Page 20 - SBV (English)

Author’s Submission

mürkha, néca, kñudra muïi viñaya-lälasa
vaiñëaväjïä-bale kari eteka sähasa
I am foolish, lowborn, and insignificant, and I always desire material
enjoyment; yet by the order of the Vaiñëavas I am bold enough to
write this book.(Cc 1.8.83)

It is practically a joke that such a minuscule insect as myself would dare
to write about Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura. I am far inferior to
a piece of dust that has only once touched his divine lotus feet. After more
*
than thirty years of making a show of devotional service, I remain plodding
in a rut of loathsome material desires. Finding myself in such an abominable
condition, I have concluded that my only hope for elevation is the mercy of
the äcäryas, especially that of my initiating spiritual master and savior His
Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda, the founder-äcärya of
the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and the representative of
all previous äcäryas, without whose unprecedented and inimitable endeavor the
vast majority of readers of this book could never have heard of Oà Viñëupäda
Çré Çrémad Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Gosvämé Prabhupäda. It is through His
Divine Grace that not only someone as nondescript as I, but almost everyone else
in the universe, can be connected to Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura,
and through him to the paramparä, on up to Lord Caitanya and Lord Kåñëa.

Placing upon my head the dust of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté’s lotus
feet, and taking hope in his being adhama janära bandhu (friend of the low)
and déna-täré (uplifter of wretched souls), I have undertaken the inditement of
this book as an act of worship and self-purification. I resemble the proverbial
dwarf trying to catch the moon, since much that I have collected and recorded
is beyond my comprehension. Still, just as the holy Sarasvaté River is worshiped
with simple offerings of her own water, through this composition I worship Çréla
Sarasvaté Öhäkura. I offer this work to him through his most prominent disciple,
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda. By their mercy I have
been engaged in this project, which I pray they be satisfied with, and also beseech
that they bless my feeble attempts to serve within their preaching mission.

EEE

* See Glossary: Dust.

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