Homage to Gurudeva

A little excerpt from my offering to His Holiness Indradyumna Swami on his Vyasa Puja day, 21st May 2011.

"Dear Srila Gurudeva,

namah om visnu padaya, krsna presthaya bhutale,
srimate indradyumna swamin iti namine

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to our spiritual father, Srila Prabhupada!

I feel it almost a little inappropriate for me to address you as "Srila Gurudeva", being that I have not been in touch with you for so long, and that somehow I have fallen off the radar. Like I need to earn the right to address you as such. To me though, you have always been Srila Gurudeva in my heart, and it is with that in mind that I write to you.

Firstly Happy Birthday. I remember when we were kids and we'd run around your feet in the upstairs temple presidents office... these moments I cherish and remember fondly. That was when birthdays were a time to celebrate in style by getting out the birthday cards and confetti, the cake and ice cream. In some ways, celebrating your birthday now is no different - now I shower the flower petal confetti towards your photograph, and read you this homage as my birthday card to you.

Since being in Mayapur the last couple of months, I've come to realise how important it is for me to have a spiritual master to guide me through this process of Krsna consciousness. Why did it take me this long to figure out? Why did it take me making so many mistakes and so many blunders to realise this? Why did it take me picking up my whole life and moving to the Holy Dham to realise that I cannot attempt to be a servant of Krsna properly without your guidance? Now I feel like a fool for wasting so much time and energy on such insignificant things, when all that time I could have been listening to gurus instructions to get closer to Krsna. They were there all along - your instructions I mean - I just wasn't able to hear them.

So here I am, palms folded, asking humbly for you to help me towards my journey back to Krsna. I cannot take this road alone, I've already proven that its very easy to be mis-guided and wander in different directions, and I've already been lost for so long. And you Srila Gurudeva, are the best person to ask for such help. Your sole focus is to carry on Srila Prabhupada's mission. To preach. To have kirtan. To read Prabhupadas books. You are leading the way back home to Godhead.... and I am doing my best to follow you."