste gaura-daya-patram
madhuvani pracarine
abhayam bhakti raksakam
visrambha seva murtaye
“Obeisances unto you. Being the recipient of Gaura’s mercy, you sweetly preach his message. You are the embodiment of confidential service to your gurus, the fearless protectors of bhakti" [or "You fearlessly protect the precepts of bhakti, being the embodiment of confidential service."]
Dear Guru Maharaja,
I have a feeling that I had been seeking you throughout all my lives. I have never believed in miracles but I consider meeting you to be a miracle – a gift from Krishna.
In the Introduction to the Siksastakam you have written that “Amid abundant light, darkness cannot enter.” It is a state that has been accompanying me since our first meeting in Cracow.
When I first read the commentary to Siksastakam I became horrified, as I had realized that I was still at the starting point on the journey to Krishna.
Yet I do know that, thanks to you, reaching the goal is possible.
I thank you for endless inspiration, for the grace that I have received from you, as well as trust you have bestowed upon me.
I am grateful for every lecture, for every page of your books and for everything you have done for me.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you, though I know that I will never be able to carry out this service well enough.
Your servant
Nava-yauvana dasa
Babhru Das - March 21, 2011 3:32 pm
I'd like to beg the devotees' indulgence, so that I may add two glaring omissions from my list of things for which we may be grateful. They may have not occurred to me as I was writing because, alas, I may have come to take them for granted. If that's the case, I pray that will no longer be the case.
28. Your affectionate dealings.
29. The association of your dedicated servants at Audarya and Madhuvana.
Karnamrita Das - March 21, 2011 8:53 pm
I wanted to express my thanks to all the devotees who posted their offerings. They are so inspiring to read, and so heartfelt! Even I, who am quite stone-hearted, can feel--or experience in someway, the devotional sentiments. I just have to smile, and feel not only appreciation for Swami, but to all his dear disciples. You are all my teachers! Hare Krishna! Jai Shri Guru and Gauranga!
Gopananda Das - February 1, 2012 10:05 pm
Happy Birthday GURUDEVA
Im not big with words, im not great in writing in english.
Im not the one that will write you a letter that goes on and on and on..
Nietzsche said that "im trying to say in a a few sentence what other people are trying to say through endless books"
That is: Your the sun in the sky, your wisdom is the air that i breath.
With Affection
Gopananda das