Dearest Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet!

What can one hold onto with two hands when Krishna wants to take with His ten hands and what can one take with two hands when Krishna wants to give with His ten hands?

In the same way I am not even able to understand how much mercy you have showered on me through initiating me and giving me your shelter to help me achieve service to Lord Krishna.

After my initiation many people came up to me asking me how I felt but I did not know the right words to tell them. Later Vishvambar Madhava Maharaja described initiation in a very nice way “when you take initiation, Lord Krishna accepts you as one of His own family members.” Which is the best possible gift and it is due to your mercy that I have received this wonderful benediction.

Dear Guru Maharaja although you have countless good qualities I most appreciate your kindness and caring nature! Being under your shelter gives us strength and ability to serve Lord Krishna. When I do my service for Lord Krishna I always remember you Guru Maharaja.

I’m feeling very grateful for giving me such a special name. I hope that I will be a good servant of yours.

Your servant Rohini Devi Dasi.

Dear Guru Maharaj,please accept my humble obeisances unto your lotus feet.

Inspite of all obstacles I was fortunate to visit India this year - Jagannatha Puri, Navadvipa Dham, Vrindavan Dham and Tirupati Dham on safari with the group of Jayapataka Swami. I had many nice impressions and association. I noticed that ISKCON in India quickly develops during last years. I am also inspired to learn English. It was wonderful that Krishna sent interesting persons on the stations and in trains, with whom it was nicely to discuss different philosophical questions and themes about ISKCON. People bought books. With one gentleman we discussed the Bhagavad-gita for 5 hours, he was fond of the verses. In Russia on harinamas people are also inspired and buy books. In the Institute some teachers and students also buy books and listen to the seminars of the devotees.
I wish you health.

Aspiring to be useful,

your insignificant servant Yuva das
Ekaterinburg, Russia

Dear Guru Maharaja!
Please, accept my respectful obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet!

At this day of your Divine appearance I beg the Lord to give me the intelligence to thank you.

Last time we live with my wife in the temple and are busy every day with the service. I am very happy and see in it the manifestation of your mercy. The temple in Samara got so much from you. Thanks to your strong desire and direct participation the Deities Sri Sri Nitay Goura Natta Raj came to our temple. You put a lot of strength and care every time coming to our city and inspiring us for devotional service.
Thank you very much! Your lectures are always of current importance and inspire for selfless service to Lord.
If it is not your example, where I were now?
Again and again I bow down to your lotus feet, which mercifully give shelter to the fallen souls. The opportunity to serve the mission of Prabhupada is a great honour and award for me!

This matchless gift I got from you, Guru Maharaja! Thank you very much!
I pray to the Lord that you always have possibility and strength to preach His glory. You are very dear to me as also the society of your beloved disciples!
Thank you very much for everything!

With deep respect to you,

insignificant servant Vrindavan Chandra das,
Samara, Russia

Hare Krishna!
Dear guru-maharaja, I offer You my sincere prayers lying in humble dandavat.

In the auspicious day of Your Vyasa-puja let me congratulate You with all my heart with this remarkable feast, which I consider the main and the most important day in my life. While it's approaching I always feel some excitement, because I start to think of what to offer You, or rather of results of my deeds for a year.

First of all, I consider the deeper consciousness of the fact that I depend upon Your favour as my main achievement. Recently I understand more and more clearly how much I indebted to You at each and every turn of my spiritual life, and even in the simple trifles. This understanding gradually becomes for me not just a theoretic phrase but an exactly practical consciousness of the fact that without mercy of spiritual master you can’t do even the simplest things.

In other words, as soon as you start to be proud of something, become frivol or start to neglect the instructions of spiritual master – at once you fail to do everything else. And that's because you’re just forgetting the one who you are indebted for being in the association of devotees. That’s why you immediately lost an ability to use the priceless gift of mercy in a right way too. And for me it was the evidence of the fact that spiritual master is always with you and can either be pleased with his disciple or not, even when he is a world away from him.

You have said in one of you Moscow lectures: "A disciple have to remember whom he is indebted in his achievements on a spiritual way, even in small ones.” Indeed, when one stop to appreciate the person and the things one is indebted for being in Krishna consciousness movement, and started to forget them - everything becomes very hard and insignificant. As a result, involuntarily arises pride, arrogance, disregard of one's duties, negligent attitude to instructions of spiritual master, and in the end – spiritual weakness. But as soon as you clearly understand and remember that there is a mercy of spiritual master behind everything you do, and that this mercy is so rare, so valuable and very hard-to-reach – at once you become humble and more serious. Not without reason that we sing in “Gurudev” prayer:

O Lord and Master! When will such mercy fall to this one who is weak and devoid of intelligence? Allow me to be with you.

If you examine me, you will find no qualities. Your mercy is all that I am made of. If you are not merciful unto me, I can only weep, and I will not be able to maintain my life.

That’s why, dear Guru Maharaja, while prostrating myself before Your lotus feet, I pray to grant me Your endless mercy. I’m also asking You to be patient to all of my weaknesses, tendency to deception, hypocrisy and disrespectful attitude to Your instructions. Because without Your mercy and Your forgiveness to all of us we haven’t got any chances and hope for progress in spiritual life. Everything become pointless, and we become absolutely nothing if You won’t reveal Your special quality again – Your unlimited compassion to one who asks You for a shelter. That’s why I pray to you from the core of my heart, being fully dependent on Your favour: please, help me to become Your worthy disciple.

I trust You very much and do all possible attempts for my spiritual growth, hoping that You however tolerate all of my mistakes, oversights and offences. And I also believe that after all on one fine day I’ll be able to prove You (and glorify You by doing this) that by Your grace even such a miserable failure can become one more Krishna's devotee. And also I clearly understand that it’s not easy, and I place my trust only in You, because Your lotus feet is my only hope.

Please, don’t reject me and accept my most sincere dandavats to Your shining giving shelter lotus feet. I pray to God for that these feet will always illuminate my heart, light up my way and guide me right to the goal, giving me resolution and ability to become Your maybe the least but worthy sincere disciple. With deep gratitude, respect and love I want to tell You again and again: "Dear Guru Maharaja, thank You for everything You do for us, thank You that You tolerate us, and that You love us! All glories to our beloved Srila Prabhupada and his worthy disciples, and undoubtedly You are one of them. I will remind myself again and again about my incredibly rare luck to have such a remarkable, sincere and exceptionally compassionate spiritual master.

Your inexperienced and unfortunate servant,

Vrajendra-suta das
Ivanovo, Russia

My dear Guru Maharaj,
please accept my respectful obeisances at your lotus feet.

In this most auspicious day for all your disciples and followers I want to attempt glorifying you. I am not enough qualified to realize your exalted position however because I attached to you I will express my feelings of gratitude. When I think of you in my mind comes the image of simple, sincere devotee who his whole life follows Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and tries his best to broadcast his mission. You cannot be called an ascetic and simultaneously can. You cannot be called a scientist and also can. It is so because you are a vaishnava and for vaishnava jnana and vairagya are not goal of life. If something is useful in service to the Lord he accept it otherwise a vaishnava does not need anything. So and you don’t attached to jnana and vairagya as all in all but for service to the Lord you are determined to accept any difficulties and you are very learned in vaishnava shastras. Your instructions, your life example and your personality have proved superiority of bhakti. I often forget inner motivation which I must have during my sadhana but your instructions and lectures remind me what is really valuable and what not. Thank you for your care of me. I pray at your lotus feet to become in one day worthy of pure bhakti which you have.

Your disciple, Vraja-nagara das