By Indradyumna Swami
August 25, 2008
My dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to you!
Your Vyasa-puja is one of the favorite days of the year for us, your disciples and followers, because it gives us the chance to express our gratitude for everything you have done for us. Not a day goes by in my life that I do not think of you and reflect on the many transcendental treasures you have so kindly bestowed upon me.
Sometimes, to further appreciate your mercy, I look at persons my age who have not had the good fortune to receive your blessings. Busy with the affairs of this world, they slowly act out their destinies, sometimes going through so-called happiness, sometimes distress. Whatever their situation, they lead ordinary lives at best, with little or no knowledge of the soul, of God, or of the spiritual world.
I would have led a similar life had you not intervened, and I feel eternally indebted to you. It was you and you alone who broke the shackles of my miserable fate and set me free on the path of devotional service to the Lord.
Since meeting you, I have seen every moment of my life enriched by Krsna consciousness. What can compare with the chanting of the holy names that you so kindly bestowed upon us, letting us taste the highest love and bliss? Or the knowledge you spoke, which destroys the darkness born of ignorance, enlightening us from within?
And what within this world equals one single moment of association with devotees who have taken shelter of you? Who can imagine what a pitiable state this planet would be in had such devotees not traveled far and wide sharing your treasure of wisdom with others?
And who among us can fathom the great fortune that still lies ahead as long as we remain faithful to your teachings and help you in your mission? By helping you, we qualify ourselves to serve you in the spiritual sky, where you now associate with your beloved Lord in a mellow of love, the nature of which we have yet to see or understand.
My innermost desire is to join you one day in those eternal pastimes, but I feel hopeless at this stage, for my resumé of devotional qualifications is meager at best. Nevertheless, I am as determined as ever to work toward that goal. I stand before you today, ready and willing to help you in your mission in any way you choose, even if it should mean taking birth again.
Please bless me, then, that in any future birth I may remain an effective instrument in your hands and that I may always remember the supreme goal of life: to serve Radha and Krsna. Please bless me that wherever you send me I may maintain my preaching spirit and that I may always have a taste for chanting the holy names.
Should I be born again, I pray to always be surrounded by your loving servants and free from intimate association with the opposite sex and from the entanglement of householder life. May I always, in every birth, respect all living entities as eternal servants of the Lord, and may my compassion for them deepen with each day. I pray that your books may remain the guiding light in this life and the next and that I may never forget your kindness upon me.
And finally, my beloved lord and master, when you are satisfied that your mission in this world has been accomplished, please call me to your lotus feet and take me home to the eternal pleasure groves of Sri Vrindavan Dhama to be with you again.
ayam avilolatayadya sanatana
kalitadbhuta rasa bharam
nivasatu nityam ihamrita nindini
vindan madhurima saram
“O Sanatana! Your lotus feet surpass even the nectar of the gods. Finding in this lotus flower of your feet the essence of sweetness which is endowed with truly wonderful mellows, I pray that today the bee of my mind will eternally reside there.”
[Srila Rupa Goswami, Stava-mala]
Your eternal servant,
Indradyumna Swami.