sri sri guru gauranga jayatah!
Year 4, Issue 8, Amāvasyā Special Edition
Posted: 28 August 2022
Dedicated to and Inspired by
nitya-lila pravista om visnupada
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Bhagavad-bhakti Overcomes Grief, Delusion and Fear
A letter written by
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Appearing in English for the first time
Śrī Śrī Guru-Gauraṅgau Jayataḥ
Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha
P.O. Mathurā (U.P.)
2 August, 1987
Daughter Madhu,
Accept my affectionate blessings. I received your letter, and although I wanted to respond soon, I was busy with various services. I feel sorry that I was not able to respond sooner.
You have started your teaching service, your principal is very nice and she is studying Sanskrit – this is very satisfying news. It was most amicable of your family members to not object to your teaching job. By the mercy of Śrī Kiśora-Kiśorījī, who are the ocean of compassion, the impossible becomes possible. I am always concerned about you and how you can attain eternal happiness and peace.
In your research work, you have presented in a particular manner an immaculate deliberation on the tattva of Bhāgavata, Bhagavān, bhakti and bhakta. Try to establish yourself in that. It is essential to strive to embrace and practice in one’s life the spiritually esoteric teachings found in the narrations and in the accounts of the characters of Śrī Nārada, Bharat Mahārāja, Citraketu, Kapila-Devahūti, Bhavāṭavī and so forth.
The nature of bhagavad-bhakti is that it overcomes grief, delusion and fear, it bestows sac-cid-ānanda and it captivates Bhagavān. You are proceeding on the path of that very same bhakti, so where is the chance of your experiencing grief, delusion and fear? You should maintain the internal conception that you are a simple, bhāvuka and vidagdha (extremely clever) kiṅkarī (maidservant) of Śrī Kiśorījī. While regularly chanting harināma, perform bhāva-mayī-sevā to Them in such a way that you completely forget your external identity. May your life become extremely sublime, replete with prema and drenched in rasa.
What else? Accept my affectionate blessings and convey the same to your daughter Caru. Give the news of your well-being through letter.
Your Ever Well-wisher
Śrī Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa
Translated by the Rays of The Harmonist team
