Dear Devotees, please see the message below from Dinatarini devi, who is herself reading and recording the Unalloyed book at the sincere request of devotees wanting the book in audio format:

Dear Friends,

I offer my heartfelt obeisances, prayers and well wishes on the auspicious occasion of the Appearance anniversary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!

As you may know, Srila Saraswati Thakur has held as special place in my heart and spiritual life, as he did with Yamuna devi. Many auspicious events in our lives, such as the installation of Sri Sri Radha Banabehari, the beginning of Yamuna’s Lord Krishna’s Cuisine project, and our Unalloyed memior/biography project, among others, have taken place either on his Appearance or Disappearance anniversary. Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that if we approach the grandfather spiritual preceptors, they are often more merciful or benedicting than the father, just as the grandfather is often more lenient and kind than the father. Somehow I have always felt the protection and mercy of Srila Saraswati Thakur. Whatever he speaks seems to speed to the core of the heart and give strength and understanding as well as nourishment to the soul.

By his grace and the grace of our own Srila Prabhupada, today we begin the audio reading of Yamuna devi’s book–again with a great amount of prayer and feelings of unworthiness. The ‘goal’ prayer: May it increasingly award access to those who wish to dive deeply into glorious Krishna consciousness through Yamuna’s commitment and practice. I also pray for all of your blessings in this endeavor.

In wishing you the most auspicious and wonderful day, I leave you with a story told by a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur on how to see the Deity form of the Lord.

“Once Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was standing outside the narrow doorway of the temple at Caitanya Math in Mayapur. A devotee, noticing that he was not wearing his glasses approached him and said “Srila Prabhupada, this doorway is not very wide so it’s not possible to see the beautiful deities of Gandarvika Giridhari well from there. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta smiled and replied “We should not think of the Supreme Lord as an object of our vision. Instead we should meditate on the thought of how we can acquire some qualifications so we can become worthy objects of His vision. We should think about whether He wants to see us and whether He will want to reveal Himself to us.” Then he quoted the atah sri krsna namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih verse from Bhakti rasamrita sindhu 2.109:”The holy name, form qualities, and pastimes of Sri Krsna are divine and transcendental. They cannot be experienced by material senses. The Lord manifests Himself spontaneously on the tongue of a devotee who is eager to serve Him.” Just as a devotee wants to see the Lord with great patience and eagerness, sometimes the Lord also waits with great patience and eagerness to see His devotee. Just like Gopal waited patiently for Madhavendra Puri, Krsna can be conquered by devotion and therefore Krsna appears as the deity simply to accept our service. By worshiping and serving the deity form of the Lord, we can begin to establish ourselves in our eternal relationship of loving service to Krsna.”‘

With heartfelt gratitude,
Dinatarini devi dasi