from Raja Govinda Das – India, Mumbai

Dear Srila Gurudeva,

Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to you!

Having lost my father in 2009, I had always wished that he should have been around for a little longer, so that he could see me become a responsible man. It would have been difficult to cope up with this loss unless I did not come across some good devotees back in 2010 at my office in Pune. They helped me understand the quality of the soul and the science of birth and death. Learning that the soul cannot die gave me a lot of solace, and I understood that my father is not “dead”, just that he has changed his body. Of course, that did not change the physical situation, but at least, I was then more interested in helping him spiritually as much as I could. And what better way, to help than practicing Krishna Consciousness.

As I started practicing Krishna Consciousness, I came across your diary, oh Gurudeva, and I at once got hooked to it. Each and every chapter of your diaries are nothing short of a miracle. Be it the rainy clouds all of a sudden giving way to bright sunshine just before your glorious Krishna’s Village of Peace program, or be it your disciples getting permission to conduct the program from the local mayor at the very last minute. Each and every day of your life has been such an exciting day, I wish I was by your side, trying to do the “squirrel’s” part in assisting you in building the bridge of Lord Ram, that you have planned. This bridge will connect all the conditioned souls with Lord Ramchandra by your wonderful festival, ecstatic kirtans, lectures and of course the prasadam. Like Krishna says, “I am adventure”, I feel you — one of the favorite sons of Krishna, has also lived a very adventurous life. But this adventure is not mundane, but a spiritual one where you have taken extreme risks to spread the glories of Harinam Sankirtan. Be it you meeting the most dreaded Gypsy clan, or you entering the Muslim ghetto where the entire sankirtan party was attacked. Your Sri Vrindavan parikramas, I have heard from my fellow godbrothers, are one of the sweetest and intimate. Your dealings with the local Brijwasi make me feel as if you always belonged there. Of course, you do belong to Sri Vrindavan eternally — not just the one that is manifested on the earth, but also the one in the spiritual world — Goloka. Srila Prabhupada confirmed this, when he said that all his disciples had been actually sent by his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur to assist him in his mission.

I am very grateful that you very kindly accepted me and my wife as your disciples on this Sri Nrsimha Chaturdashi. We hope, to always remain faithful, to the mission of Srila Prabhupada and help you reach out to more conditioned souls, so that all of them would get a chance to perfect their life. And in the end, I sincerely hope that Krishna connects my birth-giving father, to you my spiritual father, so that he too gets a chance to perfect his life and go back home, back to Godhead.

Your servant, Raja Govinda Das