Dear Srila Gurudeva, Hare Krishna! Please accept my Dandavat pranams at your lotus feet. I wish you a very very happy 71st Vyasa Puja celebration. I’m fortunate enough to get an opportunity to express my offering unto you, my beloved Master. Your journey has always been my constant source of inspiration and blessing throughout my life. You showed your mercy on a fallen soul, like me. Srila Gurudeva, you’re a warrior, you are a king, you are a master, you are a blessing. Your words are like a constant source of Holy Ganga, that always purifies my heart and mind. Your great efforts to conduct webinars have been a blessing…

Dear Srila Gurudeva, Please accept my obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories to you! “Once upon a time in a distant galaxy…” the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu were going on! So it was this time, too! Once at the Polish tour we walked with the harinam along the beach and you took a short break. We all sat on the sand and went chanting the holy names; someone chanted gayatri and then you took some sand in your hand and started pouring it from one palm to another, saying: “In fact, the universes are more numerous than sand on this beach, and in every universe there…

Dear Gurudeva, I lost my father at a very young age. Around the age of five. It was very tough because I felt shelterless. After that me and my mother had to face a lot of troubles in terms of financial aspects. We wouldhave to change our houses frequently since we didn’t own one and had to keep renting. We changed around 8–10 houses. The moment I got attached to a particular place we would have to shift to another place no sooner, since the landlord would ask us to leave. It didn’t take me much time to realise that no shelter in this material word was infallible. It gave…

Dear Srila Gurudeva,Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I wish you a very happy 71st birthday. Time flies. It’s wonderful thatyou’ve reached this age. I was very worried about you when you fell ill. I’m so happy that you’re well now. I hope that when the lockdown is over, you can come to Mayapur, because I’ve been living here since September last year. I came here to study and plan to be here for three years. I would really like to see you. It must be very strange for you, that you cannot travel because of the lockdown. This is something that probably has not happened…

Dear Srila Gurudeva, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories Srila Prabhupada! All glories to you! On your birthday, your disciples, followers and well-wishers glorify you. Actually, every day is glorious for us, because you are here for us as the leader of our spiritual lives, our role model and as our father also. Whatever you do, with each act, you preach Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. Wherever you are, with your world-famous festivals you bring the spiritual world to the audience. There they experience such deep taste, that even after they’ve returned home, they hanker for the same experience again and again. I feel the same way. I have received the…

Dear Srila Gurudev, Please accept my humble obeisance in the dust of your lotus feet, all glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories to you, on this most auspicious day of your appearance. Thank you Srila Gurudev for accepting me as your disciple. Because of your mercy only I am able of handling myself during this difficult stage of my life, as my father passed away suddenly on 9th May. Srila Gurudev, you are the only hope of my life. I am so grateful to lord Krishna for giving you as my guru. Thank you Gurudev, Hare Krishna. Your servant, Kishori Dasi

Dear Guru Mahārāja, Please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. All glories to you on this most auspicious occasion of celebrating your divine appearance in this world. As stated by Prahlada Maharaja to Lord Nrsimhadeva in the Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.9.28: evaṁ janaṁ nipatitaṁ prabhavāhi-kūpe kāmābhikāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgātkṛtvātmasāt surarṣiṇā bhagavan gṛhītaḥso ’haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām “Thus, by associating with material desires one after another, I was following the general populace by falling into a blind well full of snakes. My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead! Then the great sage Narada Muni kindly accepted me as…

Most respectful Srila Gurudeva, Hare Krishna! Please accept my most respectful obeisances unto the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to you! On the most auspicious occasion of your Vyasa Puja day, I would like to remind myself of the good fortune I had some 15–16 years ago when I came in contact with your wonderful self through your amazing diaries. The reason I want to remind myself is because over the years while practicing Krishna bhakti, one may start to take things lightly and start believing that the mercy received by a pure devotee is just another event in one’s life. This can…

Dear Srila Gurudeva, Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to you! Our family moved to live in Mayapur almost ten years ago. Our decision was made mainly because we wanted to raise our son in a spiritual environment most of all. And we were happy about that. We are still happy. My husband’s service includes cooking lunch prasadam for devotees, I am helping him. We continue prasadam delivery even during lockdown: many devotees are asking for prasadam to be brought to their doorsteps. So we are kept busy more than ever. Our son Narottam is more enthusiastic to follow devotional practice as to…

Dear Srila Gurudev, Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to your divine grace on the auspicious day of your Vyasa Puja. Nowadays the word “guru” has become the household word all over the globe. People talk about online gurus, guitar gurus, business gurus, finance gurus, etc. Delightful as it seems, the wide acceptance of the term is tainted with the wrong connotation people give it. Just like the word “pandit” just means “a scholar” according to their interpretations, the word “guru” just bears the meaning “an instructor” regardless of what kind of knowledge you can gain from his/her instructions. Fortunately enough from the Vedic…