from Kunjari Dasi – United States, Avon Lake

Oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

Hare Krishna, Srila Gurudeva,

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

This year, as the world is turned upside-down, I feel the separation from you more than ever.

However, you have extended your mercy to the whole world by continuing your preaching online so that we can all benefit. It has helped me and many others, stay level-headed and engaged during this time of crisis. During a lecture at Uppsala University, Srila Prabhupada stated, “You must accept a guru who can extinguish the blazing fire of anxiety within your heart. That is the first test of a guru”. Your continued preaching and mercy has certainly allowed me to extinguish this fire. Without you and Srila Prabhupada, it is unclear where I would find strength. Thank you for being the guru that Prabhupada speaks of.

Through your guidance and mercy, my family and I have continued our own service to Krishna over the years. We pray every day for continued strength to impart this Krishna Consciousness movement to others and to stay steady in our own practice. Even when we are tired and weary, we think of you, your steadfastness, and how your preaching is continuously on-going, full of energy, and engaging to others. Through this example, we gain the strength to go on and do our duty. In Caitanya Caritamrita [Madhya-Lila, 19.151] it states:

“Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.”

Through you, through Srila Prabhupada, and by Krishna’s grace, I have received this mercy. It is my promise that I will continue to serve Srila Prabhupada’s mission for the rest of my life. With thanks, I offer my humble obeisances to you.

Srila Gurudeva, my life would be meaningless without you. Over the past seventeen years, I have learned so much from you. You have always been patient with me over the years. To think where I would be without your mercy is unbearable. Thank you for giving my family and me your shelter.

Aspiring to be your proper servant, Kunjari Dasi