from bhaktin Irina Labetskaya – Ukraine, Berdyansk

Dear Srila Gurudeva,

Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. With all my heart I congratulate you on the day of your Vyasa Puja!

Actually, I don’t have enough words to express my gratitude for your presence in my life. Your smile and your voice make me so happy; your instructions enter my very heart. Today I would like to share two very secret moments of my life with you in which your deep concern and love have manifested.

4,5 years ago my father left his body. That summer he started visiting the temple, but it was hard for him to sit for a long time during the class as his back was hurting badly. He chanted japa, though not regularly. In autumn his back went on hurting even more, but the doctors could not understand what was happening. And in winter it turned out that he had oncology and metastases throughout the spine. My husband and mother were staying with him all the time. At night I was chanting japa by his bed and reading Sri Isopanisad and Bhagavad Gita to him. In the afternoon my mother and my husband took turns to sit next to him. A record of Srila Prabhupada’s japa was always on. And then one day my husband and I went to our house to have a bath and to prepare prasadam and my mom stayed with my dad. When I arrived home, I fell on my knees, cried and prayed addressing you, Srila Prabhupada and the Lord. I asked to take care of my father. When we prepared prasadam and were going back to dad, my mom called and said that he had left the body. When we arrived, your kirtan was playing in the house; your beautiful voice filled the rooms and comforted my heart. It turned out that mom switched from Srila Prabhupada’s japa to the first kirtan she liked and it kept playing again and again. And it was on when dad left the body. It was a Sunday evening on the New Year’s event, there were a lot of devotees in the temple that time and they prayed for my father exactly at the moment when he was leaving his body. While my husband and mother were busy with all the formal issues, I was sitting next to my dad and reading the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita to him; the incense was burning and your voice was heard in the house. I am so grateful to you for taking care of my father, me and our entire family as well.

And five months after that another thing happened. I was in the second month of pregnancy and we were going to Dnipro to the Param Gati festival. The train was supposed to leave the next day, at one o’clock in the afternoon. I was about to see you for the first time, and I was really looking forward to that. Suddenly I felt sick. The doctor who led my pregnancy recommended an urgent visit to an ultrasound scan. On the way I was praying to you and begging to take care of me and the baby. The news was bad, we lost our baby. My heart seemed to be torn apart. It was a terrible pain. The husband suggested that we should stay at home, the doctor also recommended not to take any risks. But the pain in my heart could only be soothed by my love for you and the desire to see you and to offer my obeisances to you. We went to the festival; though mornings we had to go to the hospital and we were late for the morning puja, and though I was so weak that I could hardly walk, so my husband had to hold me by my hand walking me everywhere, I was very happy to join the festival, to see you, to listen to the classes and kirtans and to associate with your disciples.

This material world is full of pain and suffering, but by the mercy of the spiritual master we obtain knowledge and strength to overcome these difficulties. You clear away the darkness around me with the light of knowledge; you open my eyes, so that one day I could see the spiritual world with them being washed with tears of love for the Lord. Your mercy and love to your disciples always touch my heart. And deep in my heart I pray to be a worthy disciple and to be able to satisfy you with my service, so that one day my heart would be able to contain as much love for people as yours.

And one more thing: a year ago we had a daughter and at the Param Gati festival you named her Syama Rani. And every time I call her by this name, I recall you. And I am glad that each year brings more and more things that are forever related to you, dear Srila Gurudeva, into my life.

Once again, I congratulate you on the day of your Vyasa Puja. Please accept my humble obeisances. Hare Krishna!

Your servant,
bhaktin Irina Labetskaya