Dear Esteemed Guru Maharaj,

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and your glorious service unto him.

Dear Esteemed Guru Maharaj, this year 2021 brought about big changes for me, the birth of my two children. I have also realized the sacrifices in raising children crying in the middle of the night and upsetting my schedule. I am indebted to my mother and father for helping me when we needed them after the pregnancy, for supporting me, and for improving my spiritual life under your guidance.

Esteemed Maharaj, from my small realizations I obtained in my spiritual and material life, I have now learned the importance of hearing the words of the guru carefully and following the words of the guru carefully, including the siksha gurus and vartmapradarsaka gurus, my parents. I have begun to realize more deeply how their guidance and your guidance was always for helping me and supporting me to maintain my spiritual life.

I have also made a change on this auspicious occasion of your Vyasa Puja, holy appearance day. I was chanting my rounds in the daytime but now I have started chanting my rounds before mangal aarti around 3:30 am in the morning. Sometimes some deadline comes around and messes up my schedule but I have learned that I need to get up and try again. I need to keep trying to further improve my sadhana. I hope to keep improving myself and to try to keep improving my sadhana in following your instructions.

On a separate note, I am most appreciative and grateful for your guiding me towards the Bhaktivedanta Institute, a way for me to utilize my Ph.D. and academic position in service to Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON mission. I was fortunate to humbly serve in the Bhaktivedanta Institute this year 2021 in two ways: 1) as a Guest Speaker in the panel session “Celebrating Life and Works of Dr. T. D. Singh - Pioneer of Science-Spirituality Dialogue” symposium on 9th December 2021 on the occasion of the 84th Birth Anniversary of Founding Director Dr. T. D. Singh (Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja). 2) as a chair of the Music, Attention, Meditation session of the Neuro Conference at the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies. We are trying to work with the BI scientists Drutakarma Prabhu, Brahmatirtha Prabhu, and Akhandadhi Prabhu to build a scientific model of the subtle body and use that to explain anomalous phenomena in modern science. There is now a growing interest in consciousness by neurologists and neuroscientists. What I heard from your lectures since childhood has inspired me to delve into this field of presenting Vedic and Bhagavata models in scientific jargon.

You are my source of inspiration and my ideal Guru Maharaj in scientific preaching. Your books, articles, your work, NIOS, your mission in scientific preaching is so great and glorious! Your eloquence and elocution of clearly explaining Vedic and Bhagavata philosophy in modern scientific terminology and your easily answering my questions about Vedic and Bhagavata philosophy is what pulled me from my childhood towards the scientific exploration of Vedic and Bhagavata philosophy. I hope to keep learning from your Holiness and to offer my little service in this scientific preaching mission of Srila Prabhupada.

Your humble aspiring servant,

Aja Govinda dasa

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