To Dear Amol Katkar Prabhu

Hare Krishna!

I would like to express my very very sincere gratitude to Amol Katkar Prabhu for all that he has done and is still doing for me. Well, not only for me, but for a lot many others too.

I met him in Pune in my company. One day, he just wrote a mail to all in the company that he has a few copies of the Bhagavad Gita, and anyone interested can kindly come and buy one. Amol Prabhu tells me that I was the first one to come to him. I remember that as soon as I saw his mail, I ran to him! I was in that kind of mood. As Prabhupada explains in his purports, how eagerly a person takes to Krishna Consciousness depends on how fertile he/she is to recieve it. Prabhupada explains that a burning matchstick when falls on dry grass, the grass immediately catches fire, but when it falls on water, the matchstick just fizzles out.

So, I was really looking for answers in life. Well, nothing dramatic was wrong in my life :), but I knew that something wasnt just right! I was struggling within myself to answer the various questions that life poses. What is right, what is wrong? What is achievement, and what is failure? Am I the maker of my destiny? Or am I totally in the hands of a preset destiny? And if so, then whats the purpose of existence? What then is the difference between a hard worker and a lazy bum? But surely there is some difference, isnt there? But then, ultimately its all going to be finished by death.. Then whats the point in working hard? So, should I just laze around? But, I cant just laze around, its not in my nature... So, what should I do? What is the goal of life? Is there any goal at all? Or is everything a big illusion as somewhere I had heard? And if so, why then are people running here and there for something which is ultimately going to get lost.. isnt this insane? How can people totally ignore these questions? Dont they want to know? Cant they just see the futility of life, which is ultmately going to end in death? And why am I, who can philosophise so much, also not able to be peaceful? Why am I being pulled by two opposing forces of knowledge of impending death and the challenge of "doing something" before I die! Isnt it only because I want to impress others for the short period of time before I die? And isnt this just madness? And if it is madness, still why cant I give it up!!

Well, now you know what state I was in :) I couldnt work for whole days thinking about these points. Going around in circles, but reaching nowhere.

And then came this mail from Amol Prabhu! And now there are no doubts. Now everything is clear. All questions answered most satisfactorily. The mind is very peaceful (compared to what it was before ;) ). And I am eager to serve Krishna. Life is beautiful. Again. It was beautiful when I was in IITB too, but that was bliss in ignorance. The problem with bliss in ignorance is that even a little partial knowledge can totally smash that illusion of bliss. And once that happens, there is no bliss, unless one comes to real knowledge!

And real knowledge is given in the "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" by His Divine Grace Srila A. C. BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada! And that knowledge came to me through my very dear Amol Prabhu.

Amol Prabhu is my best friend (after Krishna ;) ).

Your insignificant servant, Abhijit.