Letters to the editor

All glories to Sri Sri Radha Krsna

All glories to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to you

Please accept my obeisances

I haven’t written in almost three years. During that time, so much has happened that deeply impacted my mental health, but now, I finally feel like I'm starting to be myself again.

To begin with, my husband suffered from severe burnout and had to stay in a psychiatric facility for five months. The months leading up to that were incredibly difficult, watching his mental state deteriorate while being unable to help him. When he was admitted to the clinic, I was left to face the harsh reality of being alone in a new country. The isolation, loneliness, and overwhelming sadness took a toll on me, and I became ill. Anxiety, depression, insomnia, sensitivity to light and sound, and constant nausea left me unable to leave the house or even care for my basic needs. Eventually, I too needed treatment and spent time in a psychiatric facility.

After being discharged, I continued therapy and, following a series of tests, was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and Atention Deficit Disorder. This diagnosis didn’t come as a shock, as I had always struggled in various ways. Many times I prayed to Krishna, asking for clarity and understanding about what was wrong with me, hoping to become a better servant. Now that I had an answer, I embraced the opportunity to learn more and develop strategies to manage my symptoms.

Just as I began to feel better, my husband confessed that he had been unfaithful. It was devastating, pushing me into an even deeper depression, unsure of how to cope. At that time, my sadhana was almost nonexistent, though I was just taking care of my beloved Gopalito. 

With the support of therapy, medication for ADHD, depression, insomnia, and, most importantly, with Gopal’s company, I slowly began to heal. I’m in a much better place now, and my sadhana has improved. I haven’t yet reached the standard, but I’m working towards it.

One thing that weighed heavily on me was the feeling of unworthiness. I feared I was not fit to be in contact with you because I had struggled to keep my vows during this period. Your words in Guru-tattva.txt echoed in my mind: 

“Unless you are chanting 16 nice rounds, and that means Mangala-arati, Srimad Bhagavatam, Sankirtana, and maintaining a practical relationship with ISKCON, while strictly following the four principles, we cannot function as your Diksa-guru, representative of Srila Prabhupada and the Guru-parampara. If you want, we can serve you again as Vartmana-pradarshika-guru, help you get back on the path, and then we can be Diksa-guru once more. But don’t cheat yourself.”

When I took initiation, I believed I would always be able to follow, so I didn’t think much about these words. Now, they are constantly on my mind. I find myself thinking what it all means—am I no longer your disciple? Am I no longer connected with the parampara and Krishna?

Perhaps I’m being overly emotional, but I still don’t fully understand the idea that you are no longer my guru, but could become so again. Is our connection not eternal?

Your aspiring servant,  

Rose of the East

HpS/ASA - Esteemed Ravaged Rose. I have applied the practice that as long as I can breath, I can chant.

Of course, Imay not have gone through anything like you, but from my experience of physical and mental distress, I can raise both hands in the air like Draupadi and chant ´"hey, Govinda", "Krsna Krsna Hare".

I got a simple job description as described above.

I'm not Prabhupada, but if I cannot function as your Diksa guru and you are sincere then Srila Prabhupada will come and tell me, it's O.K. let me take charge of this one, no?

Yet, as said, I can function as pat-pradarshika guru and help you get back on the path ie. 16-rounds. 4-principles.

"The amount of mercy a real guru will show to a sincere disciple is practically inconceivable", Bhavananda said that Prabhupada said.

So, write to us.

Pray to Prabhupada.

Krsna will engage you in Lord Caitanya's movement.

[.. and maybe give your husband a good swift boot in the butt 😎]

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada!!

Hare Krsna Guru Maharaja, por favor reciba mis respetuosas reverencias.

En la carta anterior usted me hizo la siguiente pregunta:

HpS - AgtSP. ¡¡¡Gracias!!! Por favor, conviertan todas sus actividades en Sankirtan, ¿no? Si hacen astrología, ¿la relacionan con el Sankirtan?

El trabajo que tengo es de editar libros vinculados a la consciencia de Krsna y de Jyotish.

A veces trabajo y a veces no, no es algo fijo.

El Jyotish mayormente lo utilizo para mí en algunas cosas y cuando salgo a Sankirtan, a las personas les hablo de las influencias planetarias y que su remedio o medicina son los libros de Srila Prabhupada.

Estoy leyendo el Krishna Book (Segunda parte) "La llegada de Akrura a Vrndavana", Mangal Artik 4 y 30 am, 4 principios regulativos, 16 rondas de Japa a veces un poco más.

A veces pienso que no atiendo bien a las Salagrama Silas y en especial a la Govardhana Sila. Tengo mis errores. Trato de atenderlas lo mejor que puedo. Quizá todo lo malo que me ha pasado es por que no las atendí como es debido y cometí ofensas. ¿Qué debería de hacer?

HpS - Hare Krsna. TlgaSP. pfanrh. No se mas de Vd. Tiene que ser fuerte en purificarte de sus apegos materiales. La purificacion es eterno.

si es muy fuerte.. rompiendo 4 principios.. entonces el pujari debe volver los silas a govardhana or rio gandaki, no?

Me despido Guru Maharaja, que el Señor Nrsimha lo proteja siempre.

Hare Krsna

Gadai Gauranga Dasa

HpS ... thank you. your news is so good for all of us. i think H. H. Bhanu Swami uses astrology and palmistry the same way as you.

Hare Krsna Beloved Gurudeva:

AGTSP, PAMHO

I have seen pictures from your visit to Richmond. I was overjoyed by seeing all the devotees that went to be with your very good self

I am not going to write much so that your vision is not affected.

I go to church every sunday with my sister. Last Friday it was the festivity of Santa Rosa de Lima so we went there. I couldn't go to Janmastami I hope to be able to go to Radhastami.

16 R ok

4P ok

Last August 28th, was the anniversary of the departure of my father 14 years has passed and I still can feel his presence within my heart I found some pictures when he was young, he went to Japan due to an scholarship that he got. He looked really happy I hope he is fine now

Ulyses is almost 14 years old but he seems still pretty strong

I hope to meet with you in person again if not as you said we meet here in the blog

Trying to be your disciple

CMDD

HpS/ASA - Do they, Hare Krsna, dress their dietys, icons, in the church where you go?

The Catholic church in Murfreesboro is Santa Rosa!

Hare krishna Gurudeva

Por favor acepte mis más humildes reverencias

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada

Todas las glorias a sus pies de loto

Ofrezco una enorme disculpa por no haber escrito en estos últimos meses, supongo que no nos es tan fácil entender que no nos debemos creer tan insignificantes como para poder mantener comunicación con el maestro espiritual.

Ya no trabajamos en el templo, por el momento no mantenemos ningún servicio directo para las deidades de Sus señorías Radha Mandan Gopal. Iniciamos con muchos tramites universitarios y mantuvimos por algunos meses un programa de distribución de prashada para una de las principales universidades en México.

En este tiempo también estuvimos un pocos decaídos con respecto a la mente, debido a que mi tío paterno que fue para mis hermanos y para mí como un abuelo muy bondadoso dejo el cuerpo y con un par de días de separación una tía también dejo el cuerpo.

Al haber nacido afortunadamente en Conciencia de Krishna queremos poder entender de mejor manera la muerte y los procesos de reencarnación, pero de todas maneras no estamos listos.

Adoramos deidades en casa, afortunadamente mi mama se ha encargado de tener bastantes y enseñarnos a adorarlas, este año viajo unos meses a New Vrindavan (regresa en Noviembre aproximadamente y se fue en junio) así que nos encargamos de vestirlas, ofrecer mínimo 2 ofrendas alimentarias y hacer una pequeña puja. Sabemos que no estamos en el nivel indicado para hacerlo, pero tratamos de que sea con mucho amor.

Seguimos cantando 16 rondas, tratamos de no fallar en eso y si es necesario hacerlas en dos partes lo hacemos, tratamos de no romper esta promesa.

Sin más que decir

Ofrezco mis más humildes reverencias

Esperamos algún día ser aptos de su misericordia y ser mejor sirviente

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada

Todas las glorias a usted

Todas las glorias a los devotos que dedican o han dedicado su vida a cantar los nombres del señor.

=-=-=-=

Hare Krishna, Gurudeva

Please accept my most humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to your lotus [lettuce] feet

I offer a huge apology for not having written in these last few months, I guess it is not so easy for us to understand that we should not believe ourselves so insignificant as to be able to maintain communication with the spiritual master.

We no longer work at the temple, at the moment we do not maintain any direct service for the deities of Their Lordships Radha Mandan Gopal. We started with many university procedures and maintained for a few months a prasada distribution program for one of the main universities in Mexico.

During this time we were also a little down with respect to the mind, because my paternal uncle who was like a very kind grandfather to my brothers and me left the body and a couple of days later an aunt also left the body.

HpS - Happy! Go to better place!!

Having been fortunately born into Krishna Consciousness, we want to be able to better understand death and the processes of reincarnation, but we are still not ready.

We worship deities at home, fortunately my mother has taken care of having enough and teaching us to worship them, this year she is traveling to New Vrindavan for a few months (she returns in November approximately and left in June) so we are in charge of dressing them, offering at least 2 food offerings and doing a small puja. We know that we are not at the level indicated to do it, but we try to do it with a lot of love.

We continue chanting 16 rounds, we try not to fail in that and if it is necessary to do it in two parts we do it, we try not to break this promise.

Without further ado

I offer my most humble obeisances

We hope to one day be eligible for your mercy and be a better servant

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to you

All glories to the devotees who dedicate or have dedicated their lives to chanting the names of the Lord

HpS - Sorry to answer slowly.

1. we are lazy.
2. our persona is getting old and weak

But very!!!!! nice to hear from you.

Very nice.

Look for miracles.

Now we go to an evening program.

it is 5.47PM here in Richmond Virginia!! Join us.

Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja

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

I hope you are doing well. We really missed coming to Richmond to visit you. For Divya, it has been more than a year since she met you. But Manjari had her vaccination closer to that date and would have been very fussy during that time. She is already 2 months old now.

We are settling into a semblance of a schedule. She is sleeping better at night and we have resumed our deity worship services. Divya dressed Sri Sri Radha Govinda on Srila Prabhupada's Vyasapuja after 3 months. I am somehow squeezing my rounds in and Divya is getting there. My parents being here has been a huge help. They will be here till the 23rd and then go to Atlanta to spend a week with Srirama and leave to India on 29th September.

The second batch of Bhakti Sastri concluded here in Dallas and we have about 15 graduates. The devotees are very appreciative of the in person classes. We are planning to start the third batch in October. Personally for me, it is very fulfilling to teach because I am reading the material again and learning more. We released the pujari training videos for all the arathis. It took a while but they have come out nicely.

HpS - Have you, agtSP, read "Surrender unto me" by Bhurijana Das?

We have had some wonderful association during the festival period. HH Haladhara Swami visited during Julhan Yarta and gave classes on Queen Kunti's prayers. Incredible classes with commentaries from Srila Vishvanatha Cakravati Thakur. Maharaja was making the point that Srila Prabhupada's purports had everything. He would read VCT's commentary and read Srila Prabhupada's purports to demonstrate it.

Radhika Raman Prabhu and Kalakantha prabhu were there for Balaram Purnima. Everyone loved Radhika Raman prabhu and invited him to make Dallas his regular stop. He had come to visit Manjari. Then Anantarupa prabhu came to work on a memories book he had compiled for Gopal Krishna Maharaja. Since the toy project ended earlier this year, I haven't had any proper projects. So I had the time to work on the book. It was 3 days of intense work and we got the book published on Amazon KDP. We could have done a better job, but we were in a time crunch. I am learning more about typesetting and there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. When I did Twirl Your Beads, I had never worked on getting a book published. Then you mercifully engaged me in TPP and with Gopal Krishna Maharaj's book, we see this as Krishna wanting us to continue serving in this area. I am looking to change teams internally and have given interview. If I get the job, I cannot work remote anymore and would have to go to the office in Richardson, which is about a 30-40 min drive one way.

We hope we can come and meet you after you come back from Spain. We really miss your personal association. Manjari will be about 6 months then. She is a result of your mercy Guru Maharaja and already has your shelter. We request your blessing and the blessing of all the devotees in the blog for her so that she may grow up to serve Srila Prabhupada very nicely🙏🏼

Your servant

Srinatha Krsna dasa

HpS - Thank you. We saw Sriramakrsna Das and parents and baby and wife!!!

Ananata rupa Das gave us copy of Gopal Krsna Swami's book!

Of course, the margin should have been wider, no?

But then the book may have been thinner,

But reducing the font size by half a point may have solved that but...

... no one ever finished formatting a book.

They just stopped working on it.

🙂

Hari bolo!!!

Bh. Sastri.

Meeting in cyberspace and Nabadvipa in our next life?

All respects to Mata ji.

Hare Krishna Querido Gurudeva Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada🌺

. Por favor acepte mis humildes reverencias: Ha pasado mucho tiempo desde que no escribo, quisiera comentarle que mis rondas han estado estables, algunos días mas fáciles que otros. Por otra parte no he podido continuar con mi servicio de cocina y guirnaldas en el templo porque me encuentro con un problema de salud importante, pero ya se esta solucionando y la segunda semana de agosto me harán un operación en donde me van a extraer un quiste muy grande de mi ovario izquierdo y eso me impide hacer esfuerzos. He estado leyendo más, repasando Bhagavad gita, intentando tocar instrumentos y leyendo libros de Carl Jung para continuar mi servicio de reseñas de libros en NIOS. Quisiera compartir con usted que estoy en una relación con un devoto. Su nombre es NitaiPada, desde los 12 años es devoto, estudia mucho las escrituras, de profesión es Traductor y Profesor de Lenguaje y literatura; él siempre me esta enseñando. Estoy muy agradecida porque aporta mucho a mi vida espiritual. Su maestro espiritual es Bhakikavi Atulananda Swami. En nuestras actividades siempre esta leer ya que compartimos ese gusto y tocar instrumentos. Unas de las últimas lecturas a sido entorno a la importancia de tener un maestro espiritual y quisiera decirle que estoy eternamente agradecida por aceptarme, usted es un gran inspiración para mi y siempre mi deseo es ayudar en su Sarkintan. El maestro espiritual es el sol de nuestro vida espiritual y siempre nos mantenemos conectados a través del santo nombre. Por ultimo, en este tiempo he intentado tocar mridanga, gracias su misericordia eso va en buen camino 🙏

Para terminar le comparto algunas fotografías de mi últimos servicios y actuales.

Muchas gracias por toda su misericordia y gran asociación querido Gurudeva.🌺

🐒

Havihsara Devi Dasi.

-0-0-0-

Hare Krishna, Dear Gurudeva, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada🌺

Please accept my humble obeisances: It has been a long time since I last wrote,

hps/asa - eight, agtSP, months?

I would like to tell you that my rounds have been stable, some days easier than others.

On the other hand, I have not been able to continue with my cooking and garland service at the temple because I am having a major health problem, but it is already being resolved and the second week of August I will have an operation where they will remove a very large cyst from my left ovary and that prevents me from making efforts.

I have been reading more, reviewing Bhagavad gita, trying to play instruments and reading books by Carl Jung to continue my book review service at NIOS.

I would like to share with you that I am in a relationship with a devotee. His name is Nitai-Pada, he has been a devotee since he was 12 years old, he studies the scriptures a lot, he is a Translator and Professor of Language and Literature by profession; he is always teaching me.

I am very grateful because it contributes a lot to my spiritual life. His spiritual master is Bhaktikavi Atulananda Swami.

In our activities we always read since we share that taste and play instruments. One of the last readings has been about the importance of having a spiritual master and I would like to tell you that I am eternally grateful for accepting me, you are a great inspiration for me and my desire is always to help in your Sankintan.

The spiritual master is the sun of our spiritual life and we always stay connected through the holy name. Finally, during this time I have tried to play mridanga, thanks to your mercy that is going in the right direction 🙏

To finish I share with you some photographs of my last and current services.

Thank you very much for all your mercy and great association dear Gurudeva.🌺

🐒

Havihsara Devi Dasi.

HpS - AgtSP. Atulananda Swami was follower of Paramadvaiti Swami?

He is outside of the ISKCON institution?

Such a relationship can work but is unusual. Require creativity and sincerity.

Middle picture is of you an Nitai-pada?

Is he same age as you?

Thank you!