From Danakeli Dasi – China, Beijing

Dearest Srila Gurudeva,

Please accept my very humble and sincere obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories unto you and all glories to Srila Prabhupada.

On the upcoming most auspicious day of your Vyasa Puja day, please allow me to quote a beautiful verse from the King of all Scriptures Srimad Bhagavatam [11.3.21]:

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

“Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside
all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.”

Guru Maharaja, I am so fortunate to have met you, the above mentioned bona fide spiritual master from this verse. Thank you so much for accepting me as your disciple and allowing me to board the ship heading to real happiness. Since the first time I met you in 2012 in Hong Kong, I have collected a valuable chest of treasures which were placed by you in my heart. Every year at your Vyasa Puja’s eve, I open the chest to count my new collections from you.

You are the representative of Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. You are connecting your disciples to Them; as a loyal disciple of Srila Prabhupada, you are wholeheartedly assisting your beloved spiritual master to fulfill his desire; you are the great general in the front line of preaching field, selflessly distributing the transcendental knowledge and holy name of the Lord to millions of innocent souls trapped in this material world.

But beyond all these, you are a bona fide spiritual father, a loving father, gentle as rose, or sometimes strong as thunderbolt, whatever applies to each child in that circumstance. Sometimes a father is overburdened by duties and may relinquish his family affairs, however, no matter how busy you are you always take care of the welfare of everyone. You always manage to figure out a way to look after your children around the world.

You taught us to be brave and detached from the body. When you shared your photos right after your surgery, the painful sight of the stitches on your neck and the gorgeous smile on your face made my hair stand on end. Later in your class you mentioned that you were doing this to teach your disciples. I pray I could be as brave as you are. After only a few weeks of rest, you were back on your preaching field to beautifully impart Lord Chaitanya’s teaching to many western spiritual seekers in Rishikesh. That was a sure sign of victory. What I learn from you is that as long as we are resolved to help the sankirtan mission in the mood of assisting our spiritual master, we will get great support, so we shall be brave and have faith.

Guru Maharaja, you are just amazing…

Now the whole world is trapped in the pandemic. Fortunately you are locked down in Sri Vrindavan. I was thinking that finally you can have a little break, as it is the safest way to stop travelling. However, I have never thought that the coronavirus would turn into a great pool of karuna to us. As a bona fide spiritual father, one thing you do is awakening the sleeping souls through teaching the perfect knowledge. You quickly organized a sky gurukula and diligently teach us all aspects of transcendental knowledge. You make us feel the depth and width of our practice. Many of my doubts have dissipated by your wonderful presentations. With your caring guidance the journey back home is now more surely provided.
Guru Maharaja, you said to me: “you don’t know how much I love you”. I am a dull and stupid fool, but as I check my many jewels, I am getting to realize the deep love you are trying to impart to us with great effort. I am sorry, I wish I could be able to love you in a better way and to pay at least some of my eternal debt to you.

Guru Maharaja, on this beautiful day I pray that I can keep the good fortune to be your child, life after life, running after you, yelling “Krishna Krishna… please kindly always shelter me!”

Your eternal servant and forever spiritual daughter, Danakeli Dasi