In this New Year, I want to remind you that we are very fortunate to know Srila Prabhupada, because thanks to him we can engage in service for the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. He also taught us to be conscious of the existence of the spiritual soul, to take care of it and of all humanity. This is very important because at the level of supreme harmony, we find the Lord, His devotees and all the other souls and thanks to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada, this humble intent to serve them holds true.
We are all together in this
spiritual process to learn to serve Srila Prabhupada, with his own
example he made clear the path we should follow, he forgave our
imperfections and took us out of darkness. We are so fortunate to have a
spiritual master of that quality! Srila Prabhupada sacrificed himself
until the end and taught us to serve enthusiastically all the time.
Srila Prabhupada is always guiding us, his books and example are our
star to follow; if we don’t lose sight of this ideal, then we will be
able to reach him.
Who keeps an immaculate and pure service at
the Lotus Feet of Sri Hari, does his best to carry on and does not give
in to lamentation or confusion, finds himself firm in this path and is
always chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. I long to meet with Srila
Prabhupada again and I know that for that to happen I have to truly
become a pure devotee, that is the biggest task of all; it almost seems
impossible, but by the grace of the Vaishnavas, the word impossible is
only in a fool’s dictionary. I feel so fortunate because of that, that I
can only say: Jay Prabhupada!
If you have Srila Prabhupada
always on your altar, if he continues to be the north of your
inspiration, then there will be no regrets, since he has been empowered
by the Supreme Lord. Prabhupada is a shakti avesa avatar, whose mercy
and love have even reached Colombia in a very special way. Thus, the
Vrinda Family is preaching today everywhere to help everyone without
hesitation. That is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada it does not end in
our temples, but it is delivered everywhere by the hands of brave
devotees who want to spread spiritual love and the message of protecting
of our sacred Mother Earth to all the people.
I can not
imagine other personalities more important to humanity than Srila
Prabhupada, his dear spiritual brothers and the predecessor acaryas; of
course, there were personalities like Mahatma Gandhiji who was a great
revolutionary of peace. Gandhiji gave us a very positive path to
follow, professing simple living and high thinking, as well as respect
and protection for Mother Earth; all these issues are very important and
have become even more urgent, even more so than in the time that Srila
Prabhupada came to the West.
While the goal of life is pure
love for God, we can not stop doing something against the chaos in which
the planet Earth, rivers, forests and animals are in. In this sense,
Gandhi was a visionary himself, as he told us that industrialization
would only lead humanity to many losses. If suffering still remains in
this world, it is because we still have much to learn. After all, the
only thing that Gandhi lacked was to accept the advice that Srila
Prabhupada gave him to leave politics and dedicate himself to serve God,
since the solution to the actual crisis in the planet is not only
social justice and ecology, but rather the immaculate devotion that
Srila Prabhupada taught us.
Nowadays with the teachings of
Srila Prabhupada over our heads, with the Harinama Sankirtan as our
weapon and with the devotees in our heart, we can go ahead and offer
humble service to all brothers and sisters in this beautiful planet. We
have to make our best effort to remain under the protection of Srila
Prabhupada’s grace, and there is no reason whatsoever to lose it. There
is nothing better in life than following Srila Prabhupada and serving
this beautiful family he gave us.
To all the devotees of the
Vrinda Family, I send my respect, my thanks and all my love. All of you
are in this world to help me serve Srila Prabhupada and to protect me
from Maya. Thanks to all of you I can remember Srila Prabhupada every
single day. I ask you from the bottom of my heart to always help those
in needs, without ever staying away from the association of the
devotees, or to stop preaching, because that is very dangerous.
This
year 2014 will bring a lot of activity in connection with all the
projects we have to serve and a lot of enthusiasm to take care of the
temples and the souls that Krishna has sent us to protect. We will have
many opportunities to amend our mistakes, improve our sadhana and
relationships. Thus, improve the cleanliness of the temples, totally
eliminating the use of plastic and being aware in each step of how to
become better servants.
So, this year we want to finish and support several productions and projects as an offering to humanity as service:
- The Oida Therapy books to restore the faith of people.
- The art collection of the Bhagavad Gita in images that Yamunotri dd is finishing that are a glorification of the transcendental message of Sri Krishna to Arjuna.
- Perfecting the Inbound School of Yoga which is a stepping stone to get in touch with the essence of love, for which we are developing the yoga course in its new edition.
- The construction of the Yoga Planetarium in Varsana, the temple of Sri Sri Guru Gouranga Radha Vrajesvara, the Istadev of the Vrinda Family, which aims to strongly disseminate the glories of Sri Krishna’s love and spread it to the people who become involved with us.
- The maintenance of the Eco Yoga Villages, as an active example of organic crops and healthy lifestyle that shows the world that it is possible to live without GMOs or chemicals.
- The Chaski Fests, great conscious and revolutionary festivals to awaken people and make them listen to the calling to the Spiritual World that Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and Srila Prabhupada shared with us.
- The exhibits of the Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupad Museum in all the cities and temples, a very nice invitation to delve into the life and work of our spiritual grandfather and great-grandfather.
- The work of the World Vaishnava Association, which we serve and cheerfully participate in projects like the organization of the festival of the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Sri Vrindavan Dham that will take place in 2015.
- The distribution of materials of the SEVA, especially the new productions that were published in 2013, like the Srimad Bhagavatam in poems and the Caitanya Bhagavata translated by Gurudeva Atulananda, so we can fill the world with messages from the heart and also with OKIs to awaken reasoning.
- The Agro-ecological School of the Guardians of Sumapaz in Varsana which seeks to educate children and young people consciously and consistently.
- The University of Ancient Wisdom, as a service to all the native communities of the plant and to all mankind. This project is an offering to Ikwashendwna and the World Conscious Pact. While we are not interested in the whole history of the past that is not linked to our current needs, if there is something both ancient and modern that can help us in the present, we have to disseminate it properly, without lies or corruption that the educational systems are full of nowadays.
- The service of activism in India that awakens consciousness, which is our selfless work only focused on spreading protection of the Dham and the sacred rivers. It is the desire of our heart. We have received so much from the sacred India that we want to be grateful even with a small effort, so if we can do it through the program of Helping Hand for Vrindavan and Mayapur, it is a very nice opportunity that connects us with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So,
we have a lot to do and we should not falter. Our field of service is
an area where we should express all the talents we have. Every one
should grow and feel happy with what he does. My happiness is to see
each of you reach that state of service and full faith in Krishna, and
that at the same time, you feel enthusiastic in whatever preaching
service way you have.
I could go on describing all the
services and goals that Srila Prabhupada gave us so we can become better
servants. We know that in Krishna Consciousness the opportunities for
service never end, so if you want to participate in a project or
important service, you only have to become connected with it and start
working; like the say in Medellín: “saying and doing”. This year 2014
will be even better, always with a lot of love and without violence,
always approaching the hearts of others and being merciful including
with those who work for the world of illusion. I send all of you my
greetings from the cave of Vyasadeva in Varsana.
With all my affection,
Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti
No comments:
Post a Comment