Appreciating Bhakti Charu Swami

Giriraj Swami: I´ll begin by reading something that I compiled about His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, “Remembering Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja and serving him in separation.” One of Sripada Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja’s most prominent qualities was his deep love for Srila Prabhupada. Very soon after Maharaja met Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada included him in his personal staff and made him his secretary for Bengali and Hindi correspondence. Soon thereafter, Srila Prabhupada gave him first and second initiation and then sannyasa. Maharaja personally served Srila Prabhupada throughout Prabhupada’s last days. His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami was also devoted to ISKCON. He always considered ISKCON to be a unique creation of Srila Prabhupada and always wanted to serve ISKCON, both the devotees in ISKCON, and ISKCON as an entity, the manifestation of Srila Prabhupada. He was really in the mood of service to the devotees, especially the devotees of ISKCON and to ISKCON itself. 

Maharaja is a very pure-hearted, loving person. His love for Srila Prabhupada was seen in his love for the devotees and for the people in general whom he wanted to bring to Srila Prabhupada, and in how he encouraged devotees to increase their engagement, take on more responsibility, and become more loving, humble servants. “The more responsibility one accepts,” Maharaja once explained to a devotee in Mauritius, “the bigger servant of the devotees one becomes.” This reminded me of something Srila Prabhupada once said. A disciple came into Srila Prabhupada’s room in Mayapur one day and began to complain about the management. Srila Prabhupada said, “If you think you can do better, why don’t you?” Somehow the disciple came out and announced that Srila Prabhupada had made him the temple commander, and he began to boss around the other devotees. Some devotees complained to Srila Prabhupada that the devotee had said that Prabhupada had made him the temple commander, and that now he was barking orders at everyone. 

So Srila Prabhupada called for the devotee and instructed him, “First you become the servant of everyone, then you become the temple commander.” Thus Srila Prabhupada expressed the same idea that a bigger position means becoming a bigger servant. And, Srila Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja in paramparā had that same understanding. If we listen carefully to all of Maharaja’s instructions, we can understand how closely he follows the disciplic succession. Some of his statements were very close to Srila Prabhupada’s words, and some took the basic principles that Srila Prabhupada gave and sweetened them with personal realization. 

Another of the many fine qualities exemplified by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja was his offenselessness. He was very careful not to commit any offense against any devotee or any living entity. And, if he felt he had committed an offense, he immediately tried to mitigate the effects by approaching the person, apologizing, and asking [for] forgiveness. Somehow or other, he tried to rectify the offense. From our point of view, we wouldn’t think that he had committed an offense. But within his pure heart, he may have felt that he had and immediately he would try to approach and please the person he feared he had offended, to remove the effects of the offense. 

Maharaja’s heart was pure and very sensitive, full of appreciation for other devotees and sensitive to his own faults which at the end, from our point of view, weren’t even faults. That’s really the heart of a Vaishnava, full of love and appreciation for others but sensitive to one’s own deficiencies or mistakes. And, two verses from the Bhagavad-gītā to me perfectly describe HH Bhakti Charu Swami. As stated by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.13–14), “One who is not envious, but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of mine is very dear to Me.” 

I’m going to digress from my reading because I thought of another quality of Bhakti Charu Swami which was that he. . . Well, first of all he was an excellent cook, and he tried to please the devotees by cooking, and I also benefited from Maharaja’s emphasis on cooking as a way to please devotees. Because one of his disciples who lives near me in Santa Barbara and is one of my main cooks was. . . Well, Bhakti Charu Swami arranged for her to stay with Chaitanya dasa in Calcutta, and Chaitanya dasa’s wife and mother were excellent cooks, and so he wanted his disciple Kandarpa Manjari dasi to learn cooking from them as a means of serving the devotees and pleasing the devotees, and she did that. And now, yeah, I get the benefit of her cooking for me. 

Another little incident that comes to mind is that Bhakti Charu Swami and I, together, went to San Diego, and Maharaja performed an initiation of a devotee from Santa Barbara whom he named Giridhari Priya. Now, Giridhari Priya’s original name, you could say, was Janesh Patel and somehow, he was afraid that he might get the name Ganesh. So he asked me to speak to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja before initiation. And the deities of San Diego, and Giridhari Priya was in San Diego, and he still goes regularly and worships the deities there. So the deities there were Radha-Giridhari. So he asked me to request Bhakti Charu Swami to give him a name with Giridhari, and then Maharaja added the Priya which made it just right. So after the initiation Kandarpa Manjari said to Bhakti Charu Swami, “Now you have a disciple in Santa Barbara, you’ll have to come more often.” And, he looked at me with such affection and love, and he said to her, “I will not come to Santa Barbara to see Giridhari Priya, I will come to Santa Barbara to see Giriraj Maharaja.”

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: And, the way he said my name, Giriraj Maharaja, with so much love. And, I’ve spoken to other disciples of Maharaja, and they also felt something special about the way he would say their names with so much love and affection. 

As Maharaja always reminded us, we have the wonderful association of the devotees in ISKCON, and through their association we can experience Srila Prabhupada’s presence, and along with Srila Prabhupada’s presence, the presence of Srila Prabhupada’s dear and beloved associates such as His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami. I’m sure they are showing their presence right now. Further, we can learn to serve him in separation. This is the situation we are in now. As Srila Prabhupada wrote in his dedication to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, “To Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja, my spiritual master, he lives forever by his divine instructions, and the follower lives with him.” After our Srila Prabhupada left, I looked for solace and guidance in his books, and I came across a section that addressed the disappearance of the spiritual master, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [4.28.45–55]. Some passages encourage me that my lamentation over Prabhupada’s departure was justified; others that I could regain his association by serving his instructions. So I’m reading this because it discusses the departure of the spiritual master, and how the disciples can face the departure of the spiritual master and continue in Krishna consciousness. It is very very relevant. Text forty-seven states:

TEXT 47

Being now alone and a widow in that forest, the daughter of Vidarbha began to lament, incessantly shedding tears, which soaked her breasts, and crying very loudly. 

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

“Figuratively the queen is supposed to be the disciple of the king; thus when the mortal body of the spiritual master expires, his disciples should cry exactly as the queen cries when the king leaves his body. However, the disciple and spiritual master are never separated because the spiritual master always keeps company with the disciple as long as the disciple follows strictly the instructions of the spiritual master. This is called the association of vāṇī (words). Physical presence is called vapuḥ. As long as the spiritual master is physically present, the disciple should serve the physical body of the spiritual master, and when the spiritual master is no longer physically existing, the disciple should serve the instructions of the spiritual master.”

COMMENT

But how will the disciples get detailed guidance when there is a question regarding which of the spiritual master’s instructions to apply in a particular complex situation, and what would be their qualification to receive such guidance? The purport to Text fifty answers. This is very important.

PURPORT (continued)

“It is the long-standing tradition of the Vedic system that a faithful wife dies along with her husband. This is called saha-maraṇa. The wife used to enter the fire voluntarily. When Maharaja Pandu died he was survived by two wives.

COMMENT

Who were the two wives?

PURPORT (continued)

Mādrī and Kuntī. The question was whether both should die or one should die. After the death of Mahārāja Pāṇḍu, his wives settled that one should remain and the other should go. Mādrī would perish with her husband in the fire, and Kuntī would remain to take charge of the five Pāṇḍava children.” 

COMMENT

So now we come to the point that Srila Prabhupada is making for us, for the disciples.

PURPORT (continued)

“This indicates that a devotee’s wife must be prepared to act in such a way. Similarly, a devoted disciple of the spiritual master would rather die with the spiritual master than fail to execute the spiritual master’s mission.”

COMMENT

And, the next two purports explain how detailed guidance will come.

PURPORT

In His Paramātmā feature, Kṛṣṇa is the old friend of everyone. When one becomes serious to follow the mission of the spiritual master, his resolution is tantamount to seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As explained before, this means meeting the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the instruction of the spiritual master. This is technically called vāṇī-sevā. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura states in his Bhagavad-gītā commentary on the verse vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (Bg. 2.41) that one should serve the words of the spiritual master. The disciple must stick to whatever the spiritual master orders. Simply by following on that line, one sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

And, there is more. It’s very very instructive. But for the sake of time, I won’t read all of it but just the last two sentences.

PURPORT

Yasya prasādād bhagavad-prasādaḥ: by satisfying the spiritual master, one automatically satisfies Kṛṣṇa. Thus the devotee becomes enriched by both the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

I felt purified and exhilarated. I came across this just after Srila Prabhupada left. I felt purified and exhilarated. I had gotten the guidance, the answers I needed in the most encouraging and empowering way. I hope that the followers of Sripada Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja who get similar enlightenment and encouragement as they endeavor to serve their departed spiritual master in separation. And I’ll conclude by reading something very striking and significant from Gauri dasa in England. He wrote, “On the departure of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Maharaja, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja shared his feelings, his “shattered composer,” and his deep questioning of Krishna, the suddenness, and the way Tamal Krishna Maharaja has tragically passed away perturbed Bhakti Charu Maharaja. He questioned, ‘Why did he have to leave us in this way?’ What came to Maharaja then was a realization, a very important realization and one that can help us today.” And, this is according to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja. “A realization dawned on me – our existence in this material world is like a dream. And therefore, how one comes or departs does not really matter at all. Only those who want to remain in ignorance are concerned about how one is born and how one dies. But for a devotee, situated in the Absolute Truth, it doesn't really matter at all.”

“How one leaves the body is not important. What really matters is how one leads his life. For one who has lived such an intense life of devotion, always expressing his love for Krishna through dedicated service, how can Krishna ever fail him?” So here HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja is referring to His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami. And, Gauri dasa is making the point quite right that the same applies to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja. “For one who has lived such an intense life of devotion, always expressing his love for Krishna through dedicated service, how can Krishna ever fail him? For one who has always been seeing Krishna in the core of his heart, with eyes anointed with the mascara of love, at the final moment Krishna comes to him. He sees Krishna face to face. Will he not naturally become submerged in an ocean of bliss?”

“Therefore, how one leaves the body is not important. What really matters is how one develops his love for Krishna. Krishna comes to His devotee at the most crucial time in his life: when he is about to leave his body.”

So, my mind is flooded with memories of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja all his wonderful service to Srila Prabhupada, the video series Abhay Charan. I mean, there is so much he did. But the video series was unique. And, so many people have learned about Srila Prabhupada and come to Krishna consciousness after seeing the Abhay Charan series. Yeah, I think I’ll stop here. Now if any of you want to, well, ask any questions or share any reflections, you are welcome to do so. Raise your hand. Yes? Do we have a microphone that can move?

Devotee: Hare Krishna. Thank you very much for sharing all this with devotees. In the 1980s, you connected me to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami in 1986. And, then Prabhupada mentioned Bhakti Charu Swami who had done cooking for him. For the first time when he came to Mayapur after quite some time, almost seven years in 1981. And, his room was upstairs [unintelligible]. He wanted me to renovate the whole room. And, he told me that you are coming so this room must be separate, and all these renovations must be done, and I had only three weeks to do that. And, then after that he told me, “You know Giriraj Swami very much, so go and see what he would like to eat.” And, then I came to you and you proposed that I bring some gatatima sabji. And, Tamal Krishna Maharaja was also in the next room. [Unintelligible 01:54:39–01:54:53] instructed as to how to receive his godbrothers also – service to the godbrothers. He was very concerned about receiving and serving the god brother also. Prabhupada said, “You have to serve your godbrothers also.” 

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:55:06–01:55:19].

Giriraj Swami: I had a cousin named Sarahtitha who studied culinary arts in Santa Barbara and she went to India, spent some time in India, yeah, in Mayapur also. And, she was invited to a feast that was prepared and served by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja and she said that [that] was the best food she ever had in her whole life.

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: Any other comments or questions? Yes?

Devotee: Yes, Maharaja thank you for coming and giving your time. I can follow the instructions of the spiritual master. It is quite personal, but I don’t mind asking this question here. Like, I feel like, personally I thought for the whole instructions but I’ve tried to try my best. Right? So your advice, Maharaja? And, perhaps I can read more, [Guru Maharaja] wanted me to learn many Sanskrit verses which I’m going to quote. I’ve already been quoting the verses. But like other things he said, I’m trying, I tried before. I’m still trying now. So what is your comment Maharaja about those instructions which we are not able to follow?

Giriraj Swami: So you are trying. That’s the main thing. I mean, I believe that your Guru Maharaja is really happy with your efforts of service. But he wanted you to learn Sanskrit verses.

Devotee: I used to quote.

Giriraj Swami: So you will quote them. Maybe you can set a goal for yourself. One verse per week, one verse per month, and you can gradually increase.

Devotee: Perhaps, one per month. I was amazed that my granddaughter is attending a gurukula call from South Africa online. It was the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. From the first line, I can’t get it. In three days, she got it all. Yeah. 

Giriraj Swami: How old is she?

Devotee: She is eleven. She will be twelve in January.

Giriraj Swami: Nice. Yes?

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you so much for your visit. We are very honored to have you here and just a reference to Ajay Chaitanya prabhu’s question. When I also had a problem remembering verses, I asked my Guru Maharaja, “What should I do? It’s difficult to remember all the verses.” He said, “If you know the maha-mantra, you can do everything just like that.”

Devotee: Haribol! I’m saved.

Devotee: Thank you, it’s all I want to say.

Devotee: Just to add a little comment on this Maharaja, Mataji just said. Once, Maharaja was talking about that and he asked about a particular verse in English. Right? But he said in Sanskrit which he did not know. Right? He is also a devotee and devotee did not know. Same. [Unintelligible 02:00:02–02:00:13].

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, I remember. . . Not sure exactly what the occasion was, but His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja and I were at the ISKCON Vedic farm, Bon Accueil. And, there is a picture of it. He and I are feeding each other cake. I don’t know. Yeah, he used to follow I would do it with him, a pretty strict Nirjala-ekādaśī. And yeah, so that was really relishable to do with him. And, one day there was a question of caraṇāmṛta whether taking caraṇāmṛta would break the Nirjala fast. And, he said it was alright to have one drop of caraṇāmṛta. We used to have really good Nirjala-ekādaśīs together. And, I also loved the way he would relate things to Srila Prabhupada that never occurred to me. There is a famous verse in the Gopī-gīta and I’m sure you heard him sing it. tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad-ātataṁ bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūridā janāḥ [CC Madhya 14.13]. And, Maharaja related that to Srila Prabhupada because bhuvi gṛṇanti – he spread this all over the world. Now, in the context of the verse at the time, it wasn’t being spread all over the world. But he related it to Srila Prabhupada saying that that verse was actually describing Srila Prabhupada because he did it all over the world.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 02:03:14–02:03:49] [devotees present a picture to Giriraj Swami]. You were feeding my guru maharaja and my guru maharaja was feeding you.

Giriraj Swami: It’s the same scene.

Devotee: Yeah. [Unintelligible 02:03:59–02:04:02].

Devotees: Haribol!

Devotee: Maybe Maharaja you can say about this. That photo was taken at [Unintelligible 02:04:22–02:04:25].

Giriraj Swami: Of course, there are so many photos of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja. But this is at my ashram in Carpinteria, California, and I’m holding a book Sri-Caitanya-candrāmṛta by Prabodhananda Sarasvati. And, there is a very nice verse in there that was one of Maharaja’s favorites:

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśiḥ
tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akasmāt
rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhāṁśu-rāśiḥ

The idea is that by serving Lord Chaitanya, one’s heart is overflooded with the love of Radharani. So that’s our process. We serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupada. And, by his mercy, our hearts become flooded with love for Srimati Radharani. So as I recall, we were discussing this verse and also His Holiness Indradyumna Swami was staying at the same time. In fact, he is the one who took this picture.

Devotee: Photographer.

Giriraj Swami: He had his deity setup, and he was doing his puja, and Bhakti Charu Maharaja and I were watching him do his puja. It was nice. It was wonderful to be with the two of them. And, he was scheduled to go north. Bhakti Charu Swami was scheduled to go north to meet a devotee, but he wanted to spend a little more time in Carpinteria. So he phoned that devotee and sort of asked for permission to stay a little longer. And, that devotee gave permission. So yeah, that was nice. And it worked out a number of times he came before the LA Ratha-yatra, and then we would go to LA Ratha-yatra together, and we had prasāda together at the festival site. But yeah, coming back to the cooking, he paid a lot of attention to the ingredients, getting just the right ingredients. Any other?

Devotee: Maharaja, I just wanted to know what happened in Hong Kong? For the first time you showed up bringing Bhakti Charu Swami into Mauritius? And how do you convince him to come to Mauritius?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we were together in South Africa and that was really nice. And, Mauritius is quite close, and I felt it would be good, I mean the devotees in Mauritius are very nice. I thought it would be good to have an Indian guru in Mauritius, and I thought he would be perfect. And, we were good friends, and we would work together. So I invited him, and he agreed.

Devotee: Maharaja, I remember very well I was in the plane also. I was sitting in front of you. Behind me was you, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja, my godbrother Balarama dasa. And you just say, “Oh! You are also going to Mauritius,” and I said, “Yes.”

Devotee: First visit for Maharaja?

Devotee: Yeah, to Mauritius. 

Giriraj Swami: Wow! nice. 

Devotee: I was there with you all. Then I came and that issue of Nirjala-ekādaśī

in Bon Accueil, there was grain in the caraṇāmṛta. And HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja chastised me because I was the pujari there. The deities on the farm Bon Accueil. He said, “Who made the caraṇāmṛta?” Sridham Prabhu called me and then I went, he said, “What’s the business of the bhakta to do in the deity department?” He was so upset about that, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja. Yes, he was like that. When he used to chastise, he would chastise very much. I remember one day I was in Mayapur. I was taking care of all the finance that comes around the world to Srila Prabhupada’s special body. I was doing office work. So one day, one of his godbrothers, Prabhupada disciple, came to ask for money. So I didn’t give the money. So he called me and Prabhu in his quarters upstairs. He said, “Nothing should be missing. I want my godbrother to be served nicely. So you give them what they want.” He was very close to his godbrothers and godsisters. When I spent six years in Mayapur, I could see how he’s very close to them, very very close. I really appreciate that he has such nice godbrothers and godsisters. Thank you, Maharaja, for your nice association.

Giriraj Swami: Nice. 

 Devotee: Thank you Maharaja for giving your auspicious darshan and guidance. You mentioned the making of the Abhay Charan movie. He glorified Srila Prabhupada for twenty-six hours, but there for one hour twenty minutes, there is glorification of HH Giriraj Swami Maharaja. In the fifteenth episode, it was about Mumbai. So, in that scene, how dear you were to Srila Prabhupada. At least I can see that Guru Maharaja compared you to Haridasa Thakura. I don’t see him glorifying any godbrother in Abhay Charan movies like you. Some people asked questions, after Guru Maharaja’s departure, he used to ask, “How are you?” We could understand that he is the person of concern. We had a relationship. Now, we are not getting that. How can we feel that?  [Unintelligible 02:12:50–02:13:07]

Giriraj Swami: I will call you and ask, “How are you?”

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible 02:13:26]. Yes. 

Devotee: I would like to personally thank you Maharaja for being present here and to give us your association. You have played a very important role in my life. I have known you when I was very very young, I just got married to Ajay Chaitanya Prabhuji. You have been my mentor. I was very indecisive about choosing a spiritual master. I remember for twelve years we had been waiting. We approached you actually. Everyone was thinking maybe we are taking your association because we want to be your disciples. We are your disciples. You are our śikṣā-guru. And then, I remember I was feeling like, “Maybe, we should take initiation.” I didn’t really know, “What is initiation?” I approached you. I asked you, “Maybe we should take initiation from you Maharaja.” I remember it was in Phoenix—you said that you’ll be very glad to initiate us but are you really very sure? Then, I told you honestly that I don’t have to be sure because at that time, you were here, we were associating with you. You knew us and we knew you so maybe that’s why we want to take your initiation. You said that you’ve waited for so long. I am sure you’ll come across your spiritual master. If we don’t mind, we should wait some more time. Then, if we don’t find someone else, then you’ll gladly initiate us. When you brought HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja to Mauritius, I didn’t know anything about him. Devotees told me he is a very good singer. I remember your words, you said that if you are sincere devotees then when you come across your spiritual master, you’ll recognize him. And, my first meeting with Bhakti Charu Maharaja, not knowing anything, whether he is a good cook, whether he is a good singer, I knew nothing but I realized in my heart that here is my spiritual master. I am very thankful; I am very grateful to you Maharaja. In my heart, every day I speak to you, I speak to my spiritual master, I speak to some other sannyasis as well, with whom I have a relationship. Last time, I met you in Mumbai in 2014. We came to your apartment to meet you. I was very happy to meet you because you were not coming to Mauritius. In 2017, I was struck by a stroke. I was completely paralyzed on the right side. I wrote to you about my health. Maharaja, your kind words were very valuable to me. You wrote such nice words. During the pandemic, I was hearing all your Zoom classes. I was associating with you not knowing that we’ll meet very soon. I feel so grateful. I am so thankful; I have no words, Maharaja. I hope we will meet again. Thank you!

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: Beautiful!! My plan is to go every year to Vrindavan during Kartik. And then, once I am in India, Mauritius is not far away.

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: I really like the Waterfront festival so yeah, this time I think it would be good to come every year, if possible. 

Devotees: Haribol!

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, one question was striking me for some time. I have had some proposals from the devotees since the departure of HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja. What to do who are first-initiated devotees? They want to go for second-initiation to be pujaris. Should they take shelter of guru? What should they do? 

Giriraj Swami: They should wait for what? 

Devotee: To get second-initiation. 

Giriraj Swami: I am not understanding the question. 

Devotee: There are so many disciples initiated by HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja. Since Bhakti Charu Maharaja is not here, to advance in spiritual life, for second initiation, to progress, should they take shelter of other gurus or wait for some more time? 

Giriraj Swami: Oh, well, I mean, if they want to wait, they can wait. But I don’t know why they should wait. I have given second initiation to a number of Bhakti Charu Swami’s disciples. I am sure there is [unintelligible 02:21:25] that service also.  

[the conversation continues about the devotees’ second-initiation]

Devotee: May I say something else if you have time? 

[There is further sharing of heart by the devotees about personal experiences with HH Giriraj Swami, followed by Nṛsiṁha-ārati]

Giriraj Swami: So, this is a book by Madana-mohana Mohini dasi. It’s called “Twice as Bright,” which is taken from Lao Tsu. “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long,” because she has muscular dystrophy, and she is not expected to live long. Her mother is a disciple of HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, and her father is a disciple of HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja. She and her sister took initiation from me, but the whole family is very attached to HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja. And, she has written a letter to him. 

Letter to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami:

Dear Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to you. Since my childhood you have made my life so beautiful, blessing me with faith, instilling in me confidence, and loving me as your granddaughter. You have nurtured me in my tender years and have filled my life with so many of your gifts. Truly, the credit for whoever I am today first goes to you. As a reciprocation for all the gifts you gave me and still continue to give me, here is a gift I have for you. My first book, Twice As Bright: A young girl’s journal of devotion. Even though you are not physically present here today, I know you will be most happy and proud to see this come. And, I pray that wherever you are, it reaches you and brings that big happy proud smile on your face. Thank you, dear Maharaja, for being my grandfather, for making me capable of doing anything, and fulfilling my life with sweetness. No matter what happens, I will always love you. I really miss you. 

With love,

your granddaughter,

Madana-mohana Mohini dasi.

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: And, on the back of the book there are some, yeah, you could say, words of appreciation from different devotees and the first one is from Bhakti Charu Swami. He says, “Your writings are so full of realizations and feelings. I would very much love to see them.” [Unintelligible 02:39:21–02:39:26]. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.