Stay Where Your Mind and Soul are Most Focused in Bhakti

I am paying my Dandavat Pranams to all the devotees and especially to my seniors, my God family and so many kind devotees who are my well-wishers.

The truth is, even though I have a somewhat older body, I am a relatively new devotee. Maybe for only the last seven or so years have I been on this path in a committed sort of way. And, as the proverb goes, the more I learn, the less I realize I know. One thing I am realizing, is that I don’t really know how to glorify a Vaisnava. In spite of that I will try.

I am living in Sri Mayapur Dhama by the merciful blessings and express permission of my kind Gurudev. I have the video recording of him saying the Bengali equivalent of “go for it” on my 53rd birthday in March, 3 years ago. Needless to say, things do not currently look at all what I expected them to look like in terms of world events or my location. Mid-May I was scheduled to go back to the United States for the summer. Instead, I am here in the Holy Dhama and I don’t really want to leave. There is so much spiritual nourishment for me here. At one point, the state department was sending me emails about government chartered flights I could take back to the States. I didn’t really know whether I should return or stay here so I was praying to Srila Guru Maharaj for an answer.

At some point, I was inspired to send a text message to my dear godsister Jahnava who lives right near the Srila Guru Maharaj’s Samadhi Temple. It was during the strict lockdown and I could not get there myself. I asked Jahnava to go to Srila Guru Maharaj and ask him what I should do. A couple of days later, she sent me a text that said that he said that I should stay wherever my mind and soul are most focused on bhakti.

As you can imagine, I was wondering how it was that he told her that. So I asked her how he had communicated that to her. She said that she approached him at the samadhi and these words that she had heard him say so many times before came to her mind. This shows that the words of a Vaisnava are eternal and always for our benefit. Without this answer that I trusted and still trust, I would not still be here with all of you to celebrate the auspicious appearance day of Srila Bhakti Vigyan Bharati Goswami Maharaj, my most munificent benefactor.

Vanca kalpa...