from Syamali Dasi – United States, Gainesville

Dear Srila Gurudeva,

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

On this most auspicious occasion of your Vyasa Puja, I pray that your heart will soon be pleased to be able to return to the preaching field, sharing Krishna Consciousness with so many fortunate souls.

Thank you for giving me full shelter at your lotus feet. I am eternally grateful for your instructions, which enter my ears and go straight to my heart, inspiring me to practice Krishna Consciousness with increased determination and enthusiasm. Your taste for hearing, chanting, preaching, deity worship, and other forms of devotional service is beautifully evident in both your words and your actions. By your example, you show us how truly amazing and blissful this process is! Similarly, your love for your Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, shows us the true meaning of what it is to be a pure and surrendered disciple.

I am always eager for your association and any opportunity to serve you, whether by listening to your lectures and webinars, serving alongside my godbrothers and godsisters on the Polish festival tour or at Woodstock, or assisting with some personal service. All of these joyful activities fill my heart with a happiness that is unparalleled in this world. Thank you for engaging me in these ways, bringing the greatest benedictions to my life. As stated by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura in his Gurv-astaka prayers: “yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo — one receives the mercy of the Supreme Lord through the mercy of the bona fide spiritual master.”

You are now guiding me, with spiritual knowledge and love, through the greatest transition we will all face, namely preparation for leaving this material body behind. You have kindly instructed me to be fearless and detached from the body, while fixing my mind on the next destination, and I have heard in your lectures that with the spiritual master’s instructions comes the ability to carry them out. I pray to serve you nicely in this life’s final journey.

You have helped me to reflect on how Krishna has given me the greatest blessings in this life, in the forms of your shelter, devotional service, the association of devotees, prasadam, and the Holy Names. These you have described as eternal blessings, assuring me that these same blessings are waiting for me in that next destination, whether serving you and Krishna elsewhere in this universe or back home in Goloka Vrindavana. Your words and guidance bring so much peace.

Indeed, Lord Krishna describes in Srimad Bhagavatam [10.80.43]: “Simply by the grace of the spiritual master a person can fulfill life’s purpose and attain eternal peace.“

Thank you Srila Gurudeva for teaching us every step of the way and encouraging us to dive deeply into chanting Krishna’s Holy Names and hearing his divine pastimes. As declared so sweetly in the song Ohe Vaisnava Thakura, by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura: “Krsna is yours. You have the power to give Him to me. I am simply your servant running behind you shouting, ‘Krsna! Krsna!’“

Your loving and devoted disciple and spiritual daughter, Syamali Dasi