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(the text is available by the mercy of Sriman Mathuranath)
Please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.
All glories to Your Divine Grace.
In Lord Caitanya's teachings to Srila Sanatana Goswami, He has said:
mahat-krpa vina kona karme ‘bhakti’ naya
krsna-bhakti dure rahu, samsara nahe ksaya
“Unless one is favored by a pure devotee, one cannot attain the platform of devotional service. To say nothing of krsna-bhakti, one cannot even be relieved from the bondage of material existence.” (CC Madhya 22.51)
In his Anubhasya commentary to this verse, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, has written:
“It is impossible to cultivate devotional service to Sri Krsna, which is absolutely transcendental, by executing fruitive pious activities which are mundane performances although they are recommended in the karmakanda section of the Vedas. Only by receiving the mercy of a devotee of Lord Krsna is it possible to develop the eligibility to engage in devotional service . Devotion to Sri Krsna is almost a dream, because even the shackles of material existence cannot be cut by any other means. Compassion is not to be found in any other living being other than in a Vaisnava, pure devotee of Krsna. He alone is the transcendental being amongst all others. By mundane consideration some materialists think that a Vaisnava is a mundane personality like them, but in truth the devotee of Krsna, who has renounced the material world is an incomparable superexcellent being. Knowing him to be a true wellwisher of all living entities if one prays to him for mercy then one becomes free from all material desires and attractions for sense gratification and one becomes then a fit candidate for engaging in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord Krsna.”
While speaking recently on the subject of the living entities qualification for devotional service, my thoughts were on you. I became overwhelmed by the realization that my only hope for pure devotional service depends exclusively on my unflinching faith in your mercy. Without this, I have no other hope. I have no doubt that your mercy is unlimited, and that you are both willing and happy to extend it to any servant who prays and remembers, from one moment to the next, that this mercy is one's only means for success in devotional service. But my realization is that I've yet been able to qualify myself for your full mercy. I must think that I have some other qualification besides this, otherwise why have I remained unfit to fully engage in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna?
In Lord Caitanya's chastisement to the brahmacari who successfully entered His kirtan, though still not fully qualified to do so, Lord Caitanya said, “If an outcaste takes shelter of Me, then he is Mine, and I am his. Know that without doubt. If a sannyasi does not take shelter of Me, then he is not Mine. I speak the truth.”
This brahmacari was saintly, austere and faultless, but became qualified only after receiving mercy from Srivasa Thakur and then Lord Caitanya Himself through His chastisement. Having not even one of these qualifications, what hope do I have without your mercy?
On this most auspicious day of your Divine Appearance in this material world, I fall at your lotus feet, and beg for your shelter and mercy. Please help me realize that I have no qualification for pure, loving service, other than your mercy and make this servant one who's made of nothing other than this mercy alone.
Your eternal servant in the dust of your lotus feet,
Niranjana Swami
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