From Lila Kesavi Dasi – Russia, Moscow

Dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to you, all glories to Gauranga and Srila Prabhupada.
On this blessed day of your appearance my heart is filled with joy to know that by the mercy of yours and of Srila Prabhupada I was able to find a bona fide spiritual master, you, my eternal well-wisher, mentor and defender. I am immensely grateful to you, dear Srila Gurudeva, for your causeless mercy, which resulted in my being engaged in devotional service to guru and Gauranga; thanks to it my once unfortunate material life has been radically changed. It was filled with happiness in Krishna Consciousness.
Therefore in many scriptures Krishna tells us of the essential goal of accepting a spiritual master, for example in Srimad Bhagavatam [11.10.5]:
yamān abhīkṣṇaṁ seveta niyamān mat-paraḥ kvacit
mad-abhijñaṁ guruṁ śāntam upāsīta mad-ātmakam
“One who has accepted Me as the supreme goal of life should strictly observe the scriptural injunctions forbidding sinful activities and, as far as possible, should execute the injunctions prescribing minor regulative duties such as cleanliness. Ultimately, however, one should approach a bona fide spiritual master who is full in knowledge of Me as I am, who is peaceful, and who by spiritual elevation is not different from Me.”
Once a disciple has accepted a bona fide spiritual master, he is trained by the guru and can help him to fulfill the mission of our beloved acarya Srila Prabhupada, who set the goal of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness for all his followers as follows: “Preaching is our essence.”
na hy ataḥ paramo lābho dehināṁ bhrāmyatām iha
yato vindeta paramāṁ śāntiṁ naśyati saṁsṛtiḥ
“Indeed, there is no higher possible gain for embodied souls forced to wander throughout the material world than the Supreme Lord’s saṅkīrtana movement, by which one can attain the supreme peace and free oneself from the cycle of repeated birth and death.” [Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.37].
Dear Srila Gurudeva, as you follow the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, you have spared no effort tirelessly arranging spiritual festivals all over the world together with your disciples for many decades, creating a happy Vrindavan atmosphere, which has benefited all living beings on Earth. Your beautiful kirtans inspire more and more devotees to chant the holy names for a certain reason. Even the pranam mantra to you (which we, your disciples, repeat daily) speaks of happy congregational chanting of Hare Krishna kirtan that you serve to, in the line “bhakta-sukhaya krishnot-kirtanena”.
Recalling how I started my practice in Krishna Consciousness I remember the day I heard Hare Krishna kirtan when I turned on my radio at home, in Yekaterinburg (former Sverdlovsk), at the end of 1993. Dear Srila Gurudeva, your kirtan, broadcasted on the radio, made an imperishable impression on me. There was an announcement on the radio about a spiritual program in the local cultural center, which ended with your kirtan, so I wrote down the details on the address and time and went there.
In the cultural center I saw a lot of people in a hall with a stage, all singing a song. And above the stage there was a large poster with the holy names. And for the first time in my life I was reading from the poster and singing with other people: “HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.”
After that I found out who was giving the class on the program, it turned out to be Prabhavisnu Swami, and I also bought a large set of Srila Prabhupada’s books there. Then at home I was studying those books for several months.
Having learned a Moscow temple address from the books, I came there and on one spring day of 1994 I opened the door to the temple room on the Begovaya street. I saw devotees performing Vyasa Puja: they placed a large portrait of a guru on the vyasasana, offered garlands of fresh flowers, praised the guru and chanted Hare Krishna mantras. I asked for the name of that guru Maharaj and was told that it was His Holiness Indradyumna Swami. The devotees also invited me to take festive prasadam.
After delicious prasadam I had no doubt who my real spiritual master was. Moreover I liked homely atmosphere and the bhajan “Kripa bindu diya koro ei dase” performed by the Sankirtana Lila duet playing the guitar. When I was watching and listening to the festive program all my feelings were in the same pleasant mood, as they were when I was listening to that kirtan on the radio. It seemed to me that I found something that I had lost long ago. Then I went to the shop next to the temple on the Begovaya and bought a photo of Indradyumna Swami, your image, dear Srila Gurudeva. That was the exact moment when I found my spiritual master.
Then I went to Yaroslavl, where a Krishna temple was to be built, and spent six month serving there, received a recommendation for the pranama-mantra and went to St. Petersburg where I saw you in real life for the first time, dear Gurudeva, and got your pranama-mantra.
Over the years which I spent as a devotee I have accumulated a huge ocean of gratitude to my spiritual master in my heart for all the science of Krishna Consciousness, for the protection I feel every day, for your books, such as “Diary of a Travelling Monk”, “Vraja Lila”, “Govardhan”. Frankly speaking, dear Srila Gurudeva, whenever I face any problems, I chanting not only the mantras to Lord Nrisimha, but also the bhajan “Kripa bindu diya koro ei dase” asking for your protection. And the situation always changes immediately for the better and a solution comes, so I thank you very much for that.
On this festive day of your Vyasa Puja I wish you good health and happiness in your service to Srila Prabhupada. And I would like to ask for your blessings and personal instructions.
Your disciple, Lila Kesavi Dasi