Please accept my humble dandavat pranam at your lotus feet. All glories to Sri Guru, Sri Gauranga, and the Vaishnavs.

Today I am humbly submitting my response to the allegations made here on July 7 (VNN story 7425, "Rectification") by "the authorities of Gopinath Gaudiya Math" against A Life Of Devotion: The Holy Biography of Om Visnupad Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj (Nine Islands Press). I found these allegations incredible and emotionally shattering. Yet not a blade of grass moves without the approval of the Lord. Somehow Krishna has forced this sinful, ignorant, fallen conditioned soul to appear at the lotus feet of all of you merciful Vaishnavs--and I know you will give me your blessings irrespective of who I am or what you think of my service.

First of all, I want to offer my koti dandavat pranam at the most beautiful lotus feet of Om Visnupad Param Pujyapad Jagadguru Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj, who has showered his causeless and inconceivable mercy, his infinite affection and his blessings, on this fallen soul and my whole family for four generations now. May I always be granted the protection of his causeless and inconceivable mercy, which I have never deserved.

Rather than describe here the full history of the writing and publication of His Divine Grace's Holy Biography, A Life of Devotion, I will just attempt to respond to the allegations point by point.

The first allegation is that the biography was not authorized. I have a letter of authorization by Pujyapad Sripad Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaj, the current President of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math. I also have a letter from His Divine Grace Om Visnupad Param Pujyapad Srila Puri Maharaj instructing me about how I should write his biography, and thus mercifully accepting this fallen soul as his biographer. I have several letters from Sripad Bodhayan Maharaj asking me when the biography would be published. So as you can see, there cannot be any question about the authorization. In fact, the authors of "Rectification" have indirectly admitted that in their own letter, by saying "Our great mistake was helping her." How could they help me if I was not authorized? Perhaps they have forgotten that authorization comes before writing a book, and it is approval that comes afterwards.

The second allegation is that, "Many Vaishnavs, including disciples of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and several Godbrothers in our math, have read the biography before publication. Their conclusion was that it is not an authorized biography. This conclusion was relayed to Smt. Devamayi Devi Dasi several times." Nothing against this book was ever relayed to me by the authorities of the Gopinath Gaudiya Math. This biography was read before its publication, by such senior Bengali disciples of His Divine Grace as Sripad Govinda Prabhu and Srimati Karuna Didi. They have known His Divine Grace intimately all their lives, and have both approved of the biography and have helped me enthusiastically with its publication. Pujyapad Sripad Hrishikes Maharaj of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math also read most of the biography before its publication and gave me his words of encouragement. Since the publication, he has read the whole biography and has indicated his approval with many kind words. The most worshipable acharya of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, Param Pujyapad Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj himself, has written the preface to this biography. Since its publication, many other Vaishnavs including disciples of His Divine Grace Srila Puri Maharaj have read this book and have bestowed their kind words of encouragement upon me.

What I find most incredible in the article that I am responding to is the mention of disciples of Srila Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur. Till this day neither I nor anyone I have spoken to, here or in India, has ever heard that any of those most worshipable personalities had read this book before its publication. We would have been very honored if that happened, even if they did not approve of it. How is it possible that no one ever heard of this before? And why were they not mentioned by their names? Are these great personalities not important enough to be mentioned by name? Should they be just shuffled into the crowd of "many Vaishnavs"?

Writing about the inconceivably sweet and infinitely glorious pastimes of His Divine Grace was its own reward. I can honestly say standing in front of all the Vaishnavs that I wrote this biography because I was asked to write it by the authorities of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math. I wrote it to the best of my ability and with the best intentions, sincerely hoping that it would serve the mission of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math. I wrote and printed this book with the continuous help, guidance, and cooperation of His Divine Grace's intimate disciples and associates, who are too numerous to list here, but are acknowledged by name in the book. At the same time it is not possible for a sinful, ignorant, fallen conditioned soul like myself to properly present the glories of a Param Bhagavat Jagadguru. I have no doubt that this biography is faulty, inadequate, and imperfect. But I am completely mystified as to whom I have offended in this book and how, and I humbly request that "the authorities" state what line or lines in this book they find objectionable and why.

I am looking forward to the day when many other books will be written by more qualified writers to describe the infinite glories of His Divine Grace. The authors of "Rectification" have written, "we are making the humble request that all Vaishnavs desiring to read the true glories of our Guru Maharaj to please purchase the books we will be publishing in the near future. . .". While I am excited about any such upcoming book, the glories of Srila Puri Maharaj delineated in A Life of Devotion are all true.

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the disciples of His Divine Grace and other Vaishnavs who have sent me kind words of approval from all corners of the world. They have said it is "a beautiful book". I know that this book is definitely not beautiful because of me but in spite of me. It does not surprise me that Vaishnavs have appreciated reading this book, because as we have said in the introduction,
"A great saint is not just the guru of those who have taken shelter at his lotus feet and received initiation from him, nor of those who knew him in his lifetime. He is the spiritual master of all people at all times who have faith in bhagavat dharma and are hankering to know the Absolute Truth from a pure devotee....Om Visnupad Jagadguru Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj is one such pure devotee. His humility, sweetness, and kindness give new meaning to the concepts of humility, sweetness, and kindness. To know his life is not to know facts and figures, dates and events, but to know a reality that can sustain life, a joy that can transcend time.''

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Again with my koti dandavat at the merciful, affectionate lotus feet of His Divine Grace, who is our lord, birth after birth,