sri sri guru gauranga jayatah!
Year 3, Issue 11, Amāvasyā Special Edition
Posted: 4 December 2021
Dedicated to and Inspired by
nitya-lila pravista om visnupada
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Śrī Guru's Heartly Wish
A letter written by
Appearing in English for the first time
Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅgau Jayataḥ
Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha
Kaṁsa-ṭīlā P.O. Mathurā (U.P)
01.10.86
Daughter Madhu,
Accept my affectionate blessings and convey the same to your husband, as well as to the object of your affection, your daughter Caru.
Every day, I think of writing a letter to you, but due to service responsibilities and some lethargy, I could not do so. But from time to time, when I would meet your father, mother, your younger sister, who married recently, and the daughter of your uncle, topics about you would definitely arise in the discussion.
I am concerned about you – how your life can be happy and peaceful and how it, can be like a lamp-post, an ideal, that rises somewhat above standard of the common masses. Then thousands and lakhs of people can accept you as a role model and gain inspiration in their lives. Your life shouldn’t just be about taking birth, passed in full of gratification and dying. May your life be like the greatly learned Gārgī, Maitrāyī, Arundhatī, Anusūyā and Mīrā, and you may be able to spread the rays of [transcendental] light in the world.
Its proper to behave sweetly in your household life – meaning sweet dialogue and a forgiving spirit, like that of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. In spiritual life (paramārtha), household life is a school. A person who does not become very agitated, worried and restless, who is tolerant like Prahlāda Mahāraja and Ambariṣa Mahāraja, who does not become disturbed when there is every cause to do so – only such a sober and steady person, situated in the strength of his real self, can attain peace and Bhagavan. Don’t be unnecessarily restless. Perform worldly activities with detachment, and with your heart, mind and life (prāṇa), perform any activity related to Bhagavān with affection and attachment. May Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam be the nourishment, ideal and basis of your life; gopī-prema your sole aim and object; and the gopīs’ mode of worship your only guiding lamp. If you do so, your life will become successful.
Daughter Madhu, I have written so much. Why do you consider yourself helpless, lonely and weak? Try to envision and realize the presence of Bhagavān, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda in your heart – inside, outside, everywhere. Keep writing to me from time to time. I will also write you.
Our life doesn’t end with the demise of the body. We are eternally existing – for undivided time. Bhagavān hears everyone’s prayers. No one’s prayers go in vain, so don’t worry. Be patient. Be sure to convey my affectionate blessings to your elder sister-in-law [Sapanā] also. All is well here.
Thus I conclude…
Your ever well-wisher
Śrī Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa
