2017 Please Bridge The Chasm

Please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to your Divine Grace.

Almost forty-five years ago I decided to become a full-time devotee and become serious about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The full-time part was relatively easy, but what I thought would be the fruit of my service and surrender remained, and continues to remain, elusive.

I am fixed on the goal of my devotions: rendering service in a spiritual body to the Divine Couple in Vṛndāvana. However, the more I hear of the qualification for such perfection, the greater the chasm becomes between where I am and where I aspire to be. It seems almost hopeless. To buoy my spirits I regularly repeat a prayer of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a prayer that sends a ray of hope shining through clouds of despair:

ki mora manera sādha / vāmana haye cāṇda hāta
vidhi ki sādha pūrābe āmāra

“What desires I have! Although I am a dwarf, still I want to touch the moon. Will the creator ever fulfil my desire?” (Prārthanā 57)

I do not know the creator. And even if I did, he would not be able to fulfil this desire: it is not within his power. But for me, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the creator, the one creator I know. You created the universe in which I live: vaiṣṇava-saṅga, temples, saṅkīrtana, ISKCON, prasādam, deities, Bhāgavatam, dhāmas. The list of your creations is endless. So you are vidhi, the creator. And I know that you can bridge this chasm that lies between where I am and where I aspire to be. It is within your power. Therefore, on this day, the day in commemoration of when you agreed to take birth in this world to introduce everyone to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, will you kindly fulfil my desire?

Your servant,
Śivarāma Swami