Carriere

CARRIERE
he guro jnanada dina bandho svananda-dataḥ karunaika-sindho
vrndavanasina hitavatara prasida radha-pranaya-pracara
"O spiritual master, O giver of divine wisdom, O friend of the fallen, you are the giver of your own bliss, and you are the only ocean of mercy. Although dwelling in Vrndavana, you have descended for the welfare of fallen souls like myself, and you are preaching the divine love of Radha for Krsna. Please be kind upon me."
You were once living in Vrndavana, Krsna's transcendental abode, nicely situated in your own blissful Krsna consciousness. But because you were very compassionate upon us and loyal to the order of your Guru Maharaja, you came here to pick us up, undergoing so many difficulties preaching to the lowest classes of men in abominable places like New York City. Before even reaching this wretched country you became extremely ill, and as you wrote in your diary, "But I am feeling separation of Sri Vrndavana and my Lords Sri Govinda Gopinatha Radha-Damodara." Also, you wrote, "I have left bharata-bhūmi just to execute the order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in pursuance of Lord Caitanya's order. I have no qualifications, but I have taken up the risk just to carry out the order of His Divine Grace."
Your coming to the West has changed our lives completely, not by showy or cheap "miracles", but by a real transformation of cats and dogs into human beings capable of helping you serve Krsna. One time when you were trying to get a residence visa for the U.S., you quipped that perhaps you could get it if your disciples adopted you as an old child. The real case is, however, that you have adopted us as your children, and as our eternal father you have given us everything of value.
Your Divine Grace traveled tirelessly, around and around the world, sowing the seeds of Krsna consciousness, to Moscow, Stockholm, South Africa, Caracas, Fiji, Tokyo, and to Carriere, Mississippi. You accomplished more to alleviate the world's miseries and problems in twelve years than anyone else has done in thousands of years (except Lord Caitanya). You made places of pilgrimage all over the seven continents. We thank you for your overwhelming kindness upon us and the world.
And now it is our greatest pain that you have departed from this material world and return to Goloka Vrndavana beyond our vision. But although we do not have your corporeal presence, you are still present. Your disciples, books, instructions, temples, and memories are still available for the benefit of all the conditioned souls. Now some of your older students are writing of your glories and transcendental activities, and we are very anxiously awaiting the appearance of these books, like a desert traveler's desiring to quench his great thirst.
Everything you did simply increased our Krsna consciousness, even by your leaving us, you have increased our desire to go back home, back to Godhead, because that is where you are now, and we want to be with you. Until Krsna takes us back we want to carry on this movement-expand and develop and spread it all over the planet. And we want to do it precisely according to your desire and instructions, which we can understand from your elder disciples.
Therefore we consider your appearance day to be the most auspicious day of the entire year for us, because your coming to get us out of the material entanglement was the only good thing that ever happened to us. We would not have been able to appreciate spiritual life or devotional service or Lord Caitanya's movement, had it not been for Your Divine Grace, who was so expert in rekindling our dormant Krsna consciousness. All glories to you, Srila Prabhupada!
Your servants,
Nityananda dasa / Dvibhuja dasa / Yogindra-vandana dasa / Rohita dasa / Sarvadevamaya dasa / Amsu dasa / Bhakta Pete / Bhakta Jonathan / Bhakta Frank / Bhakta Vimala / Bhakta Steve / Bhakta Louis / Bhakta David / Bhakta Danny / Bhakta Jim / Kanya-kumari-devi dasi / Kamari-kanta-devi dasi / Linda / Maureen
 

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