Hare Krishna Maharaja, please kindly accept my most humble obeisances; All glories to his divine grace, Srila Prabhupada; All glories to your tireless efforts in the service of Sri Sri Guru & Gauranga.
We gathered this evening for kirtan and prasadam in my home, as we do every Saturday afternoon/evening: Sri Hari, Sriman Chandra prabhu and myself. After the kirtan we had some lively Krishna katha discussing some highlights from the Sriman Bhagavatam, and then I had inquired about next weekend, seeing as how it is Gaura Purnima Sunday. Then his grace, Sri Hari prabhu gives me this outrageous request to present some sort of study guide on the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya, perhaps from the Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat in honor of the occasion.
I have only 2 books of the Chaitanya Bhagavat, but what really bothers me is that I was NEVER any good in writing any sort of term paper. In fact, it was always a painstaking, devastating task for me to compile such things, throughout all of my high school years and on into my one year of college. I felt trapped and helpless at Sri Hari's suggestion because of his sincerity, and I didn't know how to offer some sort of refusal, so I accepted the service, but not without great anxiety due to my weakness.
If I am going to really do this service in a nice way it will only be because of your blessings. So, is it alright if I do this service, given my ignorance and weakness? If you give your blessings, then I can attempt this task with the hope that all the devotees will be pleased. I anxiously await your reply: Hare Krishna.
Your lowly servant,
Balabhadra dasa
ASA-Monkey --- AGTSP. Esteemed "lowly servant", thank you for your letter, it is so nice. Are you starting a Reading Group? If it is just three people them you don't need much of Study Guides. What might work better is for everyone to read, take notes and then compare notes when you get together. Then one Secretary and collect and type the Notes.
Of course, it can be even easier. Don't even read a fixed assignment in advance, just read when you get together and keep Notes.
O.K??? Whoop! Whoop!
