Obeisances, Acknowledgement And Heartfelt Thanks

[Guest guest]

Dear Srila Prabhupada, I offer to you my most humble obeisances and heartfelt thanks and acknowledgment for having forced me into the legal conflict which I was so reluctant to participate in, but which I now see in hindsight was your determined will and carefully orchestrated plan to bring your BBT and your devotees back on track for the next 10,000 years to come. This lawsuit was your arrangement to give me and many other devotees an opportunity to revive our spiritual life by confronting us with the choice of remaining indifferent and ignorant of the obvious wrong direction your BBT and publication of books had taken or to stand up for you as faithful disciples and risk everything to protect your most precious gift to us and the world: your books.

 

In that determined stand, I want to express my sincerest gratitude and respect to Bhima, his wife Das and Veda Guhya, who were unflinchingly committed to literally risk and sell everything they had in order to finance the legal expenses involved in defending your BBT. Their sacrifice in this regard demonstrates to me their unflinching faith in your Divine Grace and their love and trust for all involved. Thanks also to all the devotees in Singapore and Malaysia,especially Vrindaranya and Krishna Lila, who sustained physical injury during the conflict.

 

Next, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for my godbrother Gupta (Joseph Fedorowsky), who accepted me in the spirit of love and trust and demonstrated his genuine faith in you by risking his whole practice as a lawyer and a devotee to defend me against ISKCON and BBT's legal attack, when others ignored or simply laughed at me.

 

I want to thank Bhagavan Prabhu for entering into the conflict at the last moment to act as a mediator for resolving the long, expensive and oftentimes bitter conflict between ISKCON and us, the final outcome would certainly have been much different. That Bhagavan and myself could transcend years of personal animosity and finally see the positive devotional attitude in our determination to please you, our spiritual master, is proof that all your disciples can, if they want to, rise above personal motivations and work in the spirit of love and trust as you wanted us to do. There is love and trust; otherwise, how could two such adversarial personalities come together again in harmony under your lotus feet?

 

I thank Nara Narayana, who opened his house to us, gave us shelter and fed us sumptuous prasadam, shared his thoughts and enthused us, Yasoda Nandana, who helped with the legal work, Praghosa, whose telephone conversations were always enlivening and often funny, Janajanmadi, who did much background research for the Singapore case, Sarva Sagara, Patita Pavana, our jyotish adviser and good friend, Brahmananda, who came to your defense, and Amogha Lila, who has kept my personally autographed set of Srimad-Bhagavatams from Sri Lanka in his care, while I had been looking for them. All these persons individually and collectively helped and encouraged the effort.

 

Also, Amarendra, Svavasa, Sura, Jayadvaita Swami and Brahma Muhurta, although apparently our adversaries, exhibited very admirable behavior as your devotees, especially in the final stages of litigation, when it became apparent that the judge would most definitely rule in our favor. Instead of anger and bitterness, they enthusiastically embraced what was apparently your will to VALIDATE your original BBT and thereby protect the copyrights. They sat down with us, together with Naresvara, for hammering out a settlement that was actually completely satisfactory for both ISKCON and our humble selves and most important, satisfactory especially to our spiritual master, your Divine Grace. Thanks also to Niscintya das who took on much personal risk by revealing in the legal proceedings the truth of events he witnessed Special thanks to Jayadvaita Swami, who has humbly acknowledged the need for working together in the Spirit of your Divine Grace.

 

I must express my thanks and appreciation for Jeff Wynton (Gupta's legal assistant), the unsung hero, who I sincerely believe is your true devotee, even though he adamantly refuses to acknowledge it. Besides being a gentleman and legal wizard, he is extremely funny and kept us in stitches at times when we might or should have been in utter despair.

 

I also want to express my appreciation for the loyal and loving support of my wife, Laksmi, who put up with me and tolerated my difficult and eccentric behavior, also all my thanks to my children--Radharani, Govinda and Hansa Kumar, who were very patient and well-behaved and looked after their mother in my absence. Special thanks also to Laksmi's mother, Yvonne Armstrong and to her father, William Armstrong, who even gave up smoking and has always offered encouragement and helpful advice. They like you, they like your devotees, and have been most patient and generous with me and the devotees for years. May your Divine Grace shower your blessings upon them.

 

There are many other devotees also I have to thank, too numerous to name here, or who for their own reasons wish to remain anonymous. Hundreds of devotees around the world took a serious interest in what we were doing, some provided valuable information and support.

 

We also wish to mention special thanks to Adam Bernstein (Akruranath) of Coudert Brothers Law Firm. Without his enthusiastic legal strategy, we could never have come to the settlement we finally arrived at.

 

In conclusion, my association with all the devotees involved with this case has given me a renewed spiritual life. They have demonstrated their faith in me, in spite of my checkered and notorious past, and this to me is the most valuable outcome of our whole undertaking. It proves that all of us can serve you, our spiritual master, harmoniously if we simply work in YOUR SPIRIT--contemplating "What would Srila Prabhupada think? What would Srila Prabhupada say? What would Srila Prabhupada do?" Working in this consciousness, you will reveal yourself to us as you have in the past. You will be present within our heart, within our mind, in our words and our deeds, and as your devotees, both old and new, we can carry out your mission to connect everyone and everything on this planet to the service of Krishna, in the spirit of your Divine Grace. You managed to love us; you did not love to manage us. Please bless us so that we may do the same. "Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other."

 

Your most fallen and humble servant, Hansadutta das