Nandaranī Devī Dāsī

I was standing in filth and darkness with my eyes tightly closed and my mind unleashed, among the ruins of humanity and its death productivity, pretending myself to be the controller and enjoyer of all in my encompassment.

And then You came, Srila Prabhupada, and forced open my eyes with Your torchlight of knowledge, burning away all my misgivings with the intensity of bhakti-prema.

You have cleansed this environment with the sound of the holy name, and purified my activities by the regulations of devotional service, and liberated my soul with Sri Krsna sahkirtana.

And I am humbling myself at Your lotus feet because You have brought to this world of death one drop of nectar from our eternal home, one glimpse of our beloved lotus-eyed Gopinatha.

My pray is that I may eternally fall down at Your feet and thereby rise up to an understanding of the depth of Your mercy, that Your have left Your beloved Krsna simply to retrieve us from the gutter of material existence. And I relish Your activities here even more than the activities of my Lord.

Please, therefore, I beg that You may dwell with us one moment longer, to satisfy our heartfelt craving for some word of our Lord, and quell my rising fear that You may one day go back home and leave me here.

Nandarani Devi Dasi

(ISKCON Los Angeles)