2020 SrilaPrabhupadaTributes

ŚRĪLA
PRABHUPĀDA
TRIBUTES
ŚRĪLA
PRABHUPĀDA
TRIBUTES
Celebrating the
2020
13 AUG
appearance day of our
beloved spiritual master
2020 (published in digital form only)
To find out more about this publication, please visit:

www.sptributes.com
The copyrights for the tributes presented in this book remain with their
respective authors.
Quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, lectures, letters and conversations, as

well as the cover photos, are published courtesy of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
International, Inc. www.krishna.com
Design and layout by Jagannath Sharan Dasa (Janak Rajani)

https://www.behance.net/inajardesign
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................3
THE TRIBUTES TEAM.......................................4
TRIBUTES BY SANNYĀSĪ DISCIPLES*..............5

Mukunda Goswami...................................................................... 7
Umapati Swami............................................................................. 9
Satsvarupa das Goswami........................................................... 12
Jayadvaita Swami.........................................................................14
Jayapatāka Swami........................................................................15
Prahlādānanda Swami................................................................17
Trivikrama Swami........................................................................18
Gopal Krishna Goswami............................................................ 20
Girirāj Swami............................................................................... 23
Hridayānanda Dāsa Goswami.................................................. 30
Dānavīr Goswami........................................................................31
Kavicandra Swami...................................................................... 33
Swami B. V. Bhagavat..................................................................37
Swami B. A. Āśrama................................................................... 39
Mahāvishnu Swami.................................................................... 43
Smita Kṛṣṇa Swami..................................................................... 46
Subhāg Swami............................................................................. 48
Bhakti Vigna Vinasha Narasimha Swami................................ 52
Bhaktivaibhava Swami............................................................... 54
Bīr Kṛṣṇa dās Goswami.............................................................. 56
Romapāda Swami....................................................................... 59
Sacinandana Swami.................................................................... 62
Gaṇapati dāsa Swami................................................................. 66
Anand Kishore das Babaji.......................................................... 71
Bhakti Gauravani Goswami....................................................... 72
Dhirasanta dasa Goswami......................................................... 77
Janānanda Goswami................................................................... 80
Krishna Kshetra Swami.............................................................. 84
Lokanāth Swami...........................................................................87
Rādhānāth Swami....................................................................... 92
Bhakti Prabhupāda-vrata Dāmodara Swami.......................... 94
Keśava Bhāratī Dāsa Goswami.................................................. 96
Pārtha Sārathi Dās Goswami....................................................102
Candramauli Swami..................................................................105
Bhakti Caitanya Swami.............................................................108
Bhaktimārga Swami...................................................................110
Rāmāi Swami..............................................................................112
Varṣāṇā Swami...........................................................................115
Devāmrita Swami...................................................................... 122
Mahādyuti Swami..................................................................... 124
Nirañjana Swami....................................................................... 126
Bhakti Rāghava Swami............................................................. 129
Dhanurdhara Swami.................................................................131
Hanumatpresaka Swami.......................................................... 134
Bhaktivedanta Nemi Swami.................................................... 136
Bhakti Sundar Goswami...........................................................137
Guru Prasād Swami...................................................................141
Giridhārī Swami.........................................................................142
Amala-bhakta Swami................................................................144
Candraśekhara Swami...............................................................145
Bhakti Chāru Swami..................................................................148
TRIBUTES BY INITIATED DISCIPLES*........... 151

Jadurani Devi Dasi.....................................................................153
Dayānanda Dāsa........................................................................156
Govinda Devi Dasi.....................................................................158
Madhusūdana Dāsa...................................................................163
Dāmodara Dāsa......................................................................... 164
Shyamasundar Dasa..................................................................171
Kanchanbala Dasi......................................................................173
Hrsikesananda Dasa..................................................................175
Vamanadev Dasa........................................................................178
Bhūrijana dāsa............................................................................179
Rukmini Devi Dasi.....................................................................183
Toṣan-Kṛṣṇa Dāsa.......................................................................185
Ranadhir Dasa............................................................................187
Patita Pavana dasa Adhikary....................................................188
Arundhati Devi Dasi.................................................................192
Balabhadra Dasa and Chaya Devi Dasi..................................194
Chintamani Dasi........................................................................197
Sripati Dasa.................................................................................199
Karanodakasayi Visnu Dasa Adhikari................................... 201
Balai Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 204
Cathurbhuj Dasa....................................................................... 206
Swarup Dasa.............................................................................. 209
Govinda Datta Dasa...................................................................210
Deena Bandhu Dasa................................................................. 212
Bhakta Dasa................................................................................214
Mahatma Dasa............................................................................215
Tejiyas Dasa.................................................................................218
Abhiram Dasa............................................................................ 222
Madhukanta Dasa..................................................................... 226
Locanananda Dasa.................................................................... 228
Aditi Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 230
Kusha Devi Dasi.........................................................................231
Nagapatni Devi Dasi................................................................. 232
Trai Dasa and Krsnaloka Devi Dasi........................................ 234
Sarvamangala Dasi................................................................... 235
Ranchor Dasa............................................................................. 238
Satadhanya Dasa....................................................................... 239
Jaya Jagadisa Dasa......................................................................241
Anadi Dasa................................................................................. 243
Govinda Mohini Devi Dasi...................................................... 244
Mahasini Devi Dasi................................................................... 246
Narayani Dasi.............................................................................247
Suresvara Dasa.......................................................................... 248
Mandalesvara Dasa................................................................... 249
Atmananda Dasa....................................................................... 251
Pancharatna Dasa...................................................................... 256
Paramesvari Dasa...................................................................... 258
Ravīndra Svarūpa Dāsa............................................................ 262
Tilaka Devi Dasi........................................................................ 264
Visnugada Dasa......................................................................... 265
Sankarshan Dasa........................................................................267
Sravaniya Devi Dasi.................................................................. 268
Gunarnava Dasa........................................................................ 271
Kishor Dasa.................................................................................276
Surabhi Dasi............................................................................... 277
Srikanta Dasa..............................................................................278
Bedangi Devi Dasi..................................................................... 280
Yadubara Dasa and Visakha Devi Dasi..................................281
Guru Gaurāṅga Dāsa................................................................ 282
Adhiyajna Dasa......................................................................... 284
Advaita Acharya Dasa.............................................................. 286
Jagattarini Dasi...........................................................................287
Vishalini Devi Dasi................................................................... 290
Anuttama Dāsa.......................................................................... 293
Asokamrita Dasa....................................................................... 299
Janardana Dasa.......................................................................... 301
Gostavihari Dasa....................................................................... 304
Bhṛgupati Dāsa.......................................................................... 305
Gauracandra Dasa......................................................................311
Hari-sauri Dasa..........................................................................312
Nrsimhananda Dasa..................................................................316
Mahashakti Dasa........................................................................319
Rupa Manjari Devi Dasi........................................................... 320
Prithu Dāsa.................................................................................321
Rūpa-vilāsa Dāsa....................................................................... 326
Bhavatarini Devi Dasi............................................................... 328
Kripanidhi Dasa........................................................................ 329
Vishvadevi Dasi..........................................................................331
Vaisnavananda Dasa................................................................. 332
Ali Krishna Devi Dasi............................................................... 335
Gauragopala Dasa..................................................................... 336
Gokulananda Dasa.................................................................... 339
Janmanalaya Dasa..................................................................... 341
MadanMohanMohini Dasi...................................................... 343
Janakaraja Dasa......................................................................... 347
Madana Mohana Dasa............................................................. 348
Sakshi Gopal Dasa.................................................................... 349
Gokularanjana Dasa................................................................. 354
Krsnanandini Devi Dasi........................................................... 356
Karlapati Devi Dasi....................................................................357
Sevananda Dasa.........................................................................361
Sridham Dasa............................................................................ 364
Makhana-taskara Dasa............................................................. 366
Vaninatha dasa Brahmachary..................................................367
Adideva Dasa............................................................................. 368
Jitamitra Devi Dasi.................................................................... 369
Laksmivan Dasa.........................................................................373
Bhumi Devi Dasi........................................................................375
Durgama Dasa............................................................................376
Arjuna Dasa............................................................................... 377
Nirākulā Dāsī............................................................................. 380
Baraha Murti Dasa.................................................................... 382
Mrgaksi Devi Dasi.................................................................... 385
Ramya Devi Dasi........................................................................387
Badarayana Dasa....................................................................... 388
Govardhana Dasi....................................................................... 394
Rukmini Priya Devi Dasi......................................................... 397
Jagaddhatri Devi Dasi.............................................................. 398
Mahacandra Dasa..................................................................... 400
Krsnasravana Dasa.................................................................... 401
Anavadyangi Devi Dasi........................................................... 402
Praghosa Dasa........................................................................... 403
Prthusrava Das.......................................................................... 404
Sarvani Devi Dasi...................................................................... 406
Nrhari Dasa................................................................................ 408
Ramanya Dasa........................................................................... 409
Sangita Devi Dasi.......................................................................410
Citraka Dasa............................................................................... 412
Mahabuddhi Dasa......................................................................416
Saṅkīrtana Dāsa..........................................................................419
Havi Dasa....................................................................................421
Jaya Bhadra Devi Dasi.............................................................. 423
Kalakantha Dasa....................................................................... 424
Naikatma Dasa.......................................................................... 426
Svavasa Dasa.............................................................................. 428
Parividha Dasa.......................................................................... 430
Ujjala Devi Dasi..........................................................................431
Rajendranandana Dasa............................................................ 433
Draviḍa Dāsa............................................................................. 436
Pranesvara Dasa........................................................................ 438
Madhusevita Dāsa.................................................................... 440
Divyanga Dasa.......................................................................... 442
Dhanesvara Dasa....................................................................... 444
Aristaha Dasa............................................................................ 447
Nirantara Dasa.......................................................................... 450
Ramanatha sukha Dasa............................................................ 451
Indriya Damana Dasa............................................................... 453
Yadavendra Dasa....................................................................... 454
Tattvavit Dasa.............................................................................461
Purnamasi Devi Dasi and Krsnadasa Kaviraja Dasa........... 464
Rasaliladevi Devi Dasi............................................................. 466
Balabhadra Bhattacarya Dasa.................................................. 468
Langaganesa Dasa..................................................................... 469
Mahamana Dasa.........................................................................475
Krishnarupa Devi Dasi..............................................................476
Avyaya Dasa................................................................................478
Aja Dasa.......................................................................................479
Mahakarta Dasa........................................................................ 480
Phalini Devi Dasi....................................................................... 482
Manonatha Dasa....................................................................... 483
Jagadvira Dasa........................................................................... 485
Lalita Devi Dasi..........................................................................487
Mayesa Dasa.............................................................................. 489
Arcita Dasa................................................................................. 490
Gopisa Dasa............................................................................... 492
Taraka Dasa................................................................................ 494
Edhaniyasvabhava Dasa.......................................................... 496
Radhapriya Devi Dasi.............................................................. 497
Haripada Dasa........................................................................... 499
Hiranmayi Devi Dasi................................................................ 500
Jaya Gouranga Dasa.................................................................. 501
Mahadevi Dasi........................................................................... 504
Maha Punya Devi Dasi............................................................. 506
Mrtyuhara Dasa........................................................................ 509
Nartaka Gopala Dasi.................................................................511
Rathayātrā Dāsa.........................................................................514
Jagaddhatri Devi Dasi...............................................................517
Krishna Gopala Dasa.................................................................518
Lelihana Devi Dasi.....................................................................519
Medhavi Dasa............................................................................ 522
MokshaLaksmi Devi Dasi........................................................ 525
Prassannatma Dasa................................................................... 529
Adikarta Dasa............................................................................ 530
Sandamini Devi Dasi................................................................ 532
Sukhavaha Devi Dasi................................................................ 534
Raga-Bhumi Devi Dasi............................................................. 536
Ambarisa Dasa.......................................................................... 538
Vidyananda Dasa...................................................................... 541
Gauridasa Pandita Dasa........................................................... 543
Chaitanya Chandra Dasa......................................................... 545
Tejaprakash Dasa....................................................................... 548
Pavani Devi Dasi....................................................................... 553
Samapriya Devi Dasi................................................................ 554
Satyarāja Dāsa............................................................................ 556
Sikhi Mahiti Dasa...................................................................... 559
Sukhada Dasi............................................................................. 563
Vaiyasaki Dasa Adhikari.......................................................... 566
Dayanidhi Dasa......................................................................... 568
Śrī Padāmbuja Dāsa...................................................................570
Subhangi Devi Dasi.................................................................. 572
Anandamaya Dasa.....................................................................574
Mahavisnupriya Devi Dasi...................................................... 577
Bhutiha Dasa.............................................................................. 580
Saumyarupa Devi Dasi..............................................................581
Bhagavat Ashraya Dasa............................................................ 582
Narakantaka Dasa..................................................................... 584
Drutakarma Dasa.......................................................................587
Ashalata Devi Dasi................................................................... 588
Subhavilasa Dasa...................................................................... 590
Ugresa Dasa............................................................................... 593
Aniha Dasa................................................................................. 595
Haridāsa Dāsa........................................................................... 597
Arjuna Dasa............................................................................... 599
Jagannathesvari Devi Dasi....................................................... 602
Atitaguna Devi Dasi................................................................. 603
Bada Haridāsa........................................................................... 606
Madhavi-Devi Dasi................................................................... 608
Mandapa Dasa........................................................................... 609
Nandanandana Dāsa.................................................................610
Garuda Vahana Dasa.................................................................615
Ramananda Dasa.......................................................................616
Gaura Dasa..................................................................................617
Cakri Dasa...................................................................................621
Drumila Dasa............................................................................. 623
Makhanacora Dasa................................................................... 624
Vegavati-Devi Dasi.....................................................................627
Hari Chakra Dasa...................................................................... 628
Bhaja Govinda Devi Dasi......................................................... 629
Brahmatirtha Dasa.................................................................... 630
Dīna-śaraṇa Devī Dāsī.............................................................. 632
Jaya Madhava Dasa................................................................... 635
Vaibhava Dasa Adhikari............................................................637
Vaikunthadeva Dasa................................................................. 638
Jayagurudeva Dasa................................................................... 640
JayaGauri Devi Dasi.................................................................. 642
Gaura Keśava Dāsa................................................................... 643
Atmatma Dasa........................................................................... 644
Gunesvara Dasa......................................................................... 646
Janaki Devi Dasi........................................................................ 647
Yogindra Dasa........................................................................... 649
Jagajjanani Dasi......................................................................... 651
Paurusa Dasa............................................................................. 652
Nidra Devi Dasi..........................................................................657
Guruprasad Dasa...................................................................... 659
Tamra Dasi................................................................................. 663
Kilimba Dasi.............................................................................. 664
Śyāmasundara Dāsa................................................................. 666
Ankottha Dasa........................................................................... 668
Jiva Pavana Dasa....................................................................... 669
Mahendrani Devi Dasi..............................................................670
Naresvara Dasa...........................................................................673
Nrisimha Dasa............................................................................675
Pancagauda Dasa.......................................................................676
Prahladanatha Dasa...................................................................678
12
Sudhir Krishna Dasa..................................................................679
Kosarupa Dasi........................................................................... 680
Matsya Avatar Dasa.................................................................. 682
Raghunatha Anudasa............................................................... 684
Gopimata Devi Dasi................................................................. 685
Saṅkīrtana Dāsī..........................................................................687
Antariksa Dasa.......................................................................... 689
Prahlada Bhakta Dasa.............................................................. 692
Jivananda Dasa Vanacari.......................................................... 694
Guru Carana Padma Dasi........................................................ 697
Kratu Dasa.................................................................................. 700
Krishna Namananda Dasa....................................................... 702
Dayalu Dulal Dasa.................................................................... 703
Sarnga Thakura Dasa............................................................... 705
Shivaradhya Dasa...................................................................... 707
Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana Devī Dāsī........................................................... 709
Mahapurana Dasa......................................................................710
Haridāsa Ṭhākura Dāsa........................................................... 711
ALPHABETICAL INDEX................................. 713
* All tributes appear in order of the author’s

seniority by initiation.
13
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this year’s Śrīla Prabhupāda Tributes, a collection of

Vyāsa-pūjā offerings from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s direct disciples.
All of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples are welcome to write an offer-
ing for this yearly book, regardless of their personal history, present
circumstances, personal views, or institutional affiliation.
The book provides an opportunity for all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
direct disciples to express their realizations, reflections, and grati-
tude – and for other devotees to read and reflect upon what these
disciples have expressed.
Following traditional Vaiṣṇava etiquette, we have placed the of-
ferings from sannyasis first, and then those from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
other disciples, all in order of seniority by initiation. In the back of the
book you’ll find an index to all the contributors in alphabetical order.
When the book comes out each year, we welcome you to start
reading from it as soon as you receive it – ahead of the day of Śrī
Vyāsa-pūjā. That way the book can help fill your mind with
thoughts of Śrīla Prabhupāda and his devotees as the sacred day of
Vyāsa-pūjā draws near. And later the book can serve as a source of
memories, insights, inspiration, and history, preserving the words of
those who wrote.
If you’re Śrīla Prabhupāda’s direct disciple but haven’t been in-
cluded in this year’s book, we warmly invite you to send an offer-
ing for next year’s. And everyone please spread the word. The place
to find out more about the book and submit an offering is www.
sptributes.com.
If you have any suggestions for improving the book, please write
to us at [email protected].
Introduction 1
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda and to all of his disci-
ples and followers.
Hare Krishna.
Your servant,
Pradyumna Dasa
Production Manager
2 Introduction
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For ten years we have printed Śrīla Prabhupāda Tributes and

sent a free copy to each devotee who wrote for it. But this year the
pandemic that struck made us uncertain about whether our printers
could provide the book on schedule. And so for the first time we
have produced the book only in electronic form.
Still, we owe our thanks to His Holiness Subhāg Swami
Maharaja and an anonymous donor for generously donating for the
cost of printing and distributing this year’s book. We’ll save their
donations for next year.
We of course welcome more donors. If you’d like to be among
them, please get in touch with Pradyumna Dasa, sptributes@gmail.
com.
For the purposes of this book, a direct disciple of Śrīla
Prabhupāda is, by definition, anyone included in the disciple da-
tabase maintained by Mahamaya Devi Dasi. Our thanks to her for
maintaining it.
Our thanks to the Bhaktivedanta Archives for the cover photos.
Our thanks to Draviḍa Dāsa for providing the offerings shared
from the BBT’s Vyāsa-pūjā book.
And our thanks to Gaura Dasa for broadcasting word of the
book and encouraging many of his godbrothers and godsisters
to write for it.
Introduction 3
THE TRIBUTES TEAM
This book has been produced by the following volunteers:
Editorial and production advisor: Jayadvaita Swami
Production manager: Pradyumna Dasa
English editor: Nimai Devi Dasi
Sanskrit editor: Radheya Fournier
Designer: Jagannath Sharan Dasa
Proofreader: Krishna Kripa Dasa
Organizers: Harsharani Devi Dasi, Devaki Devi Dasi, Rosie

Patel, Shyam Mehta
4 Introduction
TRIBUTES
BY
SANNYĀSĪ
DISCIPLES
Mukunda Goswami
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
You wrote Kali’d relent

For 10,000 years
A time God-sent for sure
mitigating fears.
You gave us hope

The world would change
We read in your books
Ten thousand years, a sizeable range.
Where varṇāśrama would rule

And demons would slump
Life’d be rural
With sin at the dump.
Like summer in winter

Reversals occur
Un-normal things happen
The Purāṇas concur.
You gave us hope

The world would change
We read in your books
How the Lord would arrange.
***
Location: 1st Avenue, Manhattan, New York City. Time: 6:30 A.M.
Date: 31 August 1966.
Tributes 7
At the UN we sat
Silently chanting
On the sidewalk with you
No street walkers standing
To watch the oddity

Ten sat cross-legged
Against a wall
It looked like we’d beg’d.
A scruffy lot
A day with the prof
Passers-by’d scoff
Thought we fed at the trough.
The “peace formula”

Some handed out
We must’ve looked weird
Of this none would doubt.
Our first day out

Summer in the city
No clouds in sight
Our necks not yet dirty & gritty.
But it was lovely

We sat with the swami
On a mission important
The morning was balmy.
T’was a clear day,

Not yet hot
What could you say
A threat we were not
What a beautiful day.
Your servant,
Mukunda Goswami
8 Tributes
Umapati Swami
The Plague and the Voice


Part 1. The Plague
They call it a pandemic, but that’s just a fancy name for another
kind of plague. It’s killing thousands of people, so governments are
ordering people to stay in their homes to avoid contagion. But now
people are protesting.
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
“It’s communism!”
“It’s fascism!”
“Give me liberty or give me death!”
I would understand—I would feel their mental fist-banging,
the imaginary hands pushing them toward the door, their urge
to scream—if they were underprivileged sub-Saharans jammed
20 together in a hot, tiny room with an outhouse across the dirt
road for a toilet.
But these protesters look like middle-class Americans. They live
in spacious American homes where Venetian blinds filter the sun’s
rays in their bedrooms. They pamper their skin in tiled bathrooms
where the toilets smell of disinfectant and where little vases of
plastic flowers decorate the countertops. They cram their bellies full
three times a day.
But even this little bit of confinement drives them mad, drives
them to domestic violence and child abuse.
They need help. They need Prabhupāda.
Part 2. The Voice
I have been in quarantine for four months now, living on the 20th
floor in a smaller-than-American apartment with four other men. It’s
Tributes 9
been a peaceful, jolly four months. We’re even having a good time.
Why? Because we have Prabhupāda.
My day starts when the sky is still black. I groan and force my
still heavy eyelids out of the bed and bump into the wall as I stagger
into the bathroom. Then I plop into my chair and try to chant some
japa without falling asleep.
When I look out the window and see pinkish-purple streaks
showing through the black sky, I wrap a few turns of my sacred
thread around my right thumb and say the prayer “to the sun who
enthuses our meditation.”
I try hard to see the sun, but the tall buildings block my view.
Oh. I am looking through the wrong eyes. I need the eyes
Prabhupāda gave me, the eyes of the Bhagavad-gītā:
“Of lights I am the radiant sun.”
Lord Kṛṣṇa spoke those words 5,000 years ago, but they caress
my mental ear as if it had been only a few seconds.
Thank you, Prabhupāda.
I go back to my japa. Sometimes I shake my bead bag, and the
beads go click-clack as they knock into each other, waiting for their
turn to roll around when they pass through the tips of my right
thumb and middle finger.
I hear the others chanting softly, and their words enter piecemeal
into my ear: “K’shnick-shnick Ram Ram…”
(Did someone say something about quarantine?)
The soft murmuring is punctuated by the sound of Gajendra
Dasa in the kitchen, sneezing as he sprinkles pepper into the
morning soup for Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā.
Jishnu Dasa opens the altar curtain, and I half-roll half-fall out
of my chair and touch my forehead to the floor. My mind breezes
back to that Friday evening in 1966 on Second Avenue, when I
touched my forehead to the floor in front of Prabhupāda for the
first time and tried to repeat the words he said: “Namaḥ… Om…
Vishnu… Padaya…”
And now… and now fifty-four years have whizzed by since
that evening. Yes, and the arrogant young hippie has become a
doddering old man. The legs that used to walk all over Manhattan
need a cane now just to make it to the corner. The strong young voice
has dwindled to a hoarse whimper.
But I am still that young disciple bowing at Prabhupāda’s lotus
feet and trying to repeat his words: “Namaḥ om vishnupadaya…” (I
10 Tributes
offer my respectful obeisances...)
But I wish I could mean what I say. I wish I could speak with the
sincerity I heard in Prabhupāda’s voice that night and that I still hear
whenever that moment flows into my memory.
At first, I looked for a spiritual blowtorch to melt away the
steel frame covering my heart. But Lord Chaitanya gave me the
real clue: “The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa cleanses the dust from the
mirror of the mind.”
I understood. Why look for a blowtorch when I already had the
cloth that wipes the dust off the mirror? Prabhupāda had given it to
me —the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—that night on Second Avenue.
Someday, when I finally get the mirror clean, I will, at last, be
able to reflect Prabhupāda’s words and the power in them, as a
mirror reflects not only the sun but also the brilliance of its rays.
My daydream breaks as the fragrance of sandalwood overpowers
the fragrance coming from the kitchen. I look up. Jishnu is offering
incense and singing to Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā. Through
the kitchen door comes the muffled sound of Gajendra chanting and
running the blender.
And it all comes from Śrīla Prabhupāda.
(Who cares about a little quarantine, anyway?)
You know, they say a big strong hero never weeps. Neither does
a doddering old man. But when the sound of Prabhupāda’s voice
from that night on Second Avenue grabs my memory, a teardrop
comes into an eye hidden somewhere inside me. And no one
can see it but me.
So I’ll close with these words, in whatever sincerity I can muster:
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Umapati Swami
Tributes 11
Satsvarupa das Goswami
I offer my obeisances to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupāda who is very dear to Kṛṣṇa on this earth. Obeisances
unto you, Spiritual Master, who are so kindly teaching the message
of Lord Chaitanya, and delivering these Western countries which
are full of voidism and impersonalism.
It has been over forty years since Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
disappearance. He is still close to me and all his followers in his vāṇī.
I exchanged many letters with His Divine Grace, and they continue
to guide me today. I once spoke to a professor who said that Kṛṣṇa
consciousness appears to be a combination of logic and śāstra. I
asked Prabhupāda about this and he replied to me as follows:
“Concerning our use of analogy. We do not bring in
imperfect analogy, but we follow the instructions of the
śāstra strictly. Our authority is on the basis of śāstra, not
analogy... We give analogy for the general mass of people
who have no faith in śāstra. Analogy is not proof, śāstra is
proof. Foolish people cannot understand or accept, so we
use analogy. The conclusion is not drawn from the analogy
but from the śāstra. We don’t use a combination of logic and
authority, we use authority. The logic of using analogy is
called in śāstra, ‘sadha chandra nyaya.’ It is easier to focus on
the moon through the branches of a tree.” (Letter 75.10.32)
I was very impressed with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s strong conviction
that śāstra is the proof in understanding Vedic knowledge (śāstra
pramāṇa). I share this letter with devotees who approach me with
their doubts in accepting Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy.
Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote me an even more personal letter about
the importance of reading śāstra in his letter of January 5, 1976 in
answer to my inquiry of December 4, 1975. I was very fond of reading
many hours in his books, but I wasn’t sure if this was bona fide. His
reply was very encouraging:
Yes, as a sannyāsī and GBC your first duty is to read my
books. Otherwise, how will you preach? In order to remain
steadily fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness there must be a sound
philosophical understanding otherwise it will become only
sentiment. Whenever you find time please read my books.
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This was a green light for me to cram Prabhupāda’s purports. In
the previous letter I quoted Prabhupāda said śāstra was the proof
for Vedic understanding. I take it that Prabhupāda’s books, with the
verse translation and his purport, is itself śāstra.
But in the same letter Prabhupāda writes: “Our first business
is this book distribution. There is no need of any other business.
If this book distribution is managed properly, pushed on with
great enthusiasm and determination, and at the same time if our
men keep spiritually strong, then the whole world will become
Kṛṣṇa conscious.”
So, he didn’t want me to only read his books, but I had to
also distribute the books, and tend to other preaching duties. But
whenever I could find time – and I did so with top priority – I
read his books.
Reading Prabhupāda’s books or listening to his recorded lectures
is necessary and nectarean for keeping alive in spiritual life. I deeply
thank Śrīla Prabhupāda and all the devotees who assisted him in
publishing his books and recording his lectures. They have done a
great service for the world, and for this fallen, aspiring devotee of
Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am now eighty years old. As long as I
am physically able, please let me read your books with enthusiasm
and without doubt. And let me cooperate with your devotees as a
sign of my love for you.
Your eternal servant,

Satsvarupa das Goswami
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Jayadvaita Swami


In our Vyāsa-pūjā offerings we tell some of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
uncountable glories, and one that came to mind today is that he has
inspired a new generation of disciples, for whom he serves as the
spiritual grandfather.
He has left them a Kṛṣṇa conscious legacy, in the form of his
books and instructions, his temples and Deities, his mission, his
kīrtana, his worldwide society of devotees, his unique example of
pure devotional service, and the wealth of a Kṛṣṇa conscious way
of life, nourished, fortified, and enlivened by sādhana and Kṛṣṇa’s
kindness, opening the way to freedom from māyā and, step by step,
to faith, attachment, and finally pure love for Kṛṣṇa, as given by Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Among these grand-disciples, some are sons and daughters of
devotees, others new recruits. As Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy descends,
they have grasped hold of it. Many practice and serve strongly,
and some stand out in varied ways, by preaching and teaching,
by scholarship, by kīrtana, by worship of the Deity, by cooking, by
organizing, by enlivening and inspiring others, by dedication to
different aspects of what Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to establish. For
all of this, the credit goes to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
What a pleasure it is for us disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda to see
members of that new generation shine and even excel us. When a
son takes over the family business and makes it more successful than
the father, the father becomes more pleased. And the grandfather is
easier to please than the father.
Śrīla Prabhupāda in his last days sometimes asked, “How will
things go on?” They will go on by his mercy, from generation to
generation, as long as devotees who receive it take it seriously,
manage it well, and keep it pure.
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Jayapatāka Swami
My dear spiritual father, His Divine Grace Abhaya Caraṇāravinda

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda!
Please accept my respectful obeisances!
At this time, we are remembering Your Divine Grace—how you
utilized every opportunity to preach the message of Lord Caitanya.
Now we are under the pandemic of the coronavirus. This offers us an
opportunity to request all the people of the world to chant the name
of God, as you have instructed. We remember how you gave out
the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He said that no matter how
fallen or how sinful a person was, He would deliver them. But He
said that if a person offends a Vaiṣṇava, then He will not deliver him!
You once told us how in the presence of your guru everyone was
very respectful, but that after he departed your godbrothers began to
fight with each other. You also said that even in your presence your
disciples were fighting. So without your mercy, how is it possible
that we will be delivered? I am hoping that I can be freed of any
offense I may have committed, knowingly or unknowingly, to the
Vaiṣṇavas or to Your Divine Grace.
We see that Kṛṣṇa is Yogeśvara, the greatest of all magicians,
and so He can do anything He wants. We hope that by your mercy,
somehow Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya will inspire all the people to take up
bhakti-yoga at this time of worldwide pandemic. I surrender at your
lotus feet and, by your mercy, I hope to continue serving till my
last breath. And I hope that the future generations will serve Your
Divine Grace with full dedication!
The Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa predicted that there will be a Golden
Age during this Kali-yuga, when people will become Vaiṣṇavas
and chant the holy names, that this age would last for ten thousand
years, and that it would start five thousand years after the beginning
of Kali-yuga. You came five thousand years after the beginning of
Kali-yuga, and Lord Caitanya came about four hundred years before
you did. We see that Lord Caitanya empowered you to usher in
the Golden Age. And this coronavirus pandemic has brought the
world to a standstill—travel between countries is not happening or
is highly restricted. Therefore at this time we pray for your mercy so
that the present worldwide crisis will inspire all the people to read
your books, chant the holy name, pray to the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, and practice bhakti-yoga.
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At this all-auspicious time of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we bow down to
your lotus feet, offer our puṣpāñjali three times, and pray for your
mercy. Please forgive us for any offenses we have made, and allow
us to serve you eternally.
Your servant,
Jayapatāka Swami
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Prahlādānanda Swami


As I am writing this offering, there is a global concern about the
spread of a virus. People’s lives are personally, financially, and
socially impacted on an unprecedented level.
During a morning walk in Māyāpur on 4 April 1975, Śrīla
Prabhupāda mentioned a world crisis that might affect everyone’s
lives. The following exchange ensued:
Haṁsadūta: So Prabhupāda, is there something we should

do to prepare ourselves for this disaster?
Prabhupāda: What?
Haṁsadūta: This coming war.
Prabhupāda: You should simply prepare for chanting Hare
Kṛṣṇa.
Everyone is already facing the greatest material disaster in the form
of death. The only actual remedy and preparation for this disaster
is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. However, to practically do that, we
should not only chant Hare Kṛṣṇa but also serve Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu’s mission.
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission is to distribute the
saṅkīrtana movement of hearing and chanting the glories of Lord Śrī
Kṛṣṇa. But to make this mission effective and successful, ISKCON
needs to be organized intelligently, in a way that maximizes its
members’ cooperation and their focus on this mission. ISKCON
leaders should, according to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings and
example, focus on how to apply his principles of spiritual knowledge
in action and teach their followers to do the same. That can inspire
and empower ISKCON members to serve in Lord Caitanya’s
cultural revolution and spiritualize the currently misdirected
human civilization.
Your servant,
Prahlādānanda Swami
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Trivikrama Swami


My dearmost Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you!
One thing that is becoming more and more apparent to me as
I get older is that when Lord Kṛṣṇa says that this material world is
a place of misery He is not exaggerating. So much suffering, subtle
and gross, from every direction, but still the mind tries to convince us
that we can be happy here. The problem, of course, is that we listen
carefully to the mind and often tend to agree with it in this regard.
Fortunately, as we continue with this process of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, this truth about the material world is revealed to us
more and more. And from the other side, by your mercy, we are
experiencing a small glimpse of the spiritual world, especially in
the kīrtana of the names of Lord Hari. As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura
writes, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana: “The chanting of
the Holy Names of the Lord is coming from the spiritual world,
Goloka Vṛndāvana.”
I remember being with you in Vṛndāvana in September 1974. I
had arrived from preaching in Hong Kong, and at the time you were
somewhat ill. Every night we had a program in the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma
temple (under construction), and all the devotees were expected to
attend, mainly because you were always there. The program started
at 6:30 with the evening ārati, after which there was a class. Because of
your ill health you were not giving class, and instead your sannyāsīs
took up this service.
Śrutakīrti Prabhu, your personal servant at the time, instructed us
that you wanted the class to be short. Sometimes, if you thought the
sannyāsī was speaking too long, Śrutakīrti would come and say that
you wanted him to stop. Then everyone would stay for the second
stand-up kīrtana, which went on for at least another hour or so.
This evening program went on like this for some time, and
gradually your health improved. One evening after the final kīrtana
I came back into the courtyard, where you were getting ready to
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take rest. You were sitting on one of those wooden beds and were
speaking for a few minutes before the mosquitoes forced you to
cover with the net. Śrutakīrti and I were sitting on the ground when
you began to speak. Your voice was firm and full of real authority.
You said, “This kīrtana gives us life. This is the special mercy of Lord
Caitanya.” Then after a very short pause to bring emphasis to what
you were about to say, you declared, “And if we don’t get life from
the kīrtana . . . simply sex life.”
I am personally very grateful to you for this emphasis on kīrtana.
I thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, from the bottom of my heart.
Your insignificant servant,

Trivikrama Swami
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Gopal Krishna Goswami
I beg to offer my most respectful obeisances at your lotus feet. This

year we are celebrating your 124th birth anniversary. Next year we
are going to have celebrations in important cities of India for your
125th birth anniversary. Your spiritual master recognized in the first
meeting in 1921 that you are that special devotee who would fulfill
Lord Caitanya’s mission. Lord Caitanya had predicted that the holy
name will be chanted in every town and village of the world. As
stated in the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta 7.11:
kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana
“Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the saṅkīrtana
movement.”
I had the great fortune of meeting you in Montreal in June 1968.

You were able to convert a fool like myself to the path of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. You presented the pure teachings of the Lord and
the ācāryas without any distortion. While establishing ISKCON
in America some friends suggested that you call your society,
International Society for God Consciousness. You insisted that it
should be called ‘Kṛṣṇa consciousness’ because God was a vague
term and Kṛṣṇa was exact and scientific. You stated ‘that God
consciousness is spiritually weaker and less personal.’ A journalist
once asked you that if your Kṛṣṇa consciousness was so good then
why is the hall not fully packed. You responded that ‘when you are
selling diamonds only few will buy but imitation diamonds many
may buy.’
Your books have changed the lives of countless conditioned
souls around the world. Fortunately, your books are available in
almost every major language of the world. Few months ago, the
government in Sindh, Pakistan agreed to publish 1000 copies each
of the Gītā in Urdu and Sindhi. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you struggled in
India to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness and publish your books. In a
brief span of eleven years, you travelled all over the world 14 times
and translated over 70 books. You often said that everything we
need to know is in your books. Reading your books is the best way
to associate with you. Your books will continue to guide humanity
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for the next ten thousand years.
The world today is facing a major crisis. Covid-19 also known
as coronavirus has spread to almost every corner of the globe.
Thousands have died and millions have fallen ill. Unfortunately,
during this crisis, all the places of worship such as temples, mosques,
gurudwaras, churches are closed to the public. All ISKCON temples
are also closed. Only a small crew of pūjārīs is permitted on the
altar for essential Deity worship. This has resulted in a sharp drop
of income and book distribution. Book distribution has virtually
stopped. Necessity is the mother of invention. Devotees have
discovered many new techniques for on-line preaching. This new
technique is attracting new people to your Movement.
Scientists all over the world are competing to develop a vaccine
to cure the coronavirus. Śrīla Prabhupāda you have the solution to
every problem. On August 26, 1966, you stated the following:
“Hong Kong flu. Yes. So everyone took that vaccination.
So our Hayagriva prabhu took me also. “All right, let us
have.” [laughter] So there was no attack. Fortunately, there
was no attack. So similarly, this world is Hong Kong flu.
[laughter] māyā is always ready to attack. Always. So we
have to take this injection, this anti-vaccine, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi’ [Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura].
[I have brought the medicine to eradicate

the disease of illusion. Now pray for this
Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and take it.]
That song, Jīv Jāgo, Jīv Jāgo. “I have brought this medicine
for killing this Hong Kong flu of māyā.” [laughter] Enechi
auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi,’ hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao... Now
you take.” [Initiation Lecture, June 4, 1969, New Vrindaban]
“Just like if you take vaccine, the infectious disease

will not touch you. Similarly, if you keep yourself
vaccinated with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then māyā
has no power to touch you. And if you can keep,
then you will be accustomed.” [Lecture at Initiation
Fire Sacrifice – July 16, 1969, Los Angeles]
“We should always bear in mind that we are in the
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midst of infected area. Any moment the infection can
attack us. Take for example that in a neighborhood
where there is infection of disease, say cholera or
typhoid like that. Those who have taken vaccines,
anti-cholera vaccine or anti-typhoid vaccines. Just like
physicians, doctors they go to treat contaminated patient
but if they are not cautious the physician will become
himself contaminated. Then the question will come out
physician heal thyself. A physician goes to treat but
he... If he is himself a diseased man how he can treat?
“So our preachers, our devotees should always

remember that māyā is very strong. As soon as there
is slackness, immediately māyā will attack.” [Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam 6.1.16–19, December 11, 1970, Bombay]
So, on this auspicious day, I want to beg you for your mercy so that I
may be able to practice and help expand your Movement. Preaching
and constructing temples is becoming more and more challenging.
Only with your mercy can we hope to succeed on the devotional
path and complete the construction projects that we have started.
Your fallen servant,

Gopal Krishna Goswami
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Girirāj Swami
Śrīla Prabhupāda and Lord Nityānanda’s Mercy

My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your
lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace, the embodiment of
unlimited mercy.
Knowledgeable devotees agree that you were a śaktyāveśa-
avatāra, an empowered incarnation, and you have indicated as much
yourself. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 2.13–14) states:
“To deliver people in regions throughout the universe who
could not meet Him, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally
entered the bodies of pure devotees. Thus He empowered
living beings [His pure devotees] by manifesting in
them so much of His own devotion that people in all
other countries became devotees by seeing them.”
And in your purport you explain - as stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta
(Antya 7.11):
kali-kālera dharma—kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana
kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana
Unless one is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, one cannot spread the holy names of the
Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra throughout the world. Persons who do so
are empowered. Therefore they are sometimes called āveśa-avatāras,
or empowered incarnations, for they are endowed with the power of
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Your learned godbrother Śrīpāda B. R. Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī
Mahārāja also accepted that you were a śaktyāveśa-avatāra, and he
opined specifically by whose śakti you were empowered—Śrī
Nityānanda Prabhu’s.
Lord Nityānanda is renowned for delivering Jagāi and Mādhāi.
As described briefly in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 17.17), tabe nistārila
prabhu jagāi-mādhāi: “Then the Lord delivered the two brothers Jagāi
and Mādhāi.” In your purport, you write:
Jagāi and Mādhāi were two brothers born in Navadvīpa
in a respectable brāhmaṇa family who later became
addicted to all kinds of sinful activities. By the order of
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Lord Caitanya, both Nityānanda Prabhu and Haridāsa
Ṭhākura used to preach the cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness
door to door. In the course of such preaching they found
Jagāi and Mādhāi, two maddened drunken brothers, who,
upon seeing them, began to chase them. The next day,
Mādhāi struck Nityānanda Prabhu on the head with a piece
of earthen pot, thus drawing blood. When Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu heard of this, He immediately came to the
spot, ready to punish both brothers, but when the all-
merciful Lord Gaurāṅga saw Jagāi’s repentant behavior,
He immediately embraced him. By seeing the Supreme
Personality of Godhead face to face and embracing Him,
both the sinful brothers were at once cleansed. Thus
they received initiation into the chanting of the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra from the Lord and were delivered.
But as you wrote about yourself in your purport to Caitanya-
caritāmṛta, Madhya 16.65:
If one is true to Gaura-Nitāi’s service in the disciplic
succession, he can even exceed Nityānanda Prabhu’s
service. This is the process of disciplic succession.
Nityānanda Prabhu delivered Jagāi and Mādhāi, but
a servant of Nityānanda Prabhu, by His grace, can
deliver many thousands of Jagāis and Mādhāis. That
is the special benediction of the disciplic succession.
One who is situated in the disciplic succession can
be understood by the result of his activities.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you took up the same mood of approaching
anyone and everyone—pious or sinful, qualified or unqualified—
without discrimination. As Nityānanda Prabhu said, in Kali-yuga
practically everyone will be like Jagāi and Mādhāi. That may be
more apparent in America and Europe than in India—though I did
hear a talk in which you were discussing how demonic Western
civilization is and how the leaders, and pretty much everyone, are
demons, but then added, “Actually, in my country also, 80 percent
are demons.” But still, what you encountered in 1965 when you
came to America was something that people now, especially people
in India, can’t even imagine.
Kṛṣṇa-candra Prabhu (Hrishikesh Mafatlal), from Mumbai, used
to say that people cannot imagine who you approached when you
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came to America. He recommended that everyone see the early
DVDs of you, first at 26 Second Avenue in New York, then at Golden
Gate Park in San Francisco. Most of us can’t believe, can’t imagine,
the type of people you were approaching. And they didn’t always
receive you or treat you well.
I hope all your followers have read Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta;
everyone should read it, as well as see the DVD series Following Śrīla
Prabhupāda. There was one incident when you were living in New
York, in a loft in the Bowery, which was the most degraded part of
the city, its skid row, inhabited mostly by drunks. But even they had
a little respect. They would be sprawled out on the sidewalk and on
the stairs leading up to your apartment, but somehow they sensed
that you were a saintly person and would try to move over and make
room for you to pass.
You were staying with a young man who seemed interested. In
fact, you thought, “I’ll train him as a Vaiṣṇava.” But one day the
young man went crazy, probably from taking LSD—the 1960s’
equivalent of the strong wine Jagāi and Mādhāi were drinking five
hundred years ago. He went crazy and wanted to attack you. And he
was ready to kill you, just as Mādhāi was ready to kill Nityānanda
Prabhu. You bolted out of the room and ran down the stairs like
Lord Nityānanda being chased by Jagāi and Mādhāi.
It is quite a history—what you endured for the sake of delivering
the mercy of Gaura-Nitāi is inconceivable. On the boat to America
you suffered two heart attacks, and even in America you had a lot of
physical problems. But you endured everything—all these attacks
of māyā—for the sake of delivering Gaura-Nitāi’s mercy to us. And
what Nityānanda Prabhu wanted in India you have fulfilled outside
India. What Nityānanda Prabhu wanted was fulfilled in Bengal, but
through you it’s been fulfilled throughout the world. So you really
are the embodiment of the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu. There’s no
one else in the history of our sampradāya, no one after Nityānanda
Prabhu, who has taken up that mood of approaching anyone and
everyone without discrimination, without considering who is
qualified and who is not.
And you delivered the same message: chant Kṛṣṇa’s name,
worship Kṛṣṇa, follow Kṛṣṇa’s instructions—but not in so many
words, because the people you were approaching didn’t even
know who Kṛṣṇa was. When Nityānanda approached people in
Navadvīpa and told them, “Chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, worship Kṛṣṇa,
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follow Kṛṣṇa’s instructions,” they knew who Kṛṣṇa was and they
knew what He was saying. But in America and Europe nobody
knew who Kṛṣṇa was. So “Just chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, worship Kṛṣṇa”
had to be explained in detail in books, and thus you wrote so many
books to explain who is Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa’s name, what are
Kṛṣṇa’s instructions, how to chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, how to worship
Kṛṣṇa, why we should surrender to Kṛṣṇa and follow Kṛṣṇa’s
instructions—the same message that Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked
Nityānanda Prabhu to deliver to everyone, but in an expanded form,
because the people you were approaching had no idea of Kṛṣṇa’s
identity or instructions.
When we go out with your books, it is like when Mahāprabhu
sent Nityānanda and Haridāsa to approach people with that
message. Sometimes devotees are not well received, but even
Nityānanda and Haridāsa were not always well received. Caitanya
Mahāprabhu would have nocturnal kīrtanas in Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura’s
house, and if anyone was proud they were not allowed to enter.
Only humble, pure devotees were allowed. So all these proud people
in Navadvīpa were upset and angry that they weren’t allowed to
join the kīrtana, and when Nityānanda and Haridāsa came to their
homes, they were angry with them—“Oh, you’ve come from that
Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura”—and the people
spread so many rumors about them: “They are thieves. They come
to your door and say to chant Kṛṣṇa’s name and worship Kṛṣṇa, but
really what they’re doing is looking in your house to see what you
have so that they can come back at night and steal it.” The people
spread a lot of false propaganda. So we have to accept that, expect
it and accept it, without being deterred. It didn’t stop Nityānanda
Prabhu, and it didn’t stop you, and it shouldn’t stop any of us.
So, your movement is the continuation of Nityānanda Prabhu’s
mission, and you really had that mood. When one of your early
disciples came to India and the Calcutta temple president phoned
you in Bombay to tell you that the devotee was smoking gañjā,
marijuana, and asked what to do, you told your secretary, Tamāl
Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī, to relay your response: “Tell him that if he doesn’t
stop smoking gañjā I will reject him.” Afterwards, Tamāl Kṛṣṇa
Gosvāmī asked you, “Is it true that if he doesn’t stop smoking gañjā
you will reject him?” And you said, “No—I cannot reject anyone.”
Tamāl Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī asked, “But don’t you have to draw the line
somewhere?” And you replied, “The mercy of Lord Nityānanda
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has no limit.” So, that was your mood; you were in the mood of
Nityānanda Prabhu.
We are the recipients of Gaura-Nitāi’s mercy through you. By
your mercy, we are chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name and worshiping Kṛṣṇa,
accepting Kṛṣṇa as the goal of our lives. And it is also by your mercy
and order that we preach the same message to others. We can speak
to our capacity, and we can give people your books, which convey the
same message of Mahāprabhu. We just elaborate on it and present
it in a way that people without any background in Vedic knowledge
can understand.
So, on this most sacred and blessed occasion, we can pray to you
and Nityānanda Prabhu to inspire and empower us with this mood
of humble persuasion. When Nitāi approached people, after giving
them instruction He would say, “If you accept this instruction, I will
consider you more dear to Me than My own life.” And if someone
did not accept the sacred instruction, He would prostrate Himself at
their feet and beg them to take it. He is Lord Balarāma, the first of all
of Kṛṣṇa’s expansions; He is the origin of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, who is
in turn the origin of Mahā-Viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, by whose
breathing countless universes are generated from the pores of His
body. And then a portion of that Mahā-Viṣṇu is Garbhodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu, and He enters into every universe and gives birth to Brahmā
and engineers the creation of every universe. And Kṣīrodakaṣāyī
Viṣṇu is the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. Nityānanda is that
original Supreme Person, and He is rolling in the dust at people’s
feet and begging them, “Just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”
I saw that mood in you. You often tutored us in it, but I saw it
personally. When we first went to Bombay, there was a program on
the terrace of the house where we were staying—Seksaria Bhavan,
on Marine Drive. It was very nice, very glamorous, near the sea,
and our host, Kailash Seksaria, had invited all the elite, affluent,
aristocratic people he knew in Bombay. And you, with the same
humility as Nityānanda Prabhu, implored them, “I am taking the
straw in my mouth and begging you, please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa”—
just like Nityānanda Prabhu.
You often quoted a verse by Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī about how
we should approach people the way Nityānanda Prabhu approached
people. The verse is, dante nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor nipatya: “I take a
straw in my mouth . . .” (it is a sign of utter humility) “and I bow at
your feet.” Kṛtvā ca kāku-śatam etad ahaṁ bravīmi: “And I flatter you
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a hundred times.” He sādhavaḥ: “O great learned sādhu.” Sakalam eva
vihāya dūrād: “Whatever you have learned, you keep it far away from
you.” And gaurāṅga-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam: “Just accept the
mercy of Lord Gaurāṅga, just surrender to Lord Gaurāṅga, become
attached to Lord Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet.” And you did it yourself.
In that humble mood, Nityānanda was begging for people to
take the holy name—falling at their feet, rolling in the dust, and
begging them. And that, in essence, is what you did with us. None
of us would be here today if you hadn’t done what you did.
In Bombay, an Indian gentleman came to you, pleading, “Please
save me; please save me. Only you can save me. Please save me.”
And you replied, “I cannot save you; you have to save yourself. But I
can give you the process by which you can save yourself.”
So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have given us the process by which
we can, with your mercy, save ourselves, and on this auspicious
occasion we resolve to follow the process in greater earnestness.
In one brief statement you encapsulated our entire procedure:
“To approach Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, you need the mercy of Lord
Caitanya. To get the mercy of Lord Caitanya, you need the mercy
of Lord Nityānanda. And to get the mercy of Lord Nityānanda,
you have to approach people like Jagāi and Mādhāi.” So, if we ever
feel, “Oh, I’m too high, I’m too holy, I can’t approach these people,”
we should think of that instruction and your own example and
Nityānanda Prabhu’s example and really pray, beg, to be humble
instruments of your love and mercy and compassion. And as your
Guru Mahārāja told you, that will be good for us and good for the
people who hear us.
In a talk in Bombay you said:
Our Krishna Consciousness movement is trying to make
fools and rascals and sinful men wise. And actually it is
happening. Pāpī tāpī yata chila, hari-nāme uddhārila, tāra
sākṣī jagāi-mādhāi. You want evidence? Look at Jagāi and
Mādhāi. Caitanya Mahāprabhu delivered two sinful
brothers named Jagāi and Mādhāi. Now you can see
how strong is Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement. Many
thousands of Jagāis and Mādhāis are being delivered.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement is greater than Caitanya
Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally delivered
Jagāi and Mādhāi, but now, by His movement, thousands
of Jagāis and Mādhāis are being delivered. This is the
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practical evidence. If you take advantage of it, you will be
glorified, and we shall be glorified. This is our process.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, despite your merciful association and instructions,
I am still possessed of some qualities of Jagāi and Mādhāi. So, on this
auspicious occasion, please purify me and reform me.
śrī-guru karuṇā-sindhu, adhama janāra bandhu,
lokanāth lokera jīvana
hā hā prabhu koro doyā, deho more pada-chāyā,
ebe jaśa ghuṣuk tribhuvana
“O spiritual master, O ocean of mercy and friend of the fallen! O
universal teacher and life of all people! Alas, alas, O master, please
be merciful unto us and give us the shade of your lotus feet. May
your glories now be proclaimed throughout the three worlds.”
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your aspiring, eternal, hopeful servant,

Girirāj Swami
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Hridayānanda Dāsa Goswami

As I reached the age at which you came to America on the Jaladuta
and founded your great mission, ISKCON, I found I could understand
and appreciate more than ever your bold, straightforward, and
skillful presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Sociologists confirm that a movement must grow its core of
committed followers in order to achieve sustainable, meaningful
growth. You expressed this very idea in your unforgettable
metaphor—you were looking not for many stars but for a moon
that could actually illumine the darkness of Kali-yuga. You were
of course paraphrasing a metaphor that Lord Caitanya gave in the
first verse of His Śikṣāṣṭakam: śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇam—the
saṅkīrtana movement spreads (vitaraṇam) the moon rays (candrikā)
that cause the night-blooming white lotus (kairava) of good fortune
(śreyaḥ) to blossom.
You personify and instantiate the Caitanya-candra, the moon of
Caitanya, and you came to the West looking for descendent moons
to continue and fortify Mahāprabhu’s line. You preached boldly
and openly, and with great skill, knowing that only the truth would
convince the most sincere souls. You disclaimed any intention of
loading up your movement with what sociologists sometimes call
“free riders,” i.e., those who hover around the movement but never
seriously serve it or commit to it.
If ISKCON is to grow significantly, we must attract moons,
committed members who publicly declare and practically
demonstrate their deep devotion to your mission. Your followers who
ardently wish to assist you in this task must utilize upāya-kauśalya,
often translated in Buddhism as “skill in means.” We must preserve
entirely the purity and integrity of your message and mission, and
yet present them in a skillful way that attracts the world in which we
live. I pray you will bless us to accomplish this urgent task.
Your servant,
Hridayānanda Dāsa Goswami
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Dānavīr Goswami


Jaya Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya Aṣṭottara-śata (108)

Śrī Śrīmad A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda-kī jaya!
One hundred eight glories to the topmost wandering mendicant and
swanlike devotee of the Lord, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupāda.
On this most auspicious day, we celebrate the one hundred
and twenty-fourth birth anniversary of His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the great spiritual master of the
universe. At this time when the world is engulfed in the coronavirus
pandemic, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s advice is pertinent and welcome:
Material advancement of civilization means advancement
of the reactions of the threefold miseries due to celestial
influence, earthly reactions, and bodily or mental pains.
By the celestial influence of the stars there are many
calamities like excessive heat, cold, rains or no rains, and
the aftereffects are famine, disease, and epidemic. The
aggregate result is agony of the body and the mind. Man-
made material science cannot do anything to counteract
these threefold miseries. They are all punishments from
the superior energy of māyā [the illusory energy] under
the direction of the Supreme Lord. Therefore our constant
touch with the Lord by devotional service can give us
relief without our being disturbed in the discharge of
our human duties. The asuras [nondevotees] however,
who do not believe in the existence of God, make their
own plans to counteract all these threefold miseries, and
so they meet with failures every time. The Bhagavad-gītā
(7.14) clearly states that the reaction of material energy
is never to be conquered, because of the binding effects
of the three modes. They can simply be overcome by
one who surrenders fully in devotion under the lotus
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feet of the Lord. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.14.10, purport]
By practicing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s happy process of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, one lives in harmony with nature and simultaneously
becomes reinstated in one’s original spiritual identity. Śrīla
Prabhupāda foresaw the effects of godlessness and prescribed the
remedy.
The conclusion is that even though saintly persons
have no business in political affairs, they are always
compassionate upon the people in general. Thus
even though they are always aloof from society, out
of mercy and compassion they consider how the
citizens can peacefully execute their rituals and follow
the rules and regulations of varṇāśrama-dharma.
In this Age of Kali, everything is disturbed. Therefore

saintly persons should take to the chanting of the
Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, as recommended in the śāstras:
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
Both for spiritual and material prosperity,

everyone should devotedly chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.14.37, purport]
As in previous ages the Supreme Lord was invoked by meditation,
sacrifices, and temple worship, so in Kali-yuga Kṛṣṇa manifests
Himself personally through the chanting of His holy names. Assisted
by His devotees, Śrī Kṛṣṇa will rectify the global anomalies just as
the sun dissipates fog.
Therefore let us joyously praise Śrīla Prabhupāda on this day
and beg to be engaged in his service.
An unqualified servant,
Dānavīr Goswami
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Kavicandra Swami
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale

svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master
opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful
obeisances unto him. When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda,
who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill
the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?

Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda
When I first joined your ISKCON, we were told not to write to
you since you needed to translate. I guess that has stuck with me,
since when the time comes to write a Vyāsa-pūjā offering, I have
trouble writing.
You have so many erudite followers all over the world who glorify
you so nicely. My attempts are like a donkey’s braying in comparison.
You have given so many invaluable gifts that we have no way to
know all of them. The most prominent one is the mahā-mantra:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
By your determination and love for Kṛṣṇa, the mahā-mantra is
now being chanted all over the world, following Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu’s prediction.
nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ
“My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name
there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have
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many names, such as ‘Kṛṣṇa’ and ‘Govinda,’ by which You expand
Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and
there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear
Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned
souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate
that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I
do not achieve attachment for chanting.” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya
20.17)
By your causeless mercy I am still chanting regularly, although
my realizations are limited. I am realizing this one line more and
more. “I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the
holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attachment for chanting.”
This is confirmed by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura:
kabe ha’be bolo se-dina āmār
(āmār) aparādha ghuci’, śuddha nāme ruci,
kṛpā-bale ha’be hṛdoye sañcār
“Please tell me, When will that day be mine—when my offenses will
end and the power of divine grace will infuse my heart with a taste
for the pure holy name?”
One proof of your divine qualities is that you are tolerating me.
Another great gift of yours is sādhu-saṅga. You created an
international society of Vaiṣṇavas and sent them out to give
association to anyone and everyone. Again, you bring the Caitanya-
caritāmṛta to life:
‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s
association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.” (Caitanya-
caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.54)
Unfortunate as I am, I have not taken advantage of this mercy.
I feel like Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura wrote the following verses
from his song Gorā Pahuṅ just for me:
(3) Avoiding the association of saintly persons, I
sported merrily in the company of materialistic
rascals. For that reason I have become strung up
in the noose of my own fruitive activities.
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(4) I perpetually drank the horrible poison of mundane
sense gratification, having never absorbed myself in the
divine mellows of the kīrtana glorifying Lord Gaura.
(5) Oh, why has my heart not experienced any satisfaction?

And why has Narottama dāsa not simply perished?
Next on the list of your most important gifts is your books, which
are spreading and revealing the holy names throughout the world.
kṛṣṇe sva-dhāmopagate dharma-jñānādibhiḥ saha
kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām eṣa purāṇārko ‘dhunoditaḥ
“This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just
after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied
by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due
to the dense darkness of ignorance in the Age of Kali shall get light
from this Purāṇa.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.43)
And your most important gift: your example. You exemplified
the twenty-six qualities of a devotee and freely associated with us,
leaving an unlimited legacy.
yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute lokas tad anuvartate
“Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow.
And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world
pursues.” (Bhagavad-gītā 3.21)
yad yad ācarati śreyān itaras tat tad īhate
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute lokas tad anuvartate
“The mass of people follow the example of a leader in society and
imitate his behavior. They accept as evidence whatever the leader
accepts.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.2.4)
Just after arriving in the USA you wrote a poem called Mārkine
Bhāgavata-dharma, which includes the following verse, in which you
address Lord Kṛṣṇa:
taba icchā hoy jadi tādera uddhār
bujhibe niścai tabe kathā se tomār
“I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their
deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.”
Once one of my godbrothers, after watching me distribute
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books, said, “You are proof of Lord Caitanya’s mercy. You have no
material qualification, yet you can distribute books.” So I think that
is why you have picked me up and kept me around, just to show
me your causeless mercy and tolerance. So please let me stay in the
association of your devotees and somehow learn to serve them.
At my initiation you gave me a hint that I needed causeless mercy.
You said, “Kavicandra was a great devotee of Lord Nityānanda.” If
I ever hope to get causeless mercy, I have to distribute the mercy of
Lord Nityānanda in the form of your books. Others are doing so
much more. I am not even like the squirrel trying to help the monkeys.
Your servant,
Kavicandra Swami
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Swami B. V. Bhagavat
My Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
In 1974 you conducted a series of discussions on varṇāśrama in
Vṛndāvana during your morning walks. We as your disciples were
having a lot of discussions at that time about developing varṇāśrama-
dharma. Śrīla Prabhupāda, to develop your projects in India including
varṇāśrama in Māyāpur you made all the devotees from all over the
world who were attending the Festival remain in India for some
time. I was sent to Bombay to preach, to make life members and
obtain donations. You Śrīla Prabhupāda, were in Bombay at that
time. Since having your personal association is rare I would make a
point to spend time with you in your room in the mornings and the
evenings and also at night when you sat on the roof to receive the
cool breezes from the ocean.
On one such occasion Śrīla Prabhupāda, you spent a long time
discussing varṇāśrama-dharma with me. Explaining how Gandhi
had the vision to bring self-sufficiency to India but that Nehru and
Patel betrayed him and built factories in the cities. The next year in
1975 you made me the president of Calcutta Temple for nearly one
year. During those days, I was collecting money in Calcutta to help
maintain Māyāpur since it was not yet self-sufficient. I would go
every weekend from Calcutta to stay in Māyāpur with Jayapatāka
Swami and Trivikrama Mahārāja to be with the devotees and discuss
plans for developing Māyāpur and in general, also I had some fun.
We would sometimes have wrestling matches and swim in the
Pukur. During this time I had many discussions about developing
varṇāśrama-dharma with the leaders in Māyāpur especially since just
the year prior, you gave those talks in Vṛndāvana. Māyāpur was
farming at the time, growing grain. I remember Jayapatāka Swami
showing me the harvest once. They also were developing a gośālā,
breeding cows, producing milk, and making milk products. There
was also khadi being made, devotee cloth weavers would spin cotton
and weave dhotīs and sārīs.
One thing that stuck with me from our discussions Śrīla
Prabhupāda, was when you explained how after the liberation of
India from Colonial Rule, Gandhi wanted that all the leaders should
go into the villages and establish self-sufficiency. Gandhi wanted
that the leaders should make India self-sufficient village-by-village
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by establishing self-sufficiency in growing food, weaving cloth,
building homes from forest wood and stones, making furniture from
wood, creating crafts for sale and barter, growing herbs for medicine,
establishing schools for education, and places of worship for spiritual
guidance. These were the pillars of self-sufficient development
Gandhi wanted to establish in every village before having India
embark on building factories in the cities. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you
told me that night how Gandhi tried to save India by making it
self-sufficient but that Nehru and Patel betrayed Gandhi by making
a deal with Mountbatten to obtain India’s freedom by building
factories and selling cheap goods to England. In return, the parts
for the factories in India would be built in England and shipped
to India thus ensuring England’s economic growth while securing
their ability to obtain cheap goods. The result of doing this was what
Gandhi predicted slums full of factory workers in the cities who
left their farms to make slave wages in the factories and idle land
in the villages where the farming stopped. I remember that there
were famines in India in the early ’70s because there was not enough
farming going on to feed people.
I believe we have made the same fatal mistake in your mission.
We failed to listen to you when you requested us repeatedly to create
Varṇāśrama Dharma to protect us in the future disaster that you said
was sure to come to society worldwide. Now, this disaster is upon
us and there is no place for us to go. We are dependent on grocery
stores and shops to obtain our daily sustenance instead of getting
these things directly from the land and the cows. No one listens.
India did not listen to Gandhi, and we did not listen to you, Śrīla
Prabhupāda. Yet we wonder why we are in the mess we are in now
with this disaster upon us and no proper shelter for our devotees.
How many times I have told this story Śrīla Prabhupāda that you
told me only to hear everyone say later, we will do it later, first, this
or that must be done and then later we will do varṇāśrama. Well, now
is later and we stand before you today Śrīla Prabhupāda, once more
begging for your mercy that we may somehow at this very late date
manifest your desire to create varṇāśrama-dhama self-sufficiency to
protect the devotees and for a place of refuge for sincere spiritual
seekers who are suffering.

Swami B. V. Bhagavat
38 Tributes
Swami B. A. Āśrama
namaḥ oṁ viṣṇupādāya kṛṣṇa-presthāya bhūtale

svāmī śrī bhaktivedānta prabhupādāya te namaḥ
gurvjñaṁ śirasī-dhṛtvā śaktyāveśa sva-rūpine

hare-kṛṣṇeti mantrena pāścatya-prācya-tāriṇe
viśvācārya prabaryāya divya kāruṇya mūrtaye

śrī-bhāgavata-mādhurya-gītā-jñāna pradāyine
gaura-śrī-rūpa-siddhānta-sarasvatī-niṣevine
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-padāmbhoja-bhṛṅgāya gurave namaḥ
I offer my humble obeisances to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupāda, who is Kṛṣṇa’s beloved associate and who came
down to this plane from Goloka. Taking the order of his guru on his
head, he is the śaktyāveśa [empowered] avatar of Nityānanda Prabhu
personified. He distributed the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra all over the
Eastern and Western world, delivering and uplifting all fallen souls.
He is the best of millions of jagad-gurus, because he is the
personification of divine mercy. He has distributed the sweet
nectar of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the transcendental knowledge
of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world. He is constantly engaged in
exclusive devotional service to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Prabhupāda, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu.
I offer my humble obeisances unto Śrīla Prabhupāda, who is like
a bumble-bee always tasting the nectar of the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī
Rādhā and Govinda.
(These praṇāma mantras were composed by Śrī Bhakti Sundara
Govinda Mahārāja, following a request by Śrīla Prabhupāda.)
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, yet another year has passed, which
presents us with another opportunity to reflect on the causeless
mercy that brought each of us under your shelter. Such good fortune
can only be providential, an arrangement by the Supreme Lord
himself. Acknowledging this puts us in company such as the sages
of Naimiṣāranya, who acknowledged their good fortune at coming
into Sūta Gosvāmī’s company at the cusp of Kali-yuga:
tvaṁ naḥ sandarśito dhātrā
dustaraṁ nistitīrṣatām
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kaliṁ sattva-haraṁ puṁsāṁ
karṇa-dhāra ivārṇavam
“We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence,
just so that we may accept you as captain of the ship for those who
desire to cross the difficult ocean of Kali, which deteriorates all the
good qualities of a human being.” (SB 1.1.22)
We find the providential nature of such good fortune corroborated
in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s instructions to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī:
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering
throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated
to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the
lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living
entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate
with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy
of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the
seed of the creeper of devotional service.” (Cc. Madhya 19.151)
And we hear from Viśvanātha Cakravarti Ṭhākura that, although
bhakti is completely independent and can go wherever she wants,
she follows the lead of devotees who share their own good fortune
with others by teaching this science to others, entering the hearts of
those to whom those devotees show compassion. So we have some
sense of the rarity of our good fortune, which moves us to cultivate
that seed of devotion and, following your example, share it with
others as far as we are able.
In the spring of 1969, Bhakti Devi inserted herself into my
life when I met your students in Honolulu, which changed my
life’s course drastically and irrevocably. Studying your books and
practicing the process of sādhana bhakti convinced me to surrender
to you, and I eventually asked you to accept me as your student
and engage me in helping you spread Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s
teachings for the rest of my life. You responded that you were glad
to do so. Many years ago I began an attempt at writing some sonnets
that reflect that shift in my life that lifted me from the ocean of
attachment and lamentation. Perhaps because I wasn’t very satisfied
with them, I didn’t carry the project out as far as I would have liked.
Still, I’ll share two of them today, confident that you will, as you
always have, accept whatever sincerity you may find in them:
40 Tributes
I’ve turned my back on Kṛṣṇa, from Him run
As fast and far as I could ever go.
I’ve been stuck tight in Kali, my head spun
By a drastic case of karmic vertigo.
Who knows how long I’ve wallowed in this pit?
Who cares how many different ways I’ve tried
To find some pleasure? Though the signs said, “Quit!”
I closed my eyes and courted suicide.
Then you, my master, turned me to the light
With Hari-kīrtan, Gītā, and prasad.
And now, although I’m clearly neophyte,
I try to serve the confidant of God.
A child of Kali, saved by Divine Grace,

Chants Hare Kṛṣṇa in the Marketplace.
I wasn’t very steady, but I tried

To accept what Kṛṣṇa wanted—leave the rest.
Not convinced yet, not completely purified,
I must have really put your mercy to the test.
But as I chanted and I read your divine words,
I found real life, a spiritual revolution.
New desires from deep in my heart stirred;
I longed to taste and share the nectar of devotion.
A disciple’s life I wanted, nothing more;
Your mission became everything to me.
And so today I write you to implore
That this may be my life eternally.
Now your child, blessed by Your Divine Grace,

Works to spread your teachings in this fallen place.
It’s clear to many, I think, that my own ability to share Kṛṣṇa

consciousness is quite modest. And my attempts at sharing
have lately been complicated by a sudden shift in the world’s
circumstances. Still, here I am, having persisted through 40 years
of family and professional life in my practice and my poor attempts
at teaching what I’ve understood. And now I’m an old man with
nothing left but my spiritual practice and divine service. I’m
grateful to you for the last 51 years, and I hope to try expressing that
Tributes 41
gratitude by continuing to study, to practice, and to teach. You have
on a number of occasions expressed confidence in me. I pray that
I may be able to continue trying to live up to that confidence and
one day contribute something useful to the divine mission you have
brought on Mahāprabhu’s behalf.
Your aspiring servant,

Swami B. A. Āśrama
42 Tributes
Mahāvishnu Swami


“I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord
Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Our
respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of
Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord
Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled
with impersonalism and voidism.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, if we take your praṇāma-mantra at face value, you
are presently “kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva.”
By Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement, therefore, your transcendental activities
seem to span past, present, and future.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura confirms this advāya-jñāna-
tattva understanding of your pastimes in his poem glorifying
Haridāsa Ṭhākura:
He reasons ill who says that Vaiṣṇavas die
When thou art living still in sound!
The Vaiṣṇavas die to live, and living try
To spread the holy name around!
In support of a straightforward literal acceptance of the truth of
this verse, you also told us in your lecture on Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s Appearance Day, March 2, 1975, in Atlanta:
It is not that he is dead and gone. That is not spiritual
understanding. Even ordinary living being, he does not die
(na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre). And what to speak of such
exalted authorized personality like Bhaktisiddhānta. He is
seeing. I never feel that I am alone. Of course, when I came
to your country without any friend, without any means . . .
Practically, just like a vagabond I came. But I had full faith
that “My Guru Mahārāja is with me.” I never lost this faith.
And that is fact. There are two words, vāṇī and vapuḥ. Vāṇī
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means words, and vapuḥ means this physical body. So vāṇī
is more important than the vapuḥ. Vapuḥ will be finished.
This is material body. It will be finished. That is the
nature. But if we keep to the vāṇī, to the words of spiritual
master, then we remain very fixed up. It doesn’t matter.
Is it possible we can also have such full faith in your “exalted
authorized personality” and “never feel that I am alone”? Is it
possible we can accept your divine words to be you yourself in
person? Is it possible we can faithfully follow in your footsteps as
our ISKCON founder-ācārya and ISKCON head? By your mercy, it
must be possible.
Otherwise why did you repeatedly warn us to strictly follow
Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s words in the second stanza of his “Śrī-
guru-vandanā:” Ār nā koriho mane āśā?
Do not try to research anything. That
is final—Ār nā koriho mane āśā.
Take this very seriously. Ār nā koriho mane āśā: “No more.

Stop any other desires.” Then your life is successful.
No more desires, Ār nā koriho mane āśā. This

is devotee. Except service of Kṛṣṇa, there
is no other thing. That is devotee.
Ār nā koriho mane āśā. So guru, your guru, has said that

“You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, observe these rules.” Do that,
don’t speculate, and you will understand everything.
Ār nā koriho mane āśā. You rascal, you do not

desire anything else. Are you not singing daily?
But do you understand the meaning?
Ār nā koriho mane āśā. Don’t go anywhere else. Take this

faithfully, the orders of guru. You are singing daily.
Ār nā koriho mane āśā. This is faith, strong faith.
Ār nā koriho mane āśā. And if you plan something,

[chuckles] “I am very expert in planning; I shall do this, I
shall do that, not serve Kṛṣṇa,” then you remain impure.
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Ār nā koriho mane āśā. Simply whatever you hear
from the guru, try to execute it. Ār nā koriho
mane āśā. Do not expect anything more.
Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya / Ār nā koriho

mane āśā. Do not try to foolishly search anything and
waste your time. Hear from a bona fide spiritual master,
and that is final knowledge. That is final knowledge.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, on this auspicious day of your 124th Vyāsa-
pūjā, please bless me that I will now set out to strictly follow you (Ār
nā koriho mane āśā) and teach others so that your ISKCON mission
will conquer all directions, and “a flood of transcendental ecstasy
will certainly cover the land. When all the sinful, miserable living
entities become happy, the Vaiṣṇava’s desire is then fulfilled.” (Prayer
Unto the Lotus Feet of Kṛṣṇa, written on the Jaladuta)
Your humble servant,

Mahāvishnu Swami
Tributes 45
Smita Kṛṣṇa Swami

I offer my humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.

Is this offering too late? It might not get published, but even if it isn’t
there would be no loss, as on this path there is no loss or diminution.
And you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, know me, and I write this for you to
read. And as I am writing, you already know. At the same time, I like
to see it heard or read in your presence—maybe that is the essence.
I am writing at your Almviks Gard project in Sweden. It is a
beautiful place—a farm in the countryside with forests and lakes
surrounding it. And fields for the cows to graze in. There are houses
and families. We call it a village.
The other day I took a long walk in the forests to reconnect with
some old trails. Most of those trails are marked, but I looked for
one specific trail that was not much used and kind of difficult to
find the beginning of, and that was kind of overgrown. Long, long
ago there cows walked there, freely traversing the forest and then
coming back to their respective small farms in the evening. So what
I looked for was one of those old cow trails of the previous centuries.
I found the start of the old trail I was looking for where I expected,
but to my surprise the trail was now clearly marked with yellow
dots on the trees. Someone had marked the trail since the last time
I was there. A pleasant surprise. With the help of the marked trees
I could now quickly and safely return home to Almviks Gard and
our temple there.
It made me think how you opened up the path back home, back
to Godhead. You came and marked out the proper way back to the
spiritual world—a path forgotten, neglected, unknown to modern
mankind. You knew it and you marked it for us to easily find and
traverse back to home, back to Godhead.
And now another day. I am sitting in my room and looking out
the window, and I can see how a new set of oxen are being trained to
walk together and work together. It’s as much a learning experience
46 Tributes
for the trainer as for the trained. With time, progress has been made,
but more is to come.
The challenge is to depend on the oxen, our fathers, who
peacefully and patiently wait for us to get our act together—an act
that includes the oxen who walk on their four legs, representing
honesty, austerity, mercy, and cleanliness. May their four legs and
what they stand for be our shelter.
In the temple something happened during the winter: we came
to end of the Twelfth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as we have been
reading it from beginning to end. And now we have started the
Bhāgavatam anew, from the beginning. Sooner or later we will come
to the passage where Parīkṣit confronts the personality of Kali, and
there we will again meet the bull of dharma.
And then one day . . . Kṛṣṇa will blow His bugle . . . and call us
home . . . to meet you and Kṛṣṇa there.
Please keep us in a corner of your heart.
Your disciple and attempting servant,

Smita Kṛṣṇa Swami
Tributes 47
Subhāg Swami


In your poem called Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (“Krishna
Consciousness in the West”), which you wrote while on the Jaladuta
after it docked in Boston on September 17, 1965, you beautifully
expressed the mood of surrender to the will of Lord Kṛṣṇa. As stated
by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, “Mind, body, family, and whatever
else is mine I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of
Nanda!” In your poem you expressed how a devotee should feel just
like an instrument depending on the Lord’s mercy. I cannot elaborate
more, so I would like to include the translation of the poem.
“My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are so kind upon this useless soul,
but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now you can do
whatever You like with me.
“But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would
You bring me to this terrible place?
“Most of the population here is covered by the material modes
of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think
themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no
taste for the transcendental message of Vāsudeva. I do not know
how they will be able to understand it.
“But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible
because You are the most expert mystic.
“How will they undersand the mellows of devotional service?
O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to
convince them about Your message.
“All living entities have come under the control of the illusory
energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can
also be released from the clutches of illusion.
“I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their
deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.
48 Tributes
“The words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are Your incarnation, and if a
sober person repeatedly receives it with submissive aural reception,
then he will be able to understand Your message.
“It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17-21):
Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the
Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the
benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for
material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has
developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in
themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.
By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam
and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all
that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely
destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of
Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is
established as an irrevocable fact. As soon as irrevocable
loving service is established in the heart, the effects of
nature’s modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust,
desire, and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then
the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes
completely happy. Thus established in the mode of
unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been
enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord
gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality
of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material
association. Thus the knot in the heart is pierced, and all
misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions
is terminated when one sees one’s self and one’s master.
He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of
ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated
in the core of the heart will disappear.
“How will I make them understand this message of Krishna
Consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and the most
fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince
them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.
“Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak
about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or
failure as You like.
“O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your
Tributes 49
message, so if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable
for their understanding.
“Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am
sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts
they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from
all unhappy conditions of life.
“O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have
brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O
Lord, make me dance as You like.
“I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have
strong faith in the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I have been designated as
Bhaktivedānta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport
of Bhaktivedānta.
Signed—the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,
on board the ship Jaladuta, Commonwealth Pier,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
dated 18th of September, 1965”
In recent years, by your mercy, we have been pushing forward college

preaching, which you were so fond of, with some of our brahmacārīs.
They are regularly preaching in universities across India, and the
results are promising and encouraging. There is also regular college
preaching across Indonesia, and although it is a predominately
Muslim country, the results are hopeful. In a letter to Rudra Dāsa
dated 9 March 1970, you stated how important preaching to the
younger generation is:
I have heard that there is very good potential for spreading
Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in Toronto, especially
among the large younger population. So I think this
will be a good field for you to work enthusiastically.
In a letter written to Bahudak dāsa in January 1976, you
expressed similar delight: “I was very glad to learn how our
devotees are coming out victorious in the preaching to the university
professors and students.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were asked many a time what would
please you. You often mentioned that you would be pleased if
someone could become Kṛṣṇa conscious. At other times you replied
that if someone preached the message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
50 Tributes
it would definitely please you. I am trying to do this as far as my
capacity allows, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Since you specifically instructed
me to preach in Bangladesh, I go there regularly to spread this
movement across the country. For the last fifteen years I have
been regularly visiting Indonesia, another Muslim country. To our
astonishment, devotees hold twenty-five Ratha-yātrās across the
islands of Indonesia every year! At certain places, like Batam, we
have been amazed to see that even the government supports the
Ratha-yātrā. To attract tourism in Batam, they advertised the Ratha-
yātrā with a big picture of Lord Jagannātha and also lent financial
help. In Cligeon they included the beautiful face of Jagannātha in
the annual carnival parade logo. Even the remotest places, such as
Gorontalo, with a 98% Islamic population, are getting the mercy of
the Lord. Recently there were a few preaching programs conducted
there, and the response was wonderful. Many Muslim students took
your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and honored kṛṣṇa-prasādam. A similar
response was shown in Bandung, another city in Indonesia, where
many young boys and girls of the Islamic faith took your books
and showed keen interest in Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy. It is
very encouraging to see people of other faiths taking your books
and inquiring about the path of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. We
heard that you were very much pleased with devotees preaching in
difficult areas, and we are trying to do our best to please you.
Please give us strength, courage, and conviction. Let your words
inspire us and keep us always on the path of preaching.
Your fallen, insignificant,

Subhāg Swami
Tributes 51
Bhakti Vigna Vinasha Narasimha Swami
I offer my most respectful obeisances to the lotus feet of my spiritual

master His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
My gratitude to you for kindly accepting this fallen person
as a disciple and giving me the opportunity to take up Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. It is said that everyone has a mother and father but
only a fortunate soul has a spiritual master, and by the grace of the
spiritual master he can come to Kṛṣṇa. I do not know how I became
fortunate, it can only be due to your causeless mercy
This past year we have seen unprecedented changes in the
world. First we had rioting take place on an almost daily basis for
a few months in the usually conservative and peaceful Hong Kong.
You had visited Hong Kong in the 1970s so you are very acquainted
with the atmosphere there. You initiated your first and only Chinese
disciple there, and you saw him as a gentleman. However the return
of Hong Kong to China rule has given rise to serious tension and
conflict. The usually hard working and respectable Chinese of
Hong Kong, particularly the student and youth population turned
aggressive and voiced strong disapproval of being part of China.
Several thousand have been arrested and imprisoned or fined but
there is no sign of any solution to the problem. I am reminded of
the words of Mother Bhūmi in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 12, in The
Bhūmi-Gītā, where she laughed at the foolish kings killing each other
in their attempts to conquer and rule the planet but who were unable
to see their own inevitable death.
It was expected that with the coming of the winter and the festive
season we could all relax but it was not to be. A deadly virus infected
many and took the lives of several. It seemed to originate in a city in
China but within a month spread around the globe. It is pandemic.
Something we had not seen in our lives. Airlines have been forced
to stop their service, cities around the world have closed down
and everywhere people are advised to stay indoors and keep away
from any public gathering. Just while writing this homage India’s
Prime Minister Modi has ordered a nationwide 21-day shutdown.
Everyone has been told to stay at home and not to come out unless
there is absolute necessity. I am truly fortunate to be in Māyāpur at
this time. Here, I have the best spiritual atmosphere and the best
association from such stalwart disciples of Your Divine Grace as
Jayapatāka Swami the twin brothers Jananivāsa and Paṅkajāṅghri
52 Tributes
Prabhus, and many others all highly dedicated to your mission.
At this time, more than ever, I feel very fortunate to be in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. I am happy to have time to focus on hearing and
chanting. I have many books to study and services to be performed
for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. However I do feel some concern for all
those persons who have no knowledge of devotional service. As
stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.43 by Prahlada Mahārāja:
naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṇyās
tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ
śoce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyārtha-
māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān
“O best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material
existence, for wherever I stay I am fully absorbed in thoughts of Your
glories and activities. My concern is only for the fools and rascals who
are making elaborate plans for material happiness and maintaining
their families, societies and countries. I am simply concerned with
love for them.”
You Divine Grace would often tell us that this modern
civilisation could never last. Now, suddenly we are seeing how it
is all falling apart, suddenly, without warning. We heard you tell
us not to put faith in this materialistic lifestyle and now we can see
clearly why you implored us to take up seriously this mission of
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
“Unless, therefore, one is saved from the wrong conception
of the body and the soul, there is no knowledge of Godhead, and
unless there is knowledge of God, all advancement of material
civilization, however dazzling, should be considered a failure.”
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.7.42, purport)
We can only hope that the vast numbers of your transcendental
literature which we have been distributing over the last fifty years
can find the hands of worthy persons who may now be ready to hear
and accept the conclusions of Vedic scriptures.
We also pray that we can guide them and assist them in their
pursuit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Please engage me in your service. Please give me the strength to
serve you, please accept me.
Your unworthy disciple,

Tridandi Bikshu Bhakti Vigna Vinasha Narasimha
Tributes 53
Bhaktivaibhava Swami
I offer my humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
If we study the activities of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupāda, we can see that he directly served the
desires of his Guru Mahārāja beyond anyone’s expectation. Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was factually preparing himself
to go to the West to spread Krishna Consciousness. He gave the
instruction to Śrīla Prabhupāda to spread Krishna Consciousness in
the English-speaking countries. Śrīla Prabhupāda spread Krishna
Consciousness all over the world.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, expressing his last wish,
gave the instruction to form a Governing Body of ten to twelve
leading disciples to manage his mission, the Gauḍīya Maṭha. In
1970 Śrīla Prabhupāda established the Governing Body Commission
(GBC) as the ultimate managerial authority of ISKCON.
Śrīla Prabhupāda continued the Harmonist magazine in English
by publishing his Back to Godhead magazine, which continues
to be published up to the present with interesting articles and
beautiful illustrations.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura wanted the book Sree
Kṛṣṇa-Chaitanya, in three volumes, to be taken to London with Bon
Mahārāja and Tīrtha Mahārāja in 1933. Śrīla Prabhupāda took three
volumes of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with him when he went to America
for the first time.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura established the Śrī Caitanya
Maṭha in Śrīdhām Māyāpur as the central or “parent” temple of all
other branches, which were supposed to spread all over the world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda acquired land in Māyāpur and gave detailed
instructions for building the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium,
presenting the same teaching portrayed by the Śrī Caitanya Maṭha
in a more detailed and comprehensive manner that would attract
visitors from different parts of the world.
The Vedic Planetarium directly challenges the accepted modern
version of the universe and establishes the legitimacy of the Vedic
version, using science to counteract the dominance of modern
atheism. Śrīla Prabhupāda proposed to exhibit the universe in an
exposition, which would take the viewer on a journey through
the material cosmos to the spiritual world, all according to the
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descriptions found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The temple will also house
the Institute of Vedic Cosmology, which will continue research work
and hold discussions about the Vedic account of the universe.
If we can explain the passing seasons, eclipses,
phases of the moon, passing of day and night, etc.,
then it will be very powerful propaganda...
(Letter to Svarūpa Dāmodara, 27 April 1976)
We shall show the Vedic conception of the planetary system

within this material world and above the material world.
(Morning walk, 27 February 1976, Māyāpur)
It will be a glorious exhibition of India’s Vedic culture

that will attract visitors from all over the world.
(Letter to Deputy Secretary S. L. Dhani, 14 November 1976)

Śrīla Prabhupāda served the desires of his Guru Mahārāja in such
an unprecedented way that it leaves us all in awe and veneration. He
brought the mission of his Guru Mahārāja back to life by spreading
Kṛṣṇa consciousness to every major city around the world. The
entire world will always be eternally grateful to His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s eternal servant,

Bhaktivaibhava Swami
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Bīr Kṛṣṇa dās Goswami


Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet. All
glories to Your Divine Grace!
Prabhupāda!
kṛpā-bindu diyā, koro’ ei dāse,
tṛṇāpekhā ati hīna
sakala sahane, bala diyā koro’,
nija-māne spṛhā-hīna
(“Gurudev” by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura)
“Śrīla Prabhupāda, O spiritual master! Give to this servant just one

drop of mercy. I am lower than a blade of grass. Give me all help.
Give me strength. Let me be as you are, without material desires or
aspirations.”
This morning in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class we were reading
about the gopīs’ intense feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa when He
disappeared from their sight during the rāsa dance.
Because the beloved gopīs were absorbed in thoughts
of their beloved Kṛṣṇa, their bodies imitated His
way of moving and smiling, His way of beholding
them, His speech, and His other distinctive features.
Deeply immersed in thinking of Him and maddened
by remembering His pastimes, they declared to one
another, “I am Kṛṣṇa!” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.30.3)
Similarly, the dedicated disciple, feeling separation, meditates deeply
on the characteristics of the spiritual master. We understand that
one should not think oneself to be one’s guru or equivalent to one’s
guru. However, one should aspire to be like the spiritual master in
the sense that one imbibes the mood of the guru. One’s guru is one’s
role model. This is what is expressed by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
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in his song “Gurudev.”
Once you were asked about your feelings of separation from Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. You replied, “That question you
don’t need to ask.”
In your reply you clearly let us know that your feelings of
separation and devotion are your very life and soul.
By your actions you illustrate this. You are one hundred percent
focused on the mission of your spiritual master. You are ready to do
whatever is necessary to attract souls to the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Govinda. You clearly reflect the mood of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in being ready to take all risks in spreading the
mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
When the governor of Bengal, Sir John Anderson, visited
Māyāpur in January 1935, arrangements for receiving
him and his gubernatorial party were made by a Calcutta
hotel, which on Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī’s order
supplied meat and other items according to British
taste. When Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī suggested a
similar approach for foreign preaching, Śrīmad Śrīdhara
Mahārāja protested that it would invite criticism.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī replied, “I decided all
these things thousands of births ago. We have to do
anything and everything for serving Mahāprabhu.”
On another occasion he had cigarettes provided for a
visiting German scholar. (Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Vaibhava)
Śrīla Prabhupāda, after you met your Guru Mahārāja in 1922, you
were focused on the mission of your guru and ready to do the needful
to carry out his mission of “creating a revolution in the misdirected
lives of an impious civilization.”
tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo
yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api
nāmāny anantasya yaśo ’ṅkitāni yat
śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.11)
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I pray that we, your followers, both dīkṣā and śikṣā
disciples, may be as you are, without material desires or aspirations,
simply desiring to please you by carrying out your mission and
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being ready to innovate without deviating from the principles you
have taught us.
Therefore let me with all my earnestness pray at the
lotus feet of my divine master to allow me to suffer the
lot for which I am destined due to my past misdoings,
but to let me have this power of recollection: that I am
nothing but a tiny servant of the almighty Absolute
Godhead, realized through the unflinching mercy of
my divine master. Let me therefore bow down at his
lotus feet with all the humility at my command.
(Śrīla Prabhupāda’s homage to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta

Sarasvatī Ṭhākura on the occasion of his Vyāsa-
pūjā celebration in February, 1936)

Bīr Kṛṣṇa dās Goswami
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Romapāda Swami


mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī guruṁ dina-tāraṇam
My dear and most respected spiritual master and eternal father,
Please accept my most humble and respectful obeisances
in the dust of your most merciful lotus feet! All glories to you,
Śrīla Prabhupāda!
In this age of abundant darkness, can anyone estimate how
expansive and how vital is the role that Your Divine Grace continues
to play and manifest in the lives of sincere seekers of Truth?
Is there a limit?
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja
provided all his followers with the Śrī Śrī Viśva-vaiṣṇava Rāja-sabhā,
conventionally known as the Gauḍīya Mission. You, as a recipient of
immeasurable kṛṣṇa-śakti, during your lifetime manifested around
the globe that very blueprint received from your Guru Mahārāja,
namely an actual worldwide spiritual organizational structure,
giving shape and life to the Bhāgavata vision expressed by Nārada
Muni to Vyāsa: the vision of a revolution in the impious lives of
those captured by the distractions of this Age of Kali.
After Vyāsadeva received Nārada’s order to refine the
Bhāgavata vision which he had previously composed in a synopsis
form, Vyāsa compiled the current form of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
according to that order.
Kṛṣṇa Himself, in the mood of His own devotee, appearing as Śri
Caitanya Mahāprabhu along with His followers, continued carrying
forward that precise vision. Yet it was you who factually manifested
this vision within this entire world—in an unprecedented fashion
and within such a short period of time never before seen in the
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history of religion. I would like to cite three profound examples of
this profound mercy, which continues to impact the world today:
your Bhaktivedanta purports, the Vṛndāvana Temple, and currently
in your having given such prominence to the development of the
Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
You wrote to a disciple on 18 November 1972: “These books
and magazines are our most important propaganda weapons to
defeat the ignorance of māyā’s army, and the more we produce such
literature and sell them profusely all over the world, the more we
shall deliver the world from the suicide course.”
In Vṛndāvana, streams of pilgrims come to the holy dhāma from
all over the world. Daily these international spiritual seekers pour
through the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple, receiving the holy name and
the mercy of the Deities you personally installed at great sacrifice.
Recent developments in Māyāpur regarding the near-completion
of some portions of the TOVP are yet another display of your current
influence in spiritualizing the entire world. Ambarīṣa Prabhu shared
with me that he had no expectation that this project would have
moved so swiftly to its present stage of development. This is all due
to your empowerment, your imparting śakti to many of your sincere
followers to carry out your mission.
Recalling all these achievements, I find myself asking another
question, in addition to the one raised at the beginning of this
offering: How many souls are actually searching for the Truth? Out
of those who may be capable of attaining siddhi, or perfection, the
Bhagavad-gītā teaches us that few truly are even interested or capable
of approaching the Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
explains that this Age of Kali is so bad that the rare sincere seeker is
commonly misled. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura wrote an
entire book explicitly dedicated to guiding those who are searching
for Truth. Faithfully following in his footsteps, you most liberally
gave the entire world the same wisdom and more: the opportunity
to receive the fullness of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy through His most-rare
devotional service, leading to vraja-prema, and all that is included.
With profound awe, I express my deepest gratitude for having
been one such soul whose fortune of life was to come in contact with
you and receive the seed of vraja-bhakti.
That you successfully gave this most valuable gift to the entire
world proves that you were empowered with kṛṣṇa-śakti, which
you combined with your indomitable determination. Was there
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opposition? Were there obstacles? Setbacks? Challenges? Forces of
Kali of so many varieties presented themselves before you, which
you had to contend with, despite your being Kṛṣṇa’s empowered
and protected instrument, dedicated exclusively to manifesting in
unadulterated form the Bhāgavata vision within this world. Did that
deter your determination? Not in the slightest!
Most of us who are striving to assist you in furthering Śri
Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission are far less than perfect. We make
mistakes. Our determination does not come close to matching yours.
Yet, despite all our shortcomings, unflinchingly our faith rests in
you and the most munificent Lord Caitanya, whom you are serving.
Kindly accept me, despite my error-filled attempts to assist
and serve you favorably. Pleasing you is my life and soul, the real
meaning and value of my life.
I am at your feet, begging for your continued mercy. Please keep
me forever and ever engaged in your service.

Romapāda Swami
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Sacinandana Swami


I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa,
having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Our respectful obeisances
are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Bhaktisiddhānta
Chaitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are
filled with impersonalism and voidism.
On your most important appearance day, let me reflect on
the answer to an intriguing question a young devotee asked you,
serendipitously, in the very town where I grew up:
Is it possible for someone to make it within one life?
Your answer was both sobering and encouraging:
It is possible in one second, provided you are serious. It
is not difficult…There is no such formula that ‘One can
be Kṛṣṇa conscious after so many years.’ No. There is
no such formula. One cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious
even after millions of births, and one can become
within [a] second Kṛṣṇa conscious. But on the other
edge, within this life we can become perfect in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness if we take it seriously. — Hamburg, 1969
When I first read your answer (as I had not yet joined the Movement
to attend the lecture where this question and answer took place), I
asked myself what it could mean to take up the process of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. Today, more than fifty years later, I continue to reflect
on what is that exact process to become Kṛṣṇa conscious in “one
second.”
The Process You Came to Deliver
In studying your delivery of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the world,
I have always been heartened to see how much of what you gave
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was both clear and achievable. First and foremost, you taught: Hear
about Kṛṣṇa (śravaṇam) and glorify Kṛṣṇa (kīrtanam).
Śravaṇam
You began your worldwide preaching with the main purpose to
inform the misdirected modern world about Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa bhakti.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and realizations of the paramparā were your
prime sources of information and inspiration. You endeavoured
so hard to translate the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and set up a network of
temples and projects where this extraordinary work could be heard
and learned thoroughly as well as distributed to all others. Your
faith in the “claims” of the Bhāgavatam was unshakeable:
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt
“This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva, is
sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other
scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the
message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge, the Supreme
Lord is established within one’s heart.” — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.2
I am experiencing now, for almost fifty years, that when I read
the Bhāgavatam, “the fire of lamentation, illusion and fearfulness”
is at once extinguished. I then immediately feel inspired to think
about Kṛṣṇa, “as He is.” And this experience is there naturally for all
those who follow your advice to regularly and attentively read the
Bhāgavatam with faith.
Kīrtanam
mahā-bhāgavatā nityaṁ kalau kurvanti kīrtanam
“During Kali-yuga, the great devotees of the Lord always engage
in kīrtana, chanting the Lord’s holy names.” — Skanda Purāṇa (as
quoted in in the BBT purport of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.37)
Right from the very beginning you demonstrated your great
faith in the chanting the holy names.
mahā-bhāgavatā nityaṁ kalau kurvanti kīrtanam
“During Kali-yuga the great devotees of the Lord always engage in
kīrtana, chanting the Lord’s holy names.” — Skanda Purāṇa as quoted
in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.37 in the BBT purport
The Bhāgavatam says:
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“…Enlightened persons [unexpectedly] worship
Kali-yuga because, in this fallen Age, all perfection
of life can easily be achieved by the performance
of saṅkīrtana.” — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.36
One might ask, why is Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana especially recommended
for Kali-yuga? Why are other devotional services not as strongly
recommended?
The answer is eye-opening: In Kali-yuga, people can easily
muster the qualification to chant. More than in other ages! Because
of the intense suffering that is a distinguishing factor of Kali-yuga –
an Age where everyone is severely handicapped as far as the normal
qualifications for spiritual life are concerned, and they are incessantly
attacked by wars, famines, plagues (including the coronavirus),
widespread degradation, insanity, and so much more, people can
therefore easily summon up the main qualification for chanting. In
their japa and kīrtana, they can find in themselves the helplessness
that brings about dependence on Kṛṣṇa. Humbled by the external
circumstances and their own weaknesses, the conditioned souls
who have awakened to their plight can actually cry out to the holy
name and surrender to this most merciful form of Kṛṣṇa. If they do
so, they will immediately feel paramam śāntim or supreme peace and
attain parāṁ gatim – the highest goal.
Conclusion
The process of śravaṇam (hearing) and kīrtanam (chanting) are thus
so very effective that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura
remarked:
When a devotee understands that the process of bhakti-
yoga is complete in itself, and he becomes absorbed
in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, the
supremely merciful Personality of Godhead affectionately
lifts such a first-class devotee onto His own lap. —
Quoted in BBT purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.2.51
O’ Śrīla Prabhupāda, just like a little child can only speak words
which his father and mother have put into his mouth, I lack original
words. I can only quote and speak things that you have taught me.
But no problem! Let me say just three words of my own composition
about the process you have given to me and to the world:
It 100% works!
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I know I can never repay you or show my indebtedness in an
appropriate way:
yair īdṛśī bhagavato gatir ātma-vāda
ekāntato nigamibhiḥ pratipāditā nah
tuṣyantv adabhra-karuṇāḥ sva-kṛtena nityaṁ
ko nāma tat pratikaroti vinoda-pātram
“How can such persons, who have rendered unlimited

service by explaining the path of self-realization in
relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and
whose explanations are given for our enlightenment with
complete conviction and Vedic evidence, be repaid except
by folded palms containing water for their satisfaction?
Such great personalities can be satisfied only by their own
activities, which are distributed amongst human society
out of their unlimited mercy.” — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.22.47
Kindly tolerate my spiritual slowness and keep me engaged in your
lifesaving mission of disseminating the process of śravaṇam-kīrtanam.
With deepest gratitude,

Sacinandana Swami
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Gaṇapati dāsa Swami
vande ’haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pāda-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca

śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam
sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ
śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca
Shortly after the tirobhāva of our Divine Master, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda
Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya Aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, a delegation of GBC members
approached his godbrother, His Holiness B.R. Śrīdharadeva
Gosvāmī, to seek clarity on guru-tattva. The following is an excerpt
from this now-famous series of discussions:
By the special will of Kṛṣṇa, gurudeva is a delegated power.
If we look closely within the spiritual master, we will
see the delegation of Kṛṣṇa, and accordingly we should
accept him in that way. The spiritual master is a devotee
of Kṛṣṇa and, at the same time, the inspiration of Kṛṣṇa
is within him. These are the two aspects of gurudeva. He
has his aspect as a Vaiṣṇava, and the inspired side of the
Vaiṣṇava is guru. . . . The disciple is concerned with the
delegation of the Lord, the guru’s inner self, his inspired
side. The inspired side of a Vaiṣṇava is ācārya, or guru.
The disciple marks only the special, inspired portion
within the guru. He is more concerned with that part of
his character. But gurudeva himself generally poses as a
Vaiṣṇava. So, his dealings towards his disciples and his
dealings with other Vaiṣṇavas will be different. This is
acintya-bhedābheda, inconceivable unity in diversity.
In general, Śrīla Prabhupāda also emphasized that a disciple should
maintain a reverential attitude and formal etiquette towards his/her
spiritual master, lest informality and familiarity lead to contempt.
The spiritual master is always considered either one
of the confidential associates of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī
or a manifested representation of Śrīla Nityānanda
Prabhu. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.46, purport]
The spiritual master is the external manifestation

of the caitya-guru, or the spiritual master sitting in
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everyone’s heart. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.8.44, purport]
The spiritual master is as good as the Supreme Personality

of Godhead, and therefore one who is very serious about
spiritual advancement must regard the spiritual master in
this way. Even a slight deviation from this understanding
can create disaster in the disciple’s Vedic studies and
austerities. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.15.27, purport]
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura wrote in the seventh śloka of his
Gurv-aṣṭakam:
sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
In Śrīla Prabhupāda’s writings we find this commonly translated
as “The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the Supreme
Lord because he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. . . .”
However, this verse can be rendered more literally as “The spiritual
master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord because he
is directly [one in quality with and the external manifestation of]
the Lord. But [due to his being a śuddha Vaiṣṇava] he is also very
dear to the Lord.” This rendering affords the disciple the latitude to
meditate on Śrī Gurudeva’s Vaiṣṇava—or “inspiring”—aspect.
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At this point, I would like to introduce one of my most inspiring
images of Śrīla Prabhupāda:
I asked several trusted devotees to share a one- or two-word

impression of this photo. A few responses:
• grave
• intensely contemplative
• deeply begging
• concerned
• surrendered
• compassionate anxiety
For the scrutiny of my godsiblings, I wish to now disclose the
realization, meditation, and inspiration this photograph has elicited
in me:
(1) “not my will, but thine, be done”
Although this phrase is, of course, reported as having emanated
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from the mouth of Lord Jesus Christ, Śrīla Prabhupāda expressed
the same mood in his own words: “O Lord, I am just like a puppet in
Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me
dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.”
(2) “sold-out”
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura employed this very phrase
to describe the temperament of the exemplary disciple:
Each of us is the eternal slave of guru and Kṛṣṇa.
We are sold-out animals at the feet of our spiritual
master and Kṛṣṇa. Because we have forgotten this
simple truth, we have fallen into our present miserable
condition. If by the devotees’ mercy we can come
to remember this truth, we will be saved and will
make advancement on the devotional path.
Śrīla Prabhupāda further identified such a “sold-out animal” in a
prayer of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s that he was fond of quoting:
So we should always pray, vaiṣṇava ṭhākura, tomāra
kukkura baliyā jānaha more. This is . . . There is a song of
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura: “My dear Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura, kindly
accept me as your dog.” Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura. As the dog, by
the indication of the master, does everything very obedient,
we have to learn this lesson from the dog, how to become
faithful to the master. That is the instruction. In everything
you can learn something. Everyone. Therefore mahā-
bhāgavata, they accept everyone as guru, to learn something.
Actually, from the dog we can learn this art, how to become
faithful at the risk of life even. There are many instances,
dog have given the life for the master. So . . . And we should
be dog to the Vaiṣṇava. Chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā, nistāra pāyeche
kebā. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class, 27 February 1977, Māyāpur]
Likewise, in numerous instances Śrīla Prabhupāda referenced this
beautiful stotra of Śrī Yāmunācārya:
bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraḥ
praśānta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ
kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkaraḥ
praharṣayiṣyāmi sanātha-jīvitam
“By serving You constantly, one is freed from all material desires
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and is completely pacified. When shall I engage as Your permanent
eternal servant and always feel joyful to have such a fitting master?”
(Stotra-ratna 43)
And in the following commentary, he compares the position of a
faithful disciple to that of a dog or child:
This is the constitutional position of all living entities.
Just as a dog or servant is very much satisfied to get a
competent, perfect master, or as a child is completely
satisfied to possess a competent father, so the living
entity is satisfied by completely engaging in the
service of the Supreme Lord. He thereby knows that
he has a competent master to save him from all kinds
of danger. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 1.206]
In summary, while it may be offensive to think of one’s spiritual
master as a “sold-out animal,” there can be no harm in considering
him to be sold out to his guru. Indeed, nothing inspires me to
surrender as a “sold-out animal” to His Divine Grace more than
knowing that he is totally sold out to his guru and the entire
paramparā. After all, we have not been asked to join a personality
cult. Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke of “the fundamental principle of
gurudeva” and that “there is only one guru.” It’s a package deal, so to
speak. Surrendering to Śrīla Prabhupāda means surrendering to the
disciplic succession he represents. A large part of what makes Śrīla
Prabhupāda so personally wonderful is that he has introduced us
to—and is the immediate face of—a succession of most wonderful
realized masters.
Śrīla Prabhupāda-kī jaya! Śrī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava guru-paramparā-kī jaya!

Gaṇapati dāsa Swami
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Anand Kishore das Babaji

Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace,
most merciful savior of fallen and confused humanity.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please give us understanding and humility
so we may help you in your mission without causing disturbance to
others, especially Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs. You always were aware
how your words and actions would affect others and were able to
speak and act in ways that would best benefit them. Kindly bless us
with that awareness and ability.

Anand Kishore das Babaji
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Bhakti Gauravani Goswami


One of the many well-known sayings you quote in
your preaching is:
“Time and tide wait for no man.”
As the years are passing, the simple truth behind these words
becomes clearer to me by the day, especially this year, when I finally
arrived at the same age that you had when you embarked on your
journey to the West. For most people this is not the time for new
adventures. Rather, it is the time for retirement, for sitting on park
benches lost in memories, or relaxing in cafes, playing cards or
dominoes, or watching TV. As life’s sun is setting and bodily strength
is dwindling, who would even dream of starting a worldwide
preaching movement?
You did. For over 40 years you had been meditating on how to
carry out the order of your spiritual master, and you were determined
to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the English speaking world, no
matter what obstacles would come your way. Speaking from your
own experience, you would encourage us on different occasions:
“Try your best and Kṛṣṇa will help you.” With that confidence you
were determined to try. Success or failure? That was in Kṛṣṇa’s hands.
At the same time, you were keenly aware of the powerful
influence of time. Only five years after your arrival, in 1970, you made
arrangements to ensure that the propagation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness
would continue even in your absence:
I am getting old, 75 years old, therefore at any
time I may be out of the scene, therefore I think
it is necessary to give instruction to my disciples
how they shall manage the whole institution.
Yes, you had actually created an institution. Within the short period
of only five years you had established an international society. An
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amazing feat. But you humbly dismissed this idea:
People say that I have done very wonderful. People say that.
Even our countrymen, those who are not very favorably
disposed, they also admit that I have done something
wonderful. But what is the secret of this success? That
resolution, that ‘My Guru Mahārāja wanted this. I shall
try my best to do this,’ that’s all. I have no other secrets.
Rather, I was doubtful, that ‘What I have got position, how
people will understand? Still, let me try my best.’ That’s all.
“Time and tide wait for no man.”
Whenever you quote this proverb in your books and lectures, you
point out two main aspects of time: its incalculable value and its
powerful influence. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, He Himself is
Time, the great destroyer. Regarding the value of time, you said in
1975, in Vṛndāvana:
So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ. Svarṇa means
gold coins, and koṭi means ten millions. So suppose today
is 6th December. Now seven o’clock, morning. Seven
o’clock, 6th December, passed. Can you bring it again by
paying one crores of gold coins? Hm? “Let me get back
again seven o’clock, 6th December, 1975, again”! No. It is
gone forever. So just see the value! You cannot get back
even a moment of your life by paying millions and millions
of dollars. How time is valuable, just calculate. Therefore
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, sa cet nirarthakaṁ nītaḥ ka no hānis
tato ‘dhika. If you waste your time, such valuable time, for
nothing, just imagine how much loser you are. But we
do not know. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, kīrtanīyaḥ
sadā hariḥ: “Your life is meant for chanting. Therefore you
should simply chant –sadā, always, consistently.” This is
the advice. This is properly using the moments of time.
And as far as the power of time goes, in one of your very first lectures,
in 1966, in New York, you described to your young audience the
reality of time’s influence with a graphic example:
A son is born. Oh, you are very glad, ‘I have got a son.’ But
if you study philosophically, no, it is not birth. He is not
born, death is born. Because the growing of the child means
he is dying. It is dying. The dying process. The very day, the
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very moment the child is born, the dying process begins.
So we do not know that it is not birth, it is death. This is
called māyā. This is called illusion, that death is born and
we are jolly that there is birth of a child. This is called māyā.
In a similar vein you would unmask the phantasmagoria of youth
while commenting on the story of Purañjana in the Fourth Canto of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.27.5 and 13):
The words navam vayah are significant in this verse. They
indicate the period of youth from age sixteen to thirty.
These thirteen or fifteen years of life are years in which
one can very strongly enjoy the senses. When one comes
to this age he thinks that life will go on and that he will
simply continue enjoying his senses, but, ‘Time and tide
wait for no man.’ The span of youth expires very quickly.
One who wastes his life simply by committing sinful
activities in youth immediately becomes disappointed and
disillusioned when the brief period of youth is over…
Since time and tide wait for no man, time is herein called
Candavega, which means ‘very swiftly passing away.’
As time passes, it is calculated in terms of years. One
year contains 360 days, and the soldiers of Candavega
herein mentioned represent these days. Time passes
swiftly; Candavega’s powerful soldiers of Gandharvaloka
very swiftly carry away all the days of our life.
One of the fallacies of youth is that the profound truth of these
statements remains somewhat elusive. Although one may observe
the effects of time all around in the environment, the covering
potency of illusion makes one believe that time influences everything
and everybody except for myself. That was certainly my personal
experience. But, as time passes and the body is being attacked by
the powerful soldiers of Candavega, the true nature of time becomes
more and more conspicuous. Gradually one begins to understand
what Kṛṣṇa means when He tells Arjuna that He is Time, the great
destroyer of the worlds. And of course, Kṛṣṇa does not have to do
anything personally. He has His agents to do the work for Him.
One of them is the daughter of Time, Kālakanyā, better known as
Jarā, old age. She is the great destroyer of bodies, from celestial to
microbic, and as Kṛṣṇa also tells us in Bhagavad-gītā, old age is one of
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the four intrinsic miseries of material existence. However, devotional
service is so powerful that it can even transform fearful and ugly old
age into a joyful and attractive personality.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the best example of a devotee beyond
the influence of time and old age. Simply by following in your
footsteps anyone can experience that old age not only loses its fearful
nature but actually becomes a companion on the progressive march
toward eternal life beyond time.
Let us carefully listen to the words you wrote while commenting
on the story of Purañjana in the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
You were seventy-eight years old at that time:
If a person is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he can work like a young
man even if he is seventy-five or eighty years old.
Thus the daughter of Kāla (Time) cannot overcome a
Vaiṣṇava. Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī engaged
in writing Caitanya-caritāmṛta when he was very old,
yet he presented the most wonderful literature about
the activities of Lord Caitanya. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and
Sanātana Gosvāmī began their spiritual lives at a very
old age, that is, after they retired from their occupations
and family lives. Yet they presented many valuable
literatures for the advancement of spiritual life.
Thus jarā, the effect of old age, does not harass a devotee.
This is because a devotee follows the instructions and
the determination of Nārada Muni… Because a devotee
rigidly follows the instructions of Nārada Muni, he has
no fear of old age, disease or death. Apparently a devotee
may grow old, but he is not subjected to the symptoms
of defeat experienced by a common man in old age.
Consequently, old age does not make a devotee fearful of
death, as a common man is fearful of death. When jarā, or
old age, takes shelter of a devotee, Kālakanyā diminishes
the devotee’s fear. A devotee knows that after death he
is going back home, back to Godhead; therefore he has
no fear of death. Thus instead of depressing a devotee,
advanced age helps him become fearless and thus happy.
Almost fifty years ago, when I read these words for the first time,
I was not in a position to grasp their full scope being trapped in a
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youthful body. Now, by your grace, the profound meaning of these
words is unfolding more and more with every passing year. Jarā has
been knocking on my door for quite some time. I tried to ignore her,
but she is very persistent. She wants to marry me, although I have
accepted the renounced order of life. What shall I do? She is not
someone to be refused. Therefore, I will receive her with open arms
and give her shelter, having full confidence in your words that she
will help me to become fearless and happy.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Ever grateful for your life-saving instructions,

Bhakti Gauravani Goswami
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Dhirasanta dasa Goswami

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you my
Lord and Master.
Before leaving India and on arriving in the West, to embark on
a seemingly impossible mission to start a worldwide society for
Krishna Consciousness, you first sought the blessings from your
predecessor ācāryas and Lord Kṛṣṇa. You knew that anything was
achievable with their support. You were confident that actions
rooted in good character would yield the best outcome, even when
you cannot see how.
You never hesitate in your purpose or waver in your determina-
tion, and although fearless, you appeared to be momentarily over-
come by the first sight of an American city. You realized and admit-
ted your helpless situation and so prayed to Lord Kṛṣṇa and your
spiritual master. You prayed:
Somehow or other, O Lord, You, have brought me
here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to
You to make me a success or failure as You like.
O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply

repeat Your message, so if You like, You can make my
power of speaking suitable for their understanding.
Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure.

I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates
their hearts, they will certainly feel engladdened and thus
become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life.
O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So, if You

have brought me here to dance, then make me dance,
make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.
In utter humility, You prayed that Kṛṣṇa makes your words suitable
to enlighten us or inspire us, with an appreciation for His message.
In your sincere love and compassion, and intimate relationship
with Kṛṣṇa, you prayed for our deliverance, and Kṛṣṇa reciprocated
by investing in you all wealth of empowerment. In the mood of
complete surrender, you could see that Kṛṣṇa was doing everything.
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Once, while giving a public program, one student questioned
you with a challenging mentality. Later he became a devotee, and
you both met again. You remembered him from the program. The
devotee then wondered why he became a devotee because before
he had no faith? You said, “because I prayed for you. I prayed to
Kṛṣṇa that this soul might be aware of the importance of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.”
Based on these considerations, it should be evident to any honest
person that the qualification for the topmost devotion can be nothing
less than the topmost faith. It is the opinion of the leading authority,
Lord Kṛṣṇa, that devotees are transcendentally situated to attain the
type of devotion and transparency that you exhibited.
One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes
the Supreme Brāhmaṇa and becomes fully joyful. He
never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally
disposed to every living entity. In that state, he attains pure
devotional service unto Me. (Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 18.54)
I would like to think there is only a transparent veil that separates
me from Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, However, it is more likely a heavy thick
curtain. As a disciple, I must admit my feeling of helplessness
and total dependence. I am trying to be of some use to you and
your mission, but it is apparent that it is just a cheap imitation to
impress others.
What is more, is that I am not transcendentally situated, I am
devoid of any compassion, and I am full of selfish interest. I am
not honest, and in my worship and prayer, I have no devotion.
Due to a wall of indifference within my mind, I cannot admit that
whatever I am doing is only by your grace. Overshadowed by false
ego, I am thinking how wonderful I am at everything I do. And
above all, I cannot grasp how to be personal and intimate with you
and Lord Kṛṣṇa.
You were indeed an achiever, but at the same time, you submitted
yourself to be a receiver too. By analyzing the difference between
self-empowerment and genuine empowerment, we can understand
that real empowerment is not so cheap.
Therefore, if I want to move beyond the point where I am at
present, I must submit myself wholly to you and seek your help.
My situation is desperate and sees no other solution. Just as you
are successful, shaking the foundation of this world to make
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changes, please, I beg you to shake the foundation of this lowly
servant who has no other shelter than your lotus feet. Only by your
causeless mercy will I become released from the clutches of illusion
and adequately serve you. I am now ready to be a receiver of your
unlimited kindness upon me.
With a humble heart, I can then take shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s words,
and with a humble heart, I can then cry for the shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s
holy names. Please consider and do as you feel fit. But you
are my only hope.

Dhirasanta dasa Goswami
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Janānanda Goswami


Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am in your room in New Māyāpur, France,
one of your favorite places to stay.
Is the New Māyāpur palace maintained nicely? I like to live
there. Especially my wonderful room. I like to live there. I
like that New Māyāpur facility. Nice vegetables, flowers,
grains. This is very encouraging to have such a farm, where
all problems are solved. . . . Repair all the old buildings and
give all the new people who come ample accommodations.
. . . [Conversation in Vṛndāvana, as quoted in a letter from
Tamāl Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī to Bhagavān Dāsa, 4 August 1977]
This is a strange, unanticipated time—all-around coronavirus
consciousness. Somehow I am here in this oasis you have given us. It
seems that every year, as I am about to write your Vyāsa-pūjā offering,
I find myself in New Māyāpur, sitting in your room. This is indeed
your mercy and your message. But this year is a little different, since
I was not scheduled to be here, but due to the coronavirus pandemic
I could not travel and am “marooned’” here under your lotus feet.
The stark reality of the material world is vividly rearing its
ghastly face, and nobody can hide (except in their cell). Only you are
giving the medicine to cure the disease of material life. More than two
billion people all over the world are in “lockdown.” Unfortunately,
although they do not realize it, all the conditioned souls are always
in lockdown, “the confining of prisoners to their cells.” Such a true
definition! You alone have come to release us prisoners from our
material cells. Now the civil authorities are calling upon everyone
to practice “social distancing.” But all along you emphasized this—
to avoid unwanted association and the enemies of spiritual life.
Otherwise we will be infected by the material disease—māyā!
māyā is always ready to attack. Always. So we have
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to take this injunction, this anti-vaccine, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi’. That song, Jīv Jāgo,
Jīv Jāgo. “I have brought this medicine for killing this
Hong Kong flu of māyā.” [laughter] Enechi auṣadhi
māyā nāśibāro lāgi’, hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao . . . Now
you take. This is greatest contribution of Caitanya
Mahāprabhu, to fight against this attack of material
influence. Everyone is subjected. [Initiation lecture and
marriage ceremony, 4 June 1969, New Vrindaban]
Just like if there is some epidemic, disease, and if you

take vaccine, it is supposed that you are freed from the
contamination. So this vaccine of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra will keep you fit without any contamination
of this Age of Kali. And that is happening. All over the
world people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.
And practically we see, those who are chanting, they’re
becoming free from the contamination. If you follow the
rules and regulation, very simple thing, and chant Hare
Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra—that is our only request—then, in spite
of this contaminated Age of Kali, you’ll be saved. [Class
on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.16.19, 15 January 1974, Honolulu]
During your three visits to New Māyāpur you repeatedly instructed
the devotees which direction to take, not only foreseeing the future
need but also seeing the reality of our present needs—that which
would be favorable for our spiritual advancement—and to protect
us from the material virus.
Our farm projects are an extremely important part of our
movement. We must become self-sufficient by growing
our own grains and producing our own milk, then there
will be no question of poverty. So develop these farm
communities as far as possible. They should be developed
as an ideal society depending on natural products not
industry. Industry has simply created godlessness,
because they think they can manufacture everything that
they need. [Letter to Rūpānuga, 18 December 1974]
Somehow, over the years I have drifted from the ideals you gave
and have often become caught up in the same spirit of lassitude and
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lethargy that afflicts the whole world, forgetting the goal of life and
how to achieve it.
Hopefully, one positive aspect of the present pandemic is that
it is acting as a wake-up call to remind us, as you reminded us
again and again, “Are you so advanced that you do not need to fear
māyā?!” It is a call to embrace your instructions to heart. Maybe the
coronavirus will transform into karuṇā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: So we have to be very careful. The
age is very bad, the Kali-yuga. You are experiencing. We
have to simply take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and always cry,
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, he!

kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, he!
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, rakṣa mām!
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, pāhi mām!
kṛṣṇa, keśava, kṛṣṇa, keśava, kṛṣṇa, keśava, rakṣa mām!
rāma rāghava, rāma rāghava, rāma rāghava, pāhi mām!
Like that, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us. The time is

very dangerous. And still, in this dangerous time . . . Just
like in epidemic condition where every people is being
contaminated and dying, still, the doctors appointed
by the government, they have to go into the epidemic
area and try to treat the person and save them. Our duty
is like that. The whole atmosphere is epidemic, whole
atmosphere, this Kali-yuga. And still, by the superior
orders we have to preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness
movement. Therefore our only shelter is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa,
kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa, rakṣa mām. Very dangerous
position. The foolish people, they are thinking that “We
are very happy and we are very safe.” But nobody is
safe. Nobody is safe. [Lecture, 6 January 1971, Calcutta]
In these trying times it is easy to forget Kṛṣṇa’s message and become
absorbed in speculations, but where is the time to waste? You taught
genuine compassion. The jīvas are in fear and ignorance, and no
material adjustment will remove them. Please, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
infuse genuine compassion into my dirty heart. In every verse of
your prayer to your spiritual master called Viraha Aṣṭakam, you wrote
“O Śrīla Prabhupāda! You personally suffer to see the suffering of
the fallen conditioned souls.” The same applies to you—we saw
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again and again how tears would role down your face as you felt the
people’s suffering due to their forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. What could be
more relevant to our present situation than the deep spirit of your
prayer—a heart-breaking compassion for the ignorant suffering
jīvas, struggling aimlessly in the world of māyā? And I am thinking
of my own problems.
As Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes in his song “Kabe Ha’be
Bolo:” “When will compassion for all fallen souls awaken within
this Bhaktivinoda, and when will he thus forget his own happiness
and with a meek heart set out to propagate by humble entreaty the
sacred order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu?” When will that day
come? When will I surrender to your lotus feet and drown in that
ocean of compassion which you are showering on us?
Back in the oasis of New Māyāpur, I ponder whether perhaps
the solution is right here, in the safe haven of your instructions.
Are you liquidating your debts for the farm? You
borrowed money on the farm. Are you repaying the
loan? It is very good that the farm will be providing
foodstuffs for both the farm and the temple in Paris. That
is wanted. The farm program should be: grow your own
food, produce your own milk, cloth and everything and
chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is good that you are repairing the
buildings. They are dilapidated, but they can be repaired
very nicely. [Letter to Bhagavān, 14 November 1975]
I can never liquidate the debt to you. I will forever be repaying you
for the mercy you have shown me. Will I ever take your instructions
of farming seriously? Simple living, high thinking? Your desire for
self-sufficiency? How to repair my crooked, dilapidated heart in this
old age? When will I take your karuṇā seriously?
I, like most of the world, am now in lockdown and cannot travel.
But what a place to be in lockdown—your New Māyāpur! How
fortunate! You have kindly given everyone this opportunity to be
in lockdown, in “a house the whole world can live in.” May we stay
locked in your house forever. Your lotus feet are our only shelter.
Your servant.
Janānanda Goswami
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Krishna Kshetra Swami


Offering prostrate obeisance to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, my eternal
guide, preceptor and master, I offer also these heartfelt words on
the occasion of your appearance celebration as Śrī Vyāsadeva’s very
dear spiritual descendent and representative.
On July 1, 1966, you moved into your small Lower East Side
Manhattan flat behind 26 Second Avenue. You recorded this in
your 1966 journal:
Today I entered the new house at 26 Second Avenue
rear portion Room #B1. For my purpose it [is] all good.
I do not [know] why Kṛṣṇa is trying to establish me
in New York. I am his servant’s servant and therefore
let His desire be fulfilled through my agency.
Lately, while reflecting on your profusion of instructions on how to
advance in the practice of Kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhana, I came across my
godbrother Mahatma Prabhu’s suggestion to improve japa of the
mahāmantra with the application of “japa affirmations”, the title of a
small book he has recently written. In considering “affirmations”—
positive, present-tense statements that affirm the attitude and
practices one wants to realize, it strikes me that you are repeatedly
applying affirmations to your own engagement in your mission.
For instance, in the case of this journal entry, you very simply and
straightforwardly affirm your identity as Kṛṣṇa’s servant’s servant.
Then, based on this truth, you allow Kṛṣṇa’s desire to be fulfilled
in the way that is fitting to your identity: As a servant of the
servant, you recognize that you are eligible to act as the supreme
master’s—Kṛṣṇa’s—agent.
In the same July 1 journal entry, you then go on to write,
The Landlord Mr. Gardiner is pukka landlord. He knows
how to increase the rent. But I am not sorry. For two
months namely July and August I will have to pay at 62
and odds whereas from September 1st I will have to pay
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$71 and odds. Let me see how Kṛṣṇa arranges the things.
Despite the anticipated increase in rent of nine dollars per month
(around $90 in present-day value), you affirm that you are “not
sorry.” You are confident that Kṛṣṇa will act in a way that will resolve
the financial uncertaintly.*
Within these simple expressions of affirmation for the progress
of your mission amidst quotidian details of accounting and the times
of sunrise and sunset, I find indices of the sort of mature, humble
confidence that made your efforts successful. They also point to a
long Vaiṣṇava tradition of humble confidence, tied to a sense of eager
anticipation to meet Kṛṣṇa, as we see when Akrura excitedly journeys
to Vṛndāvana to meet the Lord. Other, somewhat related sources
of inspiration for me are accounts of situations where uncertainty
regarding future events is mitigated with confidence in the Lord’s
all-good intervention. At present I’m thinking particularly of Lord
Brahmā’s uncertainty prior to the appearance of Varāhadeva.
As your mission expanded during the early years of your efforts
beyond as well as within India, you expressed continuing confidence.
During a morning walk in Māyāpur (April 3, 1975) you made such
an “affirmation” that was also an invitation to anyone and everyone:
This is the movement, that you come here, live with us,
and produce your food, produce your milk, be happy,
healthy, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is our movement.
Therefore we are creating New Vrindaban and farm,
and we are trying to purchase... This is our movement,
that we give you sufficient food, shelter, health,
philosophy, religion, character, everything purity.
By saying “you come here,” your confidence is magnified by such
a direct appeal. What’s more, your confidence is in your—and
“our movement’s”—capacity to give all that could be required for a
person’s well-being.
My prayer is that you may bless me to attain and maintain
humble confidence in my own ability to be a positive contributor—a
positive giver—to your mission of giving. To this end I allow myself
to affirm my own fitness to be so. I further allow myself to affirm
my potential, through your and Lord Kṛṣṇa’s grace, to hold fast
to your vision of flourishing communities sustained internally by
“philosophy, religion, [and] character” and outwardly by “sufficient
food, shelter, [and] health.” And I pray that you allow me to continue
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to participate in your ongoing powerful agency in fulfilling Kṛṣṇa’s
wondrous desire to establish consciousness of Him, the Lord in our
hearts, deep in the hearts of all.

Krishna Kshetra Swami
* However, even as you waited to “see how Kṛṣṇa arranges”

the situation, on September 1st, two months later, you expressed
yourself further: “Mr Gardiner wants to increase the rent to
71.odds. He came and got it signed by me before the trustees. I
think it is not just.”
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Lokanāth Swami
My dearest and most beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my most prostrated obeisances at the dust of
your lotus feet on this most auspicious occasion of your 124th
Vyāsa-pūjā celebration. All glories to you and your mission of
delivering the universe!
Śrīla Prabhupāda, as I sit to write this year’s Vyāsa-pūjā offering,
I am unable to remain oblivious to the fact that the world outside is
gridlocked by an invisible enemy, the coronavirus global pandemic.
More than two million people have been infected by the virus across
the world. As the world is grappling with this pandemic, the full
display of the five kinds of ajñāna-vṛttaya, ignorant engagements
created by Lord Brahmā, have become evident in this virus outbreak:
“Self-deception, the sense of death, anger after
frustration, the sense of false ownership, and the
illusory bodily conception, or forgetfulness of
one’s real identity.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.12.2).
All of these five engagements are universally applicable, and when
we are conditioned no one can escape them. With all of these in full
action, the excruciating suffering encompassing the world right now
is plain but painful to see. In your morning walks, lectures, and
books, you saw the future as utterly predictable in the ways that
these ignorant engagements will play out. Now we are observing
the fulfillment of your prophetic words about the exploitation of
nature, including the slaughtering of animals and the consumption
of even creatures like bats and rats. The resultant backlash of such
animalistic tendencies and atrocities is presenting itself with intense
fury.
“Since I suffer when pinched or killed by others, I should
not attempt to pinch or kill any other living entity. People
do not know that because of killing innocent animals
they themselves will have to suffer severe reactions from
material nature.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.15.24, purport).
Clearly, we have hopelessly submitted to these ignorant
engagements created by the Lord. The onslaught of the virus being
experienced is proof that the conditioned souls have completely
misused their independence. Śrīla Prabhupāda, by giving us
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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you have given us insight into the situation we
are presently experiencing.
We now see and understand how “the living entity prefers to
misuse his independence and glides down towards nescience.”
Although “the all-merciful Lord first of all tries to protect him from
the trap, but when the living entity persists in gliding down to hell,
the Lord helps him to forget his real position.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
3.12.3, purport). At this moment the world is at its lowest point. It’s
easy to see the material world as a place of suffering and distress.
Instead of realizing that the situation at hand is reminding us to
mend our ways and become more Kṛṣṇa conscious, we continue
our forgetful ways. As you would often say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, “We
have forgotten our real identity and that we are part and parcel
of the Lord.” Our fear goes beyond the coronavirus. Out of sheer
fear, governments in countries across the globe have shut down all
nonessential facilities, including temples. The one place where we
can seek solace from the entanglement of our material lives, from the
five ignorant engagements, is unfortunately now off limits. People
feel as if they are being hunted down by an invisible killer, which
has already taken the lives of more than 120,000 people worldwide.
In each birth, we have tried to save ourselves but were left frustrated.
I recall you saying, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that our fear is due to not
wanting to leave this world of “society, friendship, and love.”
We think we are invincible. The suffering that the body endures
is addressed, and we believe that everything will be fine. But we
deceive ourselves thinking we are better than we actually are, and
play at being God, the real enjoyer. This is the greatest deception,
because what we really need is Kṛṣṇa’s help.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is quarantine, self-isolation, and now
national lockdowns. Practically everybody is living in suffocated
anger and frustration. This anger has taken on many faces. Anger
at being forced to “stay at home” against one’s will. Anger at being
forced to adhere to rules that will hopefully curb the spread of this
disease. Anger by those following the restrictions that is directed at
those who do not. The disease has halted people’s socializing and
crushed their material aspirations. People are now frustrated and
avoid each other, as this disease drives them into the tiny dark holes
they call “home.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.12.3
you state, “Although he created the different influences of nescience,
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Lord Brahmā was not satisfied in performing such a thankless
task, but he had to do it because most of the conditioned souls
wanted it to be so.”
In response to the dark side of the Lord’s creation, which consists
of the five kinds of nescient engagements, Brahmā next created the
four Kumāras—Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana, and Sanat. They were
enlightened and guided by their father, Brahmā, and entrusted with
the four principles of spiritual advancement, which would offset
the ignorance of the conditioned souls, enlighten the world, and
ultimately set them free. You describe these four principles in your
purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.12.4:
[S]āṅkhya, or empirical philosophy for the analytical
study of material conditions; yoga, or mysticism for
liberation of the pure soul from material bondage;
vairāgya, the acceptance of complete detachment from
material enjoyment in life to elevate oneself to the highest
spiritual understanding; and tapas, or the various kinds of
voluntary austerities performed for spiritual perfection.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, following in the footsteps of the four Kumāras,
you are representing Kṛṣṇa in the Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍīya
disciplic succession. You were endowed with wonderful qualities,
like that of the four Kumāras. The movement that you founded, the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is a benediction for
this world. Now it is your teachings that will help us come out of
this pandemic. It is your teachings that will counteract the present
situation and secure the future for us and for humanity as a whole.
You once told us, “There was a big plague in Calcutta. So one
bābājī went from door to door, house to house, and he had all the
people—Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Parsi—chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. After
that the plague was driven out.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you gave us the holy names of the Lord, which
we vowed to chant daily. They may shut down the temples, but
they’ll never shut down the chanting of the holy name. Through the
use of modern communication technology, I am engaging in a daily
japa session with devotees in more than a thousand locations across
the world. All over the glove, other disciples and granddisciples of
yours are preaching and reaching out to the world in even bigger
and better ways. As a result, thousands of people are now listening
to kathās, kīrtanas, and discourses in their homes. We are encouraging
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devotees to convert their homes into temples, and we are appealing
for the people of the world to spiritualize, now that socializing is
not allowed. You showed by example that prayers are powerful,
so, with your blessings, we Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees are praying for
the complete well-being of the whole world. These transcendental
sound vibrations will permeate the ether and purify the collective
consciousness of people globally.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you correctly predicted the present suffering:
So you are suffering. You are maintaining so many
slaughterhouse, and when it will be mature, there will
be war, the wholesale murder. Finished. One atom
bomb—-finished. You’ll have to suffer. Don’t think
that “Innocent animals, they cannot protest. Let us
kill and eat.” No. You’ll be also punished. (Class on
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.32, 31 May 1976, Honolulu)
You taught us how to prepare food, how to offer it to the Deity,
and how to then honor that sanctified food. You gave us the right
food to eat. The world needs this sanctified food more than ever.
People are trapped—jobless and starving. The massive prasādam
distribution project in Māyāpur that you initiated in the 1970s
has proliferated globally, and ISKCON temples in India and other
branches worldwide are distributing prasādam to those impacted by
the lockdown.
The education that is imparted today teaches one to remain
bound in ignorance. When we ignore something, it means we
become ignorant of that. Worldwide, the Lord is ignored; hence we
are in this horrific situation.
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has
opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance,
with the torchlight of knowledge.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you educated us on behalf of the Lord that
real knowledge is not about storing masses of unnecessary data
but rather having the wisdom to see every human being with equal
vision and to become attached to Kṛṣṇa. The world has trained us to
be ignorant, but you, Śrīla Prabhupāda have given us the knowledge
to alleviate that ignorance. You have so mercifully given us your
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books, lectures, room and morning-walk conversations, and more
than seven thousand personal letters. We also have many biographies
of you. Through your life and teachings, the world is getting your
direct personal association and instructions and getting armed with
prescribed knowledge to counteract the onslaught of the calamities
of the material world, like the current pandemic.
We are eternally grateful that you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, have given
us the proper karma-free diet of sumptuous prasādam, along with
devotional service, transcendental books, the potent holy name,
enlightening knowledge, and accurate understanding.
As the world worsens and your mission becomes even more
relevant, I am renewing my vows to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, to carry
forward your mission with energy and enthusiasm in whatever time
I have left. I most humbly beg at your lotus feet for your mercy and
blessings, so that I may fulfill all that I have pledged to do.

Lokanāth Swami
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Rādhānāth Swami


Please accept my life, as your humble servant.
In your compassion to all the world, you have opened the doors
to the unborn and undying nature of the soul. You revealed that the
living force within us is forever a loving servant of the supreme, all-
beautiful, all-merciful, and all-loving Personality of Godhead.
Just prior to Kali-yuga, Kṛṣṇa descended to attract our hearts into
the pastimes of Vṛndāvana. Out of infinite kindness He came again
as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to taste and distribute ecstatic spiritual
love through the saṅkīrtana movement. In doing so, He showed us
the simplest way to reach the most intimate level of liberation.
But the darkness of Kali hid this blessing from the world.
Then, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you came to let the light of Mahāprabhu’s
mercy shine throughout the world and dispel the darkness of
material suffering.
While people were obsessed with finding solutions to their
endless problems, you spoke the simple truth, that the real problems
are birth, old age, disease, and death. Repeatedly you warned us
of the nature of the material world, where suffering and death
are inevitable.
With the coming of the coronavirus, the world is now on its
knees in fear, confusion, and despair. This is but a glimpse of what
will come in Kali-yuga. But, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you enlightened us
with an eternal truth, where Kṛṣṇa’s love and endless joy are forever
awaiting. Every situation is an opportunity to seek shelter in God’s
grace and share this mercy among devotees. In this spirit, as a
devotional community, we have the chance to share the treasure of
bhakti with the world.
As the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa’s divine grace, you pleaded with us
to rise above petty differences and distractions and unite to receive
and distribute Lord Caitanya’s mercy. In your compassion for all
beings, you taught us the purest meaning of love. You entrusted
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us with the holy names, a medicine that can immunize all of us
from the pandemic of ignorance and all its subsequent sufferings.
You opened the gates to the spiritual world, which is seated in our
own hearts, where Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gopīnātha will smile upon us and
welcome us home.
I pray, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you will please help me overcome
my seemingly endless pathetic weaknesses, so that my every
heartbeat may be an offering of love and gratitude to you.
An aspiring servant of your servants,

Rādhānāth Swami
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Bhakti Prabhupāda-vrata Dāmodara Swami


On this most auspicious day of his Vyāsa-pūjā observance, I humbly
submit the following stunted effort at poetry in glorification of His
Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, our most
amazing founder-ācārya.
*******************************************************
Then and Now

His potency survives his physical frame
As he continues spreading the Holy Name
While impelling TOVP’s construction completion
And inspiring ISKCON’s worldwide preaching.
How wonderful his glories shine so that they never wane,
Despite his seeming absence from this risky mundane plane.
Was he really ever of the world despite appearing in it?
Is he not as well among us still, despite his seeming exit?
The sense that Śrīla Prabhupāda’s so mercifully right here, tho,
Depends upon to what extent his instructions we adhere to.
We can’t expect consistent and continuous uplifting
If, estranged from the founder’s mood and mission, we blithely go
a-drifting.
As one prabhu’s “principle” another’s “detail” figures,
Dispute, debate, and fretful schism such confusion triggers.
Yet solution, much to our relief, is not that far away:
To simply hear with open heart and willingness to stay
The course of bhakti toward the shade of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet
While sheltered in the dust of those of Prabhupāda, how sweet!
(And now a personal question, disciple to guru . . . )
O most dear master, do you perhaps still remember me?
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That deranged and unhinged “Lon” who was such a sight to see?
(This was, of course, in ISKCON’s bare beginning ice-break phase,
When we hippies loitered here and there, the latest sudden craze.)
You might recall my anxious dad who somehow came to ask you
For advice on what to do about his wild offspring, all askew.
On that occasion Your Divine Grace euphemistically replied,
“There is something wrong with that boy,” (which Poppa Herb
could not deny).
“But we can fix him up!” you added, full of confidence and light,
Now (although I still have miles to go) this is somehow proving
right . . .
(And just wondering, imagining . . . )
If now were 1966 and I were to visit you as now I am indeed,
You’d find me so much easier to teach and sow the bhakti seed.
I would even be your three-year senior—Oh just imagine that!
And sober ’nough for shelter at your lotus feet, there in your flat.
(Transcending temporal, spatial considerations . . . )
Coming from the matchless gift of your pure śāstric teaching,
We learn of four “eternals” coalescing, inter-reaching.
When the fortunate living entity finally comes to his real senses
By reviving his eternal dharma, surpassing all three tenses,
He meets the Supreme Eternal for loving reciprocation,
In none other than the Supreme Abode, beyond mundane location.
Thus, as you explain, four eternals, “sanātanas”—eternal jīva, eter-
nal dharma, eternal Supreme Lord, eternal abode—all converge
to meet, as well as you, my glorious master, having saved me, will
then greet.
(So, I fervently pray . . .)
All glories to Your Divine Grace, whose mercy is all that I am made
of.
Your yet aspiring servant,

Bhakti Prabhupāda-vrata Dāmodara Swami
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Keśava Bhāratī Dāsa Goswami
My dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept millions of my heartfelt obeisances in the dust of
your lotus feet.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, service to your lotus feet, to your instructions—
especially through your translations of and Bhaktivedanta purports
to the most essential works of the vast Vedic scripture, the source
of all knowledge—are my life and soul. Indeed, hearing and
distributing this transcendental sound is my very life.
Your Divine Grace, for your pleasure, kindly let me attempt to
glorify you on this holiest of days marking the 124th anniversary of
your appearance in this world.
Your service to your Guru Mahārāja and to the mission of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu is unique in history. No one else could spread
pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout the entire world in so many
languages and transplant it into so many cultures. The ways to
examine that uniqueness are myriad, but I would like to focus on
one aspect of your unique greatness. You mentioned it in a room
conversation in Melbourne, Australia, in April of 1976:
Brian Singer: When you become Kṛṣṇa conscious,
does it mean you come into the chapel, or can you
lead the sort of life that we lead and still . . . ?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: No, going to the chapel, that is one

of the means. But there are nine different processes, of
which hearing about Kṛṣṇa is the most important thing,
śravaṇam. If you continuously hear about . . . Therefore
these books are there, hearing and chanting. If you
cannot read, I’ll read; you hear. I’ll speak. Or you will
speak; I’ll hear. These two processes are very important.
Therefore we are presenting in English language the
subject matter of Kṛṣṇa so elaborately. We have published
eighty-two books like this. If you read one book . . . This
is the preliminary study. Then, if you read it with great
attention, you become Kṛṣṇa conscious immediately. Then
you understand about Kṛṣṇa from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
in sixty books, and then you enjoy the transcendental
pleasure in Caitanya-caritāmṛta in seventeen books. So
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you cannot finish even within your life, so many books
are there. And you’ll forget reading other books.
Brian Singer: We’ll just . . . ?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: The first book of reading is this,

Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is well known all
over the world. Every scholar, religionist, everyone
reads, all over the world. But sometimes they are
misinterpreted foolishly. We are therefore presenting
Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any foolish interpretation.
What Kṛṣṇa says, we repeat the same thing.
Brian Singer: Do you find that in the translation

from the thoughts and the Sanskrit to the English
words, then from the English words to the mass of the
people’s heads, do you find that there is much loss?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: No, if you have grasped the thought,

that you can express in any language. But if you cannot
grasp the thought, then you cannot express. . . . Our
translation is that we have to receive the thoughts as it is
by the paramparā system. Therefore it is presented so nicely,
and people like it. . . . It is the value of the subject matter.
That we have to receive from authorities. Just like any
scientific book, say medical science. You cannot understand
medical science [just] by reading the books. It must be
received through a medical man. Then it will be clear.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, the entire International Society for Krishna
Consciousness is expanding all over the world on the basis of the
transcendental literature you have published and continue to publish
to this day through your Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. And as you said
yourself in the introduction to your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is:
Recently an American lady asked me to recommend
an English translation of Bhagavad-gītā. Of course in
America there are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā
available in English, but as far as I have seen, not only in
America but also in India, none of them can be strictly
said to be authoritative because in almost every one of
them the commentator has expressed his own opinions
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without touching the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā as it is.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, throughout your Bhaktivedanta purports you
repeatedly touch on this concept of how to properly grasp the
thoughts contained in the Vedic literature and to explain those
intricate spiritual concepts with realization so that any honest
and reasonable person who hears them will be able to properly
understand them. The result? You did the seemingly impossible.
You were able to explain the essence of the Absolute Truth, which
is the goal of the Vedas (Bg. 15.15), in a way that any sincere person
can understand that God, the Absolute Truth, the source of all
knowledge, must be a person.
We are propagating the Krishna Consciousness movement
simply by following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu. We may not be very well versed in the
Vedānta-sūtra aphorisms and may not understand their
meaning, but we follow in the footsteps of the ācāryas,
and because of our strictly and obediently following
in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, it is to
be understood that we know everything regarding the
Vedānta-sūtra. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.148, purport]
One can overcome all misconceptions and entanglement

in the material world by practicing bhakti-yoga, and
therefore Vyāsadeva, acting on the instruction of
Śrī Nārada, has very kindly introduced Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam to relieve the conditioned souls from the
clutches of māyā. Lord Caitanya’s spiritual master
instructed Him, therefore, that one must read Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam regularly and with scrutiny to gradually
become attached to the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.73, purport]
Personal realization does not mean that one should, out

of vanity, attempt to show one’s own learning by trying to
surpass the previous ācārya. One must have full confidence
in the previous ācārya, and at the same time one must
realize the subject matter so nicely that he can present
the matter for the particular circumstances in a suitable
manner. The original purpose of the text must be maintained.
No obscure meaning should be screwed out of it, yet it
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should be presented in an interesting manner for the
understanding of the audience. This is called realization.
[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.4.1, purport; emphasis in original]
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in my offerings to you over the past five years,
I have tried to document your desire that we constantly read your
books, especially out loud to one another, as you explained above
to Brian Singer, in order to understand how to chant the holy
names properly, without offense, and achieve love of God through
nāma-saṅkīrtana.
This is not my word; this is Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
You have to associate with kīrtana. The reading
is also kīrtana, and chanting on the beads, that is
also kīrtana. There is no difference. So make your
life in such a way. Either chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or read
books. [Lecture, 27 February 1975, Miami]
Persons conducted by such a conception of life can never

get liberation from material bondage. But even a person
perpetually condemned to the miseries of material
existence can get relief from bondage if he simply agrees
to hear only kṛṣṇa-kathā. In this Age of Kali, the process
of hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā is the most effective means of
gaining release from unwanted family affection and thus
finding permanent freedom in life. The Age of Kali is
full of sinful reactions, and people are more and more
addicted to the qualities of this age, but simply by hearing
and chanting of kṛṣṇa-kathā one is sure to go back to
Godhead. Therefore, people should be trained to hear
only kṛṣṇa-kathā—by all means—in order to get relief
from all miseries. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.5.44, purport]
The holy name and the Lord are identical. One who is
completely free from the clutches of māyā can understand
this fact. This knowledge, which is achieved by the
mercy of the spiritual master, places one on the supreme
transcendental platform. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
presented Himself as a fool because prior to accepting the
shelter of a spiritual master He could not understand that
simply by chanting one can be relieved from all material
conditions. But as soon as He became a faithful servant
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of His spiritual master and followed his instructions,
He very easily saw the path of liberation. Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu’s chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra must be
understood to be devoid of all offenses. The ten offenses
against the holy name are as follows: (1) to blaspheme
a devotee of the Lord, (2) to consider the Lord and the
demigods to be on the same level or to think that there
are many gods, (3) to neglect the orders of the spiritual
master, (4) to minimize the authority of scriptures (Vedas),
(5) to interpret the holy name of God, (6) to commit sins
on the strength of chanting, (7) to instruct the glories
of the Lord’s name to the unfaithful, (8) to compare the
chanting of the holy name with material piety, (9) to be
inattentive while chanting the holy name, and (10) to
be attached to material things in spite of chanting the
holy name. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.73, purport]
Śrīla Prabhupāda, every day for the past two years I have been
reading out loud, over the internet, your translations, cover to cover,
of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, including your
Bhaktivedanta purports. Now the fruits are beginning to show and
to ripen. Please allow me to share an atomic drop of what is possible
by associating with you through hearing your transcendental books,
even as a worldwide health crisis plunges the world into chaos,
forcing the total lockdown of entire countries, even shutting down
the normal activities of ISKCON’s temples.
The following is a sample from the many letters I am receiving,
this one from a devotee who has been listening every day to the
Facebook page “Daily Readings of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Books”
(which is now available on a YouTube channel of the same name):
Mahārāja, I’d like to share a little update with you on my
reading groups in Sydney because I know that you are
enthused by sharing and reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books
and you are encouraging devotees to also do this—and
that’s what’s given me the enthusiasm to try and do this
service. Here in Sydney we’re quickly moving towards
lockdown like other countries. I’m mostly at home; however
my reading groups are getting bigger even though they are
all online now and this is really very blissful. This pandemic
has meant people have more anxiety and uncertainty in
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their lives but also more time to search for spiritual solace.
Here’s something that might be nice to share with

you. Yesterday after we read from the 6th chapter of
Bhagavad-gītā on my zoom group, I asked each participant
to write a few words about what the reading meant
to them. Carole, a 76-year old lady from a country
town who just joined yesterday, and was reading
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books for the very first time, said
“As we were reading I felt like things I knew deep
down, things I’d lost, were being renewed.” Isn’t that
nice! It just shows how Śrīla Prabhupāda’s words are
able to reach sincere seekers of all backgrounds.
Your servant,
Vilasa Manjari devi dasi

My dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is no way to repay you for the
causeless mercy you have given the world. So again and again, and
yet again, I pray to you that I may be able to continue to live in the
abode of your transcendental books and to serve you by sharing
with as many people as I can the bliss of hearing out loud your
transcendental books and spreading this process of bhakti-yoga by
associating with you, who are uniquely empowered to deliver the
Absolute Truth to anyone who agrees to hear sincerely, submissively,
without argument, from Your Divine Grace.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Keśava Bhāratī Dāsa Goswami
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Pārtha Sārathi Dās Goswami

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine
Grace. All glories to our guru-paramparā.
I recently memorized a statement from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta,
Madhya 22, Chapter Summary: “The fact is that devotional service
is bestowed by the blessings of a pure devotee (sa mahātmā su-
durlabhaḥ). . . . [O]ne has to receive his mercy for one’s dormant
Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be awakened.”
From this statement I can understand that whatever
advancement I’ve made, whatever position I’m in, is simply due to
your causeless mercy.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has also said that
mercy (kṛpā) is more important than endeavor. Of course, endeavor
is required, and therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in Text 3 of his
Nectar of Instruction:
utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt
saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati
There are six principles favorable to the execution of

pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2)
endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting
according to regulative principles [such as śravaṇaṁ
kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam—hearing, chanting, and
remembering Kṛṣṇa], (5) abandoning the association
of non-devotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of
the previous ācāryas. These six principles undoubtedly
assure the complete success of pure devotional service.
But ultimately, it is mercy that carries us through the different levels
of sāmānya-bhakti to bhāva-bhakti to prema-bhakti.
Some context: Presently it is lockdown. I am fortunate to be
staying at Govardhana Hill. The house I am staying in is behind the
ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Ashram. Every evening I sit on the rooftop
and watch the sun (Vivasvān) set over Girirāja Govardhana, and it
is like a crimson silken veil that Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī might wear. The
wind (Vāyu) blows pleasantly, and the moon (Candra) is shining.
In two days it will be pūrṇimā, the full moon, and it is going to be a
special pink moon.
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During this lockdown I see children playing on the roofs. I
offer my respects to the pigeons, to the starlings, to the kalpa-vṛkṣa
trees, to the cows, to the dogs, to the pigs, to the Brajabāsīs, and
even to the mosquitoes that are trying to taste my blood. I am
fortunate to be at the best place in this material world, in the shade
of Girirāja Govardhana.
When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked Rāmānanda Rāya where is
the best place for a devotee to practice devotional service, Rāmānanda
Rāya replied, vraja-bhūmi vṛndāvana yāhāṅ līlā-rāsa: “He should live in
the holy place known as Vṛndāvana or Vrajabhūmi, where the Lord
performed His rāsa dance.” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.254)
Somehow I am here at Govardhana Hill, at least until the
lockdown is lifted. What better place to be than in the association of
Giriraja Govardhana!
All this is your mercy upon me. Your mercy has also extended to
tens of thousands of followers, admirers, disciples, granddisciples,
and great-granddisciples.
I repeatedly commit myself to practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness
within your personal mission, the International Society for Krishna
Consciousness. I pray that I can continue to get the association of
your beloved disciples and granddisciples. Just today I got an email
from one of my senior śikṣā-gurus, enquiring about my welfare.
Due to your potency, you have made so many wonderful disciples,
granddisciples, and great-granddisciples—to whom I repeatedly
offer my respects. Simply remembering their holy names can purify
me. As it is said in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 12.92), “Simply by
remembering the names of all these Vaiṣṇavas, one can attain the lotus
feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Indeed, simply by remembering
their holy names, one achieves the fulfillment of all desires.”
Of course, this particular verse by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja
refers to the Vaiṣṇavas listed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapters
10–12, but your beloved disciples and granddisciples are also exalted
Vaiṣṇavas. So I can remember their names and chant their names—it
is like offering oblations of ghee into the fire.
Thank you for allowing me to associate with you through
your sound vibration—listening to your lectures and reading
your commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Thank you for allowing me to worship
your mūrti form.
I was extremely fortunate that when you visited South Africa in
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October 1975 for nineteen days, I was able to serve you. At that time
I was the pūjārī and engaged in service of offering you guru-pūjā and
applying candana paste to your forehead.
I hope in the very near future I can get your personal association.
Wherever you want me to go upon leaving this body is your desire
and the desire of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I would very much
like to associate with you in Goloka Vṛndāvana. But if you want
me to take birth again within ISKCON, then that will also be my
pleasure. I would imagine it would be South Africa again, since I
have been there attempting to preach and establish your mission for
forty-six years.
In Jaiva-dharma, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura states that a
madhyama-bhakta does not desire to live and does not desire to die
but simply wants to perform bhajana and accept whatever is the
desire of Lord Caitanya.
Of course, I am not a madhyama-bhakta, nor am I an advanced
kaniṣṭha-bhakta, but I am a beginning kaniṣṭha-bhakta. The prerequisite
for becoming an uttama-bhakta is to become a madhyama-bhakta. And
a prerequisite for becoming a madhyama-bhakta is to become a mature
kaniṣṭha-bhakta. And a prerequisite for becoming a mature kaniṣṭha-
bhakta is to become a beginning kaniṣṭha-bhakta, who at least bows
down to the Deity and follows the principles.
I pray that your personal preaching mission will continue and
become more established. And, in the mood of Vāsudeva Datta, I
pray that all living entities can be relieved of their material desires
and the reactions of their sinful activities and become liberated.
It would seem that Vāsudeva Datta has influenced you in this
particular mood, since you have preached extensively not only in
India but also in the Western countries.
Thank you once again for engaging me in your service and in
the service of our guru-paramparā. I unlimitedly take the dust of my
godbrothers, godsisters, and your granddisciples, koṭi koṭi times.
Your servant,
Pārtha Sārathi Dās Goswami
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Candramauli Swami


vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
In these difficult times of the worldwide spread of pestilence,
more than ever your words, containing both philosophical
instructions and practical guidance, are the life-giving elixir of our
execution of devotional service.
You once said that just as an expert businessman makes a profit
whether the price of rice goes up or down, similarly an intelligent
devotee can take advantage of any material situation to generate
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Things that would ordinarily be deemed
good or bad have pratically no effect on a devotee who carefully
applies your instructions in each and every situation. The spread
of the coronavirus has inspired devotees to find novel ways to reach
out to the conditioned souls with the message of chanting the holy
names of Kṛṣṇa.
Your words always offer the devotees clarity of vision and perfect
guidance amidst material calamities:
Rāmeśvara: [I]f there is a war between Russia

and America, there would be a nuclear war and
they would pollute the whole atmosphere with
radioactive particles, which would kill everyone.
Prabhupāda: It is already polluted.
Rāmeśvara: They say that this radioactive fall-out . . .
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Prabhupāda: The whole material world is polluted. Who
will live here? A little, say, twenty years before, dying.
After all, you have to die, twenty years after or twenty
years before. So it is already polluted. That is humbugism.
They will die at the end, but still they are trying to live.
Tamāl Kṛṣṇa: Like they’re creating their own . . .
Prabhupāda: This is the difference between man

of knowledge and without knowledge. A man of
knowledge will think, “After all, I have to die. So what
is the difficulty, dying a few days more or before?” That
is knowledge. And those who are not in knowledge,
they are afraid of death. Best business is before the
death comes let us finish our Kṛṣṇa consciousness
perfectly. That is wanted. Death will come. You cannot
avoid it. [Morning Walk, Māyāpur, 4 April 1975]
Our real business, as you have repeatedly said, is to become Kṛṣṇa
conscious and give the message of devotion to Kṛṣṇa to others.
You instructed us not to be overly concerned about the particular
material situation we’re in, to accept everything as an opportunity to
preach and advance spiritually.
[Translation:] Devotees solely engaged in the
devotional service of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life.
For them the heavenly planets, liberation, and the
hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees
are interested only in the service of the Lord.
[Purport:] Pārvatī might naturally have inquired how

devotees become so exalted. Therefore this verse explains
that they are nārāyaṇa-para, simply dependent on Nārāyaṇa.
They do not mind reverses in life because in the service of
Nārāyaṇa they have learned to tolerate whatever hardships
there may be. They do not care whether they are in heaven
or in hell: they simply engage in the service of the Lord.
This is their excellence. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: they
are liberally engaged in the service of the Lord, and
therefore they are excellent. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.17.28]
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, the coronavirus can in some ways be termed “the
karuṇa virus,” since we are finding more opportunity to spread
Kṛṣṇa consciousness and strengthen one another in our practice of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Your words are literally life-giving and life-saving.

Candramauli Swami
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Bhakti Caitanya Swami
My dear lord and master Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Now the world is in the grip of a fever regarding the so-called
coronavirus. I have been wondering how you would have reacted to
all this. I feel you would point out how the material world is always
full of danger, and that this is just a further example of that.
Currently I am in our Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple in
Durban, South Africa, and we are under what is called “lockdown,”
meaning that no one in the country can go out of their houses unless
they have an extremely good reason. We have not had a regular
preaching program for almost two weeks, and we don’t know when
we will be able to have one, although it will not be soon.
I remember that when you were with us there were accusations in
America that we were “brainwashing” people to get them to become
devotees. Some devotees did not know how to respond to these
accusations, but you, as always, were very clear about addressing
the situation. You said:
Yes. We are brainwashing from bad to good. That is our
business. We are washing the brain from all rascaldom.
That is our business. . . . Your brain is filled up with all
rubbish things: meat-eating and illicit sex, gambling. So
we are washing them. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. Śṛṇvatāṁ
sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ / hṛdy antaḥ-stho
hy abhadrāṇi. Abhadrāṇi washing. Abhadrāṇi means bad
things. The bad things should be washed off. Don’t you
cleanse your home? Don’t you cleanse your room? Is
not that brainwashing? So if you wash your room very
cleansed, who blames you? But you are so rascal that
“Why you are washing this garbage?” you are protesting.
[Conversation on train to Allahabad, 11 January 1977]
You also said:
If you have got brain . . . You are trying to brainwash.
Actually you have no brain . . . see how important it
is, this movement. You are trying to brainwash. We
are not brainwashing. We are giving you good brain.
That is our mission—that you are so dull-headed
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we have come to give you good brain. Su-medhasaḥ.
Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. We
have come to make you intelligent. Receive us well,
for your benefit. Tell them like that. Bring one court
case, and I shall sit . . . [I shall] go and sleep there and
expose them, item by item. I know my case is strong.
[Room conversation, 2 November 1976, Vṛndāvana]
So I am sure you would have many things to say to clarify how this
virus situation has arisen due to the degraded habits of the majority
of people, and you would have many ideas how we can make the
most of this situation and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness under these
circumstances, even though so many people and countries have
become practically paralyzed and have no idea what to do.
In your purport to Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.31–32, you write:
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to invent a way
to capture the Māyāvādīs and others who did not take
interest in the Krishna Consciousness movement. This
is the symptom of an ācārya. An ācārya who comes for
the service of the Lord cannot be expected to conform
to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means
by which Kṛṣṇa consciousness may be spread.
By your mercy devotees are finding ways to preach Kṛṣṇa
consciousness through the internet and similar means, and some
extraordinary results are coming.
In many ways your example and instructions were revolutionary,
and therefore your movement has had such an effect on this world.
We are praying on this most sacred day to get a little empowerment
from you so we can represent you and carry things on in ways that
you will be pleased. Only in this way can we be successful.

Bhakti Caitanya Swami
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Bhaktimārga Swami


Your Picture on the Wall

A picture of you came my way,
All framed and looking good,
With pilot-type cap, shawl on shoulder,
Head tilted up as far as you could.
A pūjārī gave it with intent

To be hung on the wall
For all to see and inspire
Any eyes who pass the hall.
It reminds us as to who is boss.

No question as to who sets the tone.
Your caring, commanding face says,
“I’m with you; you’re not alone.”
You were present in the summer of ’75,

Inspecting the building’s levels and floors.
You gave a nod to make the purchase,
From basement to roof and all corridors.
You expressed approval with the words

“This will suit our purposes.”
You warned there’d be anxiety—
Help did come from divine sources.
The Christian owners said frank and bold,

“We would rather burn it down
Than sell to the Hare Krishnas.”
I guess they wanted us out of town.
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You proposed we’d install Jesus
For daily worship/meditation.
The owners refused, wouldn’t budge.
We secured the place with mild perpetration.
It has all worked out for so many years—

Service at 243 Avenue Road.
Your visage that hangs on the modest wall
Tells, “For Kṛṣṇa, accept a load.”
Once a church, now a temple.

The aim of both was the same:
To love and serve each and all
With concentration on His name.
Your servant,
Bhaktimārga Swami
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Rāmāi Swami


I offer my respectful obeisances unto my beloved spiritual master,
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is
very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master,
servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the message
of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which
are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, as I was writing this homage, the world
was placed into great difficulty by a new virus that has affected
everyone’s lives. Many people have died, and world leaders have
become perplexed as to what to do. They cannot understand the
subtle laws of karma dictating that when there is an abundance of
sinful life, painful consequences must follow. Everyone is very afraid.
However, as devotees, we are not afraid. A devotee sees the
hand of the Lord in everything, even distress and suffering. He
remains calm and fixed in the service of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Once, you gave a simple definition of
being a Vaiṣṇava. You said that a Vaiṣṇava is happy to sit and chant
Hare Kṛṣṇa, and if there is some service to be done for the Lord, he
will gladly do it.
In your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.22.24 you write:
Sometimes we receive letters from neophyte devotees
questioning why they have fallen sick although pursuing
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They should learn from this verse
that they have to become tolerant (dvandva-titikṣayā).
This is the world of duality. One should not think that
because he has fallen sick he has fallen from Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness can continue without
impediment from any material opposition. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
therefore advises in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.14), tāṁs titikṣasva
bhārata: “My dear Arjuna, please try to tolerate all these
disturbances. Be fixed in your Kṛṣṇa conscious activities.”
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When you were present, you gave us such a beautiful Kṛṣṇa conscious
life to follow, with kīrtana, Deity worship, preaching, prasādam,
etc. If we continuously remember your example and follow your
instructions, we will remain blissful in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, no
matter what our position is in the material world.
With heads in lowly reverence bent,

And filled with thoughts of joy we went,
Wonderful our Deities, true and bold,
Whose ears were ringed with polished gold.
The devotees worked in full accord

To seek the pleasure of the Lord.
We gazed with devoted eyes and heart—
Certainly, this was a beautiful start.
The Lord’s līlās were sweet to hear;

Countless pastimes soothed our ear.
Like the moon that grows so well,
Our bhakti creeper began to swell.
In addition, there was something more,

The dear representative of the Lord
Who came and lifted us up so kindly
From material life—we followed blindly.
We respected him because he spoke the truth

To us who had come from reckless youth.
Divine knowledge our eternal father gave;
Many disciples’ lives did he lovingly save.
Others didn’t know they had this friend.

Why was it so difficult to comprehend?
For those who had spent their lives in māyā,
It was hard to get out and go much higher.
To waste their lives was a sad negligence;

It decreased their spiritual intelligence.
So much misery and suffering all around—
Birth, death, old age, disease in every town.
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But for those who were blessed by Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Their spiritual lives became easy, not very hard.
They attained the service of the Lord so sweet—
Most fortunate to take shelter at His lotus feet.
Your insignificant disciple,

Rāmāi Swami
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Varṣāṇā Swami

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you.
There is more to a story than the narrator knows, more rhythm
in a poem than the poet is aware of, more music to a song than the
composer can hear. Ultimately, the souls of this world express their
heartfelt emotions and creative potential with a yearning hope to
resonate with the universal story of enduring love that conquers
any separation caused by impending death. This longing for a
reality beyond the confines of saṁsāra stirs in the depths of the
archetypal world.
Inspiration has always been drawn from our planet, who
adorns herself in attire perfectly appropriate for each season and
occasion, from springtime flowers to autumn’s crimson foliage.
She forever infuses her various cultures with endless exuberance
to celebrate the gift of life containing the treasure of a potential
relationship with God. Such hope forever resides in our individual
and collective remembrance.
By acknowledging and giving voice to the unspoken wonders of
God’s creation, we are ushered toward a greater Reality beyond the
relative. There, shining forever in the spiritual sky, we are introduced
to the Beauty Who is Truth, the Truth Who is Beauty.
The nature of this highest realm is revealed in the Vedas, yet even
they are unable to understand the mysteries hidden within their own
pages. Śrīla Vyāsadeva therefore continues to write, either directly
or through the ācāryas, to reveal the inner treasure of Vedānta—the
pastimes and precepts of the Golden Avatāra, who joyfully declares
that Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Name personifies the essence and goal of all
the scriptures.
There is so much more to Śrīla Vyāsadeva and his representatives
than that which they speak about themselves. Therefore, the
predecessor is often known more fully through his successors. This
was perfectly demonstrated in the offering you wrote to your beloved
Guru Mahārāja for his Vyāsa-pūjā in 1935. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī was so pleased with your words that he shared them with
the assembled devotees. One verse in particular clearly reveals the
heart of your guru:
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Absolute is sentient,
Thou hast proved,
Impersonal calamity
Thou hast moved.
Overcoming impersonalism necessitates addressing its root:
our conception of God, which is the basis of our worldview and
relationship with everyone and everything within it. The personal
feature of Bhagavān, which your Guru Mahārāja was dedicated
to exalting, while minimized in empiric epistemology, is essential
on the spiritual quest. Your Divine Grace perfectly embodies this
legacy of your guru. Our invocation prayers, meant to acknowledge
and beseech your guidance, grace, and blessings, further serve to
highlight your mission of dispelling the darkness of impersonalism
with the brilliance of Lord Caitanya’s vāṇī.
***
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a bona fide spiritual
master.” (Bhagavad-gītā 4.34)
Prior to my second birth with you as my father, I had turned
to the only scripture I knew, yearning for a personal understanding
of a gracious God. But bereft of the dynamic effects of the guru-
paramparā, despite my sincere efforts and prayers I found the Bible
very perplexing, both as a dutiful child who loved the stories of the
Good Book in my Sunday School, and later as a student of theology
in a Christian college.
Biblical culture places great significance on names, which are
carefully selected to indicate the nature of a person. Understanding
someone’s name assists in developing a relationship with them.
Yet, according to the Bible, God’s foremost name is too sacred, too
powerful, too dangerous, too fearsome to be spoken aloud except
under the most exclusive conditions. Instead, He is primarily
addressed with formal titles and reverential adjectives. How can
a close relationship develop with a God when His intimate name
can never be known? How was I to honor the Biblical mandate to
praise the Holy Name of the Lord without knowing His confidential
name or even being able to freely speak His generic name? Biblical
teachings go so far as to warn that to see His face would cause one’s
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death. How can the most pure, sweet, and innocent sentiments of the
soul find fulfillment in relationship with a vastly distant, faceless,
and often fearsome deity?
***
The notion of divine fecundity within the living, immortal, sacred

Word—the seed of creation and first manifestation of Godhead,
germinating as the physical forms of material elements—finds
expression in the Bible’s opening words, where God speaks: “Let
there be light . . .” The Old Testament introduces the Word of God
and His form of wisdom as spoken with creation to reveal His
hidden design for this world.
Studying the etymological origin of logos—the Word—drew me
into a community of theologians, seekers, and philosophers who
had also pursued a clear understanding of the concept for millennia.
Personally, I felt called to the Gospel of John, knowing intuitively
that I needed to pursue the deep truth within his writings. The
Apostle John was creative and unconventional in articulating, “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.” In John’s Gospel the Word is equated with God,
who first spoke creation into existence and later incarnates as His
representative here on Earth.
John’s perspective was gleaned from the commentaries of those
who had come before him. It left rich sustenance to nourish the
church fathers who would come after. And yet, for me, the Word of
God in the New Testament remained as ambiguous as its parallel,
the Name of God in the Old Testament, though they clearly had a
significant connection. I became increasingly confused and frustrated
as the actual meaning and realization continued to evade my grasp.
My attempts to establish a personal relationship with the God of
the Bible left me with one clear conclusion: the empiric approach to
spiritual truth is helpful mainly insofar as it leads to realizing the
crucial need for a spiritual master’s guidance and shelter.
At this critical juncture, the quest for truth becomes synonymous
with the search for a bona fide spiritual master. The empiricist
accepts, to varying degrees, that seeing is believing. Śrī Guru, from
his higher perspective, declares that believing is seeing. In other
words, submissively hearing from a proper spiritual authority
kindles faith, granting us the assurance of all we hope for and the
firm vision in what is yet to come.
From the stage of finding, serving, and surrendering to the
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proper source, the instructions of Śrī Guru form the crux of the
spiritual quest. The Biblical tradition alludes to the living dynamics
of the guru-paramparā in one of the final statements of Jesus: “I still
have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear to hear them
now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide
you into all truth.” (John 16.12)
These words ringing in my ears marked the conclusion of my
empiric theological studies. I became vigilant, attentively seeking
any intimation of the Spirit of Truth, open to whatever tradition He
chose to reveal himself in.
It was only in hearing first about you from your disciples, and
later hearing directly from you, that I recognized the voice of the
Spirit of Truth within you, who had been guiding me all along to
find your shelter and guidance. In your presence, the Word of God,
Spirit of Truth, and Holy Name all became perfectly integrated in
a most confidential, relational, and personal dynamic. They verily
came to life before my eyes and within my heart. Finally, all that I
had heard and seen before began to fall into proper place and make
perfect sense. It was as if you had me step back far enough to reflect
on the larger picture in which God continues to write the script.
And you, as ācārya, bring the story to life, integrating the spiritual
fruits of wonder, truth, and love with the security of knowing
that eternal service is our birthright—an inheritance bequeathed,
by Your Divine Grace, even to those of us who are deficient in
comprehensive knowledge.
Your commentary on Biblical verses, given from the Vedic view,
illuminated all areas of my former uncertainty, granting congruity
within the nutshell verse, “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In a conversation
in Paris on June 9th, 1974, while discussing these very words, you
crystallized vast theological commentaries into one conclusive truth
by citing a verse from the Padma Purāṇa: “Just parallel to this Bible
passage I’ll quote one Sanskrit verse from the Vedas. Therefore, it
is said, nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ / pūrṇaḥ śuddho
nitya-mukto ’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ.” Your translation of this verse
at Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 17.133 reads, in part, “The holy name
of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful . . . because the name of Kṛṣṇa
and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.”
The supreme theology revealed by Lord Caitanya, elaborated
by the Six Gosvāmīs, and synthesized by yourself explains every
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word, letter, and verbal root in relation to the Supreme Truth—the
Holy Name, who is unique in personifying both the means and
the goal of spiritual perfection. Your elaborations on the absolute
nature of everything connected with Kṛṣṇa make it clear as day that,
objectively speaking, the Word is the Holy Name.
Subjectively, the Word expands as all the instructions needed
for the guidance of disciples under the direction of Śrī Guru, the
agent and representative of Vyāsa. By the grace and blessings of Śrī
Guru, the truth of the Vedas is presented comprehensibly in a most
personal manner. All of our relationships are thereby uplifted to a
more personal nature.
The grace and blessing of Śrī Guru are likened to cintāmaṇi dust
upon his feet. The influence of that dust purifies the heart, enlightens
the consciousness, and fulfills the most cherished desires of the soul.
In your presence we experienced firsthand that the Word of God does
indeed take human form; that the book Bhāgavata speaks to us in and
through the person Bhāgavata, who, for us, is you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
You objected to us literally taking the dust of your lotus feet
upon our heads, assuring us that we could achieve the same result
by sitting and submissively hearing as you spoke from the vyāsāsana.
We were like cakora birds, subsisting only on moonlight, nourished
by the benediction moon shining in the spiritual sky as you reflected,
extended, and revealed it to us. As we heard your narrations with
rapt attention, the spiritual world took shape in our consciousness.
Your words and deeds revealed the luster and wonder of Vṛndāvana
to those living in a mere shadow of reality. Indeed, sacred sound
is the reality it conveys, above and beyond merely representing the
greater reality.
Through your grace, we see this truth manifest in countless
ways. In the beginning of your mission there were no buildings, no
students, no books. You came to the United States without men or
money, equipped only with conviction in Śrī Guru’s instructions, an
implicit faith in the Holy Name, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the literary
incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. By your purely delivering the message of
Godhead and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, all of ISKCON manifested. Thus,
you offered us a living example of the creative power of the Word.
The Spirit of Truth lives in the immortal nectar of your words
and in the echo of your kīrtana. They form the crest jewel of theology,
the very fulfillment of the teachings of Lord Caitanya. The Holy
Name continues to resound and expand to every town and village by
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your divine grace. You being the senāpati-bhakta in Lord’s Caitanya’s
entourage, the essence of your gift to the world, especially here in the
godforsaken Western lands, is the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, the most
confidential hymn of Goloka Vṛndāvana, comprised of the most
endearing names of the Divine Couple. Their ever-expanding līlā is
the original story to which no narration can reach its completion, no
poem can convey in full, no melody sung can be concluded. For as
soon as Kṛṣṇa approaches the extent of His glory, it further expands.
Your cintāmaṇi words bless the earth. They made manifest a
magnanimous place of pilgrimage in the Western world, a replica
of Vṛndāvana in the hills of Appalachia. Here, in New Vṛndāvana,
the effects of Śrī Dhāma enhance all the nine processes of devotional
service for residents and pilgrims alike. Even tourists sense something
special when visiting, thereby reaping the benefits of ajñāta-sukṛti.
Our only access to vraja-līlā is found through your pastimes and
precepts, which are an open book inviting us into its unending story.
Your words form the choicest poetry, suitable for sublime truths,
articulating and echoing the rhyme of endless spiritual rhythms.
Your kīrtana is the hymn of life eternal. You have transformed our lives
into a dance as we follow in your footsteps on the path back to home.
The Spirit of Truth is likened to the wind breathing new life
into hearts who are open to receiving and serving. Your unfailing
influence has touched and transformed countless lives. In your
global community, many stories are told in remembrance and
glorification of you. These accounts may be very different from one
another, some may even seem to conflict. And yet, if we continue our
pursuit to serve the Spirit of Truth, our understanding will mature
by the many ways your love and compassion have touched and
continue to touch countless souls.
By hearing such stories shared, whether through tears or smiles,
words or silence, inquiry or explanation, tenderness or boldness, we
will gradually overcome impersonalism by the supremely personal
touch conveyed in all your words and deeds. We will discern the truth
that we can all remain united and empowered, by the influence of a
Spirit greater than our own, to overcome the quarrel and hypocrisy
so characteristic of this age. We will be reminded that pleasing you
is the most important consideration in life. May we all demonstrate
our love for you in the cooperation needed to extend your legacy.
Unto you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the representative of Vyāsa, who
expand and distill the language of śāstra for the understanding and
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welfare of the world, worship is offered on your appearance day as Śrī
Vyāsa-pūjā, the Most Blessed Event. As the outward manifestation
of Paramātmā, you are the eternal companion, counselor, and
comforter of all souls who find shelter in you. May every Vyāsa-pūjā
offering express our gratitude more deeply, reveal your heart more
clearly, amplify your glories more fully, and bless the world with
ongoing remembrance of you.
Your servant,
Varṣāṇā Swami
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Devāmrita Swami

Please accept my most grateful and respectful obeisances at
your lotus feet.
Far down at the bottom of the Earth, gazing over the Pacific
Ocean, I meditate not on the immense waters, thundering as
countless waves, but on the boundless expanse of your mercy,
dynamically reconnecting us to the Supreme Beloved.
Although the planet Earth contains twice as much water as land,
who today can fully fathom the mysteries of the sea? Oceanographers
are fond of saying that science knows less about the high seas than it
does about . . . the moon.
One day humankind may comprehend the deepest secrets of the
ocean and the moon, but who can ever grasp the depths and scope
of your compassion and mercy?
Dedication to your lotus feet bestows the chance to develop love
for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
How is it that I am allowed to approach your divine lotus feet,
the magnanimous treasure trove of pure bhakti?
Why did you dare engage such a wretch in life’s most exalted
activity: devotional service?
Through the thick and thin of my meager attempts to serve you,
why do you bother to sustain such an inconsequential speck, a most
diminutive insectlike semblance of a devotee?
Akrūra, on his way to Vṛndāvana, beautifully illustrated
the miraculousness of your divine rescue mission, the
incomparable intervention:
Just as a blade of grass floating on the waves of a
river may by chance come near the shore and gain
shelter, a conditioned soul carried away by the waves
of material existence may sometimes be saved by
the grace of Kṛṣṇa. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.38.5]
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu declared to Sanātana

Gosvāmī: “My dear Sanātana, Kṛṣṇa has saved you
from Mahāraurava, life’s deepest hell. He is an ocean
of mercy, and His activities are very grave.”
Swiftly, most appropriately, Sanātana replied: “I do
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not know who Kṛṣṇa is. As far as I am concerned,
I have been released from prison only by Your
mercy.” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 20.63–64]
With the strength you grant, I can then strive to never forget both
the darkest depths of ignorance, from where I came, and the most
exalted destination, to where I can go.
Without at least a lifetime of humble service to your lotus feet,
I’ll never resolve the most confidential perplexity of existence:
Desiring to understand the glory of Rādhārāṇī’s love,
the wonderful qualities in Him that She alone relishes
through Her love, and the happiness She feels when She
realizes the sweetness of His love, the Supreme Lord
Hari, richly endowed with Her emotions, appeared
from the womb of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī, as the moon
appeared from the ocean. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.6]
How is it the Two appear as the One, and the One appears as the
Two?
You have the right to reveal this most oceanic divine mystery.
High above my shameful head, I hold this most precious goal.
Waiting in service, I beg for your glance upon me and for your
eternal guidance.
Your hopeful servant,

Devāmrita Swami
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Mahādyuti Swami


Please accept my obeisances. All glories to you!
I don’t feel qualified to say I love anyone; I don’t consider myself
spiritually advanced enough to feel real love. If, however, I do love
anyone, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I love you—for the simple reason that you
saved my life and you continue to save it. You have also saved and
continue to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of other people.
That saving of which I speak, however, is not just the holy name
you’ve given us to chant and the philosophy you’ve given us to
study. Rather, the greatest gift you’ve given us is the opportunity
to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness on behalf of you and Lord Caitanya.
As a child and teenager, I didn’t think much about helping other
people. I mainly thought about my own sense gratification. But after
twenty years in this body, I started to develop a desire to do good for
others. Yet I had no idea how. Though I tried various ways, none of
them seemed to suffice.
When I met your disciples, they told me that spreading Kṛṣṇa
consciousness is the highest welfare work. They told me that the
chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa goes directly to the soul, without having
to pass through layers of mind or intelligence. I didn’t understand
exactly, but it sounded good.
I visited their temple to learn more. On that first visit, they
took me out to chant with them in a crowded, sensual part of the
city. I was amazed to see that the joyful kīrtana seemed insulated
from the surrounding degradation by an invisible bubble. People
stopped, apparently involuntarily—stunned, it seemed to me, by
the transcendental sound vibration going directly to their hearts.
They had gotten in touch with Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. They were being unwittingly purified. And those
interested got a Back to Godhead magazine that explained what they
were experiencing. This I knew was what I had been seeking; this
was indeed the highest welfare work. I was sure that this was the
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work to which I wanted to dedicate my life.
That night, one of the brahmacārīs shaved my head, and I
became a temple resident. The next morning, less than twenty-four
hours into my first visit to a Hare Kṛṣṇa temple, I was on full-time
saṅkīrtana. I was happier than I’d ever been in my life; now, by Your
Divine Grace, I finally had a mission that would make people happy
forever. (Many years later, I heard you say that the purpose of the
Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to make people happy. And when
a professor in Mexico City asked you the purpose of life, you replied
that the purpose of life is ānanda.)
We often hear that the chanting of the holy names is the yuga-
dharma for this age. A verse in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 3.40),
however, goes a step further with the word pracāra—that the yuga-
dharma is not only to chant the holy names but to “broadcast the
glories of the holy name.”
This was your emphasis, Śrīla Prabhupāda: you yourself were
always preaching as well as engaging others in preaching the glories
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, especially in the form of
His holy names.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for sacrificing your life to empower
us to help you in your most blissful service of spreading the glories
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in a mostly unreceptive and
ungrateful world steeped in materialism and impersonalism.
All glories to you!
Your servant,
Mahādyuti Swami
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Nirañjana Swami

Please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your lotus
feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant
of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the
message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries,
which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
Today is the anniversary of your divine appearance in this
world. I therefore do not want to miss this opportunity to describe a
small drop of the ocean of mercy you have bestowed upon this most
wretched and fallen soul.
You made your way into my life when I was just under twenty
years old. Well, actually, you made your first attempt to pluck me
out of this illusory mess when I was seventeen. But I was just too
dull to take notice.
It was September 1970. I was walking into a building at the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst to purchase books for my
freshman courses. Just by the entrance, one of your followers was
sitting at a table with a small display of your literature. I stopped,
looked at the display, picked up a booklet, glanced at the cover, took
another look at your follower, thought he looked much too strange
to take seriously, quickly dropped the booklet back where it came
from, and then just continued on as usual, as I had been programmed
to live since time immemorial. I had “more important” books to fill
my backpack with—textbooks on psychology 101, computer science,
calculus, and chemistry, and a few other books not essential for
spiritual life.
Later that same day, while walking into the back entrance of my
dormitory, I saw this same follower of yours sitting cross-legged on
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the grass a short distance away. This time he looked even stranger—
his eyes were closed, his head was rhythmically bouncing back and
forth, and all it looked like to me was that he was talking to himself.
I distinctly remember feeling relieved that I hadn’t taken him
seriously. Little did I know the insidiousness behind that illusory
relief I was feeling at the time.
Looking back, my life during those college years, from 1970 to
1972, can be best described in one word: insane. I tried so hard to
extract pleasure from the mind, body, and senses. It seemed as if
there was nothing I wasn’t willing to try. That illusory relief I felt
from not answering your first call was very short-lived. māyā held me
tightly in her clutches and relentlessly pierced me with her trident
of the threefold miseries. But I didn’t want to give up her embrace.
It was in the autumn of 1972 that I wandered into a bookstore
looking for a book on yoga. I’m sure you must know this story quite
well. I will therefore not go into all the details. This time, however,
you cracked the code of that same program on which I had been
operating ever since māyā had captured me so long ago.
What happened is that this time not only did I pick up one
of your books once again, but I glanced through it. It was your
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and becoming attracted by the illustration of a
yogī, I decided to purchase the book and take it with me. That same
day I started reading it, and I continued to do so every evening after
returning from work.
I had doubts about what I was reading, but there was something
in it all that started to convince me you were telling me the truth.
Nobody had ever told me the truth the way you spoke it to me. It
resonated in my heart, it shook my deep-rooted misconceptions of
life to the core, and it gave me a strong sense of a purpose for living—
something about which I had seriously been asking myself again and
again. “What is my purpose for living?” Finally, you appeared in my
life to answer this and so many of my other unanswered questions.
Not long thereafter I left my external attachments behind and
began offering myself to you more and more in your service. Those
times were bittersweet. Bitter because I realized that in my heart I
was still clinging to the attachments I had left behind. But sweet
because you were there to reconfirm again and again in my heart
that you would also be there to help me if I would remember and
depend on your instructions.
I continued to serve in the association of your disciples, and
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shortly thereafter, in a letter dated May 27, 1974, you accepted me as
your disciple, gave me the name Nirañjana dāsa, and instructed my
temple president, Trai Prabhu:
Keep him carefully now. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means
to create ideal men, so you must set the example
in following the rules and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra and see that others are doing it also.
Those words—“Keep him carefully now”—never cease to amaze
me. Such an inconceivable blessing to know that you even wanted
me to be kept carefully. What unimaginable good fortune!
These words continue to give me great hope. They mean that
not only then but now and on into the never-ending future you must
have some use for this fallen and incognizant jīva. Otherwise, why
would you want me to be kept carefully?
These thoughts have become and remain a fundamental purpose
for my living and serving . . . while patiently waiting for the time
when you will call me to your lotus feet once again, wherever you
are and for whatever reason you wanted me to be kept carefully for
some future service.
On this most auspicious day of your divine appearance, I thank
you again and again for your unlimited care for me.
Thank you for the holy name emanating from your lotus lips, for
your books, for your lectures, for your bhajans, for your instructions,
for calling Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gopīvallabha to manifest Themselves before
us, for your movement, for establishing temples and Deities in the
holy dhāmas, for my godbrothers and godsisters, who always remind
me about my eternal debt to you, and for your granddisciples and
future followers about whom you also very much care. I also thank
you for transparently connecting me to all of our previous ācāryas,
whose sublime teachings nourish me in my efforts to please you.
Your eternal debtor, always at your lotus feet,

Nirañjana Swami
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Bhakti Rāghava Swami
“I was born in the darkness of ignorance, and my spiritual master
opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge. I offer my
respectful obeisances unto him.”
oṁ śrī surabhyai namaḥ! oṁ śrī gurave namaḥ!
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All
glories to Your Divine Grace on this, your 124th sacred Appearance
Day Anniversary.
I write this offering from the Sahyadri Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Kṣetra
(SSKBK) farm project in South India, amidst the unfolding pandemic
caused by the unabated spread of the life-threatening coronavirus,
or COVID-19, which has already claimed the lives of some 20,000
people on different continents. Naturally, all of us are reminded of
your invaluable instructions and numerous warnings regarding the
dangers of a civilization that is hellbent on acquiring material things
to feed a life of ever-increasing consumerism in the vain pursuit of
peace and happiness.
For devotees in general, and for the world at large, the pandemic
should serve as a wakeup call for us to return to the basics of life,
which are ultimately to be found in the fundamental teachings of
the Vedic culture:
Human society needs only sufficient grain and sufficient
cows to solve its economic problems. All other things but
these two are artificial necessities created by man to kill his
valuable life at the human level and waste his time in things
which are not needed. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.2.29, purport)
I remain forever indebted to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for having
sacrificed so much to transmit the pure knowledge of the Vedic
tradition. You were ideal and perfect in everything you said and
everything you did. The world will gradually come to understand
this more and more, but the longer it delays, the longer the calamities
will continue to increase.
In 2016, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of your establishing
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ISKCON in New York City. Over the last four years and until the
Golden Jubilee of your disappearance on 2 November 2027, we will
witness more and more fiftieth anniversaries, commemorating
temple openings, devotees joining your movement, first and second
initiations, sannyāsa initiations (the first one is scheduled for this
year, honoring one of your early sannyāsa disciples, His Holiness
Jayapatāka Swami), books translated and published—all attesting to
your true greatness and potency.
Many of your disciples have already left this world, and within
the next ten years the vast majority of us will be breathing our last.
The journey has been glorious, although at times tainted with faults
and mistakes. As the Lord’s chosen emissary, you have created
so many moonlike disciples and granddisciples who continue to
spread the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu
despite various obstacles and challenges.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for coming to the West and saving
me from this world of illusion. As you have done for so many others,
you have bestowed your kind mercy upon this unworthy soul.
Please forgive my many faults and shortcomings. May I remain ever
indebted and grateful to you for your love and compassion, which
continue to flow in your nectarean classes and written instructions.
The world has yet to appreciate your unlimited glories.
May you always give me an opportunity to render some little
service for your mission. Please help me to become your worthy son.
I am so proud of having such a glorious father as you.
Aspiring to remain at your lotus feet life after life,

Bhakti Rāghava Swami
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Dhanurdhara Swami
The Highest Scoring Spiritual Performance

I was a fan of watching the Olympics when I was young. One thing
that I found intriguing was that gymnastics and diving competitors
wouldn’t be scored just for the quality of their performance, but the
degree of difficulty of the routine or dive they were attempting. I
had a thought today. Why not use that same lens to increase our
appreciation of what Śrīla Prabhupāda achieved in his mission
by briefly highlighting the degree of difficulty of the task he
accomplished?
For those of you who may not know, Śrīla Prabhupāda crossed
the ocean by steamship in 1965 at the age of seventy to start his world
mission in New York. By the time he left the world twelve years
later, he established over 108 centers worldwide with thousands
of followers dedicated to the promotion of bhakti-yoga, primarily
focused on kīrtana. He also personally translated, expounded upon,
and published over eighty volumes of authentic Indian spiritual
texts, which were then translated into over fifty languages. More
than a half a billion of those books have since been distributed
worldwide. There’s more, but let’s keep our focus on our subject: the
difficulty of his task.
Śrīla Prabhupāda alights on the shore of the New York Harbor
with only eight dollars in his pocket and a trunk of his translated
works. His mission is to spread bhakti and kīrtana in the Western
world and to transplant an ancient culture, which, for all practical
purposes, has never before left the shores of India. He stands there as
a lone man with no backing, followers, or resources directly facing his
opposition to the West – the full force of the most powerful material
civilization known to man. Perhaps an even greater challenge is
where, by providence, he was directed to start his mission.
After a short while in America, he winds up living in the
Bowery sharing a loft with a young man he hopes to teach Sanskrit.
One evening the young man suddenly loses his mind on LSD and
Prabhupāda is forced onto the streets of the Bowery in the depth
of night. With the help of some early followers, he soon settles in
an apartment in the Lower East Side with use of a storefront for his
lectures. The impediments he faces are unimaginable, especially for
a man of his culture.
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“Why have I come to this place? Why have I come to this place?”
he ponders while sitting in his storefront in the Lower East Side,
the last place a devotional, learned, and cultured Bengali Vaiṣṇava
gentlemen would retire to serve his own personal needs. He
immediately answers his own audible reflection, “I was cent per cent
faithful to the order of my spiritual master!” By force of that faith, he
continues with his calling.
He gradually collects a group of sincere young people to help
him. It is by no means easy. His field of potential candidates is not of
any noted culture or training, to say the least. He takes what comes
and tries to train them. One story comes to mind:
A young lady from the Lower East Side joins the
mission and is soon initiated by Śrīla Prabhupāda. To
start his mission, he has no choice but to be extremely
merciful. This young lady, however, hates men. After
six months she requests to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. He
grants her audience. “I have been chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa
for six months, but I just can’t stand worshipping
that man Kṛṣṇa!” Śrīla Prabhupāda, replies without
losing a beat, “That’s OK, we worship Rādhā.”
It is hard to imagine a more insane place to try to transplant
traditional Vaiṣṇava culture than the sex-crazed, drugged-out, hippy
land of the Lower East Side.
Another story comes to mind:
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s new disciples indiscriminately organize
programs for him to share his message of devotion and
culture. They arrange for him to speak at a rally of Louis
Abolafia, the founder of the Naked Party. He is running
for President of the United States with a catchy slogan:
“What have I got to hide?” When Śrīla Prabhupāda enters
the room, the supporters of Louis Abolafia are dressed
as bananas and are wildly dancing, mostly naked. Śrīla
Prabhupāda remains sober, talks briefly, and leaves.
Afterwards one of his disciples informs Śrīla Prabhupāda
that Louis Abolafia couldn’t officially run for President
because he didn’t meet the minimum age required.
Śrīla Prabhupāda finds that hysterical and bursts into
laughter. He certainly had a sense of humor and would
sometimes chuckle or laugh, but the devotees never saw
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him laugh so hard. I can imagine what he was thinking:
“As if his age was the reason he has not qualified!”
It is hard to imagine that a person whose mission was to create a class
of Vaiṣṇava brāhmaṇas actually accomplished it within such a milieu
of madness and at such an advanced age, with challenged health, I
should add. He had suffered two heart attacks on his journey across
the sea. Should not the score of his unprecedented accomplishments
therefore be exponentially increased by the substantial challenges
he faced?
A final story:
It was the disappearance festival of Śrīla Prabhupāda
in 1978. Several of the most distinguished scholars of
Vṛndāvana were assembled to offer their respects. I
remember the homage of one of them. “If Śrīla Haridās
Ṭhākur, Śrīla Rupa Gosvāmī, and Śrīla Prabhupāda
were in the same room and Śrī Caitanya appeared,
who would he go to first? I say Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Who could be more attached to the holy name than
that person who spread it around the world!”
Of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda had just recently passed from this
world and the talks were in the mood of eulogy, but considering
what he accomplished and the degree of difficulty of his task, is it
not possible that we have witnessed the highest-scoring spiritual
performance in the history of Vaiṣṇavism?
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Hanumatpresaka Swami
We offer our humble obeisances to His Divine Grace Śrīla A. C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, author of the book Kṛṣṇa, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, and founder-ācārya of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we suspect that our attempts to illuminate
your glories on your Vyāsa-pūjā day are like a candle trying to
illuminate the sun. The flame just becomes invisible. On the other
hand, if we are allowed to consider the task to be like a fire-fly trying
to illuminate some of the features of your lotus feet, then we might
be able to make a small contribution to today’s activities.
When Your Divine Grace was in Berkeley, California, in 1975, we
heard from your lips that anyone who chants the Pañca-tattva mahā-
mantra and follows it with the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra has achieved
the perfection of life, but that if one wanted to preach one should
read your books.
Then, when asked by a reporter what would happen to your
movement when Your Divine Grace died, you answered firmly that
you would never die—you would live forever in your books.
These two statements are our life and soul.
Thank you.
We try to always be chanting the mahā-mantra internally and
externally under the shelter of Your Divine Grace’s lotus feet, and
over and above that we read and preach from your books.
Now we are reading the Caitanya-caritāmṛta daily before maṅgala-
ārati, and it is 90% a novel experience for us. We understand it with
so much more depth than before. We see that Your Divine Grace’s
book is deep beyond our abilities to plumb.
Then after maṅgala-ārati we read and discuss a little with the
devotees in Spanish. Before we were doing The Nectar of Devotion,
but now we are reading a verse a day from Light of the Bhāgavata. We
find the purports provide direct truth, illumination, on such topics
as veganism, administration in ISKCON, etc.
We conduct a daily Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class. Sometimes it is with
an online group, sometimes at local temples. We are integrating our
study with the development of questions for the Bhakti-vaibhava
diploma with your ISKCON Board of Examinations.
We cite your books from Vedabase.io and the concepts we have
learned therein in our humble attempts to preach in the university,
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Jungian, world classical literature, and interfaith communities.
They are the guide for devotees advancing from ādau śraddhā,
sādhu-saṅga to prema.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We feel we have always been a
heavy load that you have had to drag forward in our purification,
but we are experiencing practical advancement.
We hope that we can be a little, pleasing grain of sand under
your lotus feet in the sandy path that is your ISKCON, helping your
saṅkīrtana expand and expand and expand.
Thank you.
Your very fallen servant,

Hanumatpresaka Swami
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Bhaktivedanta Nemi Swami

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus
feet. All glories to our beautiful rūpānūga guru-varga, to Śrī
Guru-Gaurāṅga-Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
You are a unique ācārya, because you could fully accept your guru
mahārāja’s exalted moods and instructions, and enchant and engage
fallen Westerners. You conquered over every obstacle, and realised
the depths and heights of Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava principles, practice
and perfection. You distributed Vaiṣṇava teachings and realisations
in a way that was previously inconceivable. You also emphasised
varṇāśrama-dharma and scientific preaching as a necessary foundation
for peace and unity in society, and for Krishna Consciousness.
You gave me instructions about self-sufficiency when we
met in Nairobi, and you also chastised me mildly. In London
and in Vṛndāvana, you gave me instructions regarding scientific
preaching. I am trying to manifest a strong, scientific proof of spirit
and refutation of materialism to combine scientific preaching and
varṇāśrama-dharma.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have pointed out the supreme position
for a jīva in the spiritual world, and you have given the practice and
the moods for realising that sublime goal. You have given me beauty
and love and true meaning and purpose. My life is sublime when
I am following and fulfilling your instructions and mission, and
totally worthless otherwise. I pray at your lotus feet for strength to
go on to the very end, following in your footsteps, realising the final
goal of the Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, and serving your inconceivably
beautiful and wonderful and auspicious mission.
Aspiring to be your faithful and loving servant,

Your Bhaktivedanta Nemi Swami
(previously Jñānadāsa)
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Bhakti Sundar Goswami


How I Came to the Shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Lotus Feet

In 1965, the same year that Śrīla Prabhupāda traveled by the
cargo ship Jaladuta to America, I also traveled by ship, from Lebanon
to Venezuela, South America, at the age of fourteen. There was a
plan to send me to a monastery to become a Christian priest, but
at the last minute I decided not to go but rather traveled with my
family to Venezuela. In 1969 I got hold of a record with the songs
from the Broadway musical Hair, one of which featured the chanting
of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So I started chanting the mantra regularly,
since I felt an immediate connection with it without understanding
the actual meaning. Then the song “My Sweet Lord” came out.
“If George Harrison is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it must be incredibly
good and spiritual,” I thought. I also started practicing yoga and
became a vegetarian.
In 1973 I saw the devotees for the first time on a TV show called
“The Show of Richard.” They blissfully chanted the holy name, and
then they started preaching. I listened along with my family. When
I turned up the volume to hear better, my mother got upset. I was
already the black sheep of the family because of my yoga practice
and vegetarian diet. So when I turned up the volume my mother
said, “The only thing left for you to do is to join these Hare Kṛṣṇa
people.” I never thought about it until she said it, but then I thought,
“Why not? It’s a good idea.”
The temple was in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and my
town, Maracay, was two hours away. But one day I saw the devotees
chanting on the streets of my town. They looked really blissful.
“Why can’t I be like them?” I thought. So anyway, to make a long
story short, I then came to know about Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books,
and the book that actually made me a devotee was Śrī Īśopaniṣad.
When I read that book, Śrīla Prabhupāda smashed all my impersonal
ideas about God and the soul, and everything become crystal clear. I
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accepted him in my heart as my spiritual master.
A short while later I decided to move into the temple and become
a full-time monk. I told my parents about my decision. Of course,
they didn’t like it much. My father said, “You always ask me to lend
you my car. I will buy you a new car. Just stay at home and stop your
madness.” My mother was crying, asking me to stay and reminding
me that I was her favorite son. I said to them: “Remember how you
told me long ago that after you lost three sons shortly after birth due
to sickness you went to a Christian Church to pray to God, and you
promised Him that if the next son would survive you would dress
him as a monk for three years and offer him for the Lord’s service?”
The first time I had traveled by ship from Lebanon to Venezuela
was in 1953, when I was two years old. We stopped in Barcelona,
Spain, for a day and took some pictures under a statue of Christopher
Columbus. I was dressed as a little monk. When I later joined the
Krishna Consciousness movement in Venezuela and traveled to
Spain, one day during a japa walk with the devotees in Barcelona
we passed the same statue of Columbus. I told the devotees, “I came
here for the first time at age two dressed as a Christian monk, and
now, by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy, I’ve returned after thirty years as
a Hare Kṛṣṇa monk.”
So, anyway, I told my parents, “You should be happy that I’m
going to become a monk so you can fulfill your promise to God.”
“Well,” they replied, “ we were addressing the Christian God, not
the Hindu God!”
“Then you should have been more specific! Besides, God is
not Christian, Hindu, or Muslim. He is the same God—just with
different names.” Then just to pacify them I said, “If I don’t like the
temple I’ll come back.”
“Please come back soon,” they pleaded.
“Let’s see,” I replied.
I went to join the temple at the beginning of 1974, and my good
friend Havi Dāsa welcomed me, saying, “You look ecstatic, smiling
with eyes like a Chinese!”
I had a wonderful experience while chanting japa of the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mantra for eight hours nonstop. After that experience, I made
up my mind to join the temple as soon as possible. I thought, “This
is what I’ve actually been looking for! This is much better than LSD!”
After two weeks my parents came to visit me. I gave them a tour
of the temple, and they liked it very much, especially the prasādam.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda had sent a letter to all temples instructing them
that they should have twenty-five plates of prasādam always ready
throughout the day for visiting guests. No guest should leave
without taking prasādam. Thanks to this instruction, I was able to
serve my family the Lord’s mercy.
I asked them, “How did you get the temple address, since I
forgot to give it to you?”
My sister replied, “We went to a psychic to help find you. He
asked for your picture, and then he sent a ghost to find the temple.
That’s how we found it.”
“Really!” I replied. “That’s far out: the ghost did a service by
bringing you to the temple!”
Finally, Śrīla Prabhupāda came to Venezuela on February 18,
1975. On February 22, there was an initiation ceremony, and many
devotees from Venezuela and other Latin American countries were
initiated. When I was called up to receive initiation, Prabhupāda told
me, “Your name is Jagat Cakṣur Dāsa. Jagat Cakṣur means ‘the eye
of the world.’ In whatever situation or place we may be, we should
always feel God’s sight on us. He is the witness of everything we do.
We should always remember that.” Then Prabhupāda pointed at me
and said, “You cannot hide from the eyes of God!”
People were looking at me, thinking “Maybe he did something
wrong.” I felt that Śrīla Prabhupāda was reading my mind, because
sometimes I used to go to the kitchen, steal a mahā sweet, and hide
somewhere to eat it, thinking nobody was watching me. Now I felt
that Prabhupāda had caught me in front of everyone!
This incident made me more Kṛṣṇa conscious, and I appreciated
Prabhupāda’s words very much. In Prabhupāda’s company
everything was surcharged with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and I
felt secure and protected from the illusion of māyā. Prabhupāda
spoke from the transcendental platform, and his nectarean words
penetrated the dense darkness of my heart, enlightening my being
with the clear understanding that I am the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.
The next day I came back from saṅkīrtana a little early and,
forgetting that I was not supposed to pass through Prabhupāda’s
garden, entered it. Prabhupāda was sitting on his rocking chair,
chanting japa. I immediately paid my obeisances, and when I got
up I stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Prabhupāda didn’t pay
much attention to me, since I didn’t have an appointment. But when
he saw I wasn’t leaving, he made a little gesture with his hand, as if
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to ask, “What do you want?”
I said, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, I just came from the city. I was
distributing your books.” We were very enthusiastic to distribute his
books because we knew that Prabhupāda was blessing all the people
of Venezuela through his books.
Prabhupāda softly asked me, “Do the people in Venezuela
like my books?”
I happily replied, “Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda, they love your books.
They always ask me for new titles. The people here are simple but
pious. As soon as they read your books they become very favorable.”
Prabhupāda moved his head from side to side, indicating he was
satisfied, and said, “Come, I have something to give you.”
I followed him to his room, and on his table was a tray full of
sweets. He gave me one and said, “Thank you very much for helping
me.” That melted my heart, and I was so moved that I began to cry.
I was a new devotee, yet Prabhupāda gave me so much mercy. Then
I thought, “He is telling me I don’t have to steal the sweets—he will
give them to me.” So, I paid my obeisances and left, incredibly happy
and grateful. Śrīla Prabhupāda-kī jaya!
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s eternally grateful servant, life after life,

Bhakti Sundar Goswami
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Guru Prasād Swami

Please accept my most humble prostrated obeisances at
your lotus feet.
In this offering I am contemplating the Vaiṣṇava quality of
kavi, and how it is especially manifest in your person. Usually kavi
means “poet” or “very knowledgeable person,” both of which apply
to you perfectly.
The primeval kavi is Kṛṣṇa, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā 8.9—kaviṁ
purāṇam. The Bhāgavatam begins by saying tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-
kavaye. Lord Kṛṣṇa imparted the Vedic knowledge into the heart of
the original kavi within the universe, Brahmā, and his representative
in the paramparā is also kavi: one who gives real knowledge to the
world. Some have transmitted pure knowledge to a small group, and
some have given paltry knowledge and information to all, but you
gave full knowledge to the entire world; therefore you are the most
munificent kavi. When the gopīs spoke of Kṛṣṇa’s glories in their
prayer beginning tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ, they extolled the
virtues of beneficent persons who spread kṛṣṇa-kathā worldwide with
the words bhūri-dā janāḥ, “those who are very liberal in distributing
the greatest fortune to all.” At Bhāgavatam 11.11.32, a kavi is described
as one who can resolve all apparent contradictions between ordinary
dharma and pure bhakti. You have perfectly delineated the truth about
Kṛṣṇa, free from the slightest tinge of external influences.
Kavi also means poet. The whole Bhāgavatam is perfect poetry,
expertly presented by Vyāsadeva. However, one who can translate
poetry into another language in the most beautiful fashion while
preserving all the original nuances, meanings and message—such a
kavi is a poet extraordinaire. In every expression you demonstrated
how Kṛṣṇa’s glories and qualities are the source of beautiful
descriptions that please the mind and consciousness.
I place this petition at your lotus feet: by your divine grace may I
be able to describe one drop of those attributes in a way that will be
pleasing to the devotees and others, thus allowing me to contribute
a morsel of your divine legacy to others.
Your most fallen servant,

Guru Prasād Swami
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Giridhārī Swami

Please accept my most humble obeisances at the dust of your
lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I write to you from your ISKCON Vraja Eco
Village, a rural community in the Philippines, which is locked down
by the coronavirus pandemic. This deadly virus is spreading like the
wind. Thousands in this country are expected to be infected, and a
good number will certainly die.
Around the globe, more than one million people have already
been infected, and tens of thousands have succumbed to death.
In fear people act irrationally, their base qualities becoming even
more apparent than usual. They panic buy, fighting even over toilet
paper! And history teaches that things will get much worse before
they get better.
Pandemics are hardly new to this planet. In fact, you told us
about a plague that hit Calcutta in the late 1800s:
I remember, in Calcutta there was a very virulent type
of plague epidemic in 1900 . . . 1898. So Calcutta became
devastated. All people practically left Calcutta. Daily
hundreds and hundreds of people were dying. I was
one year old or one-and-a-half year old. I have seen
what was happening. But there was plague epidemic.
That I did not know. I . . . later on . . . I heard from
my parents. [Lecture, Māyāpur, 20 June 1973]
Your prophetic words warn us:
calamities like excessive heat, cold, rain, or lack of rain,
and the aftereffects are famine, disease, and epidemic. The
the superior energy of māyā under the direction of the
Supreme Lord. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.14.10, purport]
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Owing to ignorance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the masses have no idea
why the world is faced with repeated calamities. But you succinctly
explain why:
This is the law of nature. If you become disobedient
to God, then prakṛti, or nature, will give you trouble
in so many ways. And as soon as you become
submissive, surrender to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, there will be no more natural
disturbances. [Lecture, Māyāpur, 20 June 1973]
Physical and mental anguish now abound as the world crumbles to
pieces before our eyes. People are desperate for solutions. The world
stage is thus being set for your faithful followers to unite and teach
countless millions throughout the world as they become eager to
hear transcendental knowledge.
Devotees from around the world report that they have formed
reading groups that study your books through video conferencing.
They are appreciating you and your books much more than before.
They realize that they should not take this valuable opportunity for
granted. I have had such experiences, and I know many who have
vowed to continue the online reading when the pandemic is over.
Opportunities are also opening to utilize the internet to meet
new people and introduce your books and teachings to them. There
is huge potential for online classes, courses, and other types of
outreach programs.
As I write, I am receiving tragic news that several of your devotees
around the world have contracted COVID-19 and some have already
left their bodies. We pray that you have given them shelter at your
lotus feet. We also pray that you will protect the other devotees and
that they can continue to serve you for many years to come.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am on my knees with tears in my eyes,
praying that you will bless us with sufficient intelligence to take
the practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness more seriously and to take full
advantage of the myriad new preaching opportunities as they arise.
Please empower all of us to spread your glories far and wide.
In this way, may history give you the credit you deserve for having
saved the world in its darkest hour.

Giridhārī Swami
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Amala-bhakta Swami
I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, His Divine

Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to
Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
O servant of His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Gosvāmī, you are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu and delivering the Western countries, which are filled
with impersonalism and voidism.
O spiritual master, please accept my appreciation for your
having mercifully saved my life from committing endless sins and
for your having blessed me with the means of attaining pure love for
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
Begging to remain your servant,

Amala-bhakta Swami
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Candraśekhara Swami


Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the search for the perfect attitude. I have
always thought that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is synonymous with “The
Perfect Attitude.” Scriptures inform us of what attitudes are salutary
and what attitudes are deleterious. The key here is “attitude.” And
attitudes are far more important than accomplishments, mundane
emotions, or external situations.
We live in a sea of action and reaction, in a sea of human
interactions, in a sea of strategic possibilities and downstream social
and physical ramifications. The trends in how we navigate those
seas and streams are called our character by others. To us, those
trends could be called our attitudes. If those trends are investigated
and mentally processed, they are called our philosophy of life. We
perceive our emotions directly, and usually our actions are mostly
reactive and unconsidered. On the other side of the fence, others
perceive our trends in our actions from the outside as our character
and back-figure our attitudes, sometimes assessing our emotions
and attitudes differently from the way we might. Generally, we
don’t perceive our attitudes at all. We find it strange when someone
says we have an “attitude.” We are guided by our attitudes; we are
enveloped by our attitudes, but we are blind to our own attitudes.
That is to say, though blind to our own attitudes, we are certainly not
blind to others’ attitudes (in, of course, the individual specific way
we back-figure them). Interesting how that works.
During the course of carrying out everyday duties and trying
to engage myself to enlarge my scope of preaching, there are those
bits of thought and emotion at the edge of my city of awareness, just
outside the city limits. Catching these fleeting ghosts and examining
them is not just a psychological curiosity or pastime but an important
reconnaissance.
I am not all the things that I think. Thankfully. But I had better be
careful what I allow myself to drift with. We are not our bodies, and
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similarly we are not our minds either. The tendency is, however, to
identify with what the mind is ruminating about. The more we return
to a particular rumination, the more we identify with that rumination
and engender ever stronger emotions. If those ruminations are
negative, we generate negative emotions. The positive version of this
same process we called “affirmations”; sadly, they are not as easy,
natural, or automatic as the negative kind.
As an interesting side-note, the word “rumination” has come to
have a technical meaning in psychology, in particularly in a field of
study called Response Styles Theory (RST), advanced by Nolen and
Hoekesema. They speak of rumination as being the repeated focus
on the symptoms, causes, and consequences of one’s distress rather
than its solution. This use of the word “rumination” is even more
appropriate than its common colloquial use, to which I mostly refer
in this writing.
So we have to be careful. There are positive thoughts about
expanding our service and the methods and strategies to do so. There
are positive thoughts about issues under devotee evaluation. There
are positive thoughts about past experiences with devotees and
others. There are positive thoughts about personal improvement.
And there are positive thoughts even about what may be amiss,
but those thoughts are about fixing it. But there are also negative
thoughts about failures, self-worth, accomplishments, and the ever-
popular irritation caused by human interaction. These negative
thoughts never reach a conclusion but simply recycle over and over.
We are not what we think, but we become identified with what
we think if we think it long enough. Thus, finding an optimistic and
charitable way to view everything is paramount. Thinking about
negativity only makes you negative, but we are not negative, we are
positive. Therefore we should think about everything from a positive
perspective. This is not Pollyanna or rose-colored-glasses mentality;
it is a realization that everything with Kṛṣṇa is ultimately a story of
grand success. That success may not yet be with us, but it will soon
come. When one pleases Kṛṣṇa, nothing is left unachieved!
If we feel lost, we should know that we can find Kṛṣṇa and
ourselves in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. If we feel unworthy, we should
know that we are thinking only about our material position and
should rather think of the fact that, to Kṛṣṇa, each of us is a special
soul—though we will never become Rādhārāṇī; sorry, that position
is taken. If we feel frustrated, we should know that the material world
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is full of frustrations by its nature and that it is not accomplishments
that matter to Kṛṣṇa but rather our mental state of striving-to-please-
Him that does. If we feel angry, we should know that whatever or
whoever has made us angry is only a vehicle of Kṛṣṇa’s “special”
mercy upon us and that we should understand there is a purpose for
which Kṛṣṇa has made us feel this way; what is that purpose? If we
feel failure, we should know that Prabhupāda also appeared to fail
until very late in his life and that nothing worthy of achieving is ever
achieved on the first try. If we feel afraid, we should know that fear
is a sure sign of having a material mentality about having something
material to lose; rather, we should think about the fact that we will,
one day, lose everything; do we really want to rot here eternally in
this material world with all its terrifying upheaval just because of
a few shriveled raisins of material happiness? Also, we can know
that just by simply reading the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā
we will begin to feel fearless. Every negative thought or attitude has
a positive counterpart—we need to find that positive counterpart.
By removing the negative attitudes from our thinking, we will
more and more come into the possession of the perfect attitude—the
attitude of the devotee. Unfortunately, this attitude will not come to
us once-and-for-all but will result from a constant battle that we will
have to fight until we die.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for this message from Kṛṣṇa that
you delivered to our Western world. Now please help me reach and
hold this perfect attitude.
Your servant,
Candraśekhara Swami
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Bhakti Chāru Swami


Please accept my most humble obeisances unto your
divine lotus feet.
As I am trying to compose my Vyāsa-pūjā offering, I cannot
help but reflect on the world situation today. The whole world is
in the grip of intense fear caused by a pandemic, and practically
everything has come to a standstill. The whole of India is on
lockdown, and no one is allowed to go out of his house. For the
first time in history, all the places of worship—temples, mosques,
churches, and synagogues—have been shut down. No one could
have ever imagined that such a situation would arise. Nevertheless,
I can see the foresight of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Knowing that
such a situation would arise, when no one would be able to go to the
temple to see the Deities of the Lord and worship Him, He gave us
the process of chanting His holy name.
At a time like this, I also wonder whether this is His divine
arrangement to force this world to surrender unto Him and accept
the process of congregational chanting. After all, He sent you to
fulfill His prediction, and very systematically you have made all the
arrangements by creating the institution of ISKCON and training an
army of dedicated devotees worldwide, an army that is marching
forward equipped with the most powerful weapons of your books to
defeat the misdirected, atheistic civilization of this world.
On this auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, please bless us so
that we can become valiant warriors in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s
army and fight against the enemy that has vitiated the whole world
with sinful activities. Please lead us, as our glorious general, to lay
siege to meat-eating, intoxication, illicit sex, and gambling. Under
your divine leadership, we are confident that victory will be ours,
that we will defeat the eternal enemy of this world, which corrupts
everyone’s mind with the poison of atheism. Once again, under
your expert guidance, let us establish the kingdom of the Supreme
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Personality of Godhead in this world.
When we have a pure devotee like you to lead us and the
Supreme Personality of Godhead with us, then who can ever doubt
our victory? Who can ever doubt that the ominous influence of Kali
will be defeated and that absolute peace and ultimate prosperity will
prevail again, bringing the spiritual world down to this beautiful
planet of ours.
Your humble servant eternally,

Bhakti Chāru Swami
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TRIBUTES
BY
INITIATED
DISCIPLES
Jadurani Devi Dasi
(Excerpt from Chapter of 1973 in The Art

of Spiritual Life by Jadurani Dasi)
On August 9, he went to Paris to install the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa

Deities and to enliven his spiritual sons and daughters. In his work
of bringing us lost souls to the consciousness of love of God, he
waged war with the agents of Kali, this age of quarrel and hypocrisy.
He waged war with places of animal slaughter and animal corpse
ingestion, prostitution, liquor, and gambling. To this end, while still
in Paris, he and Yogeśvara – his French translator – met with the
renowned Jesuit Cardinal Jean Danielou to discuss vegetarianism
versus animal cruelty in the Bible.
He tried to convince the Cardinal that God is the father, not
only of humans, but of all beings in all the 8,400,000 species of life.
“The Bible does not simply say, ‘Do not kill the human being’,” he
appealed. “It says broadly, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Why do you interpret
this to suit your own convenience?”
As I sat at my easel in New York and heard the recording of
the long conversation that ensued, my blood boiled with anger and
frustration. The Cardinal simply didn’t get it.
Also agitated, but with love from his tender heart, on his ride
back to his Paris residence after the conversation with the Cardinal,
Prabhupāda foretold the Cardinal’s future. “That the animal-eater is
going to become a tiger to get more facility.
Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran, bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (Bhagavad-gītā
8.6). Animal-eaters, they’ll become tiger, fox, cats, dogs. What are
these different species of life?”
When Yogeśvara said, “They do not accept that the soul exists
below the human level.” ŚrīlaPrabhupāda was quick to reply, “That
is their foolishness. What is the proof of the existence of the soul
in the body? I am a human being. You accept that I have got soul...
But if we see that both the animal and the human being have the
same characteristics of living condition, then how you can say the
animal has no soul?”
When Yogeśvara then said, “His point was that the animals
don’t show the same symptoms. They don’t think as...” Prabhupāda
was quick to interrupt. “Why not? The general symptom is animal
eats, you eat, animal sleeps, you sleep, animal has sex, you have got
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sex, animal also defends, you also defend. Where is the difference?”
When Yogeśvara said, “His point was that human beings think
on higher platforms than animals do.”
Prabhupāda insisted, “What is that higher platform? Eating. You
require to maintain the body. I eat something, you eat another. That
does not mean higher or lower. You eat, I also eat. That’s all. You eat
according to your taste. I eat according to mine.”
Less than a week later, Prabhupāda returned to London, where
he corresponded with his disciples about the building of new
temples in Bombay, Hyderabad, and Vṛndāvana. He also answered
dozens of letters from his followers in America, where they were
becoming increasingly eager to distribute his books.
Accordingly, fanning his disciples’ spark for devotional service,
he encouraged them by emphasizing the urgency of getting the books
out to people. He discussed wearing Western clothing wherever
necessary for the purpose of selling his books in public, traveling in
teams on buses and vans around the country, and taking Deities to
worship during their travels. Even when quietly sitting in his room
at the Manor, he was directing thousands of disciples.
Back in New York, more questions regarding the paintings for
Caitanya-caritāmṛta arose. For example, Lord Caitanya formally
accepted sannyāsa from a māyāvādī renunciant, Keśava Bhāratī, so
what did His dress and paraphernalia look like in comparison to
the dress of a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī? We again inquired from our all-
knowing Śrīla Prabhupāda, who replied on June 28 from Bombay.
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge
receipt of your letter dated June 18 and I have
carefully studied the contents. I am very glad to hear
you have begun paintings for Caitanya-caritāmṛta,
because we will require many illustrations.
Regarding your questions: There is not much difference in

the robes of Māyāvādīs and Vaiṣṇavas, but they generally
use a deeper color and we use lighter saffron. Lord
Caitanya did not necessarily wear the Māyāvādī robes.
He carried ekadaṇḍa, but that is covered by cloth. The
Māyāvāda daṇḍa has one rod, and we have four rods, but
they look the same. Yes, Lord Caitanya carries a water pot.”
I also asked him about Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, the great
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Vaiṣṇava saint who received the blessings to write Caitanya-caritāmṛta
from Śrī Madana-mohana, Kṛṣṇa Himself in the form of the Deity.
Muralīdhara, Parīkṣit, and I would be doing this painting in shifts.
How would one go about painting that? Śrīla Prabhupāda
replied in the same letter:
During Kṛṣṇadāsa’s time, there was no Rādhārāṇī
Deity. Madana-mohana was alone. Rādhārāṇī was
later introduced. The temple of Madana-mohana
was formerly on a high level, that is, the original
old temple. It still exists and can be seen side by
side with the new Madana-mohana temple.
You can write to Gurudāsa in Vṛndāvana to send

you two photos of the old and new temple.
I will also write him requesting that he send such pictures.
No, Haridāsa Paṇḍita who was the pūjārī of the temple

is not the nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Both the old
Govindajī and Madana-mohana temples were desecrated by
the Mohammedans and partly destroyed, but the Govindajī
Deity was removed. The old temples are rejected and these
two new temples are situated near them, as you will see in
the photos. No, there was no Rādhārāṇī in the temple of
Govindajī then; She was introduced later. Yes, the Deities
can be painted similar to the way they are dressed now.
A bit overwhelmed by the enormous task of painting for so many
books at once, and for the deadlines expected, I also asked how I
can paint better and faster. In retrospect, perhaps it would have been
more appropriate for me to have asked how I could inspire other
artists to join us, to selflessly give myself more to new artists so that
they would also be able to paint for the books.
Be that as it may, Prabhupāda replied to my question at the end
of his June 28 letter:
If you sincerely pray to Kṛṣṇa, He will help
you to paint quicker and better.
Hoping this meets you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher
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Dayānanda Dāsa

Please accept my humble obeisances,

yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo

yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ’pi
Prabhupāda, I’m lost without you, without your mercy, your prasāda.
And without it, I have nowhere to go, no gati.
śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje
muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa-bhaje
You once commented, “very good,” when I recited this verse. I’m like
a crow that you tried to turn into a swan. Many of my godbrothers,
godsisters, and their disciples are now swans. And sometimes
inexperienced or sentimental devotees look at me and say that I’m a
swan, but they don’t know that I still have a crow’s heart.
Still, I’m trying to become a true swan to please you and the
Vaiṣṇava society.
I’ve written some books now, and I’m hoping to use some
of them to recruit and train new devotees. In North America the
temples have money. The Deity worship is going on nicely, but the
saṅkīrtana and book distribution could be much better.
I’m hoping that by recruiting energetic young people, we
can train them to make sacrifices, distribute books, and continue
attracting more devotees. I want to have big festivals like you
suggested to Aniruddha in 1968. I think that, using the combination
of regular harināma, book distribution, and large festivals, we can
recruit many new devotees.
By your mercy and the mercy of Mahāprabhu, I believe my ideas
will be successful. Or, if they do not fructify during the remainder of
my life, then after I die, others may carry them forward to increase
the recruitment effort and the inevitable change of American culture
to Vaiṣṇava culture.
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You named me Dayānanda and told me it means, “one who takes
pleasure in Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.” I’ve changed the meaning to “one who
takes pleasure in your mercy,” and I’ve inscribed that meaning on
my heart. I intend to leave it that way unless you personally instruct
me to change it back.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, until we meet again, I anxiously await the
time when I can join up with you and your other devotees. When
that time comes, I’ll be eager to find some service that needs to be
done to assist your mission to glorify Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
But until then, I remain your servant here in this miserable place,
trying to teach myself and others how to enjoy the fruits of saṅkīrtana.
Your servant,
Dayānanda Dāsa
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Govinda Devi Dasi
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA’S HEART & HIS

GOLDEN ROPE OF MERCY
Jaya Jaya Śrī Caitanya, Jaya Nityananda,
Jaya Jaya Advaita Chandra, Jaya Gaura Bhaktavrinda!
Vande Śrī Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya, Nityānandau, saho ditau,
Gauḍo Daye Pushpa Vantau Chitrau, Shan-dau Tamo Nudau.
All glories to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, all glories to Śrī Nityānanda, Who,
just like the sun and the moon, have arisen simultaneously over the
land of Gauḍa, just to benedict the fallen souls of this Kali-yuga.
Generally, the sun and moon do not rise simultaneously, but in this
Kali Age, the Two Brothers, just like the sun and the moon, have
arisen over the sacred land of Gauḍa, just to light the way for the
tortured and degraded souls of this Kali-yuga. All glories to Them!”
In late 1967, in San Francisco, just after his return from India,
Śrīla Prabhupāda would delight in having me chant this verse each
morning. He was teaching my husband and I Sanskrit and Bengali,
and each morning we would come to his room and he would
recite the alphabet and then we would imitate the sounds. But one
morning, early in the lessons, Śrīla Prabhupāda (then still Swāmījī)
taught me this verse from Caitanya-Caritāmṛta. I never forgot it.
And each morning, when I would come for the class, he would ask,
“So, Govindasi, you have remembered that verse?” And I would
dutifully chant it in the sing-song manner that he taught me. Then
he would smile and chuckle with delight. Somehow, it seemed to
give him great pleasure to hear an innocent young American girl, a
mere 20-year-old college student, singing this verse glorifying Lord
Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda. And it gave me great pleasure to
see him beam his sunshine smile that seemed to light up the whole
room. “Swāmījī” had just returned from India, and I felt that he was
surely lighting up my whole world just as the Twin Brothers shed
the brilliance of Their light on the land of Gauḍa.
And as we all know, he continued to be delighted when any
of us sang the glories of the most merciful Lord Caitanya and
Lord Nityānanda.
Lord Nityānanda came to lift the most fallen, and we are definitely
fallen into that category. Lord Nityānanda blocked the chakra of Lord
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Caitanya, who angrily wanted to kill Jagāi and Mādhāi, the prime
examples of fallen souls in this Kali Age. Lord Nityānanda is the
divine heart of love and compassion.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s heart is similarly the embodiment of this
same love and compassion; his mood is the reflection of Lord
Nityānanda. He once had me chanting to an ugly slug in his garden.
When I pointed to the ugly creature, his face filled with mercy and
compassion, and he said, with much feeling, “Chant to the poor
creature!” So I knelt down on my hands and knees to chant to this
lowly slug. In this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy and compassion
shine through in all circumstances – in his dealings with his disciples,
with worldly people, with important as well as unimportant people,
and even with the slug crawling in his garden!
Perhaps the need of the day is to connect more fully with
the heart of Śrīla Prabhupāda, which is so full of mercy for the
conditioned souls. And to grasp that golden rope of divine mercy
that he has thrown down to us from the spiritual world. Then to
somehow realize our helpless condition, and humbly grab hold of
that golden rope – that strong, unbreakable golden rope we call the
disciplic succession – and hang on for dear life!
Unfortunately for us, in today’s world, only 50 years after the
departure of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we see numerous factions all vying
for recognition and approval, endorsement, and all jockeying for
power and prestige – and all claiming to base their philosophies
on the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda. How confusing! Yet we must
come to realize that the true essence of his teachings are irrelevant to
such demented aspirations of confused jīvas.
There are those who cling to their opinions and bodily
designations more dearly than to that golden rope that can lift us
from this ocean of saṁsāra. It matters little whether these designations
are of the proud male leader, the downtrodden or neglected female,
or embittered homosexual, or whatever. They are simply fleeting
designations, all based in the misconception that “I am this, I am
that.” Such misconceptions abound and seem to distract us at every
step. Yet all are based in ignorance, in the false conclusion that “I am
this mind and body, I am an American, an Indian, a man, a woman,
a gay or a non-gay, white skinned or dark skinned” – there is no end
to these misconceptions.
Unfortunately, most jīvas clutch tightly to these temporary
designations, whatever they may be, and with great determination,
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they hang on for dear life!
Sadly, we are missing the point. These temporary designations
are actually irrelevant to what Śrīla Prabhupāda, as well as Lord
Nityānanda, came to teach. The gift of mercy is Lord Nityānanda’s
specialty, and so also it is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s specialty. His heart
of loving compassion is equally there for the self-important, the
officially unimportant, the abused, the confused, and everyone.
Even for the slug crawling in his garden.
Instead of “taxing our brains” to find ways to endorse or defend
our particular variety of insanity – whether it is male, or female, gay
or non-gay, green, or white, or black – we would be far better off if
we humbly accept our fallen condition, and sincerely reach out for
that golden rope that has been cast down to us by the merciful Lord
Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda, and then personally handed to us
by Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Repeatedly hashing over and splitting hairs, trying to prove
that males are better than females or vice versa, gays are better
than both, and dogs should be given the utmost respect almost like
deities (as is the fad in America), perhaps we should simply accept
our fallen condition, whatever role we find ourselves playing, and
in all humility try to serve the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya and Lord
Nityānanda, in the ways prescribed by Śrīla Prabhupāda and the
disciplic succession.
What will we gain by promoting our “superior brand” of
designation, whatever it may be? Another birth in the same boat?
Another birth as a male, a female, a gay, or even a dog? Is this not
the ultimate insanity? We are given this golden opportunity to rise
above our temporary designations and grasp that golden rope of
mercy, but instead we cling frantically to our own small identity,
proclaiming in loud voices that “our designation is the best!”
Even worse, some go to great lengths to establish such
designations by distorting or misinterpreting Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
teachings. Yet, he clearly taught that one should serve according to
one’s nature and inclinations – not according to one’s birth, one’s
parents, race or gender.
Recently in a class in India, one Indian student blurted out: “We
Indians hate varṇāśrama!” I was shocked. Then I understood that the
common Indian conception of varṇāśrama is exactly the opposite of
what Śrīla Prabhupāda taught. This corruption of the original caste
system, the one that is natural to all cultures, is the one now identified
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as the “by birth only” caste system. This was strongly opposed by
Śrīla Prabhupāda, and even by Gandhi over 50 years ago.
Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly expressed that he wanted to establish
varṇāśrama – but not this perverted form of varṇāśrama – this “by
birth” caste system. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted Kṛṣṇa’s form of
varṇāśrama, that is, according to one’s nature, ability, and inclination,
not according to one’s birth, parents, gender, race or color.
Perhaps if we consciously learn to recognize this particular
brand of insanity, it can be avoided. Like a truck stuck in mud, this
type of perverted designation will spin its wheels and get nowhere.
And frankly, it is irrelevant to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s gift to
the world. His gift is to lift us above this present conditioned
state, this identification with the body, mind, and senses, and to
offer us the world of Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is beyond these
temporary designations.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s gift of love and compassion, that golden
thread of loving compassion extended from the heart of Lord
Nityānanda, is there for all souls. It is the special gift in Kali-yuga.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda, the generous commander of Lord Caitanya’s
saṅkīrtana army, like any powerful military general even in this
world, has the authority to freely give this mercy to all souls – even
the most fallen ones who have become slugs in his garden!
But there is one qualification. That is humility. Without
humility, how can we receive this gift? If we are busy promoting
our own particular brand of material superiority, our own precious
designation, taking great pride in whatever bodily designations we
currently sport, how will we grasp this golden rope of mercy? Our
pride in our current designation will block our way, and we will
miss out on this great opportunity. Instead, at the time of death, we
will be busily promoting our particular designation, so Kṛṣṇa may
say, “Oh, you like this type of body so much? You are very proud
of it? Then here, you please take another one similar to the one you
are so proud of!”
Is this really what we want?
Quite certainly, this is not what Śrīla Prabhupāda wants for us. His
continuous encouragement is to rise above these bodily designations.
In fact, that’s the “square one, class 101” of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda wants us to reach for that golden rope of mercy.
To help us, he gave us so many enlivening practices – beautiful
Deities to worship and adore, and thus get us out of our “cocoon”
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of body consciousness, a world of ecstatic kīrtana to lift us from our
tiny “body world,” and mantras and scriptures to guide us beyond
the small bubble of our minds and bodies.
Let us leave the interpretations (or, in our case, distortions)
of scripture to the masters, the ācāryas of this glorious disciplic
succession, and humbly grab for that golden rope, giving up our
pride in whatever designation we presently claim – whether it is by
material standards high or low. Either way is irrelevant.
Let us try to remember we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa,
temporarily lost and misguided, identifying with some temporary
madness, distracted and wandering in this wax museum of material
forms, and reach for that golden rope of compassion that will lift us
from this ocean of saṁsāra.
That will be most pleasing to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
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Madhusūdana Dāsa
You came from afar and showed us the way

For years we were suffering but you saved the day
We were wandering aimlessly dangerously

down in the street
Searching and hoping for a great soul to meet
When we saw you we knew you’re of another world

Upon hearing your words, our burdens were hurled
While walking with you we felt tall and proud

We could work very hard and our preaching was loud
But then when you left us confusion descended

Our minds had deceived us, our dream-sleep was ended
But now things are changing, our backs to the wall

Without working together the whole thing will fall
Before you were gone you left us the mandate

“If you want to please me, you must co-operate”
By my godsiblings’ mercy I’ve learned how to do it

Be truthful, be committed and develop close friendship
Be ready to share this with all souls the same

To rightly be able to honor the name

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
All glories to you Śrīla Prabhupāda!
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Dāmodara Dāsa
O Śrīla Prabhupāda, what would I do without you? What disastrous

state would my mind be in without the memory of the words I heard
you speak when I was in the association of your vapuḥ? Now you are
here as vāṇī. And the sound of those words has been part of me for
decades. I want to praise you by listing here some words of yours I
remember. Some of them are in the Vanipedia, others are not. Some
are philosophical points, others are personal characteristics that
have deep meaning to me (and perhaps no one else) because they
keep the memory of you alive for me. Since not all of them have
been recorded elsewhere, my quotes might not always be accurate. I
beg your forgiveness for my dull brain. I’ll go on nevertheless. I hear
your voice saying these words.
So…
How I loved hearing your preface, your verse purports with this
word. Drawn out so dramatically, promising as always a conclu-
sion, the Vedic conclusion, right at the beginning, no time wasted
in bringing us immediately to Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet.
There is no time. It is all just a flash.
You wiped away the material world with strong, simple statements
like this. And gave us a glimpse of Kṛṣṇa’s world.
You have not yet calculated a day of Brahma.
The Vanipedia gives 388 instances of your use of the word “calcu-
lated.” I don’t find this one. But I remember you laughing as you
said it in response to a devotee’s question on the subject of time.
It is quite bitter.
On a very cold morning in January 1967, you said this as you

walked through the side door into the 26 Second Avenue storefront.
I find it quite bracy myself.
Then in a letter to us from Delhi in June of that year, you wrote this
after remarking that Kīrtanānanda was overwhelmed by the heat.
Kīrtana is not exactly artistic.
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You didn’t want us to become professional kīrtana artists,
“show-bottle” devotees. On the other hand, you were happy to
sing kīrtanas and bhajans into recording devices for others’ benefit.
But there, it was the prema, not the professionalism, that made the
difference.
In the end it is a solo flight.
We, your students, ourselves must become qualified. And I think

of you taking your solo journey to the USA with no one to help you
except the Supreme Lord.
What is the difficulty.
Just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, dance in ecstasy, feast on Kṛṣṇa prasādam,

and discuss philosophy. “It is simple for the simple.”
All business finished.
I remember you saying this to mean, finish up the material busi-

ness and take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness “cent percent.” The 222
references in the Vanipedia show you using the expression in many
other ways – in particular as a warning not to think that once I’ve
been initiated I have nothing else to do.
You want to enjoy? Just try to enjoy.
With this challenge you emulated Lord Kṛṣṇa’s parting words to

the soul who “bloops,” as we used to say.
Chewing the chewed.
Eating cereal mixed with sand.
The stool eaters.
Simply hogs and dogs!
Fool number one!
Rascals and fools!
Simply rascal number one!
Nonsense rascaldom!
Tell ‘em like it is, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We can always depend on you
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for the “straight sauce.”
These things are going on.
Sometimes we would describe in detail the miseries in the daily

news, and you would give this terse summation before quoting
from scripture to enlighten us with the Vedic version.
Trust no future, however pleasant.
These words from a poem by Longfellow that your guru mahārāja

used to quote were a favorite way of yours to give business advice
and to defeat the scientists who are hoping to create life from mat-
ter.
This material world is no place for a gentleman.
Yes, and you are the transcendental gentleman who can lead us
out.
A society of the cheaters and the cheated.
Thank you for lifting the veil of illusion and revealing the truth of
non-spiritual relationships.
What you think does not matter!
After your lecture at 26 Second Avenue, you asked for questions. A

man said, “I think...” but he got no farther than that. You stopped
him dead with this. On another occasion you told us, “If you start a
sentence with ‘I think,’ finish it in the closet.”
The bodily concept of life.
What a powerful summation of our mistaken identity! We’re mak-

ing a conceptual error, to be corrected by the proper consciousness,
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I am spirit soul, part and parcel of the Lord,
His eternal servant. Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
As long as you have this body there is sex desire.
Therefore, satatam kirtayanto mam – and as you write in your pur-

port to Bg. 9.14, “live this life in devotional service, guided by an
expert spiritual master.”
Oh? Do you think I should be fatty?
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Your disciple Kṛṣṇa Devi told me that when she abruptly walked
into the room where you were getting a massage, she said, “Pra-
bhupāda, You’re so skinny,” and you said this. All glories to your
sense of humor!
What is that verse?
I’m sure you were just pretending not to remember the verse, to
give us a chance to show you that we were serious students of
Bhagavat dharma.
God is God! Only God!
There were any number of people attending Your programs who

had decided they were God. Their attempts to announce their
Lordship status were met with Your powerful rebukes. You defeat-
ed them just as decisively as Kṛṣṇa defeated Bāṇāsura.
Q: Can you see God?
A: Yes, but you’re in the way.
This instant response of yours to a challenger deserves worldwide

recognition. O Prabhupāda, you are truly a “Vaikuṇṭha Man.”
Q: Does Kṛṣṇa pass stool?
A: Yes. But it smells like rose petals.
A faithful disciple who still sits at your Feet asked this question,
which raised some eyebrows. You were nonplussed and blessed
him with an answer that took us straight to Kṛṣṇaloka.
Transform matter into spirit.
Engage matter in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
“This typewriter is also Kṛṣṇa,” you said, patting the old Corona
you were using to write your Gītā. That principle of spiritual alche-
my inspired us to envision an Earth planet transcendentalized by
the holy name. And now your temples cover the globe.
In the spiritual world the demons are also devotees.
This statement of yours took us a while to understand. I’m still not

sure I do completely!
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Please chant one round.
You mercifully reduced the 32-rounds-daily requirement to 16. And

just to make sure we did at least one, you made Japa a regular part
of the morning program at 26 Second Avenue.
You must become perfect.
The way you emphasized the second syllable drove the point home
to us. Nothing less than perfect is admissible.
You must know that everything I do is perfect!
Sitting at your low desk in the rear court building of 26 Second

Avenue, you asked a disciple to get you a glass of water. The boy
returned with a glass of something else, explaining he thought it
was an improvement. Then you displayed a lion-like temper with
this instruction, so startling to us at the time.
That is also Bhagwat.
During Bhāgavatam class one morning in 61 Second Avenue’s tem-

ple room, Nara Narayan Prabhu was in the adjacent room using
a power saw while building a new altar. It was very hard to hear
anyone talking. We complained to you, and this is what you said.
This spot life.
I thought my 25 years of life in a body was a remarkable achieve-

ment. You burst that bubble very effectively! Just a spot, no more.
And even more years would still be no more.
Our fasting is feasting.
Even Ekādaśī was a feast, with your menu. Carrot halavā ki jai!
Simply add Kṛṣṇa.
It’s your recipe for happiness: “Whatever you do, do it for Kṛṣṇa.”
You taught us that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a positive process.
You must become God-haunted.
And after doing everything for Kṛṣṇa, you assure us we see Kṛṣṇa
in everything.
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When are you going to cut your Shakespearean locks?
You loved teasing your faithful servant Gargamuni for his long
hippie hair.
A devotee is always anxious.
Of course we first thought that by following you we’d always be

serene, in a sort of mystic trance. You soon taught us that we had a
mission – to save the world! And there’s no time to waste.
Sleep is bad. But dreaming is good if you dream about Kṛṣṇa.
O Śrīla Prabhupāda, we know very well that “Kṛṣṇa is painted on

the inside of your eyelids,” as we used to say. So you are always
seeing Him and your few short hours of sleep are not mundane.
It is not an inference or a vision. It is a fact.
This is what you said to Vishnujana when he asked you about the
nature of knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, “Is it an inference or a vision?” You
responded in effect that it’s neither logical nor mystical, but a direct
perception of an actually existing Person. Kṛṣṇa factually exists.
Everything is person.
You are the preeminent exponent of personalism. And the world’s

greatest opponent of impersonalism and voidism. You have taught
us that there is not one item in the entire encyclopedia of existence
that is not personal or indeed a person. So-called matter is made
of atoms that are persons and energies that are persons. Space is a
person. Souls are persons. All the features of the spiritual world are
persons, forms, not formless, not void. And of course, God the su-
preme source of all such persons is a person, the ultimate personal
form of eternity, knowledge and bliss.
Thank you.
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I bow to you, Jagad Guru Śrīla Prabhupāda
Learned Teacher and Compassionate
Savior of the world
who heroically blesses the entire Earth

with the sanctifying vibration of the
Holy name of Kṛṣṇa
following Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura who

in Puri gives full throat every moment
to that Transcendental Sound
the 32-syllable mahā-mantra distributed

freely by your beloved Golden Avatar
Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu
Who dances in ecstasy before the mūrtis

of Jagannāth Balarāma and Subhadrā
in the temple of the holy dhama
appearing there as They do during

the Kurukshetra solar eclipse while
greeted by the Vrajabasis
among whom are the lovesick Gopīs

pleading with Kṛṣṇa to return
with them to Vṛndāvana
whereupon the Lord does so and sports

with them and His most beloved
Rādhā which They do eternally
and are eternally being served by you as

you imbibe the nectar of Their līlā
in the love groves of Vraja.
O Learned Teacher
O Compassionate Savior
O Prabhupāda have Mercy on me!
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Shyamasundar Dasa
REFLECTIONS FROM THE MANOR

Stepping out through the Manor gates into the sleeping early-
autumn village—Oh Prabhupāda!—I remember the empty after-
party streets of Haight-Ashbury as we rushed to Frederick Street to
hear your latest revelations. Passing our little lake in Hertfordshire,
I pause to watch the ducks, transported to Golden Gate Park and
those misty mornings when it dawned on us that you are a Special
Friend from heaven. The little path behind the rhododendron dell
takes me to Lennon’s place at Tittenhurst, where the ideas took root
to present your royal nature to this nation. Walking by harvested
fields cut to stubble for approaching winter, I see a glow in the east
as we boarded our sunrise flight to Amsterdam, where—Hah!—
your sober appearance on Top of the Pops surprised millions. Orange
light tickled the eastern sky as you led us to the holy Ganges for an
ice-cold awakening—Oh, Prabhupāda!—those exotic dawns in old
Bombay before traffic roared in the streets below, fresh breeze off the
Arabian Sea connecting us to the ancient truths of India—we saw
your mystery, your mastery of every possible topic. From there we
flew to Moscow, where you thawed the cold world in just five days!
We chased rhinos on the bloody raw streets of Africa, we argued
the meaning of being and time, and gambled for gold in the Alps.
We sailed the skies together, you and I, to Australia, China, Japan,
and across the world to Mexico, Los Angeles and New York, around
the globe again and again as your temples increased from two to
a hundred. You are like Columbus or Magellan, sole and complete
Commander to your historical voyage of discovery, leading us across
uncharted seas and deep into cloud-shrouded lands like rockets in
your slipstream…
I look across shadowed lawns as early October sun gilds gabled
slate roofs and fluted chimneys and slides down the storybook outer
walls of Bhaktivedanta Manor, lighting the mullioned windows to
rooms upstairs where you so recently played with us: I remember the
unusual beauty of your face and mouth, the flowing ease and subtle
lines of cheeks and crinkles wrapping around and punctuating
another perfect mood; your dancing eyes, now somber, unmoving
in thought—now wide and full of mischief. I recall the soft golden
flesh of your shoulder—and the surprising hard tissues below; the
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flow of blue veins under forearms, behind knees, how they throbbed
with a cool even pulse as you lounged in the sun—and roared with
power when you danced all day. Watching you shave always had
me in stitches: the wide intent eyes and grimaces as you swiveled
the mirror to see that your tilak was straight—or to check on a
possible loose tooth. I remember how you dressed yourself slowly,
keenly observing each cloth before choosing, then tied and tucked
your dhoti with care; nor can I forget quick pink fingers at your
buttonholes, and how sometimes you leaned forward for me to close
the one at the neck…
Sun strikes the bright-painted rainbow windows enclosing
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gokulānanda, and I hear the ringing karatāls and
muted voices of devotees singing your praises: Jaya Prabhupāda, Jaya
Prabhupāda, Jaya Prabhupāda, Jaya Prabhupāda…growing louder as I
enter into the temple room and bow flat, glancing to my right—wait,
is he?—catching you for a moment, knowing you’re still here on
your very cool throne.
I approach Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and see Them well-dressed, serene
and exhilarated with Their new home and family. I am weak with
gratitude to Them, for gifting me this raremost destiny. I’ll catch my
spiritual master down in India now, hang out with him for a while,
maybe chase some more rhinos, show him what I can do. How could
life be any better than this?
Shyamasundar Dasa
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Kanchanbala Dasi
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my most humble obeisances in the sacred dust of
your transcendental lotus feet.
It is only by your forever causeless mercy that you accept me in
your loving devotional service. And to begin to even approach Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and Lord Caitanya, is only by your grace.
Even though, over 50 years ago, how can I ever forget this; (this
and so much more!): When I first became a devotee, I was offering
cattails, moss, and bark on my altar at home with Lord Jagannāth
Deities a devotee entrusted to me, thinking it so beautiful to offer
Kṛṣṇa. I had written a six-page letter to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda
which included this and you wrote back; “My sincere blessings are
for you, for your nice prosecution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Whatever
you are doing at the present moment is approved by me and I think
on account of you becoming a sincere soul. Kṛṣṇa is dictating from
within and you are doing things so nicely.” I was so encouraged
then, but even more so as time went on. It was coupled with being
astounded by your acceptance and patience, knowing how to steer
me and us all in the proper direction with expertise and grace, to
years later with more elaborate Deity worship in all the Temples
around the world.
And then, recently I read such a sweet pastime of yours, Śrīla
Prabhupāda, in Jadurani’s book, “The Art of Spiritual Life.” Śrīla
Prabhupāda had Govinda Dasi and Gaurasundar do paintings of
the pastimes of Prahlāda Mahārāja, while Jadurani did paintings for
other Temples with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s personal guidance. One day,
she went to the art store to pick up some supplies for the next painting.
On the way back, upstairs she saw His Divine Grace Śrīla
Prabhupāda coming downstairs, and he stopped and asked, “What
is the name of a female art director?” His query caught her off
guard as she answered, “Uh……you mean art directress?” Śrīla
Prabhupāda said, “Yes, art directress. You are the art directress.” She
felt honored, even though, she saw there was no one to direct. The
two other artists were personally guided by Śrīla Prabhupāda too.
Such is Śrīla Prabhuada’s charm. A little while later, I, with other
devotee girls were given that devotional service’ painting for other
Temples under Jadurani’s direction. This just shows also, you, Śrīla
Prabhupāda’s encompassing vision.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda always stressed his vāṇī more potent than his
vapuḥ association. Many times, I have meditated and felt how true,
through his powerful purports and teachings. At the same time, feel
so deeply inspired, feeling his loving presence, by hearing about
him. Remembering any personal association and hearing other’
transcendental experiences also, is like being with His Divine Grace
By Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy, thinking of his quotes is so
uplifting, reminding us to remember Kṛṣṇa in every situation that
might arise. What often brings to mind, Śrīla Prabhupāda said,
“When it rains, the gopīs are crying in separation for Kṛṣṇa.” And
ever since then, hearing the rain drops fall, is so wonderful to hear.
Another time, when Śrīla Prabhupāda tasted a peach, so luscious
and juicy, he emphatically said, “And they say there is no God?!?!”
As years pass by, I see succinctly my memory is not as sharp
as it used to be, but I so fervently pray to forever grasp; holding
tightly, cherishing, and never forgetting Śrīla Pravhupada’s love
and all that he has given selflessly on behalf of his guru mahārāja
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa, and to all of us. I
beg that this impression of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s unconditional love
remains deeply engraved in my heart forever in devotional service
at his divine lotus feet.
I beg to always remain your daughter and disciple,

Kanchanbala Dasi
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Hrsikesananda Dasa



I remember living with you in Māyāpur in 1973, and staying
with Srutakirti and Satsvarupa in the room next to yours. You
were pleased to speak with me in Bengali and I believe that you
appreciated the old style training I had undergone in Vṛndāvana.
I remember you asked me to assist you to translate Śrī Caitanya-
caritāmṛta – a mammoth work that seemed it would takes years to
complete. I had my copy of the small book by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī,
Śrī Upadeśāmṛta, and I suggested that this book is only 11 ślokas and
you could complete it very quickly because it was so short.
You took the copy, told me to get paper to write on, and started
translating immediately. Because you were so fast, we could not keep
up long-hand so we had to switch to you recording the translations,
which were transcribed.
During this intimate period of two weeks we had many Bengali
and English conversations on Gauḍīya Siddhānta.
I recall you asked me: “So what you have learned in Vṛndāvana?”
I replied, “About Nitya-līlā, Gurudeva.”
“And?” You prompted.
“Siddha-praṇālī. Aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā-smaran. Isn’t that right?”
You said, “Yes” but who is siddha?”
So I started to quote the Gītā verse, “manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu...
among millions of seekers hardly one can attain the goal. But that is
our goal, right, Gurudeva?”
You said emphatically, “Yes! we are the followers of Rupa-
Raghunath. This is the highest understanding, to be dasanudas in
Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s līlā.”
I asked you, “What about siddha-praṇālī? How to qualify?
Who will give?”
You replied, “Guru will give. You just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”
Then I mentioned the story of Chota Krishnadas, who tried to
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drown himself by jumping into Mānasa-gaṅgā when he heard that
only his guru, who had already departed, could give him siddha-
praṇālī. I asked you how to receive this eternal information?
You told me, “Guru will give. There is no material consideration
about Guru is here or there. When you reach that level, Guru will give.”
So I asked, “what about mānasa-sevā, like the Brāhmaṇa who
burnt his finger in meditation? Isn’t that bhajan?”
You said, “Kṛṣṇa makes no distinction. But if you serve Kṛṣṇa by
mind, He will accept, that is sure!”
Then I switched to another issue, and asked, “Gurudeva,
whenever I mention anything about rūpānūga bhakti many of my
godbrothers get angry and say it is all a bunch of nonsense, and you
never taught that!”
You smiled and said, “Everything is coming.”
Then I put forward the main question I had in my heart,
“Gurudeva, is the aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā by Kaviraja Gosvāmī the REAL
Nitya-līlā detail?
You confirmed without a doubt: “YES!”
I said, ”I would like to mention ‘aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā’ in śloka 8. So we
can all know from you the highest goal. What do you think?”
You ordered, ”Yes, you put it.” — which I did.
I then asked, “What about rūpanūga bhakti? What is the eternal
relationship between us disciples and you?”
Then you quoted the 2nd half of śloka 6 of Gurvaṣṭaka, and said,
“Guru is serving under his master and you all can do likewise.
In Nitya-līlā every devotee thinks that my master is the most dear
to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.”
“So that means that my relationship with you is eternal, that it
will continue in Nitya-līlā?”
You replied, “Yes.”
“As mañjarīs?”
“And down to sakhya!”
“But for ‘Rūpānugas’ isn”t it always mañjarī-bhāva?” I asked.
“Yes. That is the highest! But in the spiritual world there
is no such distinction. Everyone is Kṛṣṇa conscious, even the
flowers and clouds.”
I said, “What is the meaning of “bodhayan ātmanātmānām in Śrī
Brahma-saṁhitā śloka 59? Does it also mean that we realize Kṛṣṇa
(God) and our own svarūpa simultaneously?”
“Yes,” you answered.
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I asked, “What about realizing your svarūpa, Gurudeva?”
You smiled and replied, “That is the same thing.”
These and other memories fill my heart with happiness at having
somehow gained your direct personal association in such a manner
and that time. The best time of my life.
Happy Birthday, again, Śrīla Prabhupāda!!!
Tavadasanudas
Hrsikesananda Dasa
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Vamanadev Dasa
To my most beloved spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Choices are made at every stage of our life. I have learned from
Your Divine Grace that the choices we make have consequences.
Success and happiness in our life, as well as our advancement in
spiritual life, rest on these. Through your teachings, also by the
example of how you lived your life, you have shown us the path of
pure devotional service, the path to follow for the perfection of this
human form of life.
You have shown a path that is available to everyone, and the only
requirement is enthusiasm and sincerity. Chanting the holy name,
taking sacred prasādam, serving the Vaiṣṇavas, and distributing this
mercy to all is the method you have given us. The transcendental
gift of your books, your glorious lectures and interviews, as well as
the many talks and the letters, have left a clear and unambiguous
direction to follow.
In truth, there is no way possible to ever repay such mercy as
you have given so freely. I simply beg of you to allow me to make the
correct choice; to follow the perfect transcendental path Your Divine
Grace set forth.
Begging the mercy of serving you,

Vamanadev Dasa
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Bhūrijana dāsa

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa
on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord
Śrīla Prabhupāda, first in Canto Nine and then in Canto Twelve of
the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ruling dynasties of the world are described,
and that list continues to name kings near and in the present days
of Kali-yuga. A still more contemporary list would reveal modern
rulers, no longer true kṣatriyas, often as perpetrators of violent
attacks on the innocent, as pillagers, beheaders, murderers, and
plunderers. Indeed, recent Kali-yuga history leaves a blood-red trail.
Some of us seem to have been born tired of this chaos and
violence and filled with a longing for peace and truth. Nor could we
place our faith in the heavenly rest of scientism’s promise of endless
material progress. Sadly, but inevitably, with no true guidance, we
too became submerged in materialism, cynicism, and sadness.
But then you appeared, apparently from faraway, exotic India,
with a true and positive alternative. Your empowered presence
offered me and many others hope, as you guided us and blessed us
with your presence as an exemplar of the ideal Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So many years after being introduced to you, although I find
myself still unable to pierce to the core of your oceanic gift and
blessing, I still would like to offer to you several grateful acknowl-
edgements of your countless gifts to me and so many others.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have engladdened my soul
by teaching me, and so many others, that the Absolute Truth is not
impersonal, void, or all-expansive matter, but personal—the all-
attractive, all-beautiful, all-adventurous Supreme Personality of
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Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you gave me, and so many others,
hope through the chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s names.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you introduced me, and so many
others, to absolute beauty in the forms of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you caused me, and so many
others, to embark on the adventure of reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you blessed me, and so many
others, with a glimpse of the sweetness that is Kṛṣṇa’s land, Śrī
Vṛndāvana-dhāma.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you entranced my ears, and
the ears of so many others, in Māyāpur with the sound of Śrī
Śacīnandana’s holy name.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you allowed me, and so many
others, to enter, even if slightly, into the vastness of the most intimate
of secrets, the internal reason for Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s advent.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you extracted me, and so many
others, from poisonous, meaningless philosophical pursuits.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you blessed me, and so many
others, with service in your mission, the compassionate mission of
your Guru Mahārāja and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you caused me, and so many others,
to meet true friends, who have proved dear and whose friendship
has proved unbreakably lasting.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you awoke in me, and so many
others, a true conception of religion.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you placed within my hand, and
the hands of so many others, a Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, which clearly
and boldly allowed Kṛṣṇa to present Himself as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you placed me, and so many others,
in great and small families that support our most cherished ideals.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you showed me, and so many
others, a clean life that is both practical and ethically ideal.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you awarded me, and so many
others, a life worth living, a purity worth striving for, and a goal
worth achieving.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you enshrined within me, and so
many others, true heroes.
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others, the most noble, exalted association.
others, a vision of a culture that supports the most uplifting
ideals of mankind.
your association, which placed before our eyes a man who had
himself combined matchless meekness with astounding boldness.
your association, which allowed us a taste of the sweetness that is
eternally our home.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you caused me, and so many others,
to taste the threefold spiritual flavors that exist as three holy dhāmas.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have privileged me, and so
many others, to contrast the gifts of temporary and eternal time.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have guided me, and so
many others, toward the valuable skill of disagreeing but still
being respectful.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have brilliantly yet concisely
summed up the foundation of your mission as “Books are the
basis; preaching is the essence; utility is the principle; and
purity is the force.”
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have offered me, and so many
others, a wealth of practical maxims to guide our journey in the
form of long-forgotten village wisdom, such as “If something is
auspicious, do it immediately. If something is inauspicious, put it
off.” And “Something is better than nothing.”
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have given life to the tendencies
and abilities of me, and so many others, by allowing us to serve
Kṛṣṇa through those tendencies and abilities.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have given me, and so many
others, a deep perspective of life, despite its unavoidable trials
and sufferings.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have implanted within me,
and so many others, a respect for all life, regardless of the body in
which that life lives.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have offered me, and so
many others, the most valuable jewel in the essence of all advice:
to constantly chant Kṛṣṇa’s names and to always be absorbed in
thoughts of Kṛṣṇa.
Somehow, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have awarded me, and so many
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others, mantras to chant three times each day that are powerful,
deep meditations.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you keep reminding me, as well as so many
others, to be in sympathetic harmony with your great, compassionate
mission meant to award the world knowledge accompanied by
responses of practical, responsible actions.
May I remain gratefully yours in eternal service,

Bhūrijana dāsa
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Rukmini Devi Dasi


Today as we ‘shelter in place’ due to the Coronavirus, we
must bow at your feet again and again and thank you for the
unprecedented shelter you have given us. You have created our good
fortune, and good fortune for a misguided world, that without you,
remained baffled.
Just as Hanumān, the great servant of Lord Rāma, slipped
into Laṅkā, the kingdom of Rāvaṇa, unnoticed in a tiny form and
set the whole city on fire, while the evil Rāvaṇa prepared to wage
war. In the same way, you entered New York City, the Kingdom
of Kali, anonymously, as a penniless, elderly Indian swami, as our
government waged war on Vietnam, and we, the youth, waged war
on our government. We wanted to create a revolution against the
system, but the revolution you sparked…
“…full of transcendental words directed toward bringing
about a revolution in the impious lives of this world’s misdirected
civilization…” — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.11
…has changed the course of human history, beyond anything we
could have fought for, or imagined.
Without the shelter of your compassion, and your sheltering
words of wisdom, we, the youth of the 1960’s counter-culture, were
perhaps the most impious and misdirected the world had ever seen.
The revolution you sparked has been noted by renowned
scholars as well. Professor A.L. Basham writes in his, A Cultural
History of India:
A new aspect of the counter-attack from the East is the
importation not only of the mystical gnosis of India, but
also her simple faith. This is chiefly the work of what is
generally called the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, founded by
Swami Prabhupāda. This society now has branches in many
of the larger cities of the West and its adherents follow the
rituals of the devotional Vaisnavism of the Chaitanya Sect
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of Bengal…The movement…is historically very significant,
for now, for the first time since the days of the Roman
Empire, an Asian religion is being openly practiced by
people of Western origin in the streets of Western cities.
The simple faith he refers to is the revolutionary faith you
bestowed upon us and upon the world: that we are immutable
spirit, beyond this world of matter, and existing eternally as Kṛṣṇa’s
loving servants.
Under your shelter, inspired by the pinnacle of your example,
the deathless nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s name, form, qualities, and pastimes
is being tasted and shared all over the world.
Under your shelter, the people of the world are experiencing a
revolution in consciousness: realizing the purpose of life, ending
their suffering, and reawakening joy in consciousness of Kṛṣṇa.
You warned us that this world is a place of danger. Now, at a time
when the whole world is sheltering in fear of the Coronavirus, we
hold your lotus feet to our hearts as our only real and fearless shelter.
Aspiring to be an eternal servant of your

revolutionary and divine instructions,
Rukmini Devi Dasi
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Toṣan-Kṛṣṇa Dāsa
Our Dependence on Guru
kali-kālera dhama ––– kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana

kṛṣṇa-śakti vina nahe tāra pravartana
(C.C. Antya-līlā 7.11)
“The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting

of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot
propagate the saṅkīrtana movement.”
guru-kṛṣṇa prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
(C.C. Madhya-līlā 19.151)
“…, one who is fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a

bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of
both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed
of the creeper of devotion.”
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, taking

shelter and repeating the instructions of his spiritual master, Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura, was empowered by Śrī Kṛṣṇa
to propagate the saṅkīrtana movement of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
As guru, by the power of his mercy, he then distributed and
planted the essential seeds of devotional service in the hearts
of his disciples.
Śrīla Prabhupāda chastely and fearlessly fulfilled the
transcendental mission, following in the footsteps of the paramparā
of previous ācāryas, by inculcating bhakti-yoga – through meditation
on Svayam Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s name, fame, form, pastimes and
entourage etc. – around the world to all classes of men.
Today we bask in the glow of his books, lectures and instructions
and can choose to dedicate ourselves to carefully handing down that
fruit he has passed on to us, as it is.
Any endeavor at espousing and teaching the knowledge of
Vedas and Vaiṣṇava culture must include this essential principle
of guru-tattva.
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(Śrī Guruvāṣṭakam 8)
“By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction
of Kṛṣṇa. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot
make any advancement.”
yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)
“Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord
and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are
automatically revealed.”
A fallen and fortunate aspiring servant of Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Toṣan-Kṛṣṇa Dāsa
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Ranadhir Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances.
I sit here in the comfortable lap of māyā, still trying to squeeze
some small drops of pleasure from this material world, despite this
76-year-old body’s limited capacity to enjoy anymore. I marvel at
those who can give up sense gratification to please you and to follow
the path you have given us that leads back to Godhead. I am still
attached to you, and it is only by your mercy that I have not turned
my back on my godbrothers and godsisters. I am so grateful that
they have not turned their backs on me.
In the past I tried to be of some small service to you and your
devotees, but over the years, my enthusiasm has waned. I pray
for your mercy to become inspired to give up my quest for sense
gratification and turn my will and my life over to Your Divine Grace.
I sincerely hope that this is not an empty and insincere request.
You have blessed the entire world with your presence and with
your books, but my appreciation for these tremendous gifts is not
commensurate with their magnitude. I can only pray that you will
continue to be merciful to me despite my lack of gratitude.
Your servant,
Ranadhir Dasa
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Patita Pavana dasa Adhikary
Who is Śrī Guru?

Śrī Guru is impossible to understand and only the rankest of
foolish disciples thinks that they have understood his divine ways.
Once the arrogant follower believes that he has understood Śrī Guru
reveals to us an unseen facet of his eternal mystique, by his divine
empowerment from Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Himself.
For it is the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, Who directly
empowers Śrī Guru in a myriad of spiritual ways that the actual
disciple never pretends to understand. The relationship of Śrī Guru
with Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is not a subject for speculation for the
eternal duty of the disciple is one of blind serve to the will of Śrī
Guru. Śrī Guru never deceives, misleads or harms his disciple in any
way and his loving kindness engenders the highest love in the heart
of his servant.
The sincere follower treads only in the footsteps of his master
by constantly rendering the most menial service to Śrī Guru. Such a
humble disciple is showered with his causeless mercy which is the
panacea that delivers the conditioned entity to the transcendental
world of Goloka. No proper initiate of Śrī Guru ever mistakes that
he can ever master Lord Kṛṣṇa’s direct representative, for such
misguided thoughts only serve to spell the doom to devotional
service just as milk is polluted with venom when a cobra sips it.
Śrī Guru is constantly pulling and pushing those followers who
are sincere along the Holy Road to the Transcendental Dhāma of
Kṛṣṇa. That foolish disciple who thinks he has mastered Śrī Guru
dooms himself. One who sees Śrī Guru in terms of his own material
profits condemns and seeks to make a business of his service to Śrī
Guru sends himself to the form of poverty that is born of obscurity
and ill repute. Śrī Guru is the eternal master and the servant is the
eternal servant. Śrī Guru is the selfsame representative of the Flute-
player of Vrindavana Himself and serving his lotus feet through
serving his servant’s servant is the greatest fortune imaginable in all
the three worlds.
Śrī Guru appears in order to deliver the entire Universe because
he is none other than the very representative of Śrī Gaura Hari,
Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself. Lord Caitanya is none other than
Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself in the divine guise of His own pure devotee. Śrī
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Guru as the servant of Mahāprabhu personifies the highest fruit of
the Vedic tree which is pure bhakti—the loving essence of the divine
nectar that is nothing else but pure love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Throughout
the timeless time that measures eternity, Śrī Guru’s love for the Lord
and His holy name only grows unlimitedly. Śrī Guru spends every
millisecond of each and every day doing one thing only—serving
the lotus feet of the Lord at the highest level of prema-bhakti. Śrī Guru
renders his sevā unto Śrīmatī Vṛndāvaneśvarī together with Her Lord
Śrī Vṛndāvana Candra in infinite varieties of divine līlā. Śrī Guru is
wrapped in the chadar of eternal love for Kṛṣṇa which is a blanket
that warms, soothes and comforts the world with Śrī Kṛṣṇa-prema.
We have nothing but sympathy for any unfortunate egoist
who thinks that he can change the teachings of Śrī Guru or who
thinks that he knows better than Śrī Guru. We have nothing but
spite and contempt for the great imitators and posers who think
that Śrī Guru is the sum total of whatever fools imagine his external
manifestations to be. Even if Śrī Guru becomes the richest man in
the world, Śrī Guru does not mind kicking it all aside in an instant
so that he may take a grain of sand at the feet of the servants of the
Gopī Girls of Vṛndāvana upon his learned brow. Out of compassion
Śrī Guru sheds tears of joy that purify a world spinning out of sync
with the actual orbit that all living entities are meant to follow—
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrī Guru sets the example and all the wise of
the world follow his lead keeping just a little distance behind.
Śrī Guru shelters the entire Universe, and the guardians of the
Universe headed by King Indra in the East, and blessed by Lord Śiva
in the Northeast and Agnideva in the Southeast continually chant
the glories of Śrī Guru. Even Lord Ananta, the great Śeṣanāga who
holds up the Universe and whose countless mouths continuously
sing the glories of Kṛṣṇa, is stunned by the endless example of pure
devotion embodied by Śrī Guru. Śeṣanāga holds up the Earth, but it
is Śrī Guru who has given us the example for the spiritual upliftment
of the entire world. Whether in the highest heavens of Devendra or in
the depths of Ananta’s Universe, the glories of Śrī Guru are sung by
the Devas, the Gandharvas, the Apsaras, the Kimpuruṣas, the Nāgas,
the Yakṣas, the denizens of the different varṣas, the followers of mystic
yoga, the knowers of the Veda, the apostles of brahminical principles
who serve the other varṇas, and the holy vaiśyas of Vṛndāvana. The
glories of Śrī Guru are as endless as sanātana dharma itself because
Śrī Guru directly sings the message of Lord Caturamukha and his
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bride Sarasvatī the Goddess of Learning. Śrī Guru speaks only the
divine message that the head of our sampradāya and Creator of the
Universe speaks. Śrī Guru is the pure devotee who carries the direct
essence of he who awoke on the lotus flower and whose divine
voice echoed throughout the new universe with the sacred song:
Govindam Ādi Puruṣaṁ Tam Ahaṁ Bhajāmi.
Śrī Guru is the master who expresses the greatest depths of
wisdom through sharing his realized knowledge in the simplest of
methodologies. The learning and realization of Śrī Guru are endless.
Śrī Guru is not to be imitated—for one who merely imitates or puts
an envious eye upon the divine gaddi of Śrī Guru courts his own
doom and disaster. Though imitation, it is said, is the highest form of
flattery, the wise disciple never attempts to imitate Śrī Guru. When
the foolish so-called disciple minimizes Śrī Guru by appropriating
his paraphernalia he misses the essence of divine love that is the
mature fruit of devotional service. One who believes that he can
correct Śrī Guru, or that his wisdom might supersede he who speaks
as one with the very mouth of the Supreme Lord Himself skates
upon very thin ice. The unwise disciple who considers that Śrī Guru
is somehow subject to his direction will never be liberated. The
errant followers will be relieved only when there is total repentance
before the sacred presence of Śrī Guru. There is no other recourse for
the arrogant student who promotes himself over the position of Śrī
Guru, for the divine twin lotus-red feet of Śrī Guru are nothing less
than the shelter of the Universe.
The essence of the teachings of Śrī Guru are understood when
the disciple is in complete fidelity with his order for, without faith in
the love and mercy of Śrī Guru, there is no question of deliverance.
As followers, our position is but to follow—and to shelter ourselves
under the great guru paramparā of the Śrī Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍīya
Sampradāya. The bona fide disciplic line has been carried from the
Spiritual Sky through the divine energy of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-
mantra and given to mankind by Śrī Guru. It is the wish, nay order,
of our Śrī Guru Prabhupāda, that this mantra must be carried in our
throats twenty-four hours a day as the great mantra for deliverance.
For only the true and loyal servants of Śrī Guru achieve the final
and coveted destination of going back to home back to Godhead by
the absolute grace of his divine empowerment. That transcendental
divine realm is the playground of the Cowherd Boy Kṛṣṇa who has
sent Śrī Guru to us with the secrets of salvation. It is there in the
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supreme abode that in Their eternal līlās, one day Kṛṣṇa encountered
the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu Rādhā at Sankhet. And as the Divine
Couple bathed in the Prem Sarovara of Their shared love, so Śrī
Guru has captured some buckets of this panacea and has proceeded
to pour it over the entire world in the form of the saṅkīrtana yagna.
Now at this very rare and divine crossroads in the history of
all the infinite Universes—taken as a whole—Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared
at last as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And through the analogous
electricity passed down from the silver wire of Śrī Guru paramparā,
this supreme order has descended for the deliverance of mankind.
Like never before, Śrī Guru is urging us to accept our one chance at
salvation and to quaff deeply this nectar that he has showered upon
us. He has carried the message from his predecessors: Lord Brahmā,
Śrī Nārada, Śrī Vyāsa, Śrī Madhva, Śrī Mādhavendra, Śrī Īśvara
Purī, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Nityānanda, Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana,
Śrī Kṛṣṇadāsa, Śrī Narottama, Śrī Viśvanātha, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda
Ṭhākura, Śrīla Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābajī, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī. The essence of their love in the form of divine instructions
have been lucidly explained in modern language by none other
than our very own Śrī Guru Śrīla Prabhupāda, and it is for us to
take his every word to heart as the rope out of the dark abyss of
material existence.
Let there be no confusion in the matter—we are nothing but
the adopted dogs of the sampradāya Ācārya Śrī Guru. If Śrī Guru
orders us to go sleep in the dirt then, like an obedient hound who
is faithful only to his own master, we must make our beds under
a tree until he calls us. Our prayers must echo as one that we may
increase our eternal sevā to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, through service to the spiritual master, for Śrī Guru
Prabhupāda is none other than Kṛṣṇa’s direct representative. Let us
therefore celebrate each and every moment that we may spend in
the bliss of service to his lotus feet, for the feet of Śrī Guru, our Śrīla
Prabhupāda, shelter the world through the tsunami flood of the holy
names of Kṛṣṇa.
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Arundhati Devi Dasi

Celebrating your Vyāsa-pūjā for this year of 2020.
I offer my most humble obeisances unto you.

Thank you for the greatest gift you have given to me and to all
humanity. Maybe not everyone has received it, but it’s there always,
through the mercy of your books, where your great presence lies. I
am always thankful that I had the opportunity to serve you through
typing/composing/transcribing your books – Bhagavad-gītā, The
Nectar of Devotion, Kṛṣṇa Book, Śrī Īśopaniṣad, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. I am most fortunate to have come in contact
with you and to have been able to listen, and type your holy words.
Millions of thank yous cannot really express my gratitude for the gift
of being able to serve you.
And as well, to be with you Śrīla Prabhupāda, while you were
present on the earth in your body. It was a great gift. I thank you
over and over. I think I needed your physical presence so somehow
you came to me. I love you Śrīla Prabhupāda. You taught me
yourself what love is.
I saw you first at Tompkins Square Park, heard you chant and
speak about the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. I chanted along and the seed
was planted, and eventually the circumstances of my life brought me
directly to your service.
Things are crazy in the world right now, Śrīla Prabhupāda, with
the coronavirus. Will we get through this? Is it the end of the world
as we know it? Will it be a wonderful new beginning? We don’t
know how it’s all going to turn out. The one thing I know is that I
can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and that the glorious mahā-mantra protects me
and nourishes me and frees me from fear. As you sang, bhajahū re
mana śrī nanda-nandana abhaya caraṇāravinda re. “My dear mind, just
worship the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa which is the place of all fearlessness.”
I am still fearful in the mind at times, for sure, but the mahā-mantra is
my true shelter. What would I do without that? So I thank you over
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and over again.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, all glories to your lotus feet! They are my
true shelter. Through them I can come to connect with the beloved
cowherd boy, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as well as His beloved Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī,
and all the residents of Śrī Vṛndāvana-dhāma.
I pray I can offer some more service to you in this lifetime, and
that somehow I can share your eternal gift to others. By your grace it
will be. All is your grace.
Haribol Śrīla Prabhupāda! I love you! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Arundhati Devi Dasi
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Balabhadra Dasa and Chaya Devi Dasi


Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to you, our
beloved spiritual master.
We hear their hoofs pounding the Earth as they run, their
dewlaps fiercely swaying from side to side, their long ears flopping
in the wind. Where are they going? Are they running with fear
away from harm?
A new, tasty, hay bale is arriving pierced by the tractor’s spear
and lowered into the silver hay ring. Fresh hay is pure joy for the
cows unfettered by any fear or anxiety.
We, humans, are hoping and waiting for the unseen germ
COVID-19 to pass us by or destroy us; in the meantime, the cows
are joyful, their stomachs full. Humans are worried about their
health, their longevity, and how long the government restrictions of
isolation and “lockdown” is necessary to preserve the health of as
many people as possible. Then there is the fear of financial ruin due
to restrictions of isolation.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have saved us from this mental anguish.
You have given us a purpose, a mission that forces us above fear
and loneliness. Your mission of cow protection has forced us out
of self-pity, forced us to think first of the cows and their happiness.
You have given us the holy name to take shelter under, both japa
and kīrtana. You have given us your books to ease our minds with
supreme knowledge. But for us here at ISCOWP, it is your cow
protection mission that unites with our hearts most deeply. We
hear your praises of how dear the cows are to Lord Kṛṣṇa. We
hear your instructions about how we can become happy when the
cows are happy.
People do not know what they are doing in the name of
economic development. The influence of Kali will keep
them in the darkness of ignorance. Despite all endeavors
for peace and prosperity, they must try to see the cows
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and the bulls happy in all respects. Foolish people do
not know how one earns happiness by making the cows
and bulls happy, but it is a fact by the law of nature. Let
us take it from the authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and
adopt the principles for the total happiness of humanity.
(Śrīla Prabhupāda in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.3 Purport)
Fortunately, the cows are easy to please. How uncomplicated they
are! Even more wondrous is how appreciative they are of our smallest
human efforts to care for them. Some hay, some fresh grass, some fly
wipe, fresh cool water, sufficient pasture to roam, companionship
with us, and their sisters and brothers are enough for them to be
satisfied with their lives.
Following the worn cow path through the woods, we find
Akshobhya wearing his wooly winter coat utilizing a fallen tree
branch to scratch his forehead and then his neck. His heavy winter
coat must itch as the weather turns warmer and spring approaches.
Deeper in the bushes are Nara and Jahnava enjoying a private moment
of affection as Nara licks Jahnava’s neck. Jahnava is in ecstasy until
Nara forgets he has horns, and one lightly pokes Jahnava in the neck.
Jahnava is a bit surprised but continues enjoying Nara’s continuous
licks. Jahnava is a resilient girl.
As the woods open to the fields, the cow path takes us through
the front pasture. Padmaganda is guarding the pathway and not
allowing anyone to walk beyond him. Anasuya is the first one to
approach Padma, and they begin to swing their heads (both adorned
with sharp-pointed horns) at each other, echoing loud clicking
sounds when their horns clash. The battle goes on until Anasuya
steps back and decides upon a different tactic. She approaches
Padma with her tongue extended and gives him a few licks on his
forehead. Anasuya then calmly walks beyond Padmaganda towards
the new hay bale.
Most of the cows are gathered around the new hay bales eating
happily. Some members of the herd are sitting, eyes closed, ears
perked up, peacefully chewing their cud. Sitting next to Amrita, we
can hear her deep, rhythmic breathing. All three of the Brahmans
in the herd breathe with the same otherworldly peacefulness. The
ISCOWP staff and members provided the cows the hay, which has
made them happy. When the cows are happy, everyone who helped
make them happy is happy. Pleasing the cows pleases the human soul.
You have given us a simple solution to these most challenging
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times. We, as your disciples and grand disciples, must protect
cows. Protecting the cows means keeping the cows happy. We must
convince others to protect cows, and we must spread the knowledge
of cow protection worldwide. Why? If we do so, you have instructed
us the entire world will become happier under the protection of the
Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
A society devoid of cow protection and brahminical
culture is not under the direct protection of the Lord,
just as the prisoners in the jails are not under the
protection of the king but under the protection of a
severe agent of the king. Without cow protection and
cultivation of the brahminical qualities in human
society, at least for a section of the members of society,
no human civilization can prosper at any length. (Śrīla
Prabhupāda in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.14.34, Purport)
Please, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, bless your devotees with the
strength, knowledge, determination, and perseverance to establish
cow protection worldwide for the happiness of the cows, all the
inhabitants of the Earth, and Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Your servants at ISCOWP,

Balabhadra Dasa and Chaya Devi Dasi
International Society for Cow Protection, Inc.
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Chintamani Dasi


All glories to His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Of the many memories I have of the early days, I decided to write
one that has probably not been heard before.
In the spring of 1972, my so-called husband decided to take
sannyāsa, and that meant I had to leave the temple we were in
because he was never supposed to see me again. The closest temple
was in Hong Kong (we were in Tokyo) and that meant it was also
the cheapest ticket. So off I went, myself and the Lord Jagannātha
Deities, which is another pastime.
In Hong Kong were Bhūrijana and Jagattāriṇī Dāsī, struggling
to make devotees. Passing through were Sudāmā Vipra Mahārāja
and Romaharṣaṇa who were going to Manila to open a temple.
They invited me to help out, probably because I knew how to cook
and had Deities.
In the Philippines I was surprised at how receptive some of the
people were. We went out on harer nāma saṅkīrtana daily and started
the Sunday Feast program. So many young people started coming,
many from the Ananda Marga Society. The Ananda Marga Society
was a synthesis of tantric and Vedic philosophies. Some newspapers
called them tantric terrorists. Six defectors were murdered and the
leader was imprisoned for a few years, although he declared himself
innocent. Human skulls were used in their practice and the goal
was impersonal liberation. So, I guess they were told to meditate in
the graveyards because some would ask me if we meditated in the
graveyard. When I said no, it seemed as if they were relieved. One
person wanted to join us, but his relatives showed up with a gun, so
we didn’t try to convince him.
One time we were invited to a gathering of Ananda Marga
devotees to give a talk and kīrtana after they gave their presentation.
It was in a very large room with lots of windows with wooden
shutters. At one point it was as if a large cloud came through the
room and the shutters started opening and slamming shut. I knew
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it was a bunch of ghosts coming through! I guess that is what can
happen when you meditate in a graveyard, you may have some
ghosts (bhūtas and pretas) follow you back. The Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra
seemed to clear the bad vibes in the room.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for giving us such a wonderful
path. I am so grateful, otherwise I may have been one of those people
meditating in graveyards.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!

Chintamani Dasi
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Sripati Dasa
The Ballad of Corona Gaol
Epic facility on the salver of Fortune, She

Serves us good moment for gathering wit
Sombre in plenty, a twist of acidity, for
To contemplate gravely the part we inherit:
Your impetus, honesty, frankly, the majesty –
All souls imbibe that sense of your verve
That turns on surrender and your place in descendancy
A matchless mentor for this soul to serve
. . . if only I could!
For how should that attempt look, it’s pallor and savour?
What will our world make of the tale of our saviour?
Will I still guard against prejudiced neighbour?
Smelt Judas Iscariot in my behaviour?
The person, the person. . .your personality

Was who was trusted, with no turning back
No calamity here, you were meta-reality
With all provided, whatever the lack
As a vision of clarity , carried over for thirstiness
Of future seekers who, when tired of cant,
Turn upon turn in the quest for the genuine,
Arrive at your prose, esteem it best extant
. . . if only I would!
How should that attempt be without any waver?

By trust in the fatherly love of our saviour
Transforming the life of an errant craver?
“Believe me and trust, you’ll not be a failure”.
With all considered, it’s far from rosy

In the jailhouse of life – so much to despair
Of and love and safety devoid of a laity,
Beggars we are for the Supreme Affair.
With measures in place we’re set to resume
The proximity link with our dearest Lord
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A matter of faith, endurance and greed
For treading the path you have led us toward.
. . . so then I could, I would, I should
. . . .serve my Śrīla Prabhupāda!
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Karanodakasayi Visnu Dasa Adhikari
My dear respected Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your
lotus feet time and time again.


It is with the greatest humility at my command and with a straw
between my teeth that I offer this Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā offering to you, on
this your 125th Appearance Day.
In the life of a devotee there will be many ups and downs. No
one is immune from that. That is the nature of this world. And as
one continues in his devotional service steadily over the years, he
will definitely see changes in himself as to how he is developing
in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Without doubt he will sometimes even
surprise himself when he tries to push forward the mission and
Movement of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
It is therefore not surprising when one meets opposition to this
advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People will try to criticise and even
attack him for his stance. But a steady devotee continues to do his
duty under the protection of the Lord and so makes steady progress
in his march back to Godhead.
This year, I finally bit the bullet and decided to write and publish
my first book Our Vaikuntha Planet: How To Eliminate Anxiety For 8
Billion People, which is available on Amazon, incidentally, or from
my website: www.daivalimited.com.
I must admit I was feeling some of the ecstasy you expressed
when you were writing your own books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, when
you made the following statements:
“Writing is the real business.”
“Books are the basis.”
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“Books are our family business.”
“Whatever little success we have had in our

Movement, it is because of our books.”
“Book distribution is for everyone.”
“It is the duty of every disciple to see how he is

advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by putting
into words our philosophy in writing.”
And one Chinese proverb that kept reverberating:
“The faintest writing is more powerful
than the most powerful memory.”
With all these wonderful instructions and realisations, I felt truly
blessed by this one drop of mercy you have bestowed upon me. For
writing is surely one thing I can learn to do nicely, and so encourage
all devotees to do the same, including my brother, Caturbhuja
Prabhu.
Writing is perhaps one of the most difficult things to master, but
by continually honing our skills and meditating on the right words
to use at the right time, to edit for force, and to realise only a fool
takes himself to be his own editor – all these ecstasies that you have
given us, Śrīla Prabhupāda are truly mind-boggling.
Our only business is śravaṇam-kīrtanam, that is listening and
chanting Kṛṣṇa’s glories. What that means in my case is reading and
writing. You ordered me: “...continue your education and become
Kṛṣṇa conscious”. So, reading is listening to your eternal voice in your
books, and writing is kīrtanam, putting what we have understood
from you in some format, from our mouth, into print or digitally.
Input and output, as it is understood, in this age of technology. Both
give the devotee the greatest pleasure. When we are finally giving
of ourselves, imparting what we have understood from our eternal
guru, that is the greatest welfare work.
One time you said, “what is all this haribol business?” We have
to do something that has eternal effect. That is writing. We should
be able to pick up any book and see Kṛṣṇa and be able to write Kṛṣṇa
from any field of endeavour. It is being able to have an intelligible
conversation with a child or the greatest Nobel prize laureate or
statesman. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not simply, “neti, neti... I
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don’t want you to come here.... I am this...I am that…”
The fools and rascals are unable to truly understand what is
Kṛṣṇa consciousness, although they may profess to be practicing it
for many years together. Unless they take shelter of a pure devotee,
their life is simply a misery, and it will continue to be more and more
miserable, until they stir from their slumber and come out of their
wolf clothing and learn to follow. Unable to understand what is what,
they are simply wasting their time. So life goes on. The elephants will
dance and the dogs will bark and simply take everyone down with
them. This is going on. That’s all. Unable to distinguish between
matter from spirit, the fools and rascals are continuing to play their
music and so drowning themselves and their rats into the sea. When
the pied-piper is himself a rascal, what to do? We have simply to
separate the milk from the water. That is our only business.
I am truly indebted, Śrīla Prabhupāda and I simply request that I
be allowed to continue writing for my own purification and benefit,
and for the benefit of others, until I leave the planet.
Thank you very much, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Karanodakasayi Visnu Dasa Adhikari
London
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Balai Devi Dasi


I offer my most humble obeisances at your transcen-
dental lotus feet.
You wrote in a letter to Kadamba Kānana (December 8, 1975),
“The mercy of the spiritual master is always there, but we have
to take it. Just like the sun, it is there for everyone, but we at least
have to stand in a receptive place to get the benefit.” You came and
personally grabbed us and lovingly practically forced us to take your
mercy, to put us in that receptive place. You conquered us by your
love and devotion to your spiritual master and to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and
by your love for us.
Thank you for your divine books, thank you for all your
instructions in your lectures and letters, thank you for your kīrtanas
and bhajans. It is inconceivable how you did so much in just a few
short years – and you always remained above the material qualities,
and always completely dependent on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.
Thank you for giving us the knowledge how to differentiate
spirit from matter. Thank you for giving us the means to remember
Kṛṣṇa always by chanting His holy names: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare!
Thank you for teaching us what good qualities are and for
personally exemplifying each one in full:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Fearlessness;
purification of one’s existence; cultivation of spiritual
knowledge; charity; self-control; performance of sacrifice;
study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity; nonviolence;
truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquility;
aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities;
freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady
determination; vigor; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and
freedom from envy and from the passion for honor — these
transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly
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men endowed with divine nature. — Bhagavad-gītā 16.1-3
Just as Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot be seen by ordinary eyes, but by
transcendental eyes, so you gave us this transcendental vision
to be able to see Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotee. You are not an
ordinary person to be seen or recognized by material senses.
Your quality of unexpected mercy was shown in so many ways. I
once made a “Prabhupāda” hat for you and you accepted it and
started wearing it. It was actually a little too large for you, but you
wore it for a long time. There are so many photos with you wearing
this hat. So for a little gift, you bestowed so much mercy on me.
I pray to be eternally engaged in service to your lotus feet.

Balai Devi Dasi
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Cathurbhuj Dasa
I was born in the darkness of ignorance, and my spiritual master
opened my eyes by the torchlight of knowledge. I offer him my most
humble obeisances.
This year, on your 124th Appearance Day, also coinciding with
the 54th Appearance year of your Movement in America, I think it is
especially poignant to recall some of the precious gifts that you have
given to us all, through which to conduct ourselves in devotional
service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa.
I recall in previous Vyāsa-pūjā Tributes offering (see Śrīla
Prabhupāda Tributes 2015, pages 162 –163) my co-devotees and disciples
have spoken of your truly amazing educational programmes for
helping humanity at large – this being a vehicle for communicating
to the future leaders of society.
To further Kṛṣṇa’s desire and just to save the fallen souls, you
took great trouble and went through great toil to sail on the Jaladuta,
departing from the land of India to come to the West in 1965.
Since then devotees all over the world, through your inspiration,
have been doing their bit to sail with you and serve in your epic
journey to capture Lord Caitanya’s mercy.
This year, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I can report to you wonderful services
in London, and elsewhere under the leadership of Jai Nitāi Prabhu
and others. It is with his grace, along with other devotees, that we
have an oasis in the centre of London. The London Temple performs
such beautiful festivals – Gaura Pūrṇimā, Janmāṣṭamī, Rathayātrā
just to name a few. There are food distribution programmes and
Bhagavad-gītā classes. Thousands are taking shelter because of the
festival and spiritual welfare programmes enacted through you
mercy and grace.
This very modest offering is an opportunity to reinvigorate
oneself and catch up. May we all be inspired in your service.
It is estimated that there are now between six to seven million
people practising Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the Western world, in one
form or another.
It seems to us that we should all strive to inculcate principles
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which are actually directed at making ourselves purer and purer
and thus, forwarding the Movement in a way that is compatible with
your personal instructions to us.
Within centres of excellence and in buildings and temples
where science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is practiced, visitors should
always be reminded of your valuable contribution and message of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I feel there should be a grand hall called “Śrīla
Prabhupāda’s Hall” which could become a magnet for attracting
devotees. This is precisely what Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s
Movement emphasised. It is fitting in these troubled and panic times
to remember Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His devotees.
At a talk recently, I spoke on the following which is reproduced
from an article I wrote:
In the 15th and 16th Century, the stage was set for the mesmerising
movement of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu to begin. The glorious
vibrations were going to be felt far and wide from where He was
born, Śrī Māyāpur Dhām, Yoga Pīṭha, in West Bengal. The Lord
predicated this during his presence.
Three centuries later, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur, in archaeological
findings and in discovery of the birth place of Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu in 1871, enchanted devotees all over India who
awoke to this news.
Throughout his lifetime Bhaktivinoda Thākur wrote prolifically.
He contributed a great deal to writing Vaiṣṇava poetry, and shaped
development of communities towards self-realisation, touching the
lives of millions who benefitted not only in Calcutta (Kolkata) , West
Bengal, but throughout British India and beyond its shore. Articles
appear in The Times and in other prominent British media outlets.
Disciples of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī came
to London in 1933 where Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a
towering personality’s message was being propagated for the first
time in the West.
Under direct instructions of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī,
some of his senior students, His Holiness Bhakti Bon Mahārāja and
Bhakti Pradip Tirtha Mahārāja went to London in 1933. There, they
met with Secretary of State of India, Lord Zetland and Miss Daisy
Cellia Bowtel (alias, Vinod Vani Devi Dasi who became an ardent
student of Bhakti Pradip Titra Mahārāja) in England, and who was
part of the genteel English Aristocracy, and with others unearthed
further works, of Bhaktivinoda Thākur.
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The focus of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s message was to
leave a lasting legacy. He addressed the human condition by
bringing everyone to a pure devotional platform of God or Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s message and its
relevance today is that people can unite under a common platform
in elevating themselves through congregational chanting of the holy
names without resorting to a bodily platform of designations and
false identities created through māyā.
With scholarly works in more than six languages, including
Sanskrit, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur and his disciples’ writings brought
the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to the modern age, and
to millions of Vaiṣṇava devotees. Such works are to be seen at the
British Library.
Today the mission of Gaudiya Mission is to promote the
message of the Lord to the West. The paradigm principle
for doing this is universal brotherhood and pure unalloyed
love of Godhead among communities and reference to such
textual scriptures as Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So I finally return to my point which is love of Godhead. By example
and by your books, you Śrīla Prabhupāda have provided us a method
and a tremendous insight into developing our role and attitude in
devotional service. By highly practical advice and guidance you
have steered devotees along the path loving Kṛṣṇa, and imbibing the
science of Kṛṣṇa with adulation.
Today, of all days, we seek your causeless mercy.

Cathurbhuj Dasa
London
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Swarup Dasa

Please accept my obeisances.
In your purport of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.22.47 you write, “A joker’s
activities simply arouse laughter, and a person who tries to repay the
spiritual master or teacher of the transcendental message of Kṛṣṇa
becomes a laughing stock just like a joker because it is not possible to
repay such a debt. The best friend and benefactor of all people is one
who awakens humanity to its original Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
As always happens whenever I attempt to express my
appreciation for the gift you have given me – the gift of pure and
perfect knowledge, the gift of hope and light, the gift that keeps on
giving eternally, the gift of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – I feel very foolish
and inept and yes, I do feel like a joker.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, all of us who became your disciples when you
were present are now entering into the final stage of life. Many of my
godbrothers and godsisters have already left their bodies. Old age,
disease and death are all around and even some of our children, one
of my sons included, are already gone.
By presenting the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Kṛṣṇa, in your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, we can understand that it is
only the material body that undergoes birth, death, disease and old
age; the soul is eternal. You gave us the transcendental teachings of
Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism and taught by example the process of bhakti-
yoga, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As such you have given us the path of
awakening to our original pure blissful existence. By your mercy
we’re able to overcome all adversities in this world and rather than
grieve and lament for the loss of loved ones we instead rejoice,
knowing that even the slightest endeavor on this path guarantees an
opportunity in the next life for further advancement. What’s more,
if we follow your instructions and example with utmost sincerity
and determination we can go back home, back to Godhead in
this very life.
So I beg you Śrīla Prabhupāda, on the occasion of your Vyāsa-
pūjā to please accept at your lotus feet this feeble offering of gratitude
from this laughing stock joker to whom you gave the name,
Swarup Dasa
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Govinda Datta Dasa
Husband of a Prostitute
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to my beloved
spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda. I was born in the darkest
ignorance and you are opening my eyes with the torch of knowledge
of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I offer you my sincere obeisances as you
unhesitatingly offer us pure devotional service even though we
persistently reject many aspects of your transcendental advice
and our minds present arguments and excuses contrary to going
back to Godhead.
I pray I can embrace all of your Kṛṣṇa conscious teachings
and enthusiastically implement them daily into my practical life.
You are so kind to show us how we can engage 24 hours a day in
service to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya in a very practical way.
Especially to turn the conditioned souls around and save them, as
well as ourselves from going to the deepest darkest regions of hellish
existence. Harināma, book distribution, temple programs, traveling
and preaching, home programs – the list is practically unlimited and
exciting at the same time. Devotee life is very ecstatic.
As a materialist I played the part of a husband of a prostitute.
There is no auspiciousness in such a life. It is such a tremendous
disturbance, and there is no peace for even a moment. Service to
my unchaste senses which were never satisfied and relentlessly
haunting me with attraction to unlimited mesmerized dreams
of chasing fantasies and mirages in the desert like universes of
this material world. The husband of a prostitute is tormented and
tortured constantly. He is always threatened by the consorts who are
intensely vying for the opportunity to eschew every inkling of sense
pleasure possible in material nature especially in sex indulgence.
And the result of such a contaminated life is only misery. There is
never any satisfaction. You very intelligently explain that this life
of ignorance of self-realization is the greatest defeat in this human
form of life. Materialists do not realize how they are wasting such a
rare opportunity.
On a morning walk dated March 23, 1968, you gave us this
beautiful prayer, “And praying to Kṛṣṇa, ‘Please give me strength.’
Hare, ‘O Energy of Kṛṣṇa, O Kṛṣṇa, I am fallen, I have no strength.
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Please accept me.’ That’s all. ‘I have no qualification. I am frail. I
am trying, but I am failing.’ All these appeals should be made. And
Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful, He can do anything. Even we, we do not
perform, trying our best, if we fail, Kṛṣṇa will help us. Just like a
child tries his best, but he falls down. The mother takes up and, ‘All
right. Come on. Walk.” Like that.’
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I pray to you for the inspiration to submerge
myself constantly in pure devotional service. In these final moments
and last few days of my life I pray to offer you practical devotional
service. I hope to do that in the form of Kṛṣṇa Lunch. I am not sure
if that will be the path I will be able to traverse. I pray, pray and
pray that it will be. It will be such an opportunity to offer prasādam,
Kṛṣṇa conscious literature, association, the holy name, and many
other opportunities. Especially I wish to bring full-time devotees to
your lotus feet. But whatever path you offer me I pray that I may
wholeheartedly embrace it so that at the very end I can meet you
with my head held high that I pleased you devoting this life to you.
Hare Kṛṣṇa and thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing
me to your lotus feet and devotional family.

Govinda Datta Dasa
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Deena Bandhu Dasa

You saw a beautiful piece of land in Raman Reti and desired to let
there be a temple here and devotional service to the Supreme Lord. By
your strong desire, the most lovely temple of Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarāma
manifested. In this way you introduced Vṛndāvana to the world.
Still today, the gorgeous worship is expanding and with it, the
glories of Śrī Vṛndāvana. Now people from every part of the world
come here and see this elegant temple. They take darśana of Their
most beautiful Lordships Śrī Śrī Gaura Nitāi, Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarāma,
Śrī Śrī Rādhā Śyāmasundara, and see how with great devotion and
opulence the worship is continuing.
I have been told by my older godsiblings that you once said
that Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Mandir is the beating heart of ISKCON.
Here, many sincere devotees are engaged in maintaining this
wonderful legacy that you in your supreme kindness have bestowed
upon the world.
Although I’m completely fallen and addicted to useless sense
enjoyment, you, out of your causeless compassion, accepted
me as your disciple. You have mercifully allowed me to try and
assist in helping to maintain this glorious temple and expand the
glories of Vṛndāvana.
We have seen the amazing pictures that Gurudasa Prabhu
had the presence of mind to take when you took the devotees on
parikrama of Vraja. Circumambulating Nanda Baba’s Temple in
Nandagram, riding the palanquin in Barsana, and bathing in the
Yamuna at Brahmanda Ghat. You have so kindly engaged me in
this service to the Vaiṣṇavas and I beg for your mercy to be able to
continue this service as long as I am able. I hope by serving the feet
of the wonderful Vaiṣṇavas from all over the world in this way, I will
obtain your causeless mercy.
On this day with all my humility, I bow down to your soft lotus
feet and thank you for saving me from the darkest of ignorance that
was my life before meeting Your Divine Grace. I was hopelessly
going in the wrong direction, seeking the purpose of life through
the basest of hedonism. Your wonderful books turned my head from
searching through the grossest illusions for the truth. Now I search
through the transcendental reality that is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, engaging in His
divine service.
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I will never be able to repay the limitless debt that I have to Your
divine self. I only seek that by my insignificant service of continuing
to spread the glories of your amazing Vṛndāvana, you will kindly
put your compassionate glance upon this useless soul.
Your most insignificant servant,

Deena Bandhu Dasa
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Bhakta Dasa
Your Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda,



mūkuṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā taṁ ahaṁ vande
śrī-guruṁ dīna-taraṇam
HE REASONS ill who tells that Vaiṣṇavas die

when thou art living still in sound.
The Vaiṣṇavas die to live, and living try
To spread the holy name around.
– His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
Fifty years ago I listened to you warn us that the present ways of
living we condemned, doomed and would 100% collapse. Very few
took your warning with the seriousness it deserved. Now all around
us we see the world as we have known it is collapsing, and I at least
anticipate it will become much worse.
Yet, while most of the world is cowering in fear and hysteria,
and governments are creating trillions of new Dollars and Euros and
Pounds and Rupees from the air in hopes of saving everything, I
personally feel no fear at all. Why?
Because you brought the message of Bhagavad-gītā to us. We
know the body is not the self, and we know the self cannot be
touched or harmed by anything material. We know we have this
body because of our enmity towards Lord Kṛṣṇa. You taught us to
take the medicine of bhakti-yoga to get cured of this enmity. We keep
taking it and we are confident that some day we will be lifted from
this ocean of insanity.
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Mahatma Dasa


I Was Born to Serve You

I sometimes wonder, “Was I your servant in the past? Is it possible
that I and your other disciples were sent by your guru Mahārāja
to help you spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness?” Or was I just a lost and
useless soul, a frustrated hippie fortunate enough to meet Your
Divine Grace and engage in your service?
The latter is certainly true. Regarding the former, you spoke
these encouraging words:
My spiritual master knew it that alone I could
not do this great work. Therefore He has very
kindly sent you all to help me in this task. I accept
you therefore as representatives of my guru
Mahārāja playing as my affectionate disciples.
Some may argue that this statement was just an expression of your
humility. And no doubt it was. But it’s deeply inspiring to think that
I took birth to serve you and your Movement.
During my teenage years I sometimes saw devotees in my
hometown of Los Angeles. They even started a temple in my
neighborhood. In 1967, when I visited Haight Ashbury, I ran into
devotees there. Then when I went away to University in 1969,
devotees from the local temple were doing kīrtana daily on campus.
And I often heard the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra on the radio. So from the
age of seventeen, devotees became part of the landscape of my life.
Was this a coincidence or was this part of a divine plan for one who
takes birth to serve you? Perhaps we’ll never know for sure. Still, for
me it feels like meeting you was meant to be.
But maybe I did take birth, like everyone else, to pursue the
mission of being God. If so, it would be audacious of me to think that
I took birth to help you spread this Movement, especially because I
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wasn’t born in a devotee family; not even a brāhmaṇa or religious
family? Plus, my teenage pastimes often centered around breaking
the regulative principles. Certainly the path I was traversing was
a dark and dangerous one. Still, the thought that I took birth in
America to serve you, that maybe in the past I had a connection with
devotional service, not only inspires me to no end, but ingratiates
me to your eternal service. When I feel, “I was born to serve you,”
it deepens my connection and commitment to you, and gives me
the determination I need to overcome the obstacles on the path of
becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and sharing it with others. The thought
that “I was born to serve you” keeps me constantly endeavoring to
more deeply understand you, your teachings and your mission, and
it impels me to try, day in and day out, to personify your teachings.
But maybe I am proud and foolish to think this way. Maybe I
just happened to be in the right place at the right time and by some
stroke of luck I took up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Maybe that fortune
had nothing to do with me or my past; maybe it was entirely due
to your mercy. Yet, if I can dance to your drum and imbibe your
thoughts and teachings, don’t I have the right to believe that my
birth was ultimately meant for your service?
Śrīla Prabhuapda, I have always felt most fortunate to be able
to do something, anything, for you. I often think that if I didn’t
have your service I wouldn’t have a good reason to do anything.
And even if I were showered with material opportunities, opulences
and pleasures, what happiness could it bring if not engaged
in your service?
You know me better than I know myself. I never felt qualified
to serve you, but I knew that serving a pure devotee is a rare
opportunity and should be taken advantage of. It was your mercy to
engage me in your service and tolerate my feeble attempts to serve
you. You know I am a fallen soul, but somehow I had a desire to serve
and thus you gave me responsibilities in your Movement. And even
when I didn’t serve well, made numerous mistakes or sometimes
even gave up my service, you never gave up on me. You continued
to engage me, tirelessly supported and instructed me, and continued
to pray for my spiritual advancement. Therefore, how can I ever give
up your service. How can I ever think of doing anything other than
pushing on your Movement, the Movement you risked your life to
give birth to and raise?
So, was I Kṛṣṇa conscious in my past life? Were we together before
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and again reunited in this life? Was I sent by your guru mahārāja to
help you? Who knows? But one thing is for sure, no matter how I or
anyone looks at it, I was born to serve you!
Your unqualified but fortunate eternal servant,

Mahatma Dasa
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Tejiyas Dasa
Always Crying for My Service

My dearest father and eternal spiritual master,
I am not inclined to make public offerings. You remember that
in front of you, despite your best efforts, I remained reserved and
reticent. I preferred remaining distant and not enjoying familiar
talks. My intention – to avoid familiarity. I wanted to do everything
to encourage you to correct me without hesitation.
I regularly speak to you from my heart – especially how, after you
left, I felt lost. Fortunately, for many years I was able to be of service
and, in that service, I felt you with me, guiding me. I remember
your first assignment for me – sending me to Delhi alone. For six
months I wandered, alone, homeless, often starving, criticized by
godbrothers, meeting opposition in my preaching. Luckily, I took
shelter of something you shared with me, “I always see my spiritual
master present with me.” You enabled me to experience the same –
your spiritual companionship as I endured the unendurable. Your
divine kindness turned the externally hellish into nectar. Taking
inspiration from Śrī Īśopaṇiṣad I’d pray the sun would never set, so
24 hours I could serve your objectives.
You already know, but I write it today, that my sins are so vast,
my offenses so many, that I am due many lives in wretched bodies
and circumstances. I accept what is due me would take billions of
Brahma’s lives, who lives 311 trillion years.
You repeatedly referenced śāstra how Kṛṣṇa is supremely
grateful. Even a speck of devotional service unintentionally done
is so savored by the sweet-hearted Prince of Dwarka, He gratefully
forever remembers it. Kṛṣṇa guarantees to give any such person
a second chance in his next life as a human being. Yet, I feel my
store of misdeeds should not be forgiven. Enduring the sufferings
in this world, I must maturely learn the lessons offered by Kṛṣṇa’s
Department of Corrections.
Despite being open to accepting this suffering, I see you, my dear
spiritual master, bestowing upon me your divine grace. I understand
you’re grateful for my insignificant and bungled attempts at service. I
have seen this personally, hundreds of times. You forced me, despite
my resistance, to sit by your side. Thus, I could closely inspect your
actions. I have noted how unaffected you are by material things,
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only caring for spirit – for Kṛṣṇa Himself and the lost souls you
were here to save.
A special instance in Vṛndāvana comes to mind. Having a
satsaṅga, the listeners packed up tight, an elderly Bengali widow,
adorned with a tattered saree, entered holding a marigold she likely
plucked from your garden.
When that Vaiṣṇavī entered the room, your eyes became fixated
on that poor excuse of a flower she proffered in your direction. I
studied you carefully. As you spoke, your eyes flowed from person-
to-person, establishing a rapport. Then your glance returned to that
lonely flower. The lady slowly wended her way towards the front,
creating quite a stir – causing people to lean this way and that so she
could pass. You patiently ignored her disturbance, without missing
a beat, adroitly weaving a narrative customized to the heart of each
person, surcharging their attachment for Kṛṣṇa. In between, your
eyes snapped back to that marigold. You expressed such eagerness.
It was almost like lust, but you certainly were free from even a tinge.
Yet that blossom called out to you. You couldn’t keep your eyes off it.
At long last that mātājī arrived in front of your desk, where she
bowed down, offering her respects, forcing those crammed in front
of you to disperse. Quite dexterously she held aloft her gift. Rising,
cradling her right elbow in her left hand, she delivered it to you. I
watched the two of you, eyes locked and the great compassion and
love your face reflected.
Gracefully with the flower between your thumb, index and
middle fingers, you put it in front of your nose. Closing your eyes,
you deeply inhaled the fragrance. I attended the nuances of your tone
as you stated, “Thank you very much”, which expressed a degree of
gratitude suitable to receiving a most cherished valuable gift.
Let me restate that initially I didn’t want to be your disciple.
In India I wanted to find a perfect teacher who could perfectly
answer my questions on Vedānta. I learned from daily Gītā study,
and local Vaiṣṇava practice, that I should find a pure soul in
disciplic succession and serve them hand and foot. When pleased
that person would enlighten me. That was my mission and method
before knowing you.
I had heard of you and it was certified you were a “very good
Swami.” However, when I came within the fold of ISKCON and read
your books, it became resplendently clear that you were the rarest
of souls, a Mahājana of the likes of Sripad Madhava-Acharya. Please
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don’t be upset by this praise. I listened as devotees gave me a new
definition, coming from your humble advice, that one should not
be eager to serve vapuḥ, but to serve vāṇī. Frankly, I was astonished
devotees were taking initiation from you. You were so high above us.
I heard how your excellency manifested from birth all the
behaviors of a pure devotee – yet you waited eleven years before
taking initiation. Indeed, it is imperative to take initiation. However
for me, I was so sinful, so foolish, I thought that it would take a
lifetime to be fit to be a disciple, to be certain to follow the vows.
I considered the facts; you waited 11 years. Analyzing my family
history I discerned that I had barely 35 years left to live. Thus I
decided to prepare for initiation by staunchly observing sādhana
for 33 years (3 x 11). You were far above me. Better I not bring on
you the burden of being your disciple, better to take dīkṣā from a
disciple of your disciple, just as they did in the Madhava sampradāya.
However, Sriman Rupanuga Prabhu, your representative, had his
way, and here I am 50 years later still trying to come up to the mark
as your disciple.
You summoned me to India, and I couldn’t refuse. Serving as
temple commander during the 1971 Delhi festival, I was trying to
build a fire for cooking. Coming out to see me, and giving some
suggestions, you then invited me into your room, and had me read
Nectar of Devotion to you. After some time you nodded for me to
stop and then, leaning forward, stated, “Whenever you have a spare
moment you should come and sit and listen.” I was disquieted by
this. It was delightful, but fearful, that the worst could happen –
becoming familiar with you. I countered, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, I
understand you’re reluctant to instruct disciples when you think
their feelings will be hurt. But please, don’t consider my feelings.
When you find any fault, please correct without hesitation.” I did
not need to say this, but still it felt appropriate.
Soon after you appointed me as Delhi T.P. During my time in
Delhi you came to visit 18 times, gave me many managerial roles and
called me to visit you 49 times. Thus I had to frequent your room, not
only on your order to come and listen, but also out of duty to discuss
projects. Also when you visited Delhi you were my special ‘guest’
for me to frequently look in on.
Six and a half years you tolerated my undaunted attempts at
keeping a strict distance of respect from you. Six and a half years
you allowed my attempts at distancing, yet you always prevailed,
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directing my respect so I became ever more intimate with you.
I would silently enter your room, hoping, praying, you’d not
notice (or at least ignore me), just carrying on with your vastly
important business. Yet you would, to my great consternation, stop
everything and divert your full and undivided attention to me.
My dear Lord, my dear Master, my dear Father – many years
my body has been racked with disease and overwhelming pain. Yet,
I don’t pray for relief. These are shadows to be tolerated. You gave
me many assignments that I failed to complete. So much kindness
you gave me, yet I am failing you. This is my real pain and suffering.
I don’t ask for relief from future suffering or horrible rebirths. My
burning desire is throughout every moment, every life, to never
forget our relationship and be allowed to serve. Please accept
my only request: when at last I re-emerge in human form, I be as
independent as in this life. That by the age of three, latest by eight,
I find you out and offer, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, here I am, your Tejiyas
Dasa reporting for duty. My Master, give me any assignment, no
matter how impossible. I will work, sacrifice, shed blood, tears, my
life, until it is done.” Awaiting our next reunion, begging to eternally
remain your disciple.
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Abhiram Dasa
A lost soul
From the darkness of the womb, through bewildering childhood,
I held onto an inexplicable hope that someone called God, would
reach into my life and give meaning, purpose and the joy of His
companionship. After lifetimes of wandering without achieving
anything worth a farthing, I finally came to the point of begging in
prayer for this miracle to happen. Reading Gītā from the age of 14,
giving up meat at 17 and attempting yoga, still more eager for this
revelation to come upon reaching 19, in 1969, I fell on my knees and
cried out loud; “Oh Lord, wherever I must go, whatever I must do,
however difficult it will be, please, please show me the way back to
my natural state, as this just cannot be all my life is supposed to be!
This just is not where I belong. I am alone, cold, lost and very sad”
A prayer answered
Within days of that desperate prayer of claiming my readiness to
accept any new identity, role or tribulation, that Lord, that Great
God within our hearts and pervading all, reached out with His
kindest gesture to answer my request, in the form of His own
dearest friend and servant, appearing on Earth and in front of
me as Om Vishnupad, Paramahansa, Parivrajakacharya 108, A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. The actual helping hand of
God reached out to me, in the form of Śrī Gurudeva. Just seeing his
photo, emanating divine wisdom, humility and dignity, I instantly
heard within my core “this is whom you seek, He shall save you”
and I accepted that gift, then turning the next page, I read His first
words: “Kṛṣṇa, the sound is transcendental” and I thought, “of
course, it is true”. Thus 50 years ago, I began an incredible journey,
a great adventure, which step by arduous step, began to pull me out
of my prison of false presumptions, muddled thinking, self-imposed
loneliness/lowliness and darkness, all the while encouraged,
constantly forgiven, instructed and led by my Divine Master, Śrīla
Prabhupāda. Step by step I dragged behind my godbrothers, who
were doing so much better than I, yet Śrī Gurudeva never abandoned
my need, holding my hand, speaking in my dreams, convincing me
by his words and actions that this indeed was the way forward. This
was the journey that I had long before begged to begin.
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A journey begins
Although I claimed myself ready to undertake any trouble, Śrī
Gurudeva knew how shallow was my resolve, how superficial
my sincerity and kindly offered so many enticements to continue
the journey. So much encouragement, so many options of how to
proceed. Feeding me prasādam, far tastier than the finest delicacies.
Forgiving my constant failures, He dragged me along the path
ahead, ever the vanquisher of my stupidity, yet always the kind
and doting grandfather and my divine master. But the adventure,
oh the adventure! From middle class oblivion to enlistment in the
Lord’s own army, quickly elevated to Saṅkīrtana leader, having one
of the first saṅkīrtana bus parties, speaking the philosophy of Gītā in
hundreds of college classrooms, an assistant temple president, then
president, founding temples, then temple president in Calcutta,
India, His divine place of birth and within six exciting years, being
asked to accompany His Divine Grace in the last months of his
mortal pastimes. Qualified for none of it, but holding on by the grip
of my fingernails, these first years were so fascinating, rewarding,
enriching and sublime, it is hard to look back and believe it really
happened, but it did, oh it did.
A debt incurred
What can be said about His kindness and to what extent can Śrī
Gurudeva be praised before the debt incurred repaid? “never
enough, it is too large an amount!” comes the refrain! This debt
will enslave me in a labor of love, where just attempting to pay the
interest charge will be my life’s sole occupation and yet greatest joy,
for the principal obligation incurred can never be repaid. But if I
cannot repay, then at least let me bring a small bit of happiness to
my divine master, instead of headaches and trouble. Let me be seen
as an obedient son, who gives back those things which Śrī Gurudeva
will appreciate and bring him pleasure. Yet again I am surprised to
find that those things which bring him pleasure, also please the Lord
and bring great happiness to me as well! Ahhhh, will the limitless
horizon of his mercy ever end, as my debt has now increased again a
million-fold and I am trapped in an endless cycle of debt upon debt!
Will I ever escape it? “No, never, but why would you wish to?”
comes the refrain! And it is true, for this ‘debt’ gives me purpose,
a labor to grow my love and animate me in the actual service of
the Divine Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which is the companionship for which I
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prayed! Who would wish to escape these ropes of love, this service
to our true master? Only a fool!
My last years
Now approaching my seventh decade in this fast-paced lifetime, my
impending departure from this mortal frame becomes more clearly
in focus. What will my epitaph read? Will I lose the human potential
of transcendent thought altogether? Will my many offenses and
failures demote me to some lower species, with no awareness of
The Lord’s beauty? More importantly, will my divine master Śrīla
Prabhupāda be pleased with me? Will I give him any joy, or be only a
burden? Will all my mustered sincerity be overwhelmed by my many
failures? So many brothers in arms have fallen along the path, taking
new births in higher dimensions, ever closer to the Lord’s lotus feet,
yet I remain here, still in need of much reform and improvements,
with past regrets that haunt me and a doubt about my core strength
to come up to the mark set by him. “Do not yield to this impotence,
this coward’s shame” comes that familiar voice. “No, I shall not!”,
I reply. “I shall not yield. I will fight, with my last gasps of air to
please him, to honor him, to be what he always wanted me to be;
a much better me, a dedicated follower, a genuine pilgrim. I may
fail, but I will not stop trying.”
Having made this vow, today in front of my many godbrothers
and sisters, in front of the Lord of all, may you all grant me your
blessings to succeed, although I am prone to failure. Please help
me remember that this is the end of this lifetime’s opportunity,
never to come again. We were given the kind helping hand of Śrīla
Prabhupāda. We have his image burned into our hearts and even
feel tears of love for him; a Vaiṣṇava, a dear friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa. We
have every opportunity, under the dancing feet of Lord Nityānanda
and His senāpati Śrīla Prabhupāda to reach the stars that shine upon
the sublime land of cows and cowherds, where the divine flute
animates every being. Let us stand up again, it is not too late today,
but it may be too late tomorrow!
My final prayer
My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I beg, with my face on the ground for your
mercy. In your manifestation as Lord Nityānanda, please help me to
serve your representative Śrīla Prabhupāda with dedicated sincerity.
May my many advanced godbrothers and sisters, kindly forgive
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my numerous offences and failures. May all my family members
bless me with forgiveness and support my efforts to go forward. I
beg Śrī Nāma Prabhu to someday dance on my tongue, just for the
benefit of others. I am condemned, but let me bring your mercy to all
those innocent souls who look towards me for encouragement. And
may my wretched body be engaged always in your service, until
it is consumed by time. The final boon I pray for, is to take birth
in any place or condition that will allow me the direct service and
association of my divine master Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Abhiram Dasa
Bhaktivedanta Rishikula, Mookambika Wildlife
Sanctuary, Udupi Dist. Karnataka
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Madhukanta Dasa

on this Earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching
the message of Lord Chaitanyadeva and delivering the Western
countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
In this letter to Mrs. Sally Agarwal, you humbly and powerfully,
reveal the depth and intensity of your unwavering determination to
follow the instructions of your guru Mahārāja, at all costs.
New York
19 November, 1965
My dear daughter Sally,
I beg to thank you for your kind letter of the 16th instant
and I have noted the contents carefully. I am glad to learn
that you had been to your parent’s house for a few days
and now you have returned home. I am still more glad to
learn that you are going to observe the third birthday of
Miss Kamala Agarwal on Saturday next. On this occasion
I should have presented her some ornaments but as I am
a sannyāsī I can simply offer my blessing for her long life
and good prosperity. She cannot now read otherwise at
least I should have presented a set of my books. But you
set aside one set of my books for her future reading when
she will grow up a beautiful and educated girl with full
God consciousness. I am obliged to your good daughter
for awarding me a good degree as SWAMI JESUS which
is actually a great honour for me. Sometimes the Lord
speaks through an innocent child and I take this honour
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as sent by Lord Jesus through an innocent child free from
all formalities of the current society. Lord Jesus preached
the message of God and I have taken up the same mission,
and it would be a good luck for me if I can follow the
footprints of Lord Jesus who preached the message of
God in spite of all persecution. Lord Jesus is a living
example of how one has to suffer in this material world
simply for the matter of preaching the message of God.
Also, in your conclusion to your Bombay Vyāsa-pūjā address of 1936,
you succinctly articulate the essence of love for Guru and Kṛṣṇa:
Personally, I have no hope for any direct service for the
coming crores of births of the sojourn of my life, but I
am confident that some day or other I shall be delivered
from this mire of delusion in which I am at present so
deeply sunk. Therefore let me with all my earnestness
pray at the lotus feet of my divine master to allow me
to suffer the lot for which I am destined due to my past
misdoings, but to let me have this power of recollection:
that I am nothing but a tiny servant of the Almighty
Absolute Godhead, realized through the unflinching
mercy of my divine master. Let me therefore bow down
at his lotus feet with all the humility at my command.
With these two quotes as examples of your timeless vāṇī, I humbly pray
that I might imbibe their potency in the moment to moment living
of the dwindling remainder of my life to render some meaningful
service in your glorious saṅkīrtana mission and Movement.

Madhukanta Dasa
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Locanananda Dasa
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened
my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances
unto him.
I am happy to report to Your Divine Grace that by Kṛṣṇa’s
arrangement, and with the help and guidance of many wonderful
caring godbrothers, I have been given another chance to render
service to Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda at the Brooklyn
temple. A twenty year ban from leading kīrtana and giving classes
has not dampened my enthusiasm to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness
and chant the holy name of the Lord on the streets of New York
City, by your order.
It was in August of 1977 when you were in Vṛndāvana that you
decided to go on a world tour of ISKCON temples. Your opinion was
that the future of our Movement was very bright and the devotees
were strong, but by traveling in your physically frail condition to see
them one last time, they would become even stronger. And so you
undertook the final stage of your preaching mission and came to the
West to bless us with your divine presence.
You had confided in me in 1974 that your plan was to spend four
months in Los Angeles, four months in India, and four months at the
Bhaktivedanta Manor so devotees could come from all over to see
you at these locations while you continued to work on the translation
of the final Cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It was no surprise then
that the first stop of your world tour would be the Manor.
It was around the 18th of August that your blessed appearance
day was celebrated at the Manor and many devotees from various
European countries traveled to England to be with you on that
auspicious occasion. The devotees of the Amsterdam yātrā, on the
other hand, remained in Holland to take part in the first installation
of your deity form on the Vyāsāsana in an ISKCON temple. As
Temple President, along with Parividha prabhu, our Head Pūjārī,
I placed a call to the Manor and, through Pradyumna prabhu, you
instructed us how to install and worship the deity of your divine self
on the Vyāsāsana.
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As the most humble servant of Kṛṣṇa, you were not insisting on
any exalted level of worship, only that your attire be changed when
it looked un-ironed or “crumpled”. You said multiple daily offerings
of foodstuffs would not be made to you as we were accustomed
to offering the Deities of Gaura Nitāi, Jagannātha, Subhadrā and
Baladeva, and Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Gopinātha who had
been installed just months earlier.
It is with a great sense of transcendental pride that I take every
opportunity to perform guru-pūjā whenever I am invited to a Sunday
program at one of our temples, or to lead kīrtana to chant your glories
as the friend of the poor and the lord and master of the devotees.
All glories to Your Divine Grace! All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda,
whose fame is spread throughout the three worlds. We take shelter
at your lotus feet.

Locanananda Dasa
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Aditi Devi Dasi

All glories to Your Divine Grace.
Many of my godbrothers and godsisters have made that journey
beyond death, and we are all confronted with the possibility that we
could depart at any moment.
We are fortunate to have heard your message of Vedic truths
early in our lives, and to have had your living example to witness
what it means to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Now please give us the
strength to follow your example and accept the death of our body
as an ever approaching reality, and to begin and end each day
singing your glories, chanting the holy names, and giving to our
families and others what you so tirelessly gave to us. Give us the
strength and determination to follow your instructions and to have
good and strong association to help us. I thank you and Rādhā and
Kṛṣṇa for giving me the association of your dear humble godbrother
Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Mahārāja for one darśana during Gaura
Pūrṇimā celebrations in Māyāpur in 1986. My heart went out to
him immediately and many years later I would have the association
of his appointed successor His Grace Bodhayan Mahārāja who
represents so humbly the Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava line of ācāryas (of
yourself and Bhakti Pramode Purī Mahārāja, and of His Grace Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
and all of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas).
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda for your determination to come
to the West and give Lord Caitanya’s message, and for working
tirelessly (sleeping so little so you could give so much) to bring Kṛṣṇa
consciousness to the Western world. Help me to do whatever I can
to spread Lord Caitanya’s message, and to live it as well. I remain
eternally indebted.
Your servant always,

Aditi Devi Dasi
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Kusha Devi Dasi
Expressing my Undying Gratitude

Śrīla Prabhupāda, You have given us the best of the best of the best.
The highest knowledge, glorious lives of singing and dancing and
feasting. Studies of Bhāgavatam and the life and teachings of Śrī
Caitanya and His amazing associates. We thank you for the bountiful
blessings you have bestowed on our wild and crazy lives here on this
fading planet Earth.
As we age, we begin to understand the risk and personal sacrifice
you took to bring us your blessings and change our lives. We now
understand the aches and pains of aging. You never complained.
You did tell us about suffering in this world, but we were so young,
we only now are just starting to comprehend your sacrifice.
We want so much to get out in Pañca Tattva’s garden and rake
and weed. So we do. We want so much to sing and dance out at
harināma too! We want so much to share both morning and evening
ecstasies of devotion, but these bodies just can’t keep up.
Still our cup continues to run over with the sweet ecstasies of
devotion you continue to share and the miracles of faith leading to
love of that beautiful Blue Boy, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya!
You alone braved worlds of the cold unknown to bring us a
glorious life. Your gift is unprecedented in the history of mankind!
Our never ending grateful joy is a testament to your
eternal blessings.
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Nagapatni Devi Dasi
My Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,


My prostrate obeisances over and over to you. Everything
wonderful, joyful and peaceful in my life is due to you. So much
mercy you have showered on this world. With your deluge of selfless
mercy, you’ve created an ocean of opportunity for the conditioned
souls, to leave the cycle of repeated birth, death, disease and old age.
How a wretched soul like me got caught in this mercy is a mystery.
As I struggle to show you my appreciation and gratitude, please
accept my offering.
There are so many components of your mercy. I’ll try to give some
proper appreciation for a small part. As the most profound spiritual
leader the world has ever experienced, you taught us more than just
knowing the basics of right and wrong on the material level, the
moral level and even the spiritual level. You’ve reintroduced us to
our eternal loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa. This process in itself has
given me a taste of transcendental pleasure that can’t be replicated
in any other way. Striving to apply my body, heart, mind and
intelligence, in His loving service is not just the path, it’s the goal.
The ability to be engaged is from your mercy. You fortify us with
proper instructions in your books, and lectures, so we can curb the
petulant mind. We conquer the tongue with prasādam, and overcome
the demands of the senses with proper engagement. This wonderful
structured life has been designed by your causeless mercy.
Because of you, I can understand the important concept of using
something for my pleasure, or in the service of Kṛṣṇa. I can see the
pathways leading to hell or back to Godhead. I understand the
difference between temporary misery and eternal pleasure. The only
way to truly give you my gratitude is to continue on in your service.
At the same time, there is nothing else I want to do but be completely
immersed, with no deviation, in your loving service.
Please forgive my material conditioning. Help me rise above the
modes of material nature and be firmly fixed at your lotus feet. Let
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me understand my humble position, of being lost in this material
world since time immemorial. Without you, there would be no hope.
Help me to put my false ego in its proper place. In this way, I know
that one day, you’ll smile at me again.
Your adoring, loving daughter,

Nagapatni Devi Dasi
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Trai Dasa and Krsnaloka Devi Dasi

When one devotee spread the rumor that you said that soon
there would be repression and book distribution would be stopped,
you answered, “what rascal has said this in my name. Go on making
your lifetime plans for distributing my books. These books will
become the law books for the next 10,000 years.”
This is being shown by your most dear servant Vaisesika prabhu.
Even though everyone has been confined to their homes due to
this pandemic which you predicted would be one of the reactions
for the sinful activities of human society, he and his servants have
distributed 25,000 of your books in the last month. This is the greatest
news in this time of great difficulty. It gives us faith to go on making
our lifetime plans for distributing your books.
This month in our little preaching center in Bologna, Italy, one
of the hardest hit countries by the pandemic, despite the fact that
everyone is confined to their homes, we managed to distribute four
sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or 108 Mahā big books, plus another 60
Mahā big books and 34 medium books.
We just want to dedicate our lives to reading your books and
distributing them life after life if we can thus please you. Thank you
Śrīla Prabhupāda for giving us this lifetime service.
Your servants,
Trai Dasa and Krsnaloka Devi Dasi,
and all your servants here at the Bologna yatra
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Sarvamangala Dasi
Most dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust at your
beautiful feet.
I sit here in awe at the prospect of somehow making an offering
unto you. Although I am unqualified and embarrassed to present
myself to you, still a feeling of enlivenment is already arising within
me at the mere thought of approaching you for your Appearance
Day. What a wonderful day this has been in our lives for all these
years that you have graced our lives. It is always unfathomable
to even begin to understand how you picked us up. Most of your
disciples are reaching the age you were when you came to the West
and inaugurated ISKCON. Now we have more realisation of the
austerity you performed in setting out to do what you did at this
time of life. Everything you have done is cloaked in the divine mystic
potency of your beloved Lord. How you came, how you touched our
hearts and brought us to life, giving us the only true purpose – it
is beyond any earthly logic that you appeared to bring us back to
Kṛṣṇa’s service.
In your purport to Bhagavad-gītā 11.54 you write:
One who has unflinching devotion for the Supreme Lord
and is directed by the spiritual master, in whom he has
similar unflinching faith, can see the Supreme Personality
of Godhead by revelation. One cannot understand Kṛṣṇa
by mental speculation. For one who does not take personal
training under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual
master, it is impossible to even begin to understand
Kṛṣṇa. The word tu is specifically used here to indicate
that no other process can be used, can be recommended,
or can be successful in understanding Kṛṣṇa.
Day-by-day, year-by-year, your words ring true and as a slow
learner with countless inebrieties, somehow I am beginning to see
a little more clearly Kṛṣṇa’s hand in whatever is happening. You
have opened our eyes with the torchlight of knowledge but just as
when we arise from sleep with cloudy vision, it takes time for that
cloudiness to dissipate. It is incredible that in spite of these coverings
of ignorance, your words light up the day and enable us to retain
the vision of truth that you have shone upon us. Little by little is
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a slow process and one can become discouraged by one’s retarded
growth, then one only has to pick up one of your books and read
your ecstatic purports to become rightly situated again.
In the above text 54, you have translated:
My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service
can I be understood as I am, standing before you,
and can thus be seen directly. Only in this way can
you enter into the mysteries of My understanding.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, when I read this, I feel I am kneeling before you and
feeling your presence. You stated in the purport the words “directed
by the spiritual master.” So Kṛṣṇa being seen ‘directly’ means for us
only by ‘being directed’ by you. We can’t see anything without your
presence in the many ways that you pervade our consciousness by
your training and tireless effort to educate us.
I have such regret and remorse at my tardiness and neophyte
lacking in resolute determination. Being aware of one’s offenses, what
can one do but keep engaging and endeavouring with confidence in
your magnanimity and Kṛṣṇa’s love for us. Such blessings enhance
our faith, sincerity and honesty. You gave the example of pouring
milk into an inky cup and explained that eventually the inky
atmosphere would be replaced by the milk. You have also used
the phrase, ‘gradually and proportionately’ we make advancement
in this process.
In regard to the need to atone for sins or offenses, you explain in
your purport to Text 1 of “Nectar of Instruction” that real atonement
“is the awakening of our dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Real atonement
means coming to real knowledge, and for this there is a standard process.
When one follows a regulated hygiene process, he does not fall sick.” You
always provide the merciful and clear way forward, despite the
mind’s condition.
In your presence, everything becomes auspicious, all
opportunities for preaching and sharing this transcendental
knowledge open up, simply by following your direction. You have
stated that it is an urgent situation so preaching must be vigorous and
that we are like your army of monkeys, just as Lord Rāmacandra’s
servants. So how can we ever show sufficient gratitude for this
incredible engagement in sharing what you have bestowed upon us.
I beg you to accept the humble attempts I make to share Kṛṣṇa
consciousness with others. Kṛṣṇa puts the words in our mouths
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when we engage in preaching, only because we are under your
direction. The taste of repeating your teaching is so relishable, Śrīla
Prabhupāda. So many unwanted things are there in my heart but my
one true desire is to be an instrument – blunt as that presently might
be – in your preaching army. By the grace of the spiritual master,
a blind man can see the stars in the sky and a lame man can cross
mountains. Thank you eternally for these opportunities to engage
in Lord Caitanya’s Saṅkīrtana Mission at your beloved feet. Your
exalted disciples exist in this world as rays of your mercy. May I
follow in the footsteps of those who have pleased you in this way.
My hope and prayer is to become a better instrument of Your Divine
Grace, the most munificent Ācārya.

Sarvamangala Dasi
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Ranchor Dasa
Memories of You
This morning memories of you crowded my mind
Carried on the mantra you gave my soul.
Here in this world of shadows

I drift in dreams within dreams
Drawn in wonder and confusion
From one imagined room to another
Beside my bed I glimpse a Watcher

Whose hand reaches from great height
Through swirling mists
Wipes my fevered brow.
His voice enters my dream

Brings memories of lost love
Expanding light and song
Of dazzling beauty
You gaze inside my heart

I hear laughter, a tinkle of bells
Echoes from another world—
In the darkness I waken.
Wherefrom these tears that damp my cheeks?

This shimmering that draws my heart
These memories that carry me
Into your shining eyes
Kṛṣṇa gave me your company

You entered my dreamworld
Clouds parted to reveal the sun
Then Kṛṣṇa called you home
I had no power to keep you

I fall at your feet my beloved master
Ranchor Dasa
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Satadhanya Dasa
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Two things in Krishna Consciousness are not as easily
accomplished as we, sometimes, may have ourselves or others
believe. The first is our proverbial declaration, “I am not this body.”
Rūpa Gosvāmī says: “Unless and until we are beyond the bodily
concept of life, one can fall down at any moment.” Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi,
not just theoretical but fully realized, is mukti. Although such mukti
is a foundational stepping stone for Vaiṣṇava bhakti, we should
not think a devotee is bereft of, or does not require to have and
possess this stage of palpable realization. Pragmatically, this mukti
is interpretable as one having obtained a ‘higher taste’ by which
we can give up the lower taste, attachment and thought for ‘dead
material things’ and sense enjoyment, chief of which is sex:
The embodied soul may be restricted from sense
enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains.
But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a
higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness. — Bg. 2.59
The second thing is Śaraṇāgati, full surrender to Śrīla Prabhupāda
and Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says:
“There can be no obstruction at any given moment to fully surrendering
to the Supreme Lord, save and except our own willful obstinacy.” After all,
we need only take a few seconds and say to Śrīla Prabhupāda and
Lord Kṛṣṇa: “From this moment I am yours.” And then we should act
and think upon it as a spirit soul on the spiritual platform of bhakti
and devotional service.
Arjuna said, My dear Kṛṣṇa, O infallible one, my illusion
is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy,
and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared
to act according to Your instructions. — Bg. 18.73
More than 40 or even 50 years in ISKCON, as a disciple of Śrīla
Prabhupāda, may not necessarily entitle us to automatically assume
and fully tick off the boxes of ahaṁ brahmāsmi and śaraṇāgati, which,
by definition, means to be beyond the bodily concept of life and
totally free from māyā.
We are, no doubt, making sure and steady progress very near
that divine vicinity. But, at least, regardless of our position, we can
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be honest and humble. The Madhva Sampradāya gives a beautiful
and vivid analogy. Madhvācārya is compared to a huge pot of sweet
rice. All the subsequent initiating gurus are each compared to
a chamuch, a big ladle or spoon. The spoon’s only business is to dip
into the huge pot of sweet rice and distribute it to their respective
disciples, generation after generation.
No one of us is a Prabhupāda! And the unique sampradāya situation
for the foreseeable future is that every forthcoming generation of
ISKCON devotees shall require their living guru and Śrīla Prabhupāda
in a sacred combination—Prabhupāda’s books, lectures, mercy,
transcendental potency, and blessings to enable us all to go beyond
material existence Back Home Back to Godhead!

Satadhanya Dasa
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Jaya Jagadisa Dasa

Please accept my fallen obeisances at your lotus feet. Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Well, you warned us: Kali-yuga would continue its decline – and
our only shelter is the holy name.
For the past several months virtually the entire world has been
on ‘lockdown” because of a global pandemic – meaning that no
one may leave home except for essential business (buying food and
other necessities).
The entire world has been brought to its knees because of a
microscopic entity called the coronavirus, against which human
beings have no immunity and no vaccine. It has spread like wildfire,
and if one’s immune system is compromised it can cause an
agonizing death due to respiratory and organ failure.
With most commerce halted, the global economy is in free-fall.
No one alive today has ever seen such an unprecedented failure of
the social order.
I’m happy to say, however, that the devotees have rallied in the
face of this disaster. Although by government order all your temples
have temporarily closed and book distribution, Harināma saṅkīrtana,
and prasādam distribution have halted, the devotees are finding
novel ways to stay enthusiastic in their Krishna Consciousness.
We’re meeting in very small groups (which is permitted), chanting
the holy name and reading your books. Forced to rely on ourselves
individually and in family groups, many of us have discovered
spiritual strength we didn’t know we had.
Above all, we’re trying to take shelter of your instructions
by remembering that not a blade of grass moves without the
sanction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has
engineered the current situation to purify everyone – devotees and
non-devotees alike.
For example, air pollution – a tremendous problem in cities like
New Delhi – has dramatically reduced, and many slaughterhouses
have closed because the unspeakable working conditions have
caused so many employees to catch the virus.
We gain strength by remembering your personal example of
“sailing into the unknown” on the Jaladuta in 1965 at great personal
risk. This material world is a huge, risky “unknown,” but our
spiritual master’s orders and the holy name provide strength to
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carry us through the current disaster and the inevitable disasters
that will follow as Kali-yuga continues its decline.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for providing us with your
personal example and the instructions to safely navigate this material
world – with our minds firmly fixed on the ultimate goal: complete
surrender to your instructions, pure chanting of the holy name, and
final shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana.
All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Jaya Jagadisa Dasa
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Anadi Dasa
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Thank you for being you. You once stated that trying to purify
your disciples was like trying to wash coal. With every year that
passes, I realize more and more that you were very serious about
that statement.
All glories to Your Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupāda.
Your “coal-like” disciple,

Anadi Dasa
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Govinda Mohini Devi Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances at your exalted lotus feet on
this your appearance day. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda the
saviour of the world.
Although I’m completely worthless, it was my/our inestimable
good fortune that we all came in contact with such an exalted, topmost
Vaiṣṇava Spiritual Master, uttama-adhikārī, as Śrīla Prabhupāda who
was authorized and empowered by Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself to enlighten
the conditioned souls suffering in the material world.
Previously we had no spiritual knowledge and were completely
in the darkness of ignorance, engaging in so many sinful activities
to gratify our senses, thinking this was the normal way to live our
life. Śrīla Prabhupāda came armed with the torchlight of spiritual
knowledge, dispelling our ignorance and enlightening us about
the real purpose of this rare, short, human form of life. He told us
the human form is a chance to revive our original spiritual identity
and relationship with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. To not waste precious time by
engaging in animal propensities simply eating, sleeping, mating and
defending, but use this rare opportunity to free ourselves from the
cycle of repeated birth and death by performing devotional service,
under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master in the guru-
paramparā from Vyāsadeva.
The mission of the guru is the mission of Kṛṣṇa, to spread
Krishna Consciousness all over the world. You came alone to the
West, without help from anyone, armed with a case of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatams and a few rupees, at the advanced age of 70, when most
karmīs at that age had either retired or died. On March 6th, 1966,
Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in His diary, “I am here alone without any
devotee companion. But I have come here to serve the Lord and not
for personal happiness. I am prepared to live in hell even, if I am able
to serve the Lord. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted that His mission
should be propagated all over the world and that is my objective. I
do not mind the inconvenience personally felt.” This expresses the
humble attitude and strong desire Śrīla Prabhupāda had to serve
Lord Caitanya by spreading His movement all over the world and
working so hard, regardless of all the difficulties.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s sacrifice was unimaginable and we can never
repay our debt for all He has done for us. He said, “Actually my
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health has been down for a long time. From 1965 to 1977. I was never
healthy. It has been bad from the time I went to abroad at the age of
seventy. I suffered heart attack three times, and since then something
or other is always happening to my body”. Śrīla Prabhupāda made
so many sacrifices and is full of compassion for all the fallen souls.
Śrīla Prabhupāda left us his instructions and the great legacy of his
transcendental books. He went to so much trouble to write them for
us. All the transcendental knowledge we need to know is contained
in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, They are the literary incarnation of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Śrīla Prabhupāda said they
will be the law books of mankind for the next 10,000 years.
All glories to our great spiritual Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Your useless servant,

Govinda Mohini
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Mahasini Devi Dasi
Earth’s Greatest Benefactor

Come one come all into the street
Dance with joy to the mrdanga beat
Raise your hands up toward the sky

Sing out loud, don’t be shy
It’s Kali-yuga, the winter of time

But the cure for this Age is simple; sublime
Lord Caitanya gave His sacred prediction

You carried His message with firm conviction
Starting small in Tompkins Square Park

On Caitanya’s mission you did embark
Every town and village throughout the world

The saṅkīrtana banner you have unfurled
Young American sudras you wholly engage

In the antidote for this iron-age
Harer nāma hare nāma hare nāmaiva kevalam

Chant and dance in the streets with cymbal and drum!
And spread out from that park like sunshine’s beams

Soon all the world’s people were chanting, it seems
The greater world may have no notion

Of the blessings unleashed when you crossed the ocean
The benediction is real for all on this Earth

Thus we rejoice on the day of your birth.
With respect and affection;

your eternally grateful daughter,
Mahasini Devi Dasi
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Narayani Dasi

We worship your lotus feet which can extinguish the blazing
forest fire of suffering of this material world. We saw in Australia how
only the rainclouds could put out the gigantic bushfires devastating
the forests. So we pray for your raincloud of mercy to cool down our
heart from māyā’s devastating fire.
Sometimes you went into ecstatic trance and sometimes you
danced and induced thousands to give up their reluctance to
immediately dance with you. We pray you make us dance for Rādhā-
Kṛṣṇa in ecstasy.
You worshiped Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities and gazed at Them with
love and you encouraged us to also worship Gaura-Nitāi and Rādhā-
Kṛṣṇa so we would become liberated. We pray you inspire us to always
worship your dear Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Gaura-Nitāi with devotion.
You happily fed us Kṛṣṇa prasāda and encouraged us to eat more.
In one lecture you encouraged us to become self-realized by tasting
Kṛṣṇa prasāda. We pray we may always eat our way back to Godhead.
You always thought of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and wrote Kṛṣṇa
Book so we could also relish them. We pray to always read Kṛṣṇa Book
and live forever in Goloka Vṛndāvana.
You always serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in the forest of Vṛndāvana. We
pray to one day help you serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana.
You are empowered by Kṛṣṇa to spread harināma all over the
world and you inspired us to always chant the holy names. We pray
to be your servants to inspire others to chant as you inspired us.
You are Kṛṣṇa’s dear servant and one who serves you also
becomes dear to Kṛṣṇa. We pray to always remember our relationship
with Kṛṣṇa through you because if you are pleased, then Kṛṣṇa will
also be pleased with our service.
Your servant,
Narayani Dasi
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Suresvara Dasa
WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT YOU?

Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda…
Where would I be without you?

Chasing super heroes
All with feet of clay,
Sportsmen, mystics, two-legged Beatles
Where would I be today?
Where would we be without you?

Fighting over who-to-be-who
Delusions of grandeur
Distracted by lucre
Where would we be today?
Where are they now without you?

Lacking your books not a clue
Their proud academics
Wonder why the pandemics
When will they to turn to you?
Where would I be without you

You gave me a duty to do
Share Kṛṣṇa with others
As sisters and brothers
And someday…come back home…to you.
All glories to Your Divine Grace!
Your grateful servant,

Suresvara Dasa
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Mandalesvara Dasa

Lying face-down in obeisance, prostrate at your divine lotus feet,
I know that I am unqualified to speak in your presence or even to
lift my head or to show my face. Yet this body, this mind, and these
words are yours—your property, meant to be used in service to Your
Divine Grace and in service to your mission, which is, ultimately,
the mission of Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya Mahāprabhu: the Yuga Dharma,
the Saṅkīrtana Movement of the chanting of the holy names of God:
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Like so many of your disciples and followers world-wide, I have
many thoughts, aspirations, regrets, emotions, and on and on. These
are at the heart of my relationship with Your Divine Grace. Still, with
your permission, I would like to set most of these aside, lest they
interfere with my primary objective. I beg to offer a single revelation
regarding your sacred identity and transcendental position as
Jagad-guru.
Regardless of my personal aspirations, failures, and
insignificance, my primary purpose here is to glorify my merciful
spiritual master on his Vyāsa-pūjā day. To do this, I would like
to quote your own quoting of your own spiritual master, Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.
A dear godbrother of mine and I were reading together from Your
Divine Grace’s translations and purports to Śrī Caitanya-caritamṛta,
Madhya-līlā, Ch. 25. In your purport to text 9, we encountered a very
beautiful passage. I believe that anyone who deeply and attentively
meditates on those words will experience a glorification of you, Śrīla
Prabhupāda. Therein I find powerful, transcendental truths far more
realized and wonderful than anything I might offer.
Yes, I am acknowledging that your own spiritual master was
eager to praise you, his own disciple. And, as we have seen, this
is not at all unusual. Indeed, most of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh
Canto is devoted to Śrī Nārada Muni singing the praises of his own
disciple, Śrī Prahlāda Mahārāja. Your Divine Grace has so kindly
given us these words from your own spiritual master. His words
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prophetically establish the important role his own disciple would
one day assume.
I simply would like to repeat Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī’s
words in glorification of a very rare and empowered world ācārya,
who, although unnamed, I recognize to be Your Divine Grace, my
eternal spiritual master. The essence of that quote is as follows:
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments:
Without being empowered by the direct potency of Lord
Kṛṣṇa to fulfill His desire, and without being specifically
favored by the Lord, no human being can become the
spiritual master of the whole world. He certainly cannot
succeed by mental concoction, which is not meant
for devotees or religious people. Only an empowered
personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and
enjoin all fallen souls to worship Kṛṣṇa. By distributing
the holy name of the Lord, he cleanses the hearts of the
most fallen people; therefore, he extinguishes the blazing
fire of the material world. Not only that, he broadcasts
the shining brightness of Kṛṣṇa’s effulgence throughout
the world. Such an ācārya, or spiritual master, should be
considered non-different from Kṛṣṇa — that is, he should
be considered the incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s potency.
Such a personality is kṛṣṇāliṅgita-vigraha — that is, he is
always embraced by the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Kṛṣṇa. Such a person is above the considerations of the
varṇāśrama institution. He is the guru, or spiritual master,
for the entire world, a devotee on the topmost platform, the
mahā-bhāgavata stage, and a paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura, a spiritual
form only fit to be addressed as paramahaṁsa or ṭhākura.
With humility and eternal gratitude, I come before you today,
Śrīla Prabhupāda, to say, “Thank you. I am eternally indebted.” You
are an ocean of mercy. I beg to remain your servant eternally.
Your servant and servant of your servant,

Mandalesvara Dasa
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Atmananda Dasa
I offer my most respectful and humble obeisances in the dust of

the lotus-like feet of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this Earth, having
taken shelter of His Lotus Feet.
All glories to you, oh spiritual master, servant of Sarasvatī!
You are kindly preaching the message of Śrī Caitanya-deva, and
delivering the Western countries which are filled with voidism
and impersonalism.
By the mercy of the spiritual master, a lame man can cross over
mountains and a dumb man can compose eloquent poetry!
“If you simply chant 16 rounds a day and follow the four
regulative principles, there is nothing that can keep you from going
back to Godhead in this lifetime.”
This is what you promised us Śrīla Prabhupāda, at our
initiation ceremony in August of 1971, at your Bury Place Rādhā-
Londonīśvara Temple.
And then you raised your index finger and said, emphatically,
“And that is a fact!”
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am convinced that the best way to
glorify you, is to be exemplary – to follow your instructions fully,
especially these foundational ones.
I may see your power and glory differently, but you always gave
credit to your spiritual master for anything you achieved. However,
you often qualified that, by saying that if you deserved any credit,
it was because you had not changed anything. In other words, you
followed him perfectly. And I understand that to mean that you
followed his instructions, and more than just the basic ones.
Your glories and, in a sense, his glory and success in fulfilling
Lord Caitanya’s prediction was a result of your following his
instructions. I take this as a clear indication that my possibility for
glorifying you lies in how well I follow your instructions.
As I do that, I will become pleasing to you, and others will
understand your inconceivable potency and love, and want a taste
for themselves. Naturally, they will become interested in Krishna
Consciousness, and thus surrender to you, the perfect, loving, all-
attractive representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead…
the “Supreme Personality of Servitor Godhead”— C.C. Adi 1.46, ppt.
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Preface:
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…We hope, therefore, that people will derive the greatest
benefit by studying Bhagavad-gītā As It Is as we have
presented it here, and if even one man becomes a pure
devotee of the Lord we shall consider our attempt a success.
[signed] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

12 May 1971, Sydney, Australia
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you know that I am struggling. I know that the
better I follow your instructions, the more you are glorified. Your
glories are magnified when your followers – your benediction
to the world – manifest your supernatural potency, your love and
compassion.
I am praying to you to help me to become most serious about
following these foundational instructions, as if my life depends on
it…because it does.
You are giving us these foundations of real life . . . and all the
floors on top of that foundation. Best of all, you give us the topmost
floor, the ever-expanding palatial suite: love for our dearmost
Mentor, Friend and Deliverer.
You’re also giving us all the steps on the way, from śraddhā to
prema; and most importantly, how to practice them and realize them,
and share them with others.
You always strongly emphasize these foundations – the basics:
chanting minimum 16 rounds a day while avoiding offenses –
ultimately without any offense – and strictly following the four
regular principles. Without these, you declared repeatedly, we
simply remain crying in the wilderness, chewing on sharp thorns
and swallowing our own blood.
As much as I am strong in these, I can please and serve you,
expansively and gloriously.
I may inform you that in order to maintain our status
of spiritual strength, every one of us must very rigidly
chant daily sixteen rounds without fail and follow
the regulative principles strictly. This is essential for
understanding our philosophy clearly and for being able
to impress Krishna Consciousness in the hearts of others;
so our sincerity in this respect is most important, and all
such duties should be observed regularly by everyone.
I hope that you will see that all the boys and girls there
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are following this process, and studying our literatures
carefully. — Letter, 22 February 1970, Los Angeles
I can thus be exemplary by following your trail, in your footsteps,
and therefore naturally attract the most intelligent and qualified
souls to your effulgent saṅkīrtana family. But I cannot do so by
imitating you, and thus risking everything.
As you stated in a lecture in 1968, “Those who are powerful, if
they somebody does something which is very extraordinary, that is
not to be imitated. You have to follow the rules and regulations. That
will give you progress. Don’t try to imitate. Just be in your position,
try to follow the rules and regulations, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and
gradually you’ll get result. There is no need of being hasty.”
This requires the ‘tṛṇād api’ mentality, as you explain in a letter
on March 17th, 1973, “A pure devotee always thinks himself as not-
devotee. That is a good attitude. If one thinks he is big devotee that
is not good, thinking that he is first degree. We should not be puffed
up, a devotee avoids it, remaining always in the second degree. A
dog is a faithful servant. To become lowest dog is to become on the highest
platform of service.” [my emphasis added]
So, as I claim to be your aspiring disciple, your genuine follower,
then my focus must be on how well I am chanting Kṛṣṇa’s holy names,
giving up all offense. Of course, that means I must be chanting at
least 16 rounds every day.
If I am chanting sincerely, then I will see Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes,
entourage, paraphernalia, form, name etc. As you say in a letter, “…
hearing the vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa automatically reminds one of
Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. So both of them arise simultaneously in the mind
when one is sincerely chanting. So you cannot make any distinction
between listening to the sound and thinking of the pastimes. But the
process is to hear, and then Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, form, qualities, etc.
will automatically come to mind: That is very nice.”
Being such a fallen, rebellious and faithless fool, I doubted that
this was actually true. So, in beating my mind, I’m choosing to
accept what you say, instead of doubting, even though I have not the
experience of thinking of and remembering Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes etc. I
am rather choosing to conclude that I am not chanting sincerely.
Then, I found this statement Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Ṭhākura, and I understood more deeply what you meant, also
encouraged to progress without discouragement.
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I am overjoyed to hear that your enthusiasm for chanting
is increasing. As our contaminations are removed by
chanting, the Lord’s form, qualities, and pastimes will
be revealed to us in the holy name. There is no point
in making a separate effort to artificially remember the
Lord’s form, qualities, and pastimes. The Lord and His
name are one and the same. This will be understood
clearly when the coverings in your heart are removed.
By chanting without offenses, you will personally realize

that all perfections come from the holy name. Through
chanting, the distinction that exists between the self,
and the gross and subtle bodies, is gradually effaced
and one realizes one’s own spiritual form. Once aware
of the spiritual body, as one continues to chant, one
sees the transcendental nature of the Lord’s form.
Only the holy name reveals the spiritual form of the

living being and then causes him to be attracted to
Kṛṣṇa’s form. Only the holy name reveals the spiritual
qualities of the living being and then causes him to
be attracted to Kṛṣṇa’s qualities. Only the holy name
reveals the spiritual activities of the living being and
then causes him to be attracted to Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.
By service to the holy name we do not mean only the

chanting of the holy name; it also includes the other
duties of the chanter. If we serve the holy name with the
body, mind, and soul, then the direction of that service
spontaneously manifests like the sun in the clear sky of
the chanter’s heart. What is the nature of the holy name?
Eventually all these understandings spontaneously

appear in the heart of one who chants the holy name.
The true nature of harināma is revealed by listening to,
reading, and studying the scriptures. It is unnecessary
to write anything further on this subject. All these
things will be revealed to you through chanting.
From Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Vaibhava,

written by Bhakti Vikāśa Swami
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have given me some impetus, a little desire,
to chant with sincerity. According to your advice for offensive
chanting, I have been praying to have the strongest desire to have
the strongest desire to desperately desire to chant without offence,
with full undivided attention, and with love and devotion.
Please continue to bless me to become fully surrendered in
actively living according to your instructions, without deviation!
Your struggling, yet committed servant,

Atmananda Dasa
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Pancharatna Dasa


Covered with ignorance

steeped in illusion
mired in arrogance
awash in confusion
In such a state
I met with great fortune
that came without cause
other than your compassion
And stepped on your ship

now buoyed with confidence
with you as our captain
we embraced Divine Providence
And set off on a journey

to the spiritual world beyond
all pain and unhappiness
reawakening our eternal bond
Of pure loving service

to the source of all existence
Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person
we come to Krishna Consciousness
On this ship of service

you have so kindly kept me
overlooking my unlimited faults
I can only keep begging
That I may somehow remain

always engaged in your mission
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to bring the whole world
on your ship of transcendence
Delivering the divine harināma

to every village and town
until the whole world
embraces the transcendental sound
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa

Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Begging to remain,
Pancharatna Dasa
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Paramesvari Dasa


O Prabhupāda, you are so merciful. I offer my humble praṇāma to you
and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of
divine knowledge, you will open my eyes which have been blinded
by the darkness of ignorance.
jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gorācānda bole
kota nidrā ĵāo māyā-piśācīra kole
“Wake up, sleeping souls! Wake up, sleeping souls!” calls
Śrī Gaura-candra. “How long will you sleep in the lap of the
witch called māyā?
Awake sleeping souls awake
Religion of sound
We worship consciousness…conscious in love…in loving
exchange with God – Kṛṣṇa.
We worship sound, the sound of God, the consciousness of God
is revealed in sound
Om tat sat…that is the sound of the Vedic paramparā…āmnāya
paramparā…. the descending flow of transcendental knowledge
through the heart-to-heart transmission.
That is how Kṛṣṇa approaches us, through transcendental sound.
Revealed truth āmnāya the knowledge that has descended from
the transcendental world from the transcendental realm.
This sound enters the region of the heart and expands or
opens the heart to the world of transcendental love, prema, the
land of God, Kṛṣṇa.
Our consciousness is opened and expands like rays of light.
Our experience grows from a small bud to a full-grown flower.
We are coming from the world of contracted awareness...
darkness of our true identity...with no thought of our identity
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beyond the world of time.
It is explained in Vedic teachings that consciousness is a symptom
of the soul, and the supreme soul is the root of all, or the complete
whole of whom we are a part
It is this knowledge that the spiritual master gives. And who is
the spiritual master?
When Kṛṣṇa, God wants to give mercy to the jīva soul, he
approaches the soul through the bona fide spiritual master, guru.
Kṛṣṇa is guru manifested in the heart of his pure devotee giving
teachings of his transcendental self-manifested world. If you have
met a true spiritual master then you are receiving the grace of God.
Like the sun and the moon the Lord has appeared in the Age of
darkness as Nitāi Gaur.
Guru and Gaurāṅga…
We cannot approach the sun directly, but the moon reflects the
light of the sun, the mercy of the sun in a suitable manner, and is
easier to approach.
The mercy of Śrī Nityānanda knows no limit. He is the direct
expansion of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and is the fountainhead of mercy
for the suffering jīva souls.
As we say the Paṅca Tattva mantra śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-
nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, we
worship godhead in all five features complete.
But Krishnadas Kaviraja informs us that without approaching
the mercy of Śrī Guru first, the door to this transcendental realm is
not opened. We first seek the mercy of the vaiṣṇavas and guru and
learn to perform service, to be humble and sincere.
Our dearmost Śrīla Prabhupāda was and is the most approach-
able moon of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya āveśa of Śrī Nityānanda. An incar-
nation of His Divine Grace, the form of God as a serving teacher,
living so intimately with his disciples as if he is one of them. Our
good fortune cannot be measured.
From him a river of prema is flowing from the ocean of the loving
pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, appearing in this world to us, at this
time, in the advent of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
How is it that we are so fortunate? What qualification do we
possess? As for myself...none.
Somewhat like a credit card grantor it seems. My credit may not
be good, but if one who has most excellent credit with the higher-
ups will back me up, vouch for me, take a chance on me, then I can
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be given a chance to be enrolled in the loan program.
Still I must do my part. Without praṇipātena, surrender;
paripraśnena, sincere inquiry; and sevā, service; transcendental
knowledge will not reveal itself in the heart. We are performing
devotional service under the shelter of the pure devotee who makes
our entrance into the house of bhakti possible. The āśraya tattva,
supreme shelter,.our service to Kṛṣṇa goes through the merciful
heart of Śrī Guru who is the agent of the Lord for accepting bhakti,
devotional service.
Guiding and taking his disciples to the lotus feet of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa
which may be the journey, the sojourn of many many lifetimes.
The relationship of guru and disciple is very near and dear.
We approach the spiritual master in a mood of loving service.
Proportionately to our realization our determination will manifest.
As we realize the near and dear relationship of guru as our dearmost
friend and eternal guide of our soul and that in this world of sorrow
and darkness we have found our way home to the lotus feet of
Oṁ tat sat. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jai Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Yes. We want to feel deeply.
We want to be real…a stone is cold and alone.
We are not matter…we are pleasure-seeking entities.
We are after joy and a life of affection.
The closer we are to someone, we identify with them as our
own, as part of us.
A feeling of fullness of love and affection...no separation…that is
the dominant quest of the heart…. the lonely hunter. Affection and
beauty is what we hanker for.
We are meant to see ourselves in the light of god, otherwise our
true identity cannot be known. To be as one of His own, a kinsmen, a
kiṅkarī, one who is so dear, so close who shares the deepest places of
the heart. Kṛṣṇa is mine and I am his. When one is in deep spiritual
love, there is no sense of loneliness. God and his service are one, and
that shelter is overflowing with affection, from every atom of that
spiritual existence.
Guru lives in the region of the heart and through the purifying
force of the presence of His Divine Grace which is none other than
the force of Bhakti Devi, we begin to cast off the shrouds of illusions
and enter into the world of the inner life of God, Kṛṣṇa and our
relationship with him. Premā pumartho mahān, love of Kṛṣṇa is the
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supreme goal of life.
Transcendental sound carries the grace of God, Kṛṣṇa. The words
of the spiritual master is the sound of Kṛṣṇa calling us home. Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam says tat śṛṇu, come close and listen, sit at the feet of the
person bhāgavat, guru, and hear the holy sound and free yourself
from this mortal frame. Our dearmost Śrīla Prabhupāda lived and
breathed in holy sound. The Bhaktivedanta purports are pure śabda
brāhmaṇa, a window to the spiritual world. Come, come very close
and listen...Prabhupāda is calling us home.
Your servant,
Paramesvari Dasa
Oregon
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Ravīndra Svarūpa Dāsa


vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
As I write this, I am “locked down” and practicing “social distancing”
along with most of the human race, all in thrall to the depredations
of an itty bitty teeny tiny virus, avidly transferring and replicating
itself whenever and wherever society socializes.
News outlets relay much of the anguish and agony of
sustained isolation.
It’s a great time for loners like me, but not so much so for our
own “International Society,” whose premier practice, saṅkīrtana,
bears the prefix “san-,” meaning “together.”
And yet, even so, we are with each other, knitted closely together
by that great and holy living network of indivisible bonds woven by
Śrīla Prabhupāda, and even now sustained by Śrīla Prabhupāda, a
marvelous network whose vast extent reaches from Bhūr, to Bhuvar,
to Svar, and to Goloka.
Moreover, I believe Śrīla Prabhupāda has prepared for this
eventuality. As part of his legacy, he has given us the basis for a
true global unity that will flourish more and more, even as the false
globalism based on lust for wealth and power falls, bit by bit, apart.
This false globalism has ravaged Mother Earth, and the current
pandemic is only one of the signs that she can take no more. The true
and valid global unity fostered by Śrīla Prabhupāda will make food
and energy production as local as possible and transform the family
from a tenuous, frangible unit of consumption into a durable and
sustainable unit of production. (See Śrīla Prabhupāda’s 1956 essay
“The Conception of Gita Nagari.”)
Śrīla Prabhupāda also taught us that in Vedic culture all living
beings are prajā, or citizens, and are to be protected by the king. This
means, in contemporary terms, that all living beings—not merely
humans but also animals, and even trees and forests—have “civil
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rights.” This is a part of our ecology of the spirit.
All the same, modern technology is to be used when it is
compatible with this spiritual ecology and favorable for Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. Thus Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura accepted the printing press and the publishing
of journals, magazine, and books. And now, in the same spirit, we
engage computers and the global internet.
In this way, we have the formula for the future. At the same
time, we remain connected with our ISKCON founder-ācārya and,
through him, with the four historic Vaiṣṇava founder-ācāryas, whose
teachings and institutions achieved fulfillment in Lord Caitanya and
his ever-expanding saṅkīrtana movement.
Let us continue to increase Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy in space
and time for the benefit of all living beings.
Begging for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s blessings,
His fallen servant,

Ravīndra Svarūpa Dāsa
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Tilaka Devi Dasi
My most revered spiritual master His Divine Grace Om Visnupada

Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya 108 Śrī Srimad A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupāda.
Please accept my prostrated obeisances.
Sometimes it seems like so long ago and sometimes just like
yesterday, that we were engaged in the practice of devotional service
under your direction. Materially, we wanted nothing because our
lives were so spiritually enriched by you. Serving you, hearing
directly from you, getting the remnants of your foodstuff and
observing and remembering your transcendental qualities brought
the greatest good fortune, mahābhāgya to our lives.
To this day, many of your disciples are sincerely engaged in
your service. I pray that, by Your Divine Grace, someday I will
be like them, serving you with sincerity and determination. Until
then, this useless, so-called disciple, named Tilaka Devi Dasi begs
for your mercy.
Please give me the shelter of your lotus feet.
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Visnugada Dasa
The Boeing 737 took off from Philadelphia about 11 in the

morning flying southwest following the eastern coastline. I had a
window seat. After about two hours I peered out the acrylic pane
of my cabin window down toward the surface of the Earth six miles
below. I noticed the craft had just passed the edge of the Florida
shore on its way to Puerto Rico, crossing into an expanse of water
someone had named the Caribbean Sea. The jet sped on. A half
hour later I looked again and now beheld the ocean stretching on
and on as far as the eye could possibly see no matter which way
I gazed, in every direction to the horizon and beyond. No land in
sight, only endless deep-sea water. In that moment, I was struck by
the awesome vastness of the ocean with an accompanying sense of
feeling very, very tiny and powerless.
And there, in the middle of that broad expanse of ocean, was a
small white boat. It appeared so miniscule and vulnerable, sitting
as it was on the surface of a limitless and mighty sea. Nevertheless,
the small boat was plying its way diligently, slowly, and resolutely
eastward despite having absolutely no discernible destination in
sight. How could it possibly reach its port? What if a storm erupted?
At that moment, I realized that to be a passenger on that little
vessel required a great deal of confidence in the boat’s captain to
even attempt to traverse the gigantic ocean.
And then I remembered. The human body is likened to a boat.
The Vedas are favorable breezes. The immense ocean is akin to
the ocean of repeated birth and death upon which the tiny ship of
my eternal soul has been tossing helplessly for countless lifetimes
without approaching a destination and while accompanied by
constant worry of drowning and sinking to Davy Jones’ locker.
Without you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, as the well-wishing and expert
captain of my ship, what chance would I have of crossing such an
ocean and coming to safe harbor? Exactly none. Relying on my own
speculation and paltry strength, I would flounder here and there and
find myself in exactly the same hopeless situation as when I started.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the best and most qualified captain
since your instructions, leadership, and example are perfectly in line
with those of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu, and Lord Kṛṣṇa. And it is true that not just me, but
each one of us in this world has been lost at sea, struggling for
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eons to keep our heads above water. We all absolutely require your
navigation skills and guidance to make any tangible progress. On
this day, let me meditate on how lucky I am to have had the good
fortune of meeting you and the opportunity of your association. Let
me ponder how I can more earnestly strive to understand and follow
what you have so munificently given. And let me hope that I may
someday soon be able do something worthwhile to serve you.
Your servant,
Visnugada Dasa
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Sankarshan Dasa
My Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my humble obeisances in the most sacred dust of
your lotus feet.
While giving a lecture on the Nectar of Devotion in Mumbai,
India, on 7 January 1973 you told us that the whole world is waiting
for India’s culture, India’s bhakti, India’s spiritual knowledge. This
means that we must now become the properly qualified educators
who can deliver to the people of the world the Krishna Consciousness
that they are waiting for. In this connection it is stated in the Caitanya
Caritāmṛta, Madhya Līlā, 22.65:
One who is expert in logic, argument and the revealed
scriptures and who has firm faith in Kṛṣṇa is classified
as a topmost devotee. He can deliver the whole world.
The obvious conclusion is that we, your disciples and grand-disciples
must now come to the topmost platform of devotional service so that
we can successfully give to the world the Krishna Consciousness
that deep down within their hearts they are all hankering for. If
we do not do so, we are failing to execute the duty you gave us to
deliver the world.
Please bless us, Śrīla Prabhupāda, so that we can all come to the
topmost platform of pure devotional service and thus be successful
in giving the entire human population the Krishna Consciousness
that they are all hankering for within their heart of hearts.
Your humble servant, always begging for your mercy,

Sankarshan Dasa Adhikari
ISKCON Austin
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Sravaniya Devi Dasi

“We think that we have met your goodness by the will of providence,
good qualities of a human being.” — SB 1.1.22

All glories to Your Divine Grace from the fragrant harbor of Hong
Kong. I am your disciple and a soul surrendered unto you. Please
continue to instruct me. By your teachings I am understanding
everything that is occurring around my body and mind within the
field of matter. But more than that, by following your instructions
my understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Śrī
Kṛṣṇa and my relationship with Him is unfolding.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you kindly initiated me in 1971. Most of
my association with you, however, was through your books, your
recorded lectures and bhajans. Hearing or śravaṇam is the first step
in the process of bhakti-yoga, and through the blessing of technology
I was able to associate with you – much as people around the world
are all able to do now. Currently it is possible to see pictures and
videos of you during your association with your disciples on your
travels. I have to admit, the warmth, friendliness and charm of your
personality is much more evident in the videos.
With all the recordings of you speaking that I have listened
to over the decades, I have never heard you make a mistake. Not
once. Your explanations of subjects are clear and easy to grasp and
you use examples that are sometimes modern – such as giving
analogies referring to microphones and sputniks. You also adapted
the methods of practicing spiritual life to the times in which
we live without compromising the principles. For example, you
permitted unmarried women to live in the temple ashram, calling us
brahmacāriṇīs. This was something for which you were criticized, but
you gave no heed to such ridicule. You treated your female disciples
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equally to the men, having us assemble in the temple room with men
on one side, women on the other and an aisle between the Vyāsāsana
and the altar. You even gave us second initiation and taught us how
to worship the Deities, which was one of my earliest services.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you welcomed everyone to come and join
in chanting, dancing and taking prasādam. But when it came to
speaking, you were a fighter. Your teaching was for serious students.
In fact, the morning Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class was more serious than
the evening Bhagavad-gītā class, the latter being suited for a more
general audience. In the battle for our souls you never compromised.
You never watered down the teachings just to get more followers.
The rules were clear and for everyone. You declared war on the
material energy and cut the knots of our ignorance with the shining
sword of knowledge.
I learned so much from your persistence. Finally I took up the
task of teaching yoga philosophy in 2004, providing internationally
recognized certification courses in Bhagavad-gītā As It Is for yoga
teachers and students. In my spare time I have been writing for the
past thirty years on various topics, all with the Bhāgavata Vedānta
perspective that you have given us and references to your written
translations. Your explanations of Sanskrit terms shine light on the
underworld of the unmanifested forces of the material and spiritual
worlds. Working in cooperation with BBTI, I have published five
books so far. I endeavor to stay on good terms with devotees both
here and abroad, giving talks at the temple whenever I am invited, as
well as bringing yoga students over for discussions and kīrtan events.
With the invention of the internet, time and space are no
longer an impediment for studying and association. I can find your
quotations and references on any subject within seconds. I can see
and hear you much more than when I lived in the ashram back in
the 1970s. Your disciples interact in forums and share memories of
you, excerpts from your writings, along with discussions of their
insights and realizations which can be very inspiring. With all these
changes in daily life, however, Your Divine Grace remains the center,
the foundation upon which everything stands.
My home is a temple where maṅgala arati, bathing and dressing
of the Deities, Tulasī worship, śāstra reading and fasting days go on
as you recommended. I chant my 16 rounds every day without fail
— japa is the number one task at the top of my daily list. There is
no other way to remain connected to the Source and be spiritually
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charged, which is the secret to all success. Anyone who visits feels
they have entered a very special place.
Old age is like going bankrupt; at first it happens gradually, then
suddenly all at once. At this point I am managing the decline, which
is a great impetus for serious devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. Personally,
I have achieved everything I ever wanted. I could die this moment
and be happy. My only desire is to serve you and the best friend of
all the universes, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, wherever He likes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you saved me. I am overwhelmed with tears
of gratitude and am prepared to spend eternity serving you with
love. Even then, I will never, ever be able to repay your kindness.
Without you I would have been lost. I was most unfortunate and it
was Your Divine Grace who made me most fortunate. Thank you,
my dear father, thank you.
Your humble servant in the dust,

Sravaniya Devi Dasi
On the most auspicious day of Śrī Gaura Pūrṇimā
9 March 2020, Hong Kong
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Gunarnava Dasa
I offer my most humble obeisances to the lotus feet of His Divine

Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Below, I will attempt to share with my godbrothers and
godsisters, some of my vapuḥ moments of magic and wonder, while
associating with Śrīla Prabhupāda.
In Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, 7.3, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions in his
purport how Lord Kṛṣṇa states that, māṁ tu veda na kaścana, “No one
knows Me as I am.”
If one does know Him, Kṛṣṇa says sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ, or
“Such a great soul is very rare.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda is that very rare soul who knows Kṛṣṇa.
Simply by His unalloyed devotion He communicates with Kṛṣṇa
face-to-face as per the examples shown below.
Before Śrīla Prabhupāda attempted to come to the Western
countries, there were literally no pure Vaiṣṇava devotees
concentrating their preaching solely on sharing the philosophy
of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Kṛṣṇa. There was no
collection of writings like Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and Caitanya-
Caritamṛta readily available and being distributed to the masses of
fallen condition souls that were privileged to get a human form. As
a result, for human civilization there only existed a false sense of
security – the blind leading the blind. The cheaters and the cheated
were living together in a headless society resulting in a total sense of
hopelessness and despair.
Śrīla Prabhupāda came...vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca, kṛpā-sindubhya
eva ca...full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls. Śrīla
Prabhupāda was an ācārya, from his appearance to his disappearance
in his vapuḥ form. Every action he performed was a living model of
teaching us through his example.
Śrīla Prabhupāda shared with us his attachment to his guru’s
vāṇī – his deep love in separation. We virtually experienced Śrīla
Prabhupāda feeling the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.
He prepared in Vṛndāvana for his Mission, to come to the West to
preach the most confidential knowledge. Carrying with him he
would bring the beautiful treasures of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the most
practical process to realize these treasures – the mahā-mantra Hare
Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma,
Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, which he agreed to take on this journey as
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a representative of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Prabhupāda
came to the West with the transcendental seeds – bhakti-latā-bīja, as
the transcendental gardener to plant these seeds into the hearts of
the conditioned souls.
Every morning I pray to Tulasī Devī for the privilege of continuous
service to Śrīla Prabhupāda. We aspire to become Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
representatives as transcendental gardeners, engaging in the service
of maintaining and growing those transcendental seeds bestowed to
us by our beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Side by side we get the mercy of imparting to others the potency
of chanting the holy names, feeding the fallen souls prasādam, and
most importantly distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Slowly
but surely, we practically experience our bhakti-latā growing
and develop faith that eventually our bhakti-latā will pierce the
walls of this universe to take full shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī
Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda had a golden hue effulgence to his person. He
was a śaktyāveśa-avatāra from the spiritual kingdom. He was the most
special person with the most special mission. How unbelievably
fortunate we are to be associated with such a transcendental
personality as Śrīla Prabhupāda.
At the Bury Place Temple in London during the summer
of 1972, Śrīla Prabhupāda had asked Dhananjaya Prabhu, the
Temple President, for someone with some construction experience
to go to Vṛndāvana to help build the Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Temple.
Dhananjaya mentioned me, so Śrīla Prabhupāda said to fetch me.
When I entered his room, I experienced a glow in the room. Śrīla
Prabhupāda had an effulgence. I was dumb struck, but felt blessed
to experience such a sight.
In the Bṛhad-Bhāgavatamāmṛta, Śrīla Sridhar Swami, a great ācārya
in our Gauḍīya sampradāya line, comments:
When he finished his meditation, Dhruva’s body
became brilliant like molten gold. Vaiṣṇava preachers
drink the tonic of pure bhakti-rasa and develop a golden
like hue colour, a golden complexion. The complexion
is explained as hiraṇmayam, full of effulgence.
A number of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples have commented on
seeing such a golden effulgence emanating from Śrīla Prabhupāda
at times.
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When Śrīla Prabhupāda was on the merchant cargo ship the
Jaladuta, he experienced intense sea sickness as the boat navigated
waves 20 meters high, sometimes for multiple days. Śrīla Prabhupāda
additionally experienced two heart attacks. He had every reason to
give up and return to Vṛndāvana, but did not.
On September 13, 1965 Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote:
O dear friend, in Your company I will experience great
joy once again. In the early morning I will wander
about the cowherd pastures and fields. Running and
frolicking in the many forests of Vraja, I will roll on
the ground in spiritual ecstasy. Oh, when will that
day be mine? Today that remembrance of You came to
me in a very nice way. Because I have a great longing,
I called you. I am Your eternal servant and therefore
I desire Your association so much. O’ Lord Kṛṣṇa,
except for You there is no other means of success.
Following in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Six Goswamis
and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda rediscovered, then
shared with the whole world the authentic pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and
Balarāma in the forests of Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Prabhupāda educated
us that his real home is Kṛṣṇa’s home Goloka Vṛndāvana, then gave
us the formula for us to go back to home, back to Godhead. We only
have to follow it without adding or taking anything away.
In Ādi-līlā, volume 1, Introduction, Śrīla Prabhupāda tells us:
When Kṛṣṇa descends to the material world, this same
Vṛndāvana descends just as an entourage accompanies
an important personage. Because when Kṛṣṇa comes, His
land also comes. Vṛndāvana is not considered to exist in
the material world. Therefore, devotees take shelter of the
Vṛndāvana in India, for it is considered to be a replica of the
original Vṛndāvana. Although that one may complain that
no kalpa-vṛkṣa, exist there, when the Goswamis were there,
the kalpa-vṛkṣa were present. It is not that one can go to such
a tree and make demands; one first must become a devotee.
The Goswamis would live under a tree for one night
only, and the trees would satisfy all their desires. For the
common man this may all seem very wonderful, but as one
makes progress in devotional service, all can be realised.
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This is but one example of the transcendental vision Śrīla Prabhupāda
has enabled us with, to see further than what the limitations of these
untrustworthy eyes provide.
At the 40th Anniversary of the Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Mandir Opening
in Vṛndāvana, Gopal Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja told an amazing story. He said
that a conversation took place between Śrīla Prabhupāda and Their
Lordships Rukmiṇī Dvārakādhīsa at Their temple in Los Angeles
(USA). From my memory, Mahārāja said that Lord Dvārakādhīsa
spoke to Śrīla Prabhupāda and said that he was to return to
Vrindavana to build a temple that would be far more beautiful
than the one there.
In the early 1970s we were blessed to be with Śrīla Prabhupāda
in Vṛndāvana. One day, Śrīla Prabhupāda announced that he was
in complete union with the Supersoul. Śrīla Prabhupāda told us
that his every action and words were coming from the Supersoul
within his heart.
In downtown London at the Bury Place Temple, Śrīla Prabhupāda
asked that at each side of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Londonīśvara’s altar, two
beautiful āsanas be made from red velvet. They were both relatively
small to fit so snug. Śrīla Prabhupāda told us that from time to time
both Lord Brahmā and Nārada Muni would come to take darśana
and experience the ārati.
In 1972 Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a public lecture at a big hall in
London. When His Divine Grace finished speaking, he invited
questions from the audience. A mature lady in her fifties was
dressed in Buddhist robes. She asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “How does
one come to see Kṛṣṇa?” There was a moment of silence, then Śrīla
Prabhupāda replied: “First one must have śraddhā or faith, then
hypothesis (following the Kṛṣṇa conscious process of bhakti-yoga)
then direct perception. You will see Kṛṣṇa face-to-face, this is a fact.”
In the early 1970’s there was a faithful godbrother of Śrīla
Prabhupāda’s who resided at Rādhā Kuṇḍa, and highly valued what
Śrīla Prabhupāda had achieved. His name was Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī.
He would tell us that he believed Śrīla Prabhupāda was the greatest
ācārya in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava line. Bābājī would say, “Because
he (Prabhupāda) took the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to
every town and village on the planet.”
The spiritual master is always considered either
one of the confidential associates of Śrīmatī
Rādhārāṇī or a manifested representation of Śrī
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Nityānanda Prabhu. — CC Ādi līlā, 1.46, purport.
Let me share my lived experiences during Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
last week before his demise in Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhām.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kept translating until he was unable to do so.
Many of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s godbrothers and friends came to be
with him. Śrīla Prabhupāda, frail and emaciated in body, exhibited
humility beyond belief. Everyone that came before Śrīla Prabhupāda
offered his praṇāmas and apologies and begged for forgiveness.
I observed this incredible transcendental mellow of humility and
simplicity. Previously seeing Prabhupāda as a preaching sannyāsī, he
used discrimination. He would associate with his godbrothers and
disciples, preach to the innocent and avoid the demoniac. Now in
these last moments there seemingly was no discrimination, just pure
humility and love.
Śrīla Prabhupāda seemed to be emanating the highest form of
love. We saw tears in his eyes. This swan-like devotee seemingly
seeing everyone better than himself. It looked like we were being
privileged to see the expressions of pure unalloyed love of an
uttama adhikārī.
Kṛṣṇa inconceivably arranged so I was able to remain at Śrīla
Prabhupāda’s lotus feet the whole night Śrīla Prabhupāda departed,
leaving his body for us to put in samādhi. I will never forget the sounds
of my godbrothers and godsisters crying and chanting in despair.
I continue to serve you, my Master, be-it-all now in separation…
until you decide otherwise.
Your most fallen servant,

Gunarnava Dasa
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Kishor Dasa

It’s Tuesday, 21st August 1973. I’m standing a short distance from
you in the Deity room of Bhaktivedanta Manor, transfixed as I watch
you offer incense to Kṛṣṇa and His divine consort, Rādhā.
I’m captivated. You seem lost, as though in a dance of love with
Them. This is all new to me. I see your sheer joy, as you personally
welcome Them into this place of worship you have created in the
English countryside.
I sense your feeling of gratitude that knows no bounds. They
have come personally at your humble request. How have I become
privy to this deeply intimate moment?
As young worshippers throng forward for a better look, you seem
absolutely alone in communion with your Lordships, unfazed by
the surrounding clamour. Yours remains a tender and private affair.
You sprinkle sacred water over the heads of the dancing devotees
as a little child, looking happy, mischievous and carefree.
Soon after this wonderful arrival occasion, you explain the
meaning of what has just unfolded. The mystery of Kṛṣṇa’s
appearance in the form of ARCHA VIGRAHA. How He is, indeed,
non-different from this beautiful marble image before us.
Someone next to me asks, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it possible for
a pure devotee to ever forget Kṛṣṇa?” I watch closely as you gaze
lovingly at Rādhā Gokulānanda on Their brand new altar and
almost tearfully reply, “Every day I pray to Kṛṣṇa: Please don’t
let me fall down.”
Thank you for including me in this divine pastime, Śrīla
Prabhupāda, and for forcing open my eyes with the torchlight of
your knowledge and mercy.
Kishor Dasa
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Surabhi Dasi
My dearest Spiritual Master, Śrīla Prabhupāda,

I can never thank you enough for the wonderful gift you have
given us by making such a great sacrifice to come to the West to start
this Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement on the order of your spiritual master
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī.
Where would we have been without your mercy?
Lost completely lost in the merry-go-round of this material world.
I have been so fortunate in so many ways for what I have learnt
as an aspiring devotee in your Movement. When I came to you I
had no skills but I have learnt so much. Cooking, selling, playing
the Mridanga drum, singing, to be able to talk to people, to train
devotees, to speak in public. I was shy when I came. I never thought
I could do these things. Many wonderful things I have learnt from
being part of your wonderful Movement.
I am eternally indebted to you over and over for giving me a
wonderful family of devotees to have spent my life with.
I hope I will be able to reach your lotus feet at the end of my life.

Surabhi Dasi
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Srikanta Dasa

Bhaktivedanta Swami, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken
shelter at His lotus feet.
servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī! You are kindly preaching the message
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my obeisances at your
lotus feet, offered today with whatever limited humility I can
muster. In truth, it’s so very difficult to write this, because I just
cry—in appreciation for all you have given, in the sadness of missing
your presence, and in lamentation for my inexcusable failures
in your service.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy
in this world. In this Age of Kali, what hope would there be for
us? Even though the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa
Himself, manifested wonderful pastimes on this very planet only
five thousand years ago, and then the Lord Himself as Caitanya
Mahāprabhu delivered the simple process of chanting the holy
names, the contamination of the Age again brought forgetfulness.
And then you came! Came to the Western countries, filled with
impersonalism and voidism! Out of your perfect devotion to your
spiritual master, you crossed the ocean on a seemingly impossible
mission to bring Kṛṣṇa to “this terrible place,” as you wrote on
the ship shortly before arriving here. “Most of the population
here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion.
Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and
satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental
message of Vāsudeva.”
Nevertheless, you had complete faith in the Lord and complete
confidence in the plan of your spiritual master: “But I know Your
causeless mercy can make everything possible, because You are the
most expert mystic . . .All living entities have come under the control
of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your
will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion.”
But, speaking for myself, I did not deserve to be released from
illusion. I can see no reason why the Lord Himself should intervene in
my path of gradual degradation. Rather we were picked up from the
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mire of material existence by the most merciful intercession of Your
Divine Grace: “O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that
I will be able to convince them about Your message . . .I am seeking
Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to
do so on my own. . . . O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so
that I will be able to convince them about Your message!”
Your pure desire, Śrīla Prabhupāda, made our good fortune! I
thank you millions of times from the core of my heart! But now I
must manifest that gratitude in more than words.
You taught us nine processes of devotional service for our
purification, following all or even one of which we will be saved
from the worst kind of degradation. But you hoped for even more
from us. By your example you showed us, and by your words you
implored us, to try to give to others what you have given us.
But who am I to do so? I have no qualification. But fortunately
for us and for the world, you manifest yourself and your mercy in
your books! As your books and their message are distributed, your
mercy and your blessings continue to benedict the fallen souls. My
only prayer, therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that my desire to bring
you to the world will more fully manifest in this life. In my heart of
hearts, I wish to “dance as you like.”

Srikanta Dasa
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Bedangi Devi Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisance and this trivial attempt to
glorify you for I am most unqualified to do so.
On behalf of ISKCON Harrisburg, I write this humble homage to
you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
You have given us so much from your heart and are the source of
our inspiration. You touched so many lives with your universal love
and affection which is continuing each day. You have had the utmost
patience, perseverance and unflinching faith in your Gurudeva. You
prayed and asked Kṛṣṇa to help you fulfill Lord Caitanya’s mission
and, this, the Lord did because of your pure, unflinching faith and
devotion. Now, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am at the end of my life and I am
hoping that when the time comes, I’ll be reunited with you but, due
to my anarthas, I am not sure if this will happen.
You have placed me in Harrisburg, PA, for a reason – to help
continue your mission in this small capital city of Pennsylvania.
Here, we are trying to develop humility, respect, and servitude
towards one another. From the teachings of Mahāprabhu, we are
still learning that the goal of our life is to reach the platform of
servant of the servant of the servant of the devotees of the Lord.
Your exemplary life is showing us that living in a society of humility,
respect and servitude is a happy society.
We have seen a photo of you, from the early New York temple
days, waiting in line behind other devotees to take a shower. Such
humility and simplicity that we are still trying to understand, Śrīla
Prabhupāda. You also cooked, served the Sunday feast and cleaned
afterwards. You began with so little, materially, and what you
accomplished is a miracle.
Please continue to shower your blessings on all the devotees here
in ISKCON of Harrisburg as we try to preach and share your mission
here. Please allow us to offer some service at your lotus feet because
you are patita-pāvana, savior of the fallen.
One behalf of the devotees of ISKCON Harrisburg and myself,
we are praying for your mercy.
Your servant,
Bedangi Devi Dasi
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Yadubara Dasa and Visakha Devi Dasi

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to you,
Since your disappearance, the world has seen many natural
calamities—devastating tsunamis and earthquakes, huge floods
and widespread droughts, unbelievable forest fires, tornados,
hurricanes, avalanches. These disasters have been confined to nations
or areas within those nations. Now as I write this, however, we’re
seeing something unprecedented in our lifetime: a new coronavirus
pandemic, a calamity that’s affecting the whole world.
Collectively, humankind has prodigious intelligence and has
made phenomenal strides in all areas of its endeavors, yet from
your teachings we know that these natural calamities, especially
the present one we’re in the midst of, are a stark and inescapable
reminder that we are insignificant, weak, vulnerable beings in the
face of Kṛṣṇa’s material energy. You have taught us that His material
energy is duratyayā – very difficult to overcome. Try as we might, in
the end we cannot control material nature. It is more powerful than
us. We are controlled by it.
The basis of all true knowledge is humility and as we think
soberly about our current international crisis and the many national
crises before this one, we want to be truly and deeply humbled. We
are small. God is great. He is our shelter, our solace, and ultimately
our only protector. Thank you over and over for giving us this
clear and unambiguous knowledge. Without it, we would now be
overwhelmed by anxiety.
We’re trying to take the opportunity of this pandemic to come
closer to Kṛṣṇa by hearing about, chanting about, and remembering
Him. Regardless of the terrible dangers the material energy presents,
those who seek your shelter and protection will, without a doubt,
attain it and also fully experience the shelter and protection of Śrī Śrī
Your servants,
Yadubara Dasa and Visakha Devi Dasi
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Guru Gaurāṅga Dāsa
unto him.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, the
foremost servant of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. You are
kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanya and delivering the
Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
While traveling to Śrīdhām Māyāpur to attend the 534th
anniversary celebration of Lord Caitanya’s appearance and my
first Annual GBC Meeting since 1988, I reflected on the instruction
you once gave one of your disciples, who asked you, “Now you are
present, Śrīla Prabhupāda, so everything is all right. But what if, in
the course of time, when you are not here, ISKCON falls from the
standard? What should I do?”
You replied without hesitating, “You are one of ISKCON’s
important members, so work for the correction, but don’t leave.”
Beloved Prabhupāda, this powerful instruction would
periodically roil the hearts of your disciples during your lifetime,
but never so much as since your departure.
During your presence among us, you were the steady captain of
the ISKCON ship who always knew how to correct any misguided
course. You made it easy for us to never leave ISKCON, which we
equated with you.
ISKCON is still yours and always will be, so to keep faith with
you, each of us must internalize the meaning of your instruction
to “work for the correction” and never leave. By seeking our own
correction, we make ISKCON better. By seeking to correct ISKCON,
whenever needed, we better your Society for the benefit of the
devotees and all humanity, now and for future generations. In so
doing, we please you, Lord Caitanya’s pure devotee.
In the faithful implementation of your instruction:
• we read your books and follow them in our daily lives;

• we make time to chant our rounds properly;
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• we preach Krishna Consciousness, especially by book and
prasādam distribution, in whatever condition of life we
find ourselves;
• we maintain association with devotees;
• we sustain ourselves with prasādam only; and
• we willingly work for the correction of any problems in your
Society and never leave.
Please fortify my will to be forever true to your instructions so that

future generations will find ISKCON a hospitable home in which all
may live harmoniously and confidently in difficult times.
Your loving servant always,

Guru Gaurāṅga Dāsa
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Adhiyajna Dasa
MOTI
From the beginning of your life you were very śobha
Your neighborhood toddler friend for your love was very lobha
Without you he wouldn’t get in the pram, he called you his “Moti”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, koṭi! koṭi!
Hanumān lifted a mountain, but Bhīma couldn’t lift his tail

Without your mercy, O dear guru, we will surely fail
You lifted mountains of doubt and also let us put on your shoe
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, uru! uru!
Before the rain there was a drought

People were hopeless, who could help them out?
Then came the torrential downpour, it was a Sunami Tsunami
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, praṇāmi! Praṇāmi!
Delinquent monstrous philosophies were lurking in the deep

They hid the light and caused all, out of their fear, to creep
You swallowed them all, you truly are that revealed Timiṅgila
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, kila! kila!
Your innovation was groundbreaking

Your humility was heartbreaking
You accepted all, for you there was none ever acchūt
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, adbhut! adbhut!
As purifying as the wind, your instructions remain forever utmost

significant
You benedicted all with your glance, O topmost wandering
mendicant
Your smile was like the flowers on the wish-fulfilling kalpa taru
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, sādhu! sādhu!
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One who can live in both worlds at the same time is the true mystic
To say you were always thinking of Kṛṣṇa is too simplistic
You were constantly directly serving the Divine Couple of
Vṛndāraṇya
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, dhanya! dhanya!
How to please you? You replied “When you love Kṛṣṇa”

We will always follow your example, you have given us this tṛṣṇa
You are our “Moti” , O Śrī Kṛṣṇa Priya ati priya
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept our daṇḍavats, sukriyā! sukriyā!
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Advaita Acharya Dasa
It’s been 50 years since I found you, what a fortunate day

You who have guided me and shown me the way
It’s been quite a journey, lots of ups and downs
Unfortunately, my offensive service no better than a clown’s
To your sincere disciples and their compassionate merciful
association
I bow down and offer my prostrations
As old age creeps in, and my body and mind become weak
Prabhupāda, I fall at your lotus feet
A human being you have taught me to be
Gradually I’m beginning to see
I hope and pray I can remain humbly in your service sublime
And approach Lord Kṛṣṇa in eternal time
Thank you for your patience.

Advaita Acharya Dasa
Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga kī Jai
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Jagattarini Dasi


Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to the Mission
of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu which you have come to distribute to a
world in great difficulty. All glories to your pure exalted example of
a saintly leader who will stop at nothing to serve that mission.
Today, as with every other conscious person on the planet, who
has even a drop of thinking capacity, I am brought to wonder at
the present situation worldwide. Without caring to understand the
complex strategies and intricacies of the Kali-yuga leaders whose
political intentions are deeply corrupt and insane, like all of us, I am
watching as countries are forced to turn themselves upside down
due to a viral transmission that is so apparently invisibly dangerous
and is driven by the hellishly impious lifestyle and eating habits of
most of the world’s people.
For years, I’ve watched the harsh anomalies increase in the
world. You did too. I have also read from your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
translations and purports, how Kali-yuga is to dangerously
unfold day-by-day.
Thus I have heard and also seen how human beings are becoming
viciously forced to walk a pathway of darkness, while destructive
tendencies are rewarded and taught within a hellish education
system that perpetuates atheism and materialism. Everyone, even
our community, are sending their children to these institutions, with
the belief that career far outweighs the risks of degradation. You in
your wisdom saw this coming and requested us to form farming
communities which could be self-sufficient in both food and
education. I tried to be a part of one such community and discovered
how difficult it was to create and sustain, and also how painful it
was when we failed to achieve your desire.
Now, today, when I turn to you, I hear you speaking an opposite
message to the message being spoken by the worldly experts. You
inform us that this Iron Age of machines and sinister things will
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not bring any happiness to anyone, even the so-called experts
themselves. No-one, not even the most powerful political leaders nor
the world’s famous corporate magnates can be happy despite their
vast amounts of money and influence.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam assures us that everything is on schedule
and has indeed a Supreme Controller above and beyond all these
supposedly powerful rascals who are busy trying to ruin the world
with their greed, nationalism and terrorism.
I discovered this quote from your class spoken in 1969 at New
Vrindaban. I keep this message by my side when chanting and
read it many times.
The whole world is problem for ordinary persons, but to us
it is not a problem. Because we see everything Kṛṣṇa’s. If
there is problem, it is Kṛṣṇa’s problem. Why my problem?
Kṛṣṇa can know how to solve problem. So we have no
problem practically. Kṛṣṇa’s problem. Kṛṣṇa will see to it.
Just like Arjuna was encouraged that nimitta-

mātraṁ bhava savyasācin. “You don’t worry about
your victory. I have already arranged.”
So we should have such faith and conviction and let
us try. Let us do very sincerely and seriously. Then
everything Kṛṣṇa will do. I haven’t got to do anything.
You ensure that Kṛṣṇa is in control of everything. Just as a chess

player moves the pieces on the board, similarly Kṛṣṇa is behind and
within all that is happening. With this perspective that you have
given me I can understand what is my duty. As an insignificant
servant, I must work on developing consistent realization of the fact
that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, everything is Kṛṣṇa. That is my
work. If I can do that, my responsibility is complete, because then
I will know my place and Kṛṣṇa will do everything. I will be freed
from both fear and illusion.
Dear Prabhupāda, for me this is easy to write about but very,
very, very difficult to perform!
Yet clearly it is my most important task now, in this crisis, and of
course always. Although I am so faulty I wish to push forward in this
respect. Even as a foolish person with no abilities what a difference
this perspective would create.
So dear Prabhupāda, as once more I most fortunately worship
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your lotus feet and place my head upon them in prayer, I beg from
you the strength and clarity that will allow me to continue to keep
pushing beyond my frailties and allow me to see how I am meant to
serve within Kṛṣṇa’s blessed, stressful times.
Thank you endlessly for your compassion and for having entered
into this world of grief and corruption.
I beg to remain your insignificant servant,

Jagattarini Dasi
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Vishalini Devi Dasi
saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-
trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam
prāptasya kalyāṇa-guṇārṇavasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
The spiritual master is receiving benediction from the ocean of
mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire to extinguish
it, so the spiritual master delivers the materially afflicted world
by extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence. I offer my
respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master,
who is an ocean of auspicious qualities.
Causeless mercy – You said, “I will go on trying as long as I live”.
“But what kind of intelligent persons they are?”
No intelligence have I – from your causeless mercy I’m made. My
only substance – the absolute knowledge you’ve showered – and still
do even from afar.
Because the spiritual master enlightens with divya jyana, one feels
obliged to him…
You are my breath to reality – your books are my light. Without
your mercy – my existence certainly has no value.
“The Lord’s knowledge is unlimited, and therefore one cannot
touch where it ends.”
At Juhu Beach on a walk, I asked a question… and you replied…
“everything is in my books – read them!” At the time my schedule
was full – but I hadn’t prioritised reading. You frequently showed
how you know the heart and mind of your disciples. Every
opportunity you connected us to Absolute Truths. You taught me
the unlimited unending knowledge of the Lord is the only answer to
any query of value.
“Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate
to keep this institution together after I am gone.”
“The honeybee seeks the honey and the fly, the sores”… you
gave us the formula. Once I said: “Śrīla Prabhupāda, I want to take
every one of your instructions as my heart and soul.”
You replied, “Do this very thing and your journey back to
Godhead is guaranteed.” With this you taught me not to be selective
of which instruction I value more; my obligation is to value equally
all of your instructions.
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“I may live or die. In either case I am with Kṛṣṇa. I asked Kṛṣṇa to
give me enthusiasm to death. A soldier should die fighting on the
battleground.”
You created an army of faithful soldiers. Many continue to
serve you in the most astonishing ways. Your disciples wear your
footprints stamped on their hearts. You have said: “One should
follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees, who are
deeply attached to His devotional service.“ I remain profoundly
grateful to each godsibling, that continues to sacrifice so much to
honour your teachings and spread your message. Even though some
of your soldiers have now become wounded, I hear inspirational
descriptions of how they have creatively nurtured their attachment
to you and Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service.
You told us, “I have given my ideas and directions in my books.
Just you have to see it. I think I have done my part, is it not?”
Your will to go to the West to serve your spiritual master’s
instruction (against all odds), saved us from a blazing fire of material
existence. Your sacrifices forced our eyes open with the torchlight of
knowledge and taught us that ‘Kṛṣṇa is the doer, don’t complicate
matters - by getting in the way’ (SB 1.1). Śrīla Prabhupāda, Vaikuṇṭha
Man, you taught us to be solely reliant on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy...then
anything is possible.
You live forever – You’ve said “I am not going to die. Kirtir yasya
sa jivati. One who does something substantial, he lives forever.”
You’ve told us “This life is just a passing flash”, “Not a fit place
for a lady or a gentleman.” “Finish up your business now, it’s going to
get harder.” I believe through your association anything is possible. I
know how undeserving I am. Regardless, I keep chanting, following
and praying to you and feel your presence each time.
You have warned us “Krishna Consciousness is not an old man’s
recreation”.
One time in Vṛndāvana with the help of your friend Bhagatji,
I had a walking stick made for your Vyāsa-pūjā. I ran out of the
temple and bowed down while you walked by. Then I felt ‘tap, tap,
tap’, on my head. I looked up to see your beaming smile, then you
poked the stick at me saying “your stick”! May I continually feel that
tapping on my head by you…please remind me of the gravity of
immersing sole-heartedly in Krishna Consciousness, whatever the
age this body is.
“In Vṛndāvana there is a place where there was no temple, but
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a devotee desired, ‘let there be a temple and sevā, devotional
service.’”
In the early 1970s I went to Vṛndāvana with a one-way ticket,
when there was only an empty plot of land with four arches. Śrīla
Prabhupāda, you allowed me the greatest mercy to be present
during the inception of the Vṛndāvana project. For over fourteen
years, so many experiences, opportunities and realisations.
However, the greatest nectar of all was your lotus association –
incomparable causeless mercy. The lessons of those years became
my foundation. You many times gave us extraordinary glimpses
of your transcendental personality traits. Sometimes you would
look ‘through’ a disciple, during a lecture, saying something that
felt particularly personal to them. You taught us to be practical
and conscious in our dealings “To be Kṛṣṇa conscious means to be
conscious – to be conscious means to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. ” One time
you said, “Kṛṣṇa is witnessing the decisions that you make, even in
your dreams. You should act in a way like your spiritual master is
sitting on your shoulder”. I pray that my obligation and gratitude to
you increases with every last breath, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
You promised “I will always be with you through my books and
through my orders. I will always remain with you in that way.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, my master, my eternal father, my best friend,
you are everything to this unworthy soul. This is a time when many
of your disciples are more or less the same age that you were when
boarding the Jaladuta cargo ship. I have no doubt many such as
myself now feel the withering of this body and are realising, in a
deeper more authentic way, the transcendental astonishment of
your accomplishments at such an advanced age. Somehow, we
have been blessed by your most merciful transcendental association
and with observing your extraordinary transcendence. Yet still the
biggest lesson – you still remain available to us through your books,
devotional service and by chanting and praying with sincerity.
The world wants to see miracles – we saw actual miracles in
how you defied nature and personified transcendence. Your living
example cemented our faith. Many of your disciples have now left
this world, lots of us are currently lined up to make the journey.
This insignificant beggar pleads that you never kick me away. Rather
with each breath left, let me use it only to serve you and reach for
your all-powerful transcendental lotus feet.
(Excerpts primarily from Just as I Have Shown You, 1986)
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Anuttama Dāsa


This is to inform you that I, the undersigned, am

the Founder-Ācārya of the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness, and the world leader
for all of its branches. I have appointed 18 direct
representatives to manage different sectors of the
world, and they are known as Governing Body
Commissioners. [Letter to Attorney General’s
Department (Canberra, Australia) 16 January 1977]
On your Vyāsa-pūjā Day we remember and meditate deeply on our
relationship with you, your instructions, your vision, your desires,
and your many gifts to us. This year, 2020, is the fiftieth anniversary
of your founding the Governing Body Commission. This milestone
inspires me to consider the importance of this gift and its role in
your transcendental plans.
It was on July 28, 1970, that Your Divine Grace created the
Governing Body Commission, or GBC. Foreseeing the global
expansion of your fledgling society, you created the GBC to help
manage and protect the worldwide organization, to free you from
management so you would have more time for writing, and to look
after the well-being of your devotees and temples. You expected
your GBC members to travel, to preach, to supervise, and to uphold
ISKCON’s standards. You also planned for the GBC to continue to
manage the “affairs of the society” after your departure. Managing in
a collective manner, you instructed, would give you “great pleasure.”
I have formed this GBC for that purpose, to keep the
devotional standards at the highest level and at the
same time to manage a world-wide organization.
[Letter to Rūpānuga, 4 November 1970]
I have already formed a Governing Body Commission,
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so in my absence they will manage the affairs of the
Society. I shall begin my 75th year from the Vyasa
Puja Day, and if you all combined together manage
the affairs of the Society nicely, that will give me a
great pleasure. [Letter to Umāpati, 23 August 1970]
Consultation and cooperation were to be the means of governance.
In the future there would be no single leader of ISKCON who
would set spiritual or secular policy. Instead, you would always be
ISKCON’s founder-ācārya, teacher, and standard-bearer. The duty of
the GBC was to work cooperatively, under you, to protect and guide
what you had created.
[T]he 12 GBC members are being trained up strictly
under my guidance so that they will protect the
interest of the society very, very carefully. All our
property should be well protected, and I think in every
document my name as Founder-Ācārya should be
mentioned. [Letter to Bali-mardana, 5 September 1974]
You write to say that it is my satisfaction that is

important; my wish is that you all GBC members
cooperate and advance the mission of this society. That
will satisfy me. [Letter to Hayagrīva, 11 August 1971]
As you affirmed in your will, the GBC was to be “the ultimate
managing authority of the entire International Society for Krishna
Consciousness.” You knew it was essential for your youthful
ISKCON leaders to also remember who is the real manager.
[A]s the boys are getting experienced I shall very
soon transfer the administration to them. . . . But
actually what we need is to render sincere service to
the Lord because ultimately Kṛṣṇa is the supreme
manager. [Letter to Nevatiaji, 16 July 1970]
You also knew, and you experienced firsthand, that the GBC would
make mistakes. You warned the GBC to be careful to uphold Vaiṣṇava
standards while respecting other senior devotees and ISKCON
leaders. In training the GBC you were firm, yet also forgiving.
GBC does not mean to control a center. GBC means to
see that the activities of a center go on nicely . . . but
not to exert absolute authority. That is not in the power
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of GBC. . . . The GBC men cannot impose anything on
the men of a center without consulting all of the GBC
members first. [Letter to Girirāja, 12 August, 1971]
I am glad that you have admitted about the GBC members

not appropriately discharging their duty. I do not mind this
discrepancy but you should be alert; you and all the GBC
members. . . . People have respect for our movement. Now
it is time for GBC members to be very very careful so that
people may not point out any black spot in the behavior
of our society. . . . [Letter to Tamāl Kṛṣṇa, 1 Sept 1971]
The GBC did sometimes err. I was present in 1976 in Māyāpur when
the GBC overstepped its boundaries. By the influence of a few
powerful sannyāsīs who had a zealous enthusiasm to have temples
filled exclusively with brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs, the GBC passed
a resolution that all women and married men must move out of
the temples. When this came to your attention—and after temple
presidents around the world complained that without women and
married men in their temples, preaching and other services would
come to a standstill—you overturned the decision.
When errors were made and human frailties were detected within
the GBC body, you made corrections, gave additional instructions,
and continued to empower the GBC to lead and advance the mission
of Lord Caitanya.
I am more and more depending upon you GBC.
Of course you GBC are in training, but you are
all the hope for the future of our movement.
[Letter to Karandhara, 15 March 1973]
Stick to our principle, and see our GBC is very alert. Then
everything will go on, even I am not present. Do that.
That is my request. Whatever little I have taught you,
follow that, and nobody will be aggrieved. No māyā will
touch you. [Room Conversation, 22 April 1977, Bombay]
Since your departure, Śrīla Prabhupāda, under your continued
leadership and the guidance of the GBC, ISKCON has flourished. We
now have over 600 temples, 100 vegetarian restaurants, and 70 farms
and eco-villages. More than 550 million of your books have been
distributed, and more than 100,000 devotees have taken Vaiṣṇava
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initiation. The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is rising in Māyāpur,
ISKCON’s contributions have been honored by governments and the
United Nations, Vaiṣṇava colleges have opened, devotee scholars
teach in universities, and devotee lawyers practice in the courts.
Your movement is now more than ever an international society.
Not surprisingly, there have been challenges as well. As you
predicted in your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam commentary, when the ācārya
leaves there will be disturbances:
When [the ācārya] disappears, things once again become
disordered. The perfect disciples of the ācārya try to relieve
the situation by sincerely following the instructions of the
spiritual master. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.48, purport]
As happened when you were physically present with us, in the years
since your departure misguided governments, parents, and others
have accused ISKCON of being a cult or sect. In some countries
there have been drawn-out court battles, media attacks, and official
inquiries as to whether ISKCON was a positive or negative force in
society.
In the mid-1980s, ISKCON faced the corruption of some of the
leaders who had taken up the role of initiating spiritual masters. Some
committed crimes. Others egregiously violated their vows. Some
set themselves up as leaders independent of ISKCON. Tremendous
forces were unleashed that threatened to splinter your movement.
In the 1990s, ISKCON became aware of widespread abuse of
children in our schools and communities during the 1970s and
1980s. With heartbreak, we learned that our children, families, and
communities had been injured and scarred. As part of the karmic
justice due us, the whole of ISKCON was accused of abusive systems
and a lack of love, care, and accountability, and several hundred
million dollars worth of lawsuits were brought against us.
Yet, despite these calamities, and a multitude of lesser
challenges, your society has continued. We have suffered for our
mistakes and because of the disturbances caused by others. Yet in
each instance—while sometimes painfully slowly—ISKCON has
become more introspective, corrected itself, purged itself (where
necessary), and continued. We have endured because of your grace,
your inspiration, your guidance, your purity, your faith in us, and
the faith you gave us in Kṛṣṇa.
And we have endured, to a large extent, because of the wisdom
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you showed in creating a Governing Body Commission. Creating
the GBC, despite its frailties and human limitations, was one of the
greatest gifts you gave us.
When unified action was needed, because of your foresight
a system of cooperative decision-making was in place. In each of
the above-mentioned crippling crises, ISKCON benefited from a
GBC that could lead us out of the morass. Despite the historical
fact that most religious communities crumble after the passing
of their founder, ISKCON has held together while the GBC led
us through court battles, media attacks, deviant philosophies,
wayward gurus, splinter groups, and myriad other challenges both
internal and external.
By your blessings, the GBC has also made a multitude of positive
contributions to strengthen and grow ISKCON. There are now
standards for awarding sannyāsa; courses for initiating gurus and
prospective disciples; a Śāstric Advisory Council that guides the GBC
on philosophical questions; a GBC College to train future leaders; a
Child Protection Office to aid in protecting children; GBC Ministries
that train devotees worldwide and guide a variety of programs, such
as the Deity Ministry’s policies to protect and oversee the worship of
the Lord’s mūrti; and, a Sabhā to broaden insights and provide checks
and balances on GBC authority. Individual GBC members, serving
cooperatively with local leaders and other devotees, have opened
hundreds of new temples and eco-communities, inaugurated new
festivals, seen book distribution set new records, and contributed
significantly to the growth of your movement across the globe.
Today ISKCON is white, black, brown, and every color under
the rainbow. We are growing in India, the Americas, Europe, Russia,
Africa, Asia, Australasia, and every place in between. We are no
longer just ashrams full of young people. We are young, and we are
grandparents. We are men, women, and children. We are renunciants
, and we are corporate leaders. Our growth is far-ranging. So too,
sometimes, are our opinions, allegiances, and affections.
Living through the pain of watching Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s mission splinter, you made it a priority in 1970,
even before you created your beloved BBT, to form the GBC. You
knew that ISKCON would need an ultimate managing authority to
bind us together.
Wherever there are individuals there is bound to be
difference of opinion. Therefore for this purpose I have
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formulated the GBC. [Letter to Rūpānuga, 14 February 1973]
I have built the skeleton of the building, but there is

so much more work remaining before us. The GBC
men are there, the world is divided into 12 zones
for gradual development by these, my chosen right
hand men. So however you manage it, that you
know best . . . [but do not] become, discouraged.
. . . [Letter to Haṁsadūta, 2 January 1973]
Śrīla Prabhupāda, as the years go by it becomes more and more evident that
you are the transcendental binding force and strategist, the central figure,
the loving grandfather, and our ever-present founder-ācārya. Marking
the fiftieth anniversary of the GBC, we are reminded that the GBC
was, and remains, an integral part of your vision. In the midst of an
ever-changing material world, the GBC system you created holds us
together, provides global vision, seeks harmony when we disagree,
corrects us when we swerve, and reminds us of our central allegiance
to you and your ISKCON.
In the future, ISKCON will face more opportunities and
challenges. Yet if we remain faithful to your vision, your teachings,
and your central and preeminent position in ISKCON, and if we
strive to serve cooperatively under the guidance of your GBC, Lord
Caitanya’s movement will remain strong. And your transcendental
desire that His blessings be distributed throughout the world will
continue to be fulfilled.
So you GBC men are my selected few for insuring that
what I am doing will be carried on very nicely for the
pleasure of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So now you must
all my senior disciples and leaders become very, very much
aware of your grave responsibility to the human society for
delivering them from the clutches of catastrophe, and be
always cool-headed and utilize every moment in the best
manner possible. [Letter to Madhudviṣa, 16 June 1972]
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for the gift of the GBC, and for all the
many, many other gifts you have bestowed upon us.
Aspiring to be your eternal servant,

Anuttama dāsa
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Asokamrita Dasa
Dearmost Śrīla Prabhupāda,

How time has passed...I am now the same age as you were
when you came to the US. Because of your causeless mercy we have
survived the turbulent sea of the material world. The best day of my
life was the day I met you in Calcutta. I knew you were someone very
special but could not fathom the full depth of Your Divine Self. Since
then you have enlightened us about Kṛṣṇa through your spotless
books, and now we know you are an emissary from Vaikuṇṭha sent
by Kṛṣṇa to call us back home.
By Kṛṣṇa’s mercy we have found you, and by your mercy we
are reunited with Kṛṣṇa. The human form of life is extremely rare,
and in that human form of life to be Kṛṣṇa’s devotee is the rarest
among rare. Hence it is our extreme good fortune that you gave us
the shelter of your lotus feet.
Dearmost Śrī Gurudeva, I am now 70 years old and am married
to Rose, a Kṛṣṇa conscious chaste wife for over 44 years. Both of us
have retired from our professional life. I was a chemical engineer,
Rose, a PhD nurse, we have no children. Holding onto your lotus
feet, our journey was fairly smooth. Kṛṣṇa fulfilled all our desires
and gave us guidance to cross this ocean of nescience, and survive.
As advised by you in Dallas in 1975 to financially contribute to
ISKCON Temples, we have been sponsoring special events such as Śrī
Gaura Pūrṇimā and Śrī Janmāṣṭamī at New Talavan in Mississippi,
and Śrī Rādhāṣṭamī at New Orleans. We have been doing these for
almost two decades. Plus we contribute to the TOVP, Festival of India,
Vrinda Kunda in Vṛndāvana, your Samadhi Maintenance at ISKCON
Vṛndāvana. We also sponsor Narottama Dās Ṭhākura’s festival,
and when the situation permits, we feed sādhus of Vṛndāvana. We
also individually help other godbrothers and godsisters when they
approach us for help. By your blessing and Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, we hope
to carry on as long as we live.
Dear Śrī Gurudeva, at this point our planet is going through
a deadly crisis. We are under attack from a deadly pathogen
identified as COVID 19. It has virtually turned our planet upside
down. We do not know how, where, or when this crisis will end.
But we know in crisis to hold on to Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet very tight. We
also have taken shelter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and pray to you every
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day. Please guide us. We have no shelter other than you, and have
full faith in you. As you have always said, it will be done as Kṛṣṇa
desires. Yes, that is always the best solution because it came from the
perfect Lord of Lords.
Happy Vyāsa-pūjā 2020, Śrī Gurudeva. I may go on writing for
ages, but even then I will not be able to say even one portion of your
divine glories.
I remain your ever grateful disciple and servant,

Asokamrita Dasa
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Janardana Dasa

Please accept my humble and grateful obeisance to your all
merciful lotus feet.
It has been 48 years since you formally accepted me as your
disciple and I think that I am finally beginning to get a small
understanding of your greatness and some appreciation for your
unwavering dedication to your guru mahārāja Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and the exalted spiritual lineage descending
from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
You came to America with no money and no friends, experiencing
what we would consider great hardship. But you never considered
it so. You chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and people came
to you, their lives forever changed. After only a brief period of
association with you, they were infused with a spark of your
compassion and energized to go to new cities and countries to chant
and preach. Having been touched by your power, they attracted
more followers who then carried that same energy and compassion
to more places around the world. In a mere ten years, 108 temples
and farm communities had arisen all over the world.
With unwavering determination and fortitude, you broke the
dam holding the flood waters of the prema that Mahāprabhu had
come to deliver to the world. How was this possible?
I believe the answer lies in one quality that is the special
hallmark of your personality and character. That quality is your
deep sense of mercy and compassion for all. And I truly feel that
this is what empowered you and allowed you to accomplish such
amazing things.
What is the nature of mercy, from where does it come and
what is its power?
In his book Mādhurya Kādambinī, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī
gives a detailed analysis of the cause for bhakti awakening in the
heart of the conditioned soul, establishing that bhakti only comes
from Bhakti-devi herself, through the agency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s special
devotees, whom He infuses with that mercy potency.
The mercy of the devotees is said to be the
cause of bhakti. The bhagavad-bhakta’s mercy, like
the mercy of Bhagavān, is causeless….
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Śrī Bhagavān is conquered by His bhaktas…. In other
words, only by attaining the mercy of the bhakta does one
attain the mercy of Bhagavān. (MK First Shower Text 3e)
… Śrī Bhagavān, who accepts a mood of submission

to His bhaktas, personally offers His mercy potency to
them, so that they can elevate those who are desirous
of performing hari-bhajana. Thus He has established the
bhaktas’ excellence in this regard. (MK First Shower Text 4a)
Śrīla Jiva Gosvāmī explains that Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa instills the
heart of a special devotee with His mercy potency and then gives
the devotee complete freedom to distribute mercy and bestow bhakti
as the devotee wishes.
The particular significance of mahat-kṛpā (the mercy
of His devotees) is that if it were not independent,
it would have been impossible for anyone in this
world to have obtained the mercy of Bhagavān….
Śrī Bhagavān is the condensed form of supreme

bliss (paramānanda). Although all potency always
resides within Him, still, it is not possible for Him
to express compassion directly for the wayward
jīvas. That is why the mercy bestowed autonomously
by great souls is in fact the sole means to effect the
deliverance of the abject and unhappy jīvas.
Like Bhagavān, sādhus also wander in the realm of ānanda,

which is made up of śuddha-sattva (pure existence),
and therefore, they cannot be touched by any of the
unhappiness of the material world, which innately
consists of the modes of passion and ignorance. Still, as
a man waking from sleep can remember the miseries he
felt in his dreaming state, the mahāpuruṣas sometimes
remember the miseries of this world. When their hearts
are thus melted with compassion, they show mercy to the
wayward souls. Because of this, Śrī Bhagavān, who is all-
compassionate, places His own mercy in the heart of these
great souls and keeps their mercy completely independent,
so that the common people can become inclined to Him.
Therefore, Bhagavān’s mercy is transmitted into the
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heart of the jīvas in the wake of mahat-kṛpā (the mercy of
great souls), and not through His own personal will.
Bhakti-sandarbha (Anuccheda 180)

In the years following your departure from this world, some of your
godbrothers and many of their disciples have followed the path
you blazed around the world. Many, after seeing the world that
you preached in, have expressed wonder and astonishment at your
achievements. The depth of your love and compassion is evident in
the breadth of your success in introducing Krishna Consciousness
everywhere. In fact, it is now generally acknowledged in the greater
Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community that you are Nityānanda-āveśa. That is,
you are directly empowered by Nityānanda Prabhu with the śakti to
deliver Krishna Consciousness in astonishing ways.
For myself, I can only express extreme gratitude to your lotus
feet. My wonder comes from trying to imagine the extent of your
compassion that gave you the unwavering determination to create a
grand mission to awaken the world to the extraordinary teachings of
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And happily, your disciples continue that
work, still inspired by your vigor and kindness.
This lowly servant is praying for a drop of the unlimited mercy
that you carry in your heart. Please soften my stone-like heart and fill
it with that quality of compassion that I may render some service to
you and help to spread the glories Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda, Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Caitanya Mahāprabhu and our guru-paramparā to a suffering world.
A truly insignificant jīva,
Bhaktivedanta Vaikhanas Mahārāja, aka your disciple,

Janardana Dasa
(the Brooklyn one)
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Gostavihari Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to
Your Divine Grace.
Thank you for all your blessings, kindness and mercy upon me,
your undeserving disciple. Thank you for creating a society of honest
spiritually-minded individuals as well as a shelter where others
are not out to “use” you as in this mundane material world. In the
bright light of your unequaled purity, Śrīla Prabhupāda, pretenders,
imposters and “bad apples” stand out clearly.
You taught us about two kinds of people in this world, the
demons and the devotees, so we would not be cheated or misled
by unscrupulous manipulators. You were a kind and loving father
always guiding us properly and protecting us from the pitfalls
of life. Most of us had little knowledge of spiritual life and like a
tolerant and loving father, you took our hand and taught us how to
be respectful, decent human beings.
Most importantly, you told us who God is and about how each
of us has a personal eternal relationship with Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. I
am so grateful to you for all your mercy.
Please allow me to remain your humble servant, eternally.

Gostavihari Dasa
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Bhṛgupati Dāsa


A Message to the Future

The world is battling the coronavirus, but the United States has been
hardest hit, having suffered more than 70,000 fatalities as of this
writing. Many more are expected, from among the more than one
and a quarter million confirmed cases. Practically everyone is afraid
of catching this deadly disease. It’s not hard to do. People are also
worried about how they’re going to live. Many people are not able
to go to work due to government restrictions. More than $2.3 trillion
has been put into the economy to keep it from collapsing, but if the
virus doesn’t relent, the United States economy will still be in dire
straits. People are anxious. Stress levels are up. Taken at face value,
we’re in a crisis situation.
Those who’ve been fortunate enough to come in contact with the
teachings of the Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍīya sampradāya are able to
understand this crisis from a different perspective and consequently
respond to it in a different way. That understanding is explained
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the
foremost exponent of those teachings in recent times, in his purport
to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.14.10:
calamities like excessive heat, cold, rain or lack of rain,
and the aftereffects are famine, disease, and epidemic. The
the superior energy of māyā under the direction of the
Supreme Lord. Therefore our constant touch with the
Lord by devotional service can give us relief without
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our being disturbed in the discharge of our human
duties. The asuras, however, who do not believe in the
existence of God, make their own plans to counteract all
these threefold miseries, and so they meet with failure
every time. The Bhagavad-gītā (7.14) clearly states that the
reaction of material energy is never to be conquered,
because of the binding effects of the three modes.
They can simply be overcome by one who surrenders
fully in devotion under the lotus feet of the Lord.
In a lecture given in 1974 in Māyāpur, India, on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
1.8.23, Śrīla Prabhupāda tells us how we should respond to the
dangers of this material world:
So fact is that even Kuntī or Devakī, so intimately connected
with Kṛṣṇa, but they had to face so many dangers, so what
to speak of others? What to speak of ourselves? So when
we are danger, and we are in danger, we should not be
discouraged. We should take courage that even Kuntī and
Vasudeva and Devakī, they were also in danger, although
they were very, very intimately connected with Kṛṣṇa.
So we should not be disturbed by the dangers of this

material world. If we are actually Kṛṣṇa conscious, we
should face the danger and depend on Kṛṣṇa. Avaśya
rakhibe kṛṣṇa viśvāsa pālana. This is called surrender, that
“I may be in danger, but I have surrendered to Kṛṣṇa.
He must save me.” Keep this faith. Don’t be disturbed
when you are in danger, because this world is such...
Padaṁ padaṁ vipadām. Every step there is danger.
Just like we are walking on the street—immediately there

is some pinprick, thorn. And by pinprick of that thorn,
it may become a boil; it may become dangerous. So even
by walking on the street, by talking on the street, by
eating our food . . . In English it is said, “There are many
dangers between the cup and the lip.” So you should
always remember that this material world is simply full
of dangers. If you think that “We are very safe; we are
very expert; we have made this world very happy,” then
you are fool number one. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. But
if you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, these dangers are nothing.
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That Kuntī will say, that vimocita. Vimocita means “released
from the danger.” So this is the study of Kṛṣṇa, that if you
become Kṛṣṇa conscious, a sincere servant of Kṛṣṇa, don’t
be agitated by the dangerous condition of this material
world. You simply depend on Kṛṣṇa, and He’ll save you.
The best and easiest way to take shelter of and depend on Kṛṣṇa is to
chant His holy names:
kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
“My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is
still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and
be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.” — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
12.3.51
From the purport:
After mentioning the innumerable faults of this Age of
Kali, Śukadeva Gosvāmī now mentions its one brilliant
aspect. Just as one powerful king can kill innumerable
thieves, one brilliant spiritual quality can destroy all the
contamination of this age. It is impossible to overestimate
the importance of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa,
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma,
Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, especially in this fallen age.
Building on this knowledge, we learn from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
translations to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.6.8–10, and his purport to text 10,
how to transform an adverse situation into a spiritual opportunity:
[Nārada Muni said:] When I was a mere child of five
years, I lived in a brāhmaṇa school. I was dependent on
my mother’s affection and had no experience of different
lands. Once upon a time, my poor mother, when going
out one night to milk a cow, was bitten on the leg by a
serpent, influenced by supreme time. I took this as the
special mercy of the Lord, who always desires benediction
for His devotees, and so thinking, I started for the north.
[From the purport to text 10:] Confidential devotees of

the Lord see in every step a benedictory direction of the
Lord. What is considered to be an odd or difficult moment
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in the mundane sense is accepted as special mercy of the
Lord. Mundane prosperity is a kind of material fever, and
by the grace of the Lord the temperature of this material
fever is gradually diminished, and spiritual health is
obtained step by step. Mundane people misunderstand it.
When Śrīla Prabhupāda was almost seventy years old, he left India
to execute the order of his spiritual master, which was to preach
to the people in the Western countries in the English language.
Obedience to that order was certainly a major motivating factor in
his going. If we go beneath the surface, though, we can understand
that the deeper reason Śrīla Prabhupāda executed that mission, and
the reason he was given it by his spiritual master, was to shower
compassion on those who were ignorant of Krishna Consciousness.
I realized recently that this is the best and most important reason
for doing anything. It’s said that people don’t care how much you
know; they want to know how much you care. Yesterday I was
reflecting on something Śrīla Prabhupāda said while walking with
some disciples:
Therefore, this one practice—chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and
hearing—that is very nice. And praying to Kṛṣṇa, “Please
give me strength.” Hare, “O energy of Kṛṣṇa, O Kṛṣṇa, I
am fallen, I have no strength. Please accept me.” That’s
all. “I have no qualification. I am frail. I am trying, but
I am failing.” All these appeals should be made.
And Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful; He can do anything. Even [if]

we do not perform, trying our best, if we fail, Kṛṣṇa will
help us. Just like a child tries his best, but he falls down.
The mother takes up and, “All right. Come on. Walk.”
Like that. [Morning Walk, 23 March 1968, San Francisco]
I was trying to understand why I felt so drawn to and inspired by
those words. I concluded that it was because they were telling me
exactly what I wanted to hear—that is, that there is someone who
is capable of helping me and, more importantly, that this person
is inclined to help me. And receiving that person’s help is more
dependent on His merciful nature than on my efforts. “Even if we do
not perform, trying our best, if we fail, Kṛṣṇa will help us.” Taking
that to be a fact, what I understood from those few words has helped
me more than anything else to feel inspired to continue in Krishna
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Consciousness. Somebody loved me: Kṛṣṇa. And that love was
unconditional. Even though I am unable to perform to the proper
standard, still, that love is there—like a mother’s love for her child,
and so she helps him learn how to walk. I felt encouraged to know
that it is Kṛṣṇa’s nature to love us like this, and I simultaneously felt
confident that Śrīla Prabhupāda’s nature is no different. Like father,
like son. Being Kṛṣṇa’s perfect representative, Śrīla Prabhupāda had
the same nature as Kṛṣṇa’s. That’s the reason why so many people
came forward to follow him—because they could feel he loved them,
and they loved him for that. Aside from Kṛṣṇa and Śrīla Prabhupāda,
the two most important people in my life were my parents. My
attraction for them was not because they were charismatic celebrities
but because I knew they genuinely loved me.
I put Śrīla Prabhupāda in the same category in that I believe he
genuinely loved people and wanted to help them. In the most im-
portant way—arguably the only truly important way: spiritually.
Whatever Śrīla Prabhupāda did, he did out of a spirit of transcenden-
tal love and compassion for us, not expecting anything in return. The
benefits of the love offered by Śrīla Prabhupāda, unlike mundane
love, are eternal. Parents may be able to help their children in one
lifetime, but the love and compassion offered by Śrīla Prabhupāda
to everyone in the form of the holy name, his books, his temples,
and his genuine followers is an eternal blessing. There’s no greater
gift than the opportunity to engage in devotional service, and that’s
exactly what Śrīla Prabhupāda gave to countless millions of people.
I would like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to everyone who
has been affected by the tragic disaster of the coronavirus. These
understandings have been presented with no intention to disregard
the gravity of this catastrophe. After everything is done to put an
end to this horror story, which will hopefully end soon, many theists
might search for reasons why something like this could happen.
How could God allow so much suffering and death to be inflicted
on human society? Does it have something to do with the way we’ve
been living, and if so, how are we supposed to live? What exactly
are we supposed to learn from this, and how are we supposed to
proceed? This message is a humble attempt to provide some light by
the brief answers that we’ve given to those questions above. Much
more needs to be said in order for one to have a clear understanding.
That additional information can be best found in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
books, his most significant contribution, which are highly respected
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by the academic community for their authoritativeness, depth, and
clarity. They are used as standard textbooks in numerous colleges,
and have been translated into over fifty languages.
Your servant,
Bhṛgupati Dāsa
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Gauracandra Dasa

I have no right to consider myself any servant of yours, but it
was you who personally told me to think of you as my father and to
love and serve you in that way because you said that you accepted
me as your son.
I am eternally grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve
you, otherwise my life would have been nothing but a complete
waste of time as all my previous lives have been without you.
Any words I may utter in this instance are insufficient, but I pray
that anything I may have performed in your service will somehow
speak to how much I want to increasingly accept you as my father
and my life and soul for all eternity.
Your most worthless servant,

Gauracandra Dasa
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Hari-sauri Dasa
Therefore he is as good as Kṛṣṇa

Today we celebrate the birth anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the
living Bhāgavatam and the Supreme Personality of Servitor Godhead.
The worship of Śrīla Prabhupāda is more important than the worship
of Lord Kṛṣṇa. As His Divine Grace said in Hawaii on May 3, 1976:
The other day I have explained why guru is accepted
as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Arcye
viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir ... nārakī: If anyone thinks
arca-vigraha, the Deities, as made of stone, made of earth,
or made of something material, and guru, the spiritual
master, is an ordinary man, these are forbidden. So why
guru is to be considered – sākṣād dharitvena samasta-
śāstraiḥ – exactly the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
That reason is given there. The reason is that he is giving
the Kṛṣṇa knowledge, therefore he is as good as Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda demonstrated this principle several times in August
1976 in Hyderabad and New Delhi. Prabhupāda had presided over
the opening of the Hyderabad temple on Janmāṣṭamī Day, Aug. 17
,and celebrated his Vyāsa-pūjā the following day. The devotees had
worked hard to have everything ready and a group of prominent
S. Indian brāhmaṇas led by Śrī Sampath Kumar Bhattacarya did the
installation pūjās. Prabhupāda was very happy with them. They
were equally appreciative of ISKCON and held great reverence for
Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda was happy with his men led by Mahāṁsa
Swami and encouraged them. At the same time, he observed some
discrepancies in their service and at the appropriate time he brought
these to the temple leaders’ attention.
August 17, 1976 - Hyderabad
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s quarters are on the first floor at the back of
the building. Despite the fact that work is still going on, and that
cement, dirt and dust are everywhere and the noise of construction
is all-pervasive, Prabhupāda moved right in. The room was so dirty
I had to sweep it out while Prabhupāda sat and watched. Somehow
the local devotees could not arrange to have it cleaned before he
arrived. But Prabhupāda does not seem to mind. His main concern
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is that they organize a successful opening of the temple. I, however,
had no excuses when he saw my own negligence in cleaning his
room. In the early morning Prabhupāda rang for me. Although I
had supposedly cleaned his rooms he noticed that his silver loṭa was
tarnished and the balcony was covered in a thick layer of dust, so he
mildly reminded me that it was my service to attend to these things.
He said that if I didn’t do them, then he had to see to them himself.
I sheepishly concurred: I had neglected the polishing of the loṭa
because it was a task normally taken care of by the cleaning crew
supplied by the host temple, and I had thus paid it scant attention.
And although I had swept the floor of the room I had neglected the
balcony, thinking it would not be used. I am getting a little dull, but
Śrīla Prabhupāda is as sharp in his observance as ever.
Lack of cleanliness wasn’t the only thing he noticed. He took
his massage early, at 8:45 a.m. and called for Mahāṁsa and Gopāla
Kṛṣṇa. He asked them why the temple was not being decorated with
garlands of flowers, strings of mango leaves, and banana trees for the
opening. He pointed out that although today was such an important
occasion, the temple room was bare.
Mahāṁsa’s excuse was that he had been busy with all the other
arrangements. Prabhupāda, obviously agitated at the lack of proper
organization, also mildly chastised Mahāṁsa for the dirty and
unfinished condition of his quarters. When he moved in, cement
dust had been everywhere and the bathroom barely worked. Śrīla
Prabhupāda lightly thumped the bolsters flanking his āsana and
complained that they were so hard that they were no better than
stones. “The rooms of the spiritual master,” he said, “should be ready
even before the Deity rooms. This is the higher form of worship.”
On August 23 the S. Indian brāhmaṇas traveled back to their
temples but not without first seeing Prabhupāda in his room and
taking their leave. Śrīla Prabhupāda urged them to sustain this spirit
of cooperation and help spread Krishna Consciousness to the world.
He happily posed for a photograph with them and he accepted a gift
of a śālagrāma-śilā from Sampath Kumar before they left.
As he sat with the śilā on his desk Prabhupāda said he would give
it to the Bombay temple which was well on the way to completion. But
after everyone left, Prabhupāda turned to Pradyumna prabhu. He
asked him if he would like to personally worship the śālagrāma-śilā.
Pradyumna was readily agreeable and so Prabhupāda gave
him some simple instructions. “So we can carry, and every morning
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just put in a siṁhāsana and Tulasī and water and flower and little
fruit. That’s all.” Then turning to the rest of us he said, “He has got
tendency to worship.”
“He is brāhmaṇa, paṇḍita,” Gargamuni added.
“Paṇḍitjī,” Prabhupāda smiled, calling Pradyumna by his
popular sobriquet.
Prabhupāda finalized Pradyumna’s new duty with him. He told
him to buy a small siṁhāsana, a pañca-pātra waterpot, and some fine
linen from which he should make a small dhotī and chadar for the
Lord. He was to worship Him with flowers, Tulasī and gopī-candana.
He referred him to the painting in Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā,
wherein Śrī Advaitācārya was depicted worshipping the śālagrāma-
śilā, and told him to follow that example. He instructed Pradyumna,
“First thing is that when you take śālagrāma-sevā, wherever you stay,
this worship must go on daily. That you cannot stop. One day, if
you are sick, your wife will do that. But that half an hour pūjā must
continue. That you must decide. So both of you are initiated. In case
you are little sick, your wife will do. In that platform you have to do
it. Sevā shall not be stopped.
Gradually as your son grows, he will also do it.”
So although Prabhupāda sometimes complained about
Pradyumna’s smārta-brāhmaṇa tendencies (he once said that he
had saved Pradyumna from becoming a smārta) still he recognises
his good brahminical qualifications and learning and is always
encouraging him to develop them.
After the Hyderabad opening Prabhupāda flew north to Delhi to
celebrate Rādhāṣṭamī.
On August 27 he took his regular morning walk, after which he
entered the temple. Devotees pressed in from all sides. He greeted
Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Pārtha-sārathi and then mounted the
Vyāsāsana for guru-pūjā and class. As each devotee came forward
to offer a flower and obeisances, Prabhupāda was scanning the
room. He noted the absence of Pradyumna and called me over to
inquire where he was. I found him in an upstairs room, just about
to commence his śālagrāma-śilā pūjā. When I informed Prabhupāda
that he was doing his pūjā, Prabhupāda was not at all happy. Clearly
agitated, Prabhupāda leaned in my ear and said, “First of all guru-
pūjā! Tell the nonsense, ‘First of all guru-pūjā!”
Realization is enhanced by service and service is our eternal
asset. By this combination, Prabhupāda gave us entrance to the
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spiritual realm, a privilege that can never be matched nor super-
seded. Prabhupāda lives on and by worshipping him through vāṇī
and sevā we stand unassailable.
Your servant,
Hari-sauri Dasa
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Nrsimhananda Dasa

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord
Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
Caitanya deva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled
Forty-nine years have passed since we were introduced. You were

just written words and a picture. It was a black and white profile.
You held your finger up as if making a point. You said, “Godhead
is light; nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead, there is
no nescience.” Nescience was not in my vocabulary. Much later, I
discovered that it meant lack of knowledge, ignorance; agnosticism.
I looked up from the magazine cover to see a bus passing. It had an
advertisement on the side promoting some product: “In your head,
you know it’s right.” Hmmm. I glanced back down at the magazine.
Kṛṣṇa in his Śyāmasundara form was on the cover. I’d never seen
anything like it. He was indescribably beautiful. I didn’t know then
that you had personally coached the artist. Every detail was under
your direction. Nor had I ever heard the word, “Godhead.” What was
that? God, yes, but what was with this “head” thing. Yet, inexplicably,
the entire presentation of words and picture seemed very familiar.
I must have read the magazine, but I have no memory of anything
except the cover. Little did I know that you were the wizard behind
all these “invitations” being distributed on streets in some major
cities of the world. By the time I received it in 1971, you had already
planted seeds in numerous countries. Devotees were ubiquitous in
city centers. The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa was becoming quite famous.
I moved into a “temple” (really, a dingy apartment) within three days
of being handed that magazine. I didn’t need to meet you in the flesh
to have been inspired to follow your orders. In literature, a character
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is created by five different types of descriptions: 1) appearance (you
were mysterious and regal, confident and other worldly); 2) what
other people say about him (wise, kind, pure); 3) what he does (goes
everywhere to talk about Kṛṣṇa, writes about Kṛṣṇa); 4) what he
thinks (how to serve Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa is doing everything); 5) with
whom he associates (devotees). For many months, I never met you
in person, but I began to know you. When I finally saw you, I was
overwhelmed with gratitude. Tears of gratefulness flowed from my
eyes for hours. Vāṇī and/or vapuḥ – the effect is the same. Though I
didn’t have much personal time with you in the ensuing years, I felt
ever closer. Whether working at Tiffany Press to print your books,
hearing your lectures, or offering you prasādam, my affection for
you continues to grow. I see it in others who have come to ISKCON
long after your departure in 1977. You are living art in sound. Your
mercy keeps flowing. Every magazine or book is an ocean of your
personal love. No wonder the younger generations venerate you.
You live on – just as you told us. In fact, the younger generations
often know you better! One devotee in India memorized all your
pastimes recounted in the Līlāmṛta and the Memories series. He had a
story for every question and occasion. The importance in hearing the
descriptions of the Personality of Godhead for making advancement
in Krishna Consciousness cannot be overestimated; similarly, the
value in hearing the words and actions of a pure devotee are even
more exalted. You have told us that there is no difference between
chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa or that of His pure devotee. Therefore,
we sing, “Jaya, Prabhupāda! Jaya, Prabhupāda!” in kīrtana and
bhajan. Anyone who simply sees your picture or words from your
books is purified.
The gateway to the temple in ancient Jerusalem was known
as that “eye of the needle.” It was very narrow, and worshippers
entered one at a time. Similarly, entrances to the old Indian temples
have gopurams and spare passageways leading to the deity. You,
on the other hand, open your arms wide to all aspiring bhaktas. You
embrace all the mlecchas, yavanas, and lowborn. You give gāyatrī
mantra to women. Your heart is big enough to accommodate the
entire world. In this mood, the Foundational Statement of your
position in ISKCON was crafted and ratified by the GBC in 2013.
“You are living art in sound.” All the present and future Iskconites
recognize, or should, that through your mercy, all of the sincere
devotees can go home, back to Godhead.
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You said that the ācāryas simply stay in the material world
appearing in one planet after another to relieve the suffering of the
conditioned souls. Certainly, there are mysteries that my tiny and
confused intellect will never unravel. Your destination is surely one
of them. I know that wherever you have gone, your grace continues to
light up this world and lives to inspire the jīvas in order to wake up to
their birthright of unalloyed devotion to the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, that Blessed Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. You liked that term, “Blessed
Lord.” You authorized its use not only in the Gītā, but used it in the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-Caritāmṛta without any reference to
its other uses. As an adjective, “blessed” means worthy of adoration
and/or sacred. How perfect to describe Śrī Kṛṣṇa. How appropriate
to describe you, the manifestation of the Lord’s blessings.
Every Vyāsa-pūjā, I am reminded of how much service that I
haven’t done for Your Divine Grace. Yet, you continue to engage me in
working on Kṛṣṇa conscious movies, chairing the SABHA, chanting
16 rounds daily (only by your mercy), and giving me the best gift
anyone could get – sādhu-saṅga. Health, happiness, wealth, fame –
everything pales in the glow of the gift of good devotee association.
That is how I see you – living, guiding, counseling, commiserating
:) through your followers. Whether they and I have differences of
opinions, by your divine mercy, I love each and every one of them.
Please continue to shower those blessings on me and all of the souls
fortunate enough to know about you.
I beg to remain,
Your fallen and useless servant,
Nrsimhananda Dasa
Producer, Uplifting Cinema Pvt. Ltd.
Director, ISKCON Television, Inc.
Chairman, SABHA (Spiritual Advisor Bhagavat Assembly)
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Mahashakti Dasa


Koṭi daṇḍavats at your lotus feet. You have saved the entire planet
from falling into the deepest darkness of ignorance. When there
was no light, Your Divine Grace brought light. You brought book
Bhāgavata and person Bhāgavata. You illuminated the Path for those
who choose to follow you. Even in your personal absence, your books
live on to provide perfect shelter and guidance. They speak directly
to the soul. No other modern day literature can create a revolution in
the minds and hearts of the people like your carefully crafted books
on Krishna Consciousness.
Anyone has the opportunity to read your books, and by
your grace, they can understand who is God, what is God, who
am I and what is the purpose of life. Everyone is looking for the
meaning of life, but unless they come to your lotus feet, they will
never know. By your order, we faithfully and lovingly served your
extraordinary book kīrtana. We assisted you in printing, typesetting,
editing, painting, publishing and distributing so many books on
the Supreme Lord. Your divine presence was like a tsunami wave
of book creation and book distribution. How fortunate for us to be
born with an opportunity to serve your mission. We are certain to
see you again one day. We have kept you deep in our hearts and
followed your order to chant daily the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. You are
the love of our life. Certainly we will again have the opportunity to
serve your lotus feet. Until then, we pray incessantly to Lord Kṛṣṇa
for strength and devotion.
May the whole world come to your lotus feet and joyfully chant
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra!
Jay Śrīla Prabhupāda !
Your duly initiated disciple,

Mahashakti Dasa
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Rupa Manjari Devi Dasi

Please accept my unlimited obeisances.
Somehow or other I have the good fortune to be accepted by
you and to feel the cooling rays of your lotus feet. Although I am
unworthy, you have given me a place of refuge there. I pray that you
will never kick me away, but allow me to shelter there eternally.
This is the year of the pandemic, which turns out to be a blessing
in many ways as it has caused your devotees to come together and
raise their voices up in saṅkīrtana. A huge purification for the entire
planet, and greatly needed during this time in Kali-yuga. I have been
awed by the outpouring of devotion in the Festival of the Holy Name.
It is a true tribute to what you have done In spreading the name of
Kṛṣṇa to every town and village. It has been so inspiring to see and
hear devotees from all over the world chanting their hearts out from
their own homes, with their own families. So intimate and touching.
Kṛṣṇa consciousnesses is alive and well all over this planet because
of you. You have done what no-one before you was able to do: you
have cracked open the treasure chest of bhakti and freely distributed
it outside of India. The magnitude of what you have done and how
many people you have touched is incredible.
It took your physical presence here to bring me to Kṛṣṇa, but so
many of these devotees are younger and never had the good fortune
to be physically present before you. Yet they have taken to this path
because of the deep pure strength of your message. And it’s not
just ISKCON devotees who participated in this Festival, but also
others from various groups. Here is the cooperation you wanted,
as we are all on the branches of Lord Caitanya’s tree. I think you
must be pleased to see how we are working together in glorifying
the holy name. You truly did build a house in which the whole
world could live.
Thank you for all you have given, and please bless me so that I
may be of some small service.
Aspiring for a drop of your mercy,
Your daughter,
Rupa Manjari Devi Dasi
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Prithu Dāsa

All glories unto you!
Back in 1973 was the first time I came to the International
Māyāpur festival – my first time in India. I remember when our bus
drove round the last bend that I saw this huge white flag with the
ISKCON logo that you yourself had designed, flapping in the wind.
I was thrilled to the max at that moment, and my heart jumped in
great joy. Indeed I became so proud of your ISKCON, that I resolved
right then and there that I wanted to be part of this Movement...that
I would help you spread your mission.
I heard that before you came to America, in your room in the
Rādhā Damodara temple you had high fever and were lying down
on a thin straw mattress, on the cold floor. It was in the middle of
winter, when Vṛndāvana gets really cold. I cannot even imagine
the austerities you endured for the benefit of your future disciples,
indeed, for the benefit of all humanity on planet Earth.
Two of your godbrothers came to see you in this condition and
said: “You must get a bed. Unless you buy a bed you might die.”
You retorted: “I will not buy a bed. I want to spend every rupee on
book distribution.”
Similarly, in the blistering heat of the summer you were
distributing your Back to Godhead magazine in Delhi. These are just
two examples of the austerities you performed even before coming
to the West. Austerities unimaginable to pampered Western boys
and girls – simply to please Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Sometime back I read in Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta what you said
on a morning walk in Boston:
We must not be disappointed that no one
is hearing Krishna Consciousness.
We will say it to the moon and stars and all directions.
We will cry in the wilderness, because Kṛṣṇa is everywhere.
We want to have a certificate from Kṛṣṇa that

‘This man has done something for Me.’
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Not popularity.
If a pack of asses says you are good, what is that?
We have to please Kṛṣṇa’s senses with purified senses.

To please Kṛṣṇa, that indeed has been the only mission of your life.
I am in awe at how strong your preaching was, how strong
your determination to preach against all odds so that Kṛṣṇa will be
pleased, that, “This man has done something for Me.”
Indeed, as time passed we all witnessed how you performed
truckloads of devotional service, often under the most
difficult circumstances.
You are truly the personification of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī
Ṭhākur’s prayer, glorifying the spiritual master:
yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ‘pi
dhyāyan stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyaṁ
“...By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction
of Kṛṣṇa. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make
any advancement.
Indeed, it has been your aspiration your entire life to satisfy your
divine spiritual master Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wrote around the turn of the century:
O, for that day when the fortunate English, French,
Russian, German, and American people will take up
banners, mṛdaṅgas, and karatālas and raise kīrtana through
their streets and towns. When will that day come?
Indeed it is easy to see that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur
transferred a huge amount of mercy to you, simply since you did
your best to fulfill his desires.
Indeed, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura repeated a prediction made
by the 16th century saint Śrīla Kṛṣṇa Lochan dasa Ṭhākura in his
Sajjana-toṣaṇī:
Very soon the chanting of ‘harināma saṅkīrtana will
be spread all over the world. Oh, when will that day
come when people from America, England, France,
Germany, Russia will take up karatālas and mṛdaṅgas
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and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in their towns? When will
that day come when the fair-skinned foreigners will
come to Śrī Māyāpur-dhāma and join with the Bengali
Vaiṣṇavas to chant, Jaya Śacīnandana, Jaya Śacīnandana.
When will that day be?
Indeed, “Very soon a personality will appear who will travel all
over the world to spread the teachings of Lord Caitanya.”
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu predicted: pṛthivīte āche
yata nagarādi grāma, sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma: “In every town
and village of the world, My name will be heard.” Indeed, the 16th
century Saint Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura recorded a prediction of Lord
Caitanya: “Taking the sharp sword of the congregational chanting, I
will root out and destroy the demoniac mentality in the hearts of all
the conditioned souls. If some sinful people escape and giving up
religious principles go to far off countries, then – mora senāpati-bhakta
yaibe tathāya, my senāpati, my general, will come and spread Krishna
Consciousness all over the world.”
That senāpati was you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who was to fulfill all of
these predictions.
Indeed, furthermore Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu Himself predicted
that a beautiful temple, an ‘Adbhuta Mandir‘ would appear in
Śrīdhām Māyāpur that will cause the whole world to come and
worship Lord Caitanya.
By your mercy that prediction also has come to pass.
Indeed, in Spring this year, when visiting Śrīdhām Māyāpur I
saw with my own eyes the fulfillment of all these predictions: When
on Gaura Pūrṇimā countless people were coming and going all day,
to see that humongous temple raised by your loving servants in the
paddy fields of Māyāpur, take darśana of Śrī Pañca-tattva and Śrī
Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava – a stream of people without end, worshipping
Kṛṣṇa, singing and dancing in great happiness together with their
ISKCON brothers and sisters, just as predicted by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda
Ṭhākura about 120 years ago.
Indeed: mora senāpati-bhakta yaibe tathāya, my senāpati, my general
will come and spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world.
That prediction has been fulfilled by Your Divine Grace. All this
is simply your mercy.
How Śrī Kṛṣṇa so extremely empowered you to make all these
things happen that were predicted by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya
Mahāprabhu and our ācāryas!
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guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya…
“My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words
emanating from his lotus mouth. Attachment to his lotus feet is the
perfection that fulfills all desires.
“He opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental

knowledge. He is my Lord birth after birth. From him ecstatic prema
emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing
of his character.
“Our spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor,
and the lord and master of the devotees. O master! Be merciful unto
me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over
the three worlds.”
Back in August 28th 1970 you sent a letter:
My dear son, (Pṛthu Dāsa),
Please accept my blessings.
Upon the recommendation of Śivānanda I have

gladly consented to accept you as my duly initiated
disciple. Your beads have been duly chanted by me
and they are sent by separate post. I have given you
the spiritual name of Pṛthu dāsa Brahmacārī. King
Pṛthu was the ideal ruler of the citizens, so you should
also set the example of ideal person and spread this
ideal very widely to all the citizens of your country.
Unfortunately, I am far from fulfilling your expectations, Śrīla
Prabhupāda.
Please forgive me for my millions of shortcomings.
Kindly forgive my foolish posture.
Please bless me to fulfill your order.
Your servant,
Prithu Dāsa
Note: After your discussion with the world famous Zen Buddhist
Professor Karlfried Graf Dürckheim I was thrilled that he would pay
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his daṇḍavat to you.
This man had class. He was super intelligent, meek and humble
– a real gentleman, from a huge line of aristocratic descent.
Indeed he told me on the way to the Frankfurt Railway station:
“Prithu Dasa, I have met over so many years of my life so many
famous gurus, sādhus, mahants, saints and highly placed religious
personalities, in India and all over the world. But I have never met
a personality like your spiritual master. “Er ist durch” “He is on the
other side,” he said.
“This is the most fortunate day in my life.”
It was mine too.
All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
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Rūpa-vilāsa Dāsa

Your Divine Grace.
I often hear of second or third generation devotees talk about how
they wish they could have had your personal association, as though
they had missed out on something so important and inspiring. It is
true that your association was wonderful and inspiring. However,
to be honest, when I had your personal association I was simply
worried about saying something foolish, doing something foolish,
or even creating an offense by being foolish.
I was much more inspired and directed by hearing you, by
studying your books, listening to your lectures, and rendering some
service. We talk about having an intimate association with you, but
what does that mean? It means acting according to your orders,
following your instructions, and dedicating our life and soul to
your mission. Intimacy is found in your service. Some devotees feel
that physical proximity is intimacy. Many persons who had much
physical proximity to you are now neglecting your order and your
mission. That is not intimacy. That is the intimacy of the bug sitting
on the lap of the king. You state:
So far personal association with the guru is concerned, I
was only with my Guru Mahārāja four or five times, but
I have never left his association, not even for a moment.
Because I am following his instructions, I have never felt
any separation. There are some of my godbrothers here
in India who had constant personal association with
Guru Mahārāja, but who are neglecting his orders. This
is just like the bug who is sitting on the lap of the king.
He may be very puffed up by his position, but all he can
succeed in doing is biting the king. Personal association
is not so important as association through service.
(Letter to Śatadhanya on February 20, 1972)

Therefore, if I want an intimate relationship with you, then I must
follow your order and fulfill your desires. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you
have stated clearly: “Personal association is not so important as
association through service.” Everyone has a chance to have intimate
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association with Śrīla Prabhupāda, the eternal śikṣā-guru of this Hare
Kṛṣṇa Movement. Let us take that opportunity! Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Your servant,
Rūpa-vilāsa Dāsa
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Bhavatarini Devi Dasi
To my beloved spiritual master, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupāda for the occasion of his appearance day 2020.
1. All glories to this day in Calcutta that you did appear

To join Gaurāṅga’s dancing party, to serve your master dear
2. Cooling like rays of the soothing benediction moon, you came

To fulfill Gaurāṅga’s prophecy and to spread the holy name
3. To every town and village this message you have boldly told
You are not this mundane body, Oh, you are pure spirit soul
4. Part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, a spark of the Divine

Sat cit ānanda, eternal knowledge, bliss and love sublime
5. All glories to your bhakti mission, all glories to your fame

All glories to this chance you give to us for Kṛṣṇa prema
6. We are lost and torn and crying in this dark Age of Quarrel
But this holy name of Kṛṣṇa has come to save us all
7. Flooding the gates of India, inundating everyone

But, still the West lay sleeping like an indolent, foolish son
8. Then your guru gave the order: Take this message to the West
So on his order, in your old age, you came and saved the rest
HARE KṚṢṆA HARE KṚṢṆA KṚṢṆA KṚṢṆA HARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Bhavatarini Devi Dasi
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Kripanidhi Dasa

All glories to your lotus feet, may I never forget their mercy.
I was wandering dazed and confused during the hippy era,
having listened to My Sweet Lord and received a BTG magazine
and prasādam. It seemed that I was seeking the unknown...at least
that’s what my acquaintances would tell me as we pondered
life’s mysteries floating in and out of our LSD inspired psycho
haze. I was chanting the mahā-mantra in the famous Stanley Park,
Vancouver, after receiving the limited wisdom of Baba Ram Dass
in his Be Here Now journal. That book got me chanting even before I
visited your temple.
In a matter of weeks I found myself at the Hare Kṛṣṇa “love
feast” and then your world, the world of Kṛṣṇa opened up to me
in all its glories. I am eternally indebted to you, my Great Master
for I had no qualifications except to be an eligible candidate for
Lord Caitanya’s mercy as a most fallen wretch. Lord Caitanya sent
you to the most degraded place in the world where hedonism and
narcissism was at its highest pitch...how merciful of you. You are
the mercy manifestation of Lord Nityānanda “Nitāi pada-kamala,
koṭī-candra suśītala.” You are that manifestation of millions of moons
for this Kali-yuga, for each word of your divine purports is worth a
million moons. “If they read one word from my books their lives will
become perfect”.
Who can imagine the power and depths of potency of your
writings? As an iceberg only exposes a small fraction of its real
size, so your books have the undiscovered potency to destroy the
titanic forces that we are now experiencing in this Kali-yuga. It is
destined to happen, that is, the retreat of Kali and his soldiers. Śrīla
Prabhupāda, you have been marked as the senāpati of Lord Caitanya,
and by His grace your army will prevail and the many drowning
souls will be caught in your mercy net of pure devotional service to
Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa.
“Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo, manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ.” They are
so lost in illusion and always disturbed how will they understand
this great movement? Only by your mercy. In the mood of Prahlād,
you ventured fearlessly across the vast ocean at the age of 69
carrying your spiritual master’s desire for a worldwide saṅkīrtana
movement. “Śoce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyārtha”. You are full of
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compassion and concern for the sense gratifiers burning in the fire
of darkness and sin. “Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān”. They
are trying so hard to enjoy this modern life of bhoga and aiśvarya only
to meet with defeat and misery. Your compassion, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
is unfathomable.
The 5th Canto has clearly described their destiny: Mahāraurava
Sūcīmukha, Andhatāmisra, Kṛmibhojana and so on. Haridāsa Ṭhākura
has stated to Lord Caitanya that one who does not receive His mercy
in this Kali-yuga is destined to hellish existence for millions of kalpas!!!
Oh master the great urgency of your mission cannot be
stressed enough.
May you bless me that I may die on the battlefield distributing a
few of your books.

Kripanidhi Dasa
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Vishvadevi Dasi
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my humble obeisances, all

glories to your most divine Grace.
As the years are passing our awareness has become more and
more acute of the immensity of what you have come to offer to
anyone and everyone, and what you are trying to save us from.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you always stressed and warned us that in
this material world, there is danger at every step. We sometimes
allowed ourselves to be distracted, and not fully see the urgency
of your message.
There is a situation in the world at the present moment, where
everything you warned us has come to manifest, and we cannot ever
adequately repay or expressed our gratitude to have given us the
shelter of your temples as you call them oasis, the holy name, the
saṅkīrtana movement, and only you Śrīla Prabhupāda can enable us
in this planet, in this body, in this age, render direct service to Kṛṣṇa,
the service should we go back to Kṛṣṇa that will be the same as the
one performed here.
You have put the dhāmas of Vraja and Māyāpur on the map where
thousands now flock, written, translated and published innumerable
books, guided us on how to become Vaiṣṇavas with inexhaustible
patience, and by writing thousands of letters of instructions.
You have introduced Ratha-yātrā in every major city in the
world. And all of this without ever compromising the purity and
integrity of your committment to your spiritual master in Lord
Chaitanya’s mission. Always giving credit to your spiritual master
His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, saying
that the secret of your successful accomplishments was that you
never changed a word from His teachings and instructions.
I take the opportunity on this most auspicious of days to ask
forgiveness for my offences at your Lotus feet, to the deities, the
dhāmas, and the Vaiṣṇavas, so I may be allowed to remain so engaged
for the eternal life of my soul.
Your eternal spiritual daughter and disciple,

Vishvadevi dasi
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Vaisnavananda Dasa
WONDERFUL PRABHUPĀDA



On this auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, your spiritual sons
and daughters delight in the opportunity to glorify you with equal
praise and exaltation usually reserved for the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We are very eager to present a
most transcendental comparison of Wonderful Kṛṣṇa, and you,
Wonderful Prabhupāda!
You gave the world Kṛṣṇa Book depicting the pastimes of
Wonderful Kṛṣṇa, and there it is stated, “Without understanding
the intricacies of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and
without knowing His uncommon spiritual opulences, the innocent
cowherd boys and men of Vṛndāvana began to discuss the wonderful
activities of Kṛṣṇa which surpass the activities of all men.” Likened
to the cowherd boys and men, who without understanding the
intricacies and opulences of the Lord, can discuss His pastimes; we
your spiritual sons and daughters although devoid of transcendental
understanding, by your grace alone can fathom your munificent
personality and discover you, Wonderful Prabhupāda!
For anyone who has the fortune to bask in the sunshine of your
transcendental presence by studying your books, hearing your
lectures, watching your videos, reading your letters, listening to your
bhajans, and following your instructions, they become fit candidates
eligible to understand your mystical personality. Only by the power
you bestowed upon us, have we gained the ability to voice a lofty and
eloquent tribute to duly describe you as, Wonderful Prabhupāda!
It is conveyed in Kṛṣṇa Book that the cowherd boys marveled at
the extraordinary activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa, “It is really not possible.
Just imagine! He is now only seven-years-old! How was it possible
for Him to lift Govardhana Hill in one hand and hold it up just
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like the king of elephants holds a lotus flower?” Similarly, we are
astonished at your monumental achievements and numerous
accolades, befitting only you, Wonderful Prabhupāda!
You left India at an advanced age to fulfill the order of your
spiritual master when the average man is ordinarily contemplating
retirement. Moreover, you founded the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness in a short span of only twelve years. Another
colossal feat performed by you, Wonderful Prabhupāda!
Above all, the crown jewel and highlight of your most significant
accomplishment, is the unadulterated translation of Bhagavad-gītā
As It Is, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, and a host of other
important Vedic scriptures. These ancient scriptures were translated
by Your Divine Grace from the intricate Sanskrit language into lucid
and comprehensible English. Humanity at large can now understand
and derive spiritual benefit from these translated works, which
are considered by many erudite scholars, philosophers, renowned
intellectuals, academicians, etc., to be an indispensable contribution
of paramount importance for the salvation of humankind…
The whole world should know that all these triumphs were
made possible by your performance of severe austerities, such as
sleeping hardly two hours at night in order to translate the revealed
scriptures. Your indefatigable sacrifice and relentless dedication
know no bounds in your attempt to serve suffering humanity.
Indubitably, you are Wonderful Prabhupāda!
It is further stated in the Kṛṣṇa book, “Thereafter, Kṛṣṇa saved
His friends and cows from the severe forest fire, and He chastised
the Kāliya serpent in the lake of Yamunā and forced him to leave
the vicinity of the Yamunā River; He thereby made the water of the
Yamunā poisonless.” Similarly, you saved us from the forest fire of
material existence and extracted the poison of our wanton living and
sense gratification with the antidote of your sublime instructions.
Our savior, Wonderful Prabhupāda!
Additional insight is given by Gargamuni Ācārya as told by
Nanda Mahārāja to the cowherd men, “Even though we will be put
into various kinds of difficulties, by the grace of this boy we will
be very easily freed from them. He also said that formerly this boy
saved the world from an unregulated condition, and He saved all
honest men from the hands of the dishonest. He also said that any
fortunate man who becomes attached to this boy, Kṛṣṇa, is never
vanquished or defeated by his enemy.”
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Invariably living in the material world is fraught with trials and
tribulations, and those who become attached to Your Divine Grace
will easily be freed from them. You have saved us from the plight of
unbridled sense gratification and protected us from the clutches of
the cheaters and the cheated. Any fortunate conditioned soul who
takes shelter of you will surmount the onslaught of gambling, meat
eating, intoxication, and illicit sex, the foes who threaten to vanquish
our Krishna Consciousness. Thank you, wonderful Prabhupāda!
In further praise, the cowherd men said, “Let Kṛṣṇa, who is so
kind, beautiful and merciful, protect us. When angry Indra sent
torrents of rain, accompanied by showers of ice blocks and high
wind, He immediately took compassion upon us and saved us
and our families, cows and valuable possessions by picking up the
Govardhana Hill, just as a child picks up a mushroom. He saved
us so wonderfully. May He continue to mercifully glance over
us and our cows. May we live peacefully under the protection of
Wonderful Kṛṣṇa.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are benevolent, attractive, and
compassionate, we therefore implore you to kindly protect us
from the illusory energy of māyā, who is casting a deluge of
phantasmagoric rain, escorted by ice blocks of allurements and the
high wind of profit, adoration, and distinction. Śrīla Prabhupāda,
you took compassion upon us and rescued us, just as Kṛṣṇa rescued
the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana by lifting Govardhana Hill. May we
live peacefully under the protection of Wonderful Prabhupāda!
On the order of your spiritual master, Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, you came to the West to benedict the
fallen conditioned souls with the doctrine of Krishna Consciousness.
It is imperative that your disciples, grand disciples, and sincere
followers emulate your example and continue your mission as
promulgated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, namely, to spread
the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.
On this auspicious day of your divine appearance, Vyāsa-pūjā,
let us all bow down with heartfelt feelings at your lotus feet, and
realize that only by the causeless mercy of Wonderful Kṛṣṇa, we
have received the mercy of Wonderful Prabhupāda!
Your fallen and aspiring disciple,

Vaisnavananda Dasa
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Ali Krishna Devi Dasi

As I am writing these few words for your pleasure, Spring just
arrived. Our gardens are full of blooming and colorful flowers,
the grass is bright green, and fresh new leaves are decorating
the branches of the trees. Unfortunately, nature is showing also
another face, ugly and frightening, because I am writing from the
epicentre of a world pandemic disease. People around me die by
the thousands like flies, and the atmosphere is pregnant of sadness,
anguish, fear, suffering and lamentation. In the middle of this hard
struggle and survival of the fittest, I realize more and more the
urgency of dedicating every moment in the service of your mission.
Not a second should go in vain.
Every breath I take will be for you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Every move I make will be for serving you.
Every bond I break will be for approaching you.
Every single day I will remember you.
Every word I say will be to glorify you.
Every night I will dream of you.
Every smile will be for the joy you are giving me.
Every cry will be for the feeling of emptiness in your absence.
Every prayer will be for your mercy.
Every claim I stake will be for shelter under the umbrella of your
teachings.
I feel I belong to you.

My poor heart yearns for you.
I look around, and I see none like you.
You are the greatest, you are my life and soul.
I long for your transcendental embrace.
Jay Prabhupāda! My master and saviour!
Your daughter, praying and struggling to keep her promises

Ali Krishna Devi Dasi
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Gauragopala Dasa


Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita,
Gadadhara, Śrīvās ādi gaura bhakta vṛnda.
are Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

H
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Śrīla Prabhupāda has explained that loving service is the basis of
selfless devotion and how that loving devotion is expressed.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: “Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good
exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force.
Kṛṣṇa does not want to become a lover like that, ‘You
love me, otherwise I shall kill you!” (July 8, 1976)
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in Nectar of Devotion that just like the sun
cannot be separated from the sun rays, similarly Kṛṣṇa is meaningless
without the association of His loving devotees.
That relationship between Kṛṣṇa and the jīva-tattva (soul) is
NEVER one-sided, never forced, never impersonal, it is ALWAYS
reciprocal, nurturing, personal and voluntary, in a mood of good
exchanges and feelings, ONLY then can there be REAL love.
And in Kṛṣṇa Book Prabhupāda further explains:
Śrīla Prabhupāda: “As the sun disc and the sunshine
cannot be separated, Kṛṣṇa and His bodily rays, the
brahmajyoti, cannot be separated.”—Kṛṣṇa Book, 89.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explained to us many years ago, “If you love me,
then I will love you” as an example that there must always be loving
cooperation and responding in kindness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda taught us that everything material will NEVER
last in this temporary universe of impermanence, decay and death.
And that all material things, like one’s home and body they
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are in, eventually fade away over the movement of time because
all material things, like our bodily vessels, are in a constant state of
decay, decline, breakdown and eventually death.
Sadly, foolish people see this going on all around them, but still
make plans as if they are going to live forever.
So wake up! The fact is, this material world is always in a state
of disrepair, decomposition and decay, it is NOT our real ‘eternal’
home! We shouldn’t even be here!
Prabhupāda has told us many times, it was a mistake we chose to
come here in the first place from God’s eternal Kingdom of Vaikuṇṭha.
We can never find permanent satisfaction and happiness in this
alien decaying environment called the mundane material universes.
Only a fool will try to find comfort in these temporary material
bodily vessels that will eventually grow diseased and old, and end
up being food for earthworms and maggots.
Therefore, the goal of this rare human life is to GET OUT OF
THIS MUNDANE MATERIAL WORLD, and not try and make
ourselves comfortable here.
That is not possible in this temporary decomposing material
world where everything is in a constant state of decay.
Our only desire should be to go back home, back to Godhead,
back to serving Lord Nārāyaṇa or Lord Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual worlds
of Vaikuṇṭha and Goloka Vṛndāvana.
We should NOT waste our time desiring to go to other higher
material heavenly planets in this universe either, or attempt to take
birth in a pious wealthy aristocrat family on this Earth planet.
We should be learning, from a very young age, we are the
individual anti-material jīva soul (life force) within these material
bodily containers, and all material endeavours for happiness will
NOT solve the problems of birth, disease, old age and death.
The purpose of this very rare human form of life, is to get out
of this material world and NOT try and build the kingdom of
God without God.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: “The human society, at the present moment, is
not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the field
of material comforts of life, education and economic development of
the entire world. But it suffers a pin-prick somewhere in the social
body at large and therefore there is large scale quarrel even on less
important issues. Therefore there is the want of the clue as to how
they can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity by the
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common cause. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will fill this gap by ontological
aspects of human education. It is therefore a cultural presentation
for re-spiritualisation of the entire human society.”— Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam Preface.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Your fallen, yet determined servant (now 68 years old) who will never give
up the path of devotional service, no matter how difficult the journey may
be.
Gauragopala Dasa
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Gokulananda Dasa


Although I deeply feel your continuous presence in my life, I
feel so very unworthy to offer you any suitable homage. But I can
only try to somehow reciprocate with your inconceivable kindness
and mercy upon me.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda for being such a perfect pure
devotee, always a perfect gentleman suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. As a
pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you share in
His perfection. By the Lord’s infinite kindness, He has allowed us all
to be witnesses to your own spiritual opulence: you are the effulgent
embodiment of divine love and compassion. By serving you, we
are all blessed with deep realizations into the glorious mystery of
divine love which sustains your every word and action. And you
are empowered with the rare potency to enter into the hearts of your
sincere followers to inspire, guide and enthuse us all towards Kṛṣṇa.
By your association through service we are given access to that
transcendental realm of God’s loving servants. What mercy! What
inconceivable good fortune we share as your grateful servants.
You often told us that there is no such thing as mystical or
unexplained in the science of bhakti: everything on the bhakti mārga
is based on perfect truth (tattva) under divine authorities. No
need to reinvent the wheel. Everything has already been perfectly
revealed.Yet you also showed us how to internalize all these truths:
by attracting the Lord’s reciprocation through our single-minded
dedication to helping you in spreading His Saṅkīrtana Movement. So
that is Lord Caitanya’s unlimited mercy which you so miraculously
shared with the whole world: how to actually experience God’s
loving presence and illuminating mercy through the vicarious
connection of mahat-sevā. By serving the lovers of God, we can also
somehow miraculously experience that divine flow inundate our
own consciousness. And such is the glorious purpose of your own
presence in this world of miseries: to open the gates towards that
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paravyom, that eternal festival of love, revealed through the mercy of
Karuṇāvatār and His empowered servants such as you.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for being such a perfect embodi-
ment of those matchless divine gifts.
Your unworthy and eager servant,

Gokulananda Dasa
ISKCON Montreal
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Janmanalaya Dasa

In a lecture, published in The Harmonist 1936 on the advent
day of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī, you said: “The
ācāryadeva to whom we have assembled tonight to offer our humble
homage is not a guru of a sectarian institution or one out of many
differing exponents of the truth. On the contrary, he is the jagad
guru, or the guru of us all; the only difference is that some obey him
wholeheartedly while others do not obey him directly.”
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, You as the true representative of
Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu, You, as jagad guru
opened the transcendental treasurehouse to all and everybody
without discrimination. Kṛṣṇa’s mercy flows right through you and
touches everybody.
Because of your unlimited dedication and humility you attract
Kṛṣṇa. Negativity attracts the positive. There is no resistance to the
divine current in you. Because of resistance copper wire gets hot.
I heard that ceramic cooled down to minus 350 degrees achieves
a state of superconductivity of current, this means, there is zero
resistance. In the same way, the absolute negativity, pure devotion,
attracts the positive, Kṛṣṇa. You gave yourself wholly to the order of
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. There was zero resistance.
It was a historical moment in the history of the world when
you came to the Western countries. Never has it been seen before
that somebody distributed the highest transcendental message of
which is nothing higher to the least qualified. You alone did that. In
the spirit of Mahāprabhu, you distributed it to the ones who have
completely separated themselves from the source, from Kṛṣṇa. Since
everybody needs energy for survival, we steal it if we don’t get it from
the source, and we exploit one another. Deep deep in the darkness of
this rotten atmosphere of Kali-yuga, where is there hope?
In the 60s, many dropped out of the present society. I travelled
around Europe, then to the Middle East, and finally with a friend
of mine, to India. On our way in Iran in the middle of a desert,
something came over us. We stood there and from the depth of our
being we shouted “HELP!” There was no immediate danger, but it
was a call from deep within us...a desperate and existential scream.
Around one year later, while studying in Vienna, you sent your dear
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disciple Śivānanda Dāsa to rescue me.
It’s a mystery to me that I was allowed to be in direct association
of Your Grace. I keep these moments deep in my heart and treasure
them. Moments like when you came to Vṛndāvana, the temple was
still under construction, and I fell flat at your lotus feet right in the
mud. Your dear godbrother Kṛṣṇadāsa Bābājī came to visit you. I
listened outside your room hearing you laughing. Often, Yamunā
Devī sat beside your house with her harmonium singing “Gopīnāth,
mama nivedana śuno…”. These are eternal memories I often recall to
my heart. Despite all this mercy I’m still finding myself attached to
worthless things this world offers – and you are not pushing me aside.
I want to end with the final words from your lecture I mentioned
above. I embrace them and address them back to you:
“Sitting at the feet of the Ācāryadeva let us try to
understand from this transcendental source of knowledge
what we are, what is the universe, what is God and
what is our relationship with Him. Let me with all
my earnestness pray at the lotus feet of my divine
master to allow me to suffer the lot for which I am
destined due to my past misdoings, but to let me have
this power of recollection, that I am nothing but a tiny
servant of the Almighty Absolute Godhead, realized
through the unflinching mercy of my divine master.
Your servant,
Janmanalaya Dasa
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MadanMohanMohini Dasi


Right now the world is experiencing a pandemic. People are falling
ill and many are dying. I had been thinking about doctors and
thought perhaps this would make an appropriate analogy through
which I could express myself. I decided to look up the meaning of
‘doctor’ and these are some of the things I found:
1. Doctors are specially trained and licensed medical

professionals, and their job is to make a diagnosis (find
what’s making you ill) and then treat you so that you
can get better. There are many different types of doctors,
like specialists, emergency room doctors, surgeons, and
laboratory physicians.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your capabilities which led you to become the

world-famous spiritual physician were endorsed by the paramparā
system coming from Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Before traveling overseas
to come to the most materially diseased place on earth – America –
you had already made the diagnosis: You saw that we had the fever
of sense gratification, that we had the disease of false identification
with this body and mind, and that our lives were deficient in God
consciousness. You saw that we were plagued by continuous birth,
death, old age and disease. You therefore brought and gave the
treatment: Simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. As a focused surgeon, you cut
the knots of our material attachments with your scalpel, which was
sharpened by knowledge of the Absolute Truth. And how much
did you charge for the treatment? Nothing. You gave the holy name
freely to whoever would take it. How exemplary!
2. The primary duty of all doctors is for the care and safety

of patients. Whatever their role, doctors must do the
following. ... Contribute to teaching and training doctors and
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other healthcare professionals, including by acting as a
positive role model. Use resources efficiently for the benefit
of patients and the public.
This you certainly did. Your care, your love and compassion for
all living entities was beyond compare. You first of all gave us the
knowledge with which we could become well: who we were and
what our responsibility in this human form of life was. You taught
us how to cleanse the mind from all material misgivings and you
trained us to also become doctors and help save suffering humanity.
You taught how to break the fever of materialism once and for all and
like an excellent doctor who gives the proper medicine, you did that
but unfortunately not all the patients thought they were sick and so
they refused to take the medicine. As a result, they continue to suffer
from the disease. You were always ready to train anyone who was
willing to learn. You were the perfect role model in everything you
said and did. And a perfect gentleman. “Whatever a great man does,
common men will follow.” And did you use resources efficiently for
the benefit of the patients and public? Yes, you used everything in
Kṛṣṇa’s service and taught others how to do so to perfect their lives,
to become disease free and happy forever.
3. Physicians should be personable, great listeners, and

empathetic to the concerns of their patients. They should not
be condescending or arrogant. They should treat others as
they want to be treated.
You were so personal; you made everyone feel at ease and cared for.
You taught everyone that God – Kṛṣṇa – is a person, the Supreme
Person, and that we have a loving yet forgotten relationship with
Him. You listened to our insignificant ideas and thoughts and
taught us that Kṛṣṇa also listens to His sincere devotee’s prayers.
You were the emblem of humility, always thinking yourself lower
than everyone. When we were in Stockholm with you that Fall in
1974, you were speaking about the four classes of men. In the end,
someone challenged that you were putting yourself forward as a
first-class man. Your answer: “I am fifth class man. I am servant
of them all.” Anyone else would have been offended that someone
would not consider them the best person, but, no, with all humility,
you saw yourself as ‘‘dāsānudāsānudās.’ You stunned us all. You
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taught us Lord Caitanya’s message of treating others as we want
to be treated. That included the animals – all life forms – and that
we should not cause harm to any living entity. You showed us this
principle by making sure even a tiny bug got something to eat.
4. Being a medical doctor is really great. It’s stimulating

and interesting. Medical doctors have a significant
degree of autonomy over their schedules and time.
Medical doctors know that they get to help people solve
problems every single day.
We are reading here that being a doctor is stimulating and interesting.

Who could deny this? Your enthusiasm increased our enthusiasm,
which increased your enthusiasm, which increased our enthusiasm.
We traveled, we met persons from all walks of life, we had festivals,
did dramas, we distributed your books, we had jumping-to-the-
ceiling kirtans, we taught the children, worshiped the Deities,
cooked incredible prasādam – we did so many fascinating things
for you and for Kṛṣṇa! Adventures, taking risks, doing every and
anything for you at the drop of a pin. You were certainly the busiest
doctor; your schedule was tighter than anyone could imagine – we
couldn’t even write down your daily schedule because it seemed
that you had more than 24 hours in your day with everything you
did. Yet you were always available for everyone.
5. A physician (American English), medical
practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or
simply doctor, is a professional who practices medicine,
which is concerned with promoting, maintaining,
or restoring health through the study, diagnosis,
prognosis and treatment of disease, injury, and other
physical and mental impairments.
You taught us how to follow in your footsteps: how to study and

diagnose the disease through the study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and
Caitanya-Caritāmṛta; give the prognosis – if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa,
your life will be sublime and if not, then back through the cycle of
repeated birth and death; and how to treat the patient – you were
unlimitedly kind to everyone and you gave that medicine with love.
You are better than the best doctor for you knew and taught us how
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to free ourselves and others from all material disease and go back to
be with you and Kṛṣṇa.
6. Both the role of the physician and the meaning of the

word itself vary around the world. Degrees and other
qualifications vary widely, but there are some common
elements, such as medical ethics requiring that physicians
show consideration, compassion, and benevolence for
their patients.
You were considerate of everyone for you knew how to deal with
them according to where they were at. Compassion? You came alone,
with hardly a penny, suffered two heart attacks at sea just to come
and be our doctor – and you knew none of us! You loved everyone –
every living entity! You gave us the highest knowledge so we could
become cured of this deadly disease, this high fever, which was
constantly being increased through the modes of material nature.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, Kṛṣṇa has designated you as the Supreme
Spiritual Doctor. You gave the medicine to us free of charge and out
of love. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, which I hope, when
it stops beating, that I can think of you and be with you once again.
All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda! There is no one like you.
Your eternal servant and patient,

MadanMohanMohini Dasi
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Janakaraja Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
“By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the
benediction of Kṛṣṇa…”
According to our surrender to your lotus feet, we appreciate
your divine position, but even one so unsurrendered as myself can
begin to appreciate your glories. I cannot imagine the appreciation
of those of your followers who have surrendered to you and your
mission. There are some great souls among your followers, Śrīla
Prabhupāda, indeed they are all great souls, and I understand that
you have said that some are associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
I thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for giving me the opportunity to
get out of this horrible material world, and I beg your forgiveness
for my shortcomings and foolishness. It is my fervent prayer that one
day I will realize my position as your eternal servant.

Janakaraja Dasa
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Madana Mohana Dasa
Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Please accept my obeisances.
I reflect on how much you have enriched my life. Before I met
you, I looked for answers to many of life’s most important questions
in all the regular places but was never satisfied. By some unseen
good fortune, I read one of your books. I knew this was true and
have dedicated my life to the study and sharing of this information.
Who could know that we are eternal but born into illusion. You
changed the outlook of my life and what is important. Without
Kṛṣṇa and your mercy there is no value to living, just a seemingly
endless struggle. You explained, so charmingly how I am spirit soul,
part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and my position is to exchange pure loving
devotion to Him. Seeing everyone as the same, part and parcel so
to respect all. By following your guiding principles I now have
confidence my life is successful.
Thank you, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
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Sakshi Gopal Dasa


MERCYFLOW
To fulfil your guru’s order

You embarked upon a quest.
With holy name and Bhāgavatam
You travelled to the West.
No heart attack or ocean storm
Could compromise your vision
To spread the sacred yuga-dharm’
Of Lord Caitanya’s mission.

You arrived in Boston Harbour

(Seven dollars to your name)
With karatālas and a trunk of books
To broadcast Kṛṣṇa’s fame.
A cooker to prepare your meals
Amidst the carnivores –
A far cry from Vṛndāvana
And Yamunā’s sandy shores.

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You braved the Bowery’s winter wind
That chilled you to the bone.
Your typewriter was stolen
Yet you struggled on alone.
Unperturbed, you carried on,
For nothing could impede
The order of your guru
That you preach the bhakti creed.

You wrote, inviting godbrothers

To help you in your task,
But no money or encouragement
Emerged from Gaudiya Math.
A couple gave you shelter
Then the word soon got around
That things were hip at Matchless Gifts:
“The Swāmi’s here in town!”

In the belly of America

(Land of the Brave and Free)
You cooked and served chapatis,
Rice and deep philosophy.
With chanting, dancing, feasting
And your storefront Gītā classes,
You transformed the lives of those
Who’d followed camels, dogs and asses.

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Beneath a tree in Tompkins Square
You sang and played the drum.
The hippies danced – the Hare
Kṛṣṇa Movement had begun.
You cut the ‘Happening’ album
And it quickly made the rounds –
As eager ears around the world
Heard transcendental sound.

And while the world was sound asleep,

Beside your makeshift desk,
Surrounded by the ācāryas’ words
You prayed the world be blessed.
In dead of night before the dawn
– An icon of persistence –
You shared your deepest ecstasies –
The essence of existence.
Word by word and page by page

You laboured to impart
The mercy of your precious books,
Dictated from your heart.
You drew a core of eager souls
Who searched for higher truth
That God was still alive and well.
You offered them the proof.

And from that tiny storefront

On New York’s Lower East Side
You began your worldwide mission
With Lord Kṛṣṇa by your side.
You formed the International Society
For Krishna Consciousness
And as you registered your ISKCON
Seven Purposes you stressed.
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They would be your mission statement
For the next ten thousand years –
The guidelines and objectives
That would make your purpose clear;
A blueprint of your strategy
Established at the start,
Chalking out a revolution
Meant to purify the heart.

You saw your Movement swiftly grow

And spread across the ocean –
Sustained by your unflinching faith
And unalloyed devotion
To the order and instruction
Of your Guru Mahārāja –
Whose heart’s desire you manifest
To save the world at large.

O Prabhupāda! We glorify
Your birth this sacred day!
Our transcendental debt to you
Can never be repaid.
Your appearance to redeem the world
Was foretold long ago –
Now the devas queue to take their birth
And serve your mercyflow.

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There’ll come a day when all the world
Will thank you, Prabhupāda!
The saints who serve your legacy
Will make the nations glad.
The seeds they sow on your behalf
Are sure to sprout and grow
When watered by the holy name
That you yourself bestow.

Obeisances of love
We offer you, this sacred day.
We take shelter at your lotus feet.
In gratitude we pray.
For us, you gave your everything,
Our wayward souls to reach.
You are the dearmost servitor
At Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet.
Obeisances again and

Yet again, this sacred day!
Taking shelter at your lotus feet
With humbled heart we pray
To amplify your pastimes
So the world will know your fame
As the śaktyāveśa-avatār
Who spreads the holy name.

Begging for your mercy and the shelter of your lotus feet,
Your wayward servant,

Sakshi Gopal Dasa
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Gokularanjana Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your divine
instructions, and your perfect example.
Forty-five years ago on His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Prabhupāda’s Appearance day in Atlanta, you spoke about
vāṇī and vapuḥ.
Vāṇī means words and vapuḥ means physical body.
So vāṇī is more important than vapuḥ. Vapuḥ will be
finished. This is material body. It will be finished. That
is nature. But if we keep to the vāṇī, the words of the
spiritual master, then we remain very fixed up.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you taught this principle of vāṇī and vapuḥ not
just by speaking, but by living this principle of service in separation
from the physical body of your guru mahārāja and serving his
instructions. Hour-by-hour, day-by-day, weeks turn to months, to
years, gradually leading to the fulfillment of your spiritual master’s
instructions.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you said, “I do not know how the people will
accept this Movement? They are differently educated, and as soon
as I will say, ‘so my dear sir, you have to give up meat eating and
illicit sex and no intoxication and gambling,’ they will say please go
home. It is impossible, but let me try it anyway.” After all you told us
impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary. All throughout the 1950s
you worked on your Back to Godhead articles, going around personally
selling them. Then you began translating the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Typing on a manual typewriter, with no white out and a scarcity of
paper and no real support, just the words of your Guru Mahārāja.
Word-by-word, page-by-page, and with every rising and setting of
the sun bringing you closer to us. Meanwhile, in America we were
enjoying the “Fabulous Fifties” and chasing the American Dream.
Next you have to arrange for printing. typesetting, a very
laborious and painstaking effort. Making sure each letter is put in
correctly, not backwards or upside down. Making sure the books
are bound properly, printed on good quality paper, and all this in
obscurity, with no financial backing.
Now how to get to America? The Jaladuta, a freighter, the most
humble and difficult way to cross the Atlantic ocean, but you, with
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the help of Guru and Kṛṣṇa were able to overcome all of the obstacles.
You arrive in America, an old man with no money, from a
poor country, and no support. What you did have is the first three
volumes of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and as you said “as long as I was
following my spiritual master’s order, he was always in my heart,
I never felt alone.” America was now in the swinging sixties. Free
love and new kinds of drugs. America was dystopian. You gave light
to the night, color to the black and white. You were reality and all
around you shades of gray, shades of illusion melting away. So we
stayed and you taught us how to pray Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare / Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. You
taught us how to desire to put out this forest fire. You gave us the
higher taste, you cooked the lunch, cleaned the pots, the dishes, the
floor and most of all you cleaned our hearts. You did everything,
and you accepted everyone without considering our backgrounds or
motives, or our lack of good qualities and bad habits.
By your example of service we learned that service is our real
dharma, our true nature.
Reflecting on how you served your spiritual master in
separation is the impetus for us to continue to follow your “vāṇī”,
your instructions, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, weeks lead to months,
months to years, and with every rising and setting of the sun we can
serve you and assist you in serving your spiritual master’s mission.
With gratitude and appreciation, your insignificant, rank and file disciple,
Gokularanjana Dasa
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Krsnanandini Devi Dasi
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
I am laying my head at your gracious lotus feet and beg you to
kindly accept my life in your service eternally.
Your unlimited sacrifice and mercy are a shining example for
me. This past year, dear spiritual father, has been full of scary plot
twists, and I don’t know what’s in store for me.
Gurudeva, you have given so much to me and the world. You
have given a way to reconnect with our eternal source, given the
vision of real peaceful and loving life, and given us all your eternal
compassionate guidance.
All I really know is that because of you, I am begging for the
mercy of Lord Nityānanda to know Kṛṣṇa, to trust Kṛṣṇa and to be
an instrument of Kṛṣṇa’s compassionate, loving grace wherever I
am and wherever I go. You have advised us to follow Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s
instructions, to take shelter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and to chant
the holy names of Śrī Kṛṣṇa always. And you showed by your
unequivocal example how to do this despite innumerable setbacks
and obstacles. So I pray to follow in your footsteps and in the
footsteps of the previous ācāryas in all circumstances.
Kindly forgive me for the offenses I have committed and help
me to be a better devotee, minute-by-minute. So I can appreciate all
the sincere servants of our sweet Kṛṣṇa and cooperate with them to
share Kṛṣṇa prema everywhere while carrying out your instruction
and show folks all over the globe how to have real, happy Kṛṣṇa
conscious families and communities.
With aspirations of spontaneous love and affection,
Your eternal spiritual daughter,

Krsnanandini Devi Dasi
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Karlapati Devi Dasi


Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you! All
glories to the unlimited mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and to
all of the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas. All glories to the Divine Couple, Śrī Śrī
On this occasion of your appearance day I wish to express my
gratitude for all the gifts you have given to me, and to the world, too.
Your service and mercy is all that I aspire for.
When I think of how ill prepared humanity is, especially during
the current times of trial and calamity, I feel so grateful for the gifts
you have rained down on the world, with no consideration of who
is fit or not fit to receive them. That is your magnanimity. Actually,
whether living entities accept or don’t accept, the holy names, hari
kathā, prasādam, your books once touched, and your association, act,
regardless. Of course the effect is more immediate when a willing
and eager heart accepts your mercy and follows in your footsteps.
Not knowing any better, out of ignorance or envy, the lives of so
many people are based on serving the demands of their senses —
thinking I am the enjoyer — everything is meant for my pleasure;
identification with the body as the self — thinking I am my body and
everything associated with it is mine; thinking I am the doer and the
controller entitled to the results of my activities; and thinking that
matter is the basis of all existence — life comes from matter.
You have taught us otherwise. We have come to understand
that spirit is the basis of matter. Life comes from life. We are the
soul, not the body. Serving the senses of Kṛṣṇa is our ultimate joy
and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Controller. You have also taught us that
desire is not bad when in relationship to the service of the Lord and
His pure devotees. Even material things are not “bad” when used
in devotional service. What is our real nature? It is eternal — not
temporary, full of bliss — not suffering, and full of knowledge — not
ignorance. How are we bound in this world? By the chains of the
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modes of material nature — goodness, passion, and ignorance —
we are forced to act according to the mode of nature that we have
acquired due to our past activities and desires. But, as we progress
in pure bhakti, Māyādevī and the modes of nature loosen their grip
on our hearts. It is pretty black and white — we are either serving
Kṛṣṇa and his pure devotees and Vaiṣṇavas or we are serving māyā
and her agents. We are all servants of the Lord, regardless of the
materialists’ desire to think otherwise.
Material attachment is like a disease, a horrible virus, that we
“catch” due to our association with matter and people attached to
matter. You are like the doctor who has the cure for that infection
— we just have to associate with your dear devotees and hear your
message and enthusiastically take the medicine.
Like with any medicine, we need to take it according to the
doctor’s prescription — not our mental concoction/speculation. That
requires our humility. We have to admit that we are in ignorance of
our actual position and surrender our desire to control. We need to
realize that what happens to us, in our conditioned state, is subject
to the modes of nature and the results of our past karma. To the
extent we wholeheartedly accept your prescription our suffering
will be minimized. We see our present suffering as the Lord’s mercy,
to be tolerated and to be learned from.
You made surrender and loving you so easy, especially when
we had the good fortune to serve you personally. It is a matter of
love, and loving reciprocation. We love you, and we want to please
you. The test has been when we couldn’t see and hear you face-to-
face or write to you for clarification of a question. You taught us
what separation feels like with that pastime. Although, I have been
finding that if I really pray to you and ask for your guidance, it still
comes — often immediately. You haven’t gone anywhere, really. We
are the ones who sometimes get sidetracked by the Lord’s material
energy, and turn away from you — just like we have done with the
Lord Himself by choosing to come to this material world in the first
place, to enjoy His external material energy.
You are giving us the knowledge to understand all these things.
My gratitude is eternally offered to you.
What is your prescription — that will cure our material disease?
Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy. Practice simple living and high
thinking. Always remember Kṛṣṇa, in a favorable way, and never
forget Him. If I may add, be grateful that He is the Supreme
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Controller and not us. The goal is Kṛṣṇa prema — love of Kṛṣṇa. All
the instructions you have given are meant to serve these goals.
How to achieve this?
You gave us the regulative principles and the nine processes of
devotional service. To the extent we are always engaged in at least
one process of devotional service and that we always follow the
regulative principles we are inoculated against the disease of māyā
— of taking something temporary or illusory as true or eternal. You
gave us your service and service to the deities of Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitāi,
Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and Lord Jagannātha, Lord Balarāma and Śrīmatī
Subhadrā. You gave us service to the Vaiṣṇavas as well.
Our eternal identity/nature is to serve the Supreme Person,
and there are so many unique wonderful relationships that you
have revealed to us. Our relationship to Kṛṣṇa is unique to each
jīva soul. Attachment to the results of our activity (work) binds us
to the material world, so why not do everything for your pleasure
and Kṛṣṇa’s? Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Enjoyer, not us. We aren’t the
doer, and we aren’t the proprietor of anything. What revolutionary
thoughts? The entire world from our birth to our death, without
your mercy, is telling us the opposite.
You gave us the principle of offering everything first to you and
then we assist you in offering it to Kṛṣṇa. Everything is meant to
be used in the service of the Lord. The holy name and the Lord’s
prasādam are your secret weapons. You taught us how to transfer
matter into spirit — transcendental alchemy.
You also gave us the six do’s of what is favorable for the execution
of bhakti and the six don’ts of what is unfavorable for bhakti as found in
the Upadeśāmṛta (Nectar of Instruction). They are the lifestyle changes
and personal choices that make us healthy and an unfit home for the
infection of materialistic life. If followed there is no place for Kali to
enter into our lives.
In addition, you gave us so many scriptures, transcendental
books of knowledge, beginning with Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā and
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and moving on to Kṛṣṇa Book, Bhakti Rasāmṛta
Sindhu (Nectar of Devotion), and Caitanya-Caritāmṛta. The glorious
instructions of the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā, and His nectarian
pastimes in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa Book, and Caitanya-Caritāmṛta,
that attract and absorb our minds in unlimited bliss and thoughts
of how wonderful the Lord is, awaken and nurture our desire to
want to serve Him.
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To the extent that we take shelter of matter, identifying with the
body and thinking it to be the self, we suffer. If we chant and stay
absorbed in thoughts of your service, service to the Deity, service
to the devotees, or of how we can help spread your message, we
can actually be happy in any condition of life. How wonderful! As
you once said, paraphrased, devotional service is very simple. Please
make my heart pure so I can understand, act on, and exemplify
this principle.
Begging for your eternal mercy.
Your servant,
Karlapati Devi Dasi
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Sevananda Dasa
Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda...you came!


Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you came!
Lord Kṛṣṇa asked you to, but you told Him, “No...I
don’t want to go to such a horrible place!” Lord Kṛṣṇa
said, “You just go down and write your books and I will
provide everything, which you could possibly need.”
So...you came! Firmly fixed in steel-like determination, with pure
and total faith in Guru, Kṛṣṇa and the holy names, you came to save
the world!
You once admitted to us that you were in fact, the Messiah.
What if you never came? Unspeakable horrors, unimaginable! At
best, an eternity of ‘death like’ life in a steel cage surrounded by fire,
which you described as forced association with ‘karmīs’, working
for their ugra-karmic cities and host society. We will be eternally
thanking Śrī Kṛṣṇa you came!
In your pure, sweet loving faith in Śrī Guru and Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Caitanya’s Saṅkīrtana Movement you came. Against all difficulties,
obstacles and setbacks, you came to illuminate the darkness of māyā’s
Kali-yuga with the golden light of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya’s causeless
love and mercy.
Against the storm of all of Durgā’s Legions’ efforts to sabotage,
compress, depress and suppress, leaving your path heavily strewn
with a veritable gamut of thorns, losses, sacrifices and most severe
tests. Still, with unflagging love and determination to please Guru
and Kṛṣṇa, and your compassion for all living entities born in this
Kali-yuga, most mercifully, you came!
Accompanying the golden illumination of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s Śrīmad
Bhagavad-gītā and His Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you brought warmth and
love to counter the cold and heartlessness of Kali’s Death Party and
invited one and all to come in from the cruel cold and to come back
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home, back to Godhead.
You came with the teachings of the Six Gosvāmī’s, Śrī Kṛṣṇadasa
Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta, the writings of Śrī
Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, Śrīla Śrīdhara Swami, Śrīla Narottama
dāsa Ṭhākur, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Śyāmānanda Paṇḍit, Baladeva
Vidyābhūṣaṇa, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Śrī Mādhavendra
Purī, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Gosvāmī Prabhupāda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Veda Vyāsadev, quoting
from Vedānta-sūtra, Śrī Mahābhārata, Śrī Rāmāyāṇa, all the Purāṇas,
Upaniṣads, Itihāsas, Manu Smṛti, and many more. After which you
blessed them all with your pure and transcendental, thoroughly
drenched in Kṛṣṇa prema, windows into the Spiritual Sky purports.
You taught both the bhāgavata-mārga and the pāñcarātrika-mārga for
our guaranteed purification and eventual, inevitable success in
achieving our goal of bhakti-yoga, pure love to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, a guaranteed
formula for our ultimate spiritual success.
Those peerless transcendental perspectives began to work their
magic. Thank GOD, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, you came!
The so-called human beings, that were actually only two-legged
animals, began to transform into actual human beings with the
whole spectrum of desirable, qualitative changes. Where before had
been, even in the best of the best, only a dark, foul and odious pool of
demoniac qualities, miraculously, mysteriously and suddenly began
to transform into a beautiful, colorful, heavenly, fragrant garden of
good and godly qualities... only because you came!
We saw in the faithless, Godly faith spring forth and bloom like
wildflowers after gentle spring showers. From brutes to aspiring
Vaiṣṇavas burst forth like a storm, exploding forth in colorful
blooms basking in the purificatory sunshine of our loving service
to you and of Krishna Consciousness. You told us repeatedly that
Kṛṣṇa and your guru mahārāja had sent many to assist you, some
previous Gauḍīya Math devotees, some demigods, some great yogis
and extremely pious souls, as well as to participate in the glory and
success. You told us that “...the demigods are lining up to their birth
in this Movement!”
You called your transcendental book distributors our ‘Su-
Durlabhā Mahātmas’ and you referred to your disciples as pure
devotees, in as much as a postman is pure in his service by delivering
the mail without any addition or subtraction. So also you said, a
great many of them truly were pure devotees in every sense of the
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word! All of this and more came about by your love and mercy...and
because you came, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
I must beg forgiveness for any deviations or drifting from
your path. I can only swear that any deviations or faults will be
documented and recorded for the historical posterity of your divine
mission, ISKCON. All possible efforts and instructions to reverse the
deviations and get it back on the rails as you yourself established,
will be corrected and rectified up to my very last heartbeat and
very last breath!
Your Divine Grace’s extraordinary, causeless mercy, love,
tolerance, your patience, your pure teachings and the holy names
dragged us from the muck and slime of Kali-yuga and transformed us.
From confusion, illusion, nihilism and voidism to soul and
God realization. From apathy to compassion, from a sense of
meaninglessness to purpose, from sociopathy to empathy, from
self-centered, uncaring to conscientiousness, from heartless cruelty
to compassion and mercy, from callousness to sympathy, from
envy to humility, from hopelessness to faith and hopefulness.
From loneliness to fraternity, from aloneness to community, from
impersonalism to personalism, from our sleepwalking in a death-
like trance to human consciousness, conscientiousness and finally to
Krishna Consciousness!
You ask me why this miraculous change has come about? All
and only because of you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Only because you came!
All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Begging to remain your eternal servant, aspiring for usefulness, always

remembering you in loving gratitude, and always praying to be sheltered in
the cooling shade of your lotus feet,...because you came!
Sevananda Dasa
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Sridham Dasa


As I sat down to write this year’s offering, innumerable questions
flooded deep in my heart. I thought “What should I write? What is
there in this world that you don’t know? You are the one who made
us capable of thinking and writing. It would be like showing the
lantern to the Sun.
I am one of the sailors on the ISKCON ship you have created
to take us all across the material ocean. I know you have given
me the visa to the Kingdom of God in spite of being aware of my
ineligibilities. You are the commander, the Senāpati Bhakta of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s army who traversed this planet just to
deliver conditioned souls like me.
I was serving in the army, and you gave me the chance to
serve in Kṛṣṇa’s army. I was serving for the government, and you
gave me the opportunity to serve in Kṛṣṇa’s government. This is
something which only you could have done. I always thought that
I am unworthy of doing this. You explained in this context that one
simply has to become as serious and sincere as Dhruva Mahārāja;
then it is quite possible to attain Vaikuṇṭha Loka and go back home,
back to Godhead, in one life. Your kind words like this are a source
of my energy and enthusiasm.
Out of compassion you worked hard to make us understand
that we are lost conditioned souls and that we need a pure devotee
to bring us back on track. Although you started with no means,
to fulfill your mission you showed your compassion and love for
the first devotees by cooking for them, by serving them, and by
cleaning up after them. But as soon as they were able to understand,
you explained to them the basics of Krishna Consciousness. These
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teachings give me the encouragement to do things which initially
seem impossible to do at this age.
You are my life and my soul and my saviour from the forest fire
of this material world. I still have fresh memories of the auspicious
day of Śrī Rādhāṣṭamī in Vṛndāvana, when you asked me to go bathe
in the Yamunā and then accepted me as your disciple. It is your
most compassionate nature that saved me and engaged me in the
pure devotional service of Śrī Gaura Hari. May life after life of this
insignificant servant be eternally dedicated in serving your lotus feet.
I am so blessed by your mercy to get the wonderful association
of your disciples and granddisciples who have dedicated their
lives for your divine pleasure. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have, in the
truest sense, created a house which can accommodate the whole
world. Without your divine plan it would have been impossible to
remember and glorify Kṛṣṇa. I personally desire to get the service of
your lotus feet life after life. That is my only desire. Cakhu-dān dilo jei,
janme janme prabhu sei divya-jñān hrde prokāśito.
My material body is deteriorating fast, which is absolutely
normal, but it’s only the spiritual power you have bestowed in your
disciples and followers that keeps us going.
O devotee of the Lord, to see you is the perfection
of the eyes, to touch your body is the perfection
of bodily activities, and to glorify your qualities
is the perfection of the tongue, for it is very
rare to find a pure devotee like you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am feeling so fortunate that I was able to do all
this. I feel I am the luckiest that I took birth again in this material
world. I feel lucky that I was going around in the 84,00,000 species.
Because if I wouldn’t be roaming in different species, how would
I have taken birth at this time of this yuga and found you as my
spiritual master. Meeting you and taking your shelter has definitely
shown me the way back. I am eternally indebted to you.
May my head remain bowed at your lotus feet, may my heart
beat only for you.

Sridham Dasa
ISKCON Delhi
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Makhana-taskara Dasa


om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, my
eternal spiritual master.
You spent your entire life in preparation to come to the West to
deliver us fallen souls. I spent the first 21 years of my life in darkness.
But thanks to you my eyes were opened when I came in contact with
those devotees who were chanting and preaching under your divine
empowerment. My real life began and my spiritual journey was
given meaning in 1972 when you accepted me as your disciple. At
that time all of my doubts about the meaning of life and all of my
questions were answered and my distressed condition was relieved.
You are the sole guardian of devotion, the only means to achieve
the blessings of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and the eternal guide. Despite
my shortcomings and insincerity and being full of faults, I pray for
your causeless mercy to be able to try and preach the message of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu throughout the world life-after-life.

Makhana-taskara Dasa
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Vaninatha dasa Brahmachary


We are reminded of your causeless mercy, especially in this year of
the virus pandemic and consequent social lockdown (when even the
traditional Rathayātrā festival in Purī might be cancelled for the first
time in 284 years). You always told us that Krishna Consciousness
is prophylactic and antiseptic—the only panacea for saṁsāra (the
repeated cycle of birth, old age, disease, and death).
We beg that we might be allowed to absorb (and to take full
advantage of) the śabda-brahma (transcendental sound vibration)
coming through the Brahma Madhva Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava disciplic
succession from the Supreme Lord Himself via the agency of
our many predecessor teachers and exemplars (such as Caitanya
Mahāprabhu and the six Goswamis of Vṛndāvana, etc.)
What good will it do us if even though we are allowed to run
along the road of life screaming in pain and tearing our hair, if we
are bereft of even a faint glimmer of hope that someday we might be
allowed to take our place as a speck of dust at the lotus feet of your
sincere followers?
This is our humble supplication, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Surrendered
souls are always to be protected, and fully surrendered souls are
allowed entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God. We are not at
all interested in merging into the white light (impersonal Brahman
realization). It is nothing more than a drop of water in the desert, as
you have always told us.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
The fallen servant of your servants,

Vaninatha dasa Brahmachary
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Adideva Dasa


I wander through skin-suits
making non-committal dips
of the toes in ponds of
shallow water.
Glitter, bangles and spangles
flash by on the Phenomenal Express.
Above floats noumenal knowledge-
both keys to Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet:
“Only one who can learn the process
of nescience and that of transcendental
knowledge side by side can transcend
the influence of repeated birth and death
and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.”
I, a flopping fish
on the sands of time and space,
am most grateful to serve you
Śrīla Prabhupāda. You are the decoder of
the treasures of truth and my ever well wisher.
May I always walk before you,
cleansing your path.
May I always walk behind you,
marking carefully your footsteps.

Adideva Dasa
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Jitamitra Devi Dasi



Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All
glories to you on this auspicious day in celebration of your
appearance in this world.
On this day and every day, I must thank you for your unlimited
mercy and kindness. It is only by your determined efforts and your
enormous loving heart that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the process of bhakti-
yoga has been made available to so many thousands of unlikely
candidates, making it possible for all of us to be engaged in joyful
service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Recently I was watching a documentary about extreme faiths
and cults in America and was very relieved that your ISKCON
movement was not featured on that negative show. There were a
few similarities between some of the featured faiths and ours, but
there were also some very distinguishing factors of your ISKCON
not present in any of these other faiths and cults. Almost every one
of the featured cults had documented the founder of the cult to have
engaged in illicit and abusive acts with women and/or children.
It was also obvious that these charismatic leaders were motivated
by material gain and sense gratification when instructing others to
follow them. And it was shocking to see how most of these faiths did
not rely much on scripture, if at all.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is your spotless character, pure heart, and the
check and balance you have given us through guru, sādhu and śāstra
that sets your International Movement for Krishna Consciousness
apart from the many short-lived scandalous cults of the past. Thank
you for presenting us with something so authentic and beneficial for
humanity and never polluting it with selfish desires. Thank you for
your tireless efforts to give transcendental knowledge to everyone,
free of charge.
I did not have the fortune of having your personal association and
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therefore no such exchanges to recall in memory of you. However, as
of late, my daily morning reading sessions seem more and more like
a personal morning darśana with you. It truly feels like a mystical
connection where time and again you provide me with answers to
questions, solace about concerns, and of course much nectar about
the Lord and His pastimes. Whatever little bits I can remember from
these darśanas become the treasures of my soul, maintaining both my
spiritual and material well-being.
I am not one to research the database to find information on a
specific topic. Yet somehow or other, when reading your books in a
methodical manner I am again and again stunned by how you speak
to me through the pages of your books.
One day when working in the garden, I was aware that my mind
was being extra loud with nonsense thoughts, but I could not seem
to control its rantings. All of a sudden a snake slithered out from
the flower bed I was weeding. I screamed a bit as I jumped away,
even though it was just a harmless garden snake. The next morning
as I was reading your purport to Madhya-līlā 11.10 you warned how
one must always be careful in dealing with the mind, just as one is
careful in dealing with a snake. It seemed like you were speaking of
my little garden snake and were using this analogy to help me see
how to avoid my own mind as I had instinctively avoided that snake.
Another time you came to my rescue when I became absorbed in
the very polarizing issue of the day…whether women can become
gurus in ISKCON. One argument from the opposition was that
women might be allowed to be gurus only if they have come to
the stage of nitya-siddha. I found this disturbing as my immediate
thought was, who would be deemed qualified to decide one’s nitya-
siddha status. Within a week of agonizing over that point of view, I
happened upon the verse Madhya-līlā 11.89. It just so happens that
Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākur has already addressed the issue of
who should be considered a nitya-siddha. You quote Narottama dāsa
Ṭhākur in this purport as saying that “anyone who acts on behalf of
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by spreading the glories of the holy name
is a nitya-siddha. “You go on to elaborate by saying that we should
respect the devotees that are preaching as nitya-siddha and not
consider them conditioned souls. Your words were both soothing
and confirming as you and Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura answered my
question in such a broad-minded and accepting way, not excluding
the many female members of ISKCON who are dedicated to
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spreading the glories of the holy name.
One of many examples where you have helped me make a
decision through your books was last summer when I was feeling
my hobby of taking care of three large Tulasī plants and my flower
garden were taking up too much of my time. Just as I was getting
attached to the idea of renouncing my gardening indulgence to
simplify my life, I came upon your purport in Bhagavad-gītā 11.55. In
this purport, you state that it is possible for anyone to be engaged in
Kṛṣṇa’s service just by caring for Tulasī and growing flowers to offer
to Kṛṣṇa. With these words, you validated this calming outdoor
activity as so much more than a hobby, but an actual means to serve
and please Kṛṣṇa.
One example where your common sense approach to life
brought much relief to my mind was in regards to when marriage is
presented in a negative way, with the intention to influence young
men to remain brahmacārīs forever. This would not be an issue
except for the fact that this negative point of view is often done
when it no longer seems to be in the best interest of young, sincere
men. Once, when upset over such a situation, I came upon your
purport to Bhagavad-gītā 18.5 where you explain that marriage is
meant to regulate the human mind to become peaceful for spiritual
advancement. You explain that for most men this vivāha-yajña
should be encouraged even by persons in the renounced order. I pray
our sannyāsīs and leaders also come upon this purport when dealing
with sincere young devotees who are struggling and suffering due
to misconceptions about marriage in Krishna Consciousness. They
are often led to think marriage is something that will destroy their
spiritual lives, when perhaps, if presented as in your purport to
Bhagavad-gītā 18.5, marriage could be the very thing that saves them
from a spiritual fall down.
Being an introvert and one who is overly attached to peaceful
atmospheres, the thought had crossed my mind that a Buddhist
lifestyle would have suited me better. Though I was just thinking
this in humor, you seemed to want to convince me not to become a
Buddhist as I came upon your purport to CC Madhya 9.49. There you
list the nine principles of Buddhism and by the end of the purport
you defeat every principle based on the philosophy of bhakti-yoga,
convincing me I never want to be a Buddhist.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for having worked so painstakingly
on translating and providing purports to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
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Caitanya-Caritāmṛta and Bhagavad-gītā. It truly is the best gift you
could have left us. It makes it possible for everyone, for generations
to come, to be blessed with your wisdom through reading darśana.
You will magically speak to each of us through your books, if we just
take the time to read them.
Your servant and loving daughter,

Jitamitra Devi Dasi
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Laksmivan Dasa


Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda;

I offer my humble obeisances to you. All glories to your lotus feet.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you for being my spiritual master, for
saving me from the fearful ocean of death. You gave me this gift many
years ago, but I did not appreciate it, being young and complacent. I
left your service for a long time, although I felt you calling me many
times. In recent years, I took up some service to you again, but I
could not be whole-hearted. Material attachments grip me fiercely.
Recently I have seen several friends and godbrothers leave their
bodies, face-to-face.
Then, just a few weeks ago, I had an illness that brought
me close to death. And I saw that I was not ready. Anguish and
grief overwhelmed me, because I have not served you. I prayed to
you for shelter.
I thought “Śrīla Prabhupāda, I have not been a proper devotee,
and I feel Kṛṣṇa will now punish me severely, as I might need it. So
I am full of regret. I am hearing and chanting with desperation, But
what can I give to you now, when I used my best years selfishly, and
only now turn to you at the end, because of suffering, and with only
the meager last few days to offer? I am sorry I didn’t love you. How
can I ask for your protection sincerely, when I didn’t reciprocate your
love by giving you my life, as you gave yours to us?”
Now it seems that I will recover at least some of my health. But
even if I recover fully, I am left with a terrible sense of the shortness
of time left, of the urgent importance of your gift to me. I am begging
you to give me strength to humbly serve you, to remember your
love for us, and to follow your example of always hearing Kṛṣṇa-
kathā, to always think of other devotees favorably, to always see the
good in others, to remember you. You are the source of our good
qualities. I have none of my own. You are the source of our devotion
to Kṛṣṇa. Alone, I am not devoted. You set the astonishing example
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of friendship to all and love for Kṛṣṇa. I beg you to help me use
this second chance to serve you. I don’t feel strong at all. Māyā
is very strong.
I take shelter at your lotus feet, Śrīla Prabhupāda! Please save me.
Your hopeful servant,

Laksmivan Dasa
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Bhumi Devi Dasi

Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of
your lotus feet.
This has been a very weird time in the world. Right now we are
in the middle of the biggest pandemic in our lifetimes. At such a time
like this, I am feeling great separation from your calm, reassuring
instructions and wish you were here among us to guide us through
this very dark time. One realization I keep having is that everything
you have ever told us is true. Your instructions ARE there. When you
were lying in your Vṛndāvana bed, performing your final pastimes
you said to the devotees there: “Don’t think this won’t happen to
you”. You also wrote in your books and letters that the devotees
must prepare for the future by investing and building many rural
communities where we could grow our own food and protect cows.
I feel this is the direction you were taking us in.
Furthermore, you had said that in the future, people would line
up and flock to our farms as there would be a shortage or food and
we should be totally prepared for this. I am afraid that we still have
much to do in this department, and yet it is proving essential to our
future. We also need urban centers for preaching, but the two must
work hand-in-hand.
We also need facility to care for the sick and elderly. We also
need housing, and a lot of it, so devotees can live in communities,
instead of miles away.
As I see myself entering the final stages of life, which will come
at the time Kṛṣṇa ordains...I feel remorse for time wasted in this
lifetime. You had provided a system by which second by second,
there could be full absorption in devotional service to the Supreme
Lord Kṛṣṇa. It is still there and always will be.
I pray, with what time I have left, that you will give me your
guidance and mercy so that I can prepare myself for my next life. As
undeserving as I am, I am begging for your causeless mercy. Kṛṣṇa
promises that if we surrender he will preserve what we have and
carry what we lack. That is my fervent prayer to you.

Bhumi Devi Dasi
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Durgama Dasa

I am not able to thank you, for everything is happening by Your
Divine Grace. Since the beginning, it is you. You kindly engaged me
in your service, and I am appreciating more and more your love.
That is the only reason to continue service...for your pleasure, feeling
indebted every day of my life.
All glories to your divine mercy, divine lotus feet, and divine
Kṛṣṇa-kathā, and especially your treasure contribution to the
whole world and universe – the BBT and the topmost gift, Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam. All glories endlessly, paraṁ vijayate śrī kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtanam.
Falling at your sweet, divine and transcendental lotus feet.
Learning to become your instrument in distributing BBT books,
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam amala purāṇa, purāṇārka, brilliant like the sun.
I am very very thankful.
Your humble and insignificant, dāsa anudāsa 100 times,

Durgama Dasa
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Arjuna Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your
Divine lotus feet.
Another year has come and gone. My life’s journey is most likely
coming to a close. What would it have been like without meeting
Your Divine Grace? I cannot begin to imagine.
You are the light of my life, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It’s been almost
50 years since I first met you and, by your mercy, my heart still feels
like an ember lighting up the darkness all around me. Yes, Your
Divine Grace is alive and well living inside of me and hundreds of
thousands of others all over the world! We are receiving so much
unmerited grace by your divine mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda. How
powerful and enduring your mercy is.
How far this love of Godhead can be developed and felt is
contained in this Vaiṣṇava theology that Your Divine Grace has
blessed this dark world with! You have mentioned that it is the most
unique and highest development of love of God, kindly given to us
by Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa Himself. You’re my faith, You’re my hope,
You’re my everything, eternally dear holy father.
I’m seeing after all these years that bhakti is not limited to an
activity, but includes another component: that of appreciating others’
services, seeing their blessings abound and wishing them more
and more abundant grace! Therefore, I’m attempting to appreciate
everyone’s humble service to you, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your mercy is stronger than dynamite, and it obliterates the
walls of misconception and false ego! Māyā trembles in its wake.
This explosive transcendental mercy helps me to appreciate more
and more, brighter and brighter, deeper and deeper, clearer and
clearer, Your actual, spiritual position.
Myself now being almost 70 years old, makes it even more in-
comprehensible, inconceivable, and unbelievable, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
how you boarded that Jaladuta with an impossible mission at this
same age. I just cannot imagine the incomprehensibility of this self-
less undertaking. But you were empowered with overwhelming
grace from Guru and Gaurāṅga! You crossed the Atlantic Ocean
with only seven dollars, a bag of oats, the Caitanya Caritāmṛta and a
few boxes of the sacred Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Your sacred loving heart
went through waves of agony and ecstasy.
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Upon arriving in the USA, You were not even sure whether to
turn left or right exiting the Jaladuta! But implicit faith in the order
of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta and the blessings of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī
were more than sufficient to let you cross over and save the whole
world, my dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda. What astounding grace you
were blessed with and showered upon us all.
I was blessed to witness first hand your divine smiles, love and
tears being exhibited here and there. That profound transcendental
mercy manifesting from another place. Yes, divine grace! These
spiritual mysteries are inconceivable! You are changing the world
incomprehensibly, Śrīla Prabhupāda! You have brought us out of the
illusion in which everyone desires comfort for their body and tries
to make a suitable situation for selfish pleasures. Forgetting that the
body is meant to be eaten by dogs, jackals or moths and thus turned
into useless stool, ashes or earth, the living entity wastes his time in
a futile attempt to gain material possessions for the comfort of the
body life after life. A most complicated, inconceivable network of
action and reaction thus saith Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Your love and purity is like a giant magnet that keeps pulling us
back to your lotus feet no matter how far away we roam and stray
from them. I personally have experienced this numerous times! It’s
just impossible to live without your divine love. Your prema has come
and found us hiding in darkness and filth, drowning in ignorance.
We no longer had any place to run and hide! Yeah, mercy drowned
us and cleansed us. This love is stronger than the universe. I pray
that it can never be reversed. Safe am I in the glow of your love,
As you know, this past year the Bhakti Center in Manhattan,
around the corner from your first Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Temple at 26 Second
avenue, was finally paid in full! Now, once again, you are on the
map and own a building in Manhattan, Śrīla Prabhupāda! When I
do your guru-pūjā every morning at the Bhakti Center I see your
smile of satisfaction.
Over the last few years your Bhakti Center has been the ‘place
to be’ in NYC for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, classes on bhakti, prasādam
distribution, yoga classes, community groups discussing the Kṛṣṇa
conscious lifestyle, and a full morning program worshipping Śrī
Śrī Rādhā Murlīdhar, Śrī Gaura Chandra, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva and
your lotus feet. Our Thursday night kīrtana program is quite famous,
along with our Tuesday evening spiritual sound program. Many
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devotees also visit and give Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam classes and other
special programs and discussions. We also have a very unique
Sunday morning program called Bhāgavata Śravaṇa with special guest
speakers, a sweet kīrtana and a delicious feast served afterwards. You
must surely be so pleased that hundreds and hundreds of Westerners
are coming weekly for chanting and eating prasādam. Your books are
also being displayed at Bhakti Center and being read, discussed and
sold on the streets along with harināma.
I thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for having created so many nice
services for us to engage in through your ISKCON mission. Please
bless me if you like that I can mature more and more in selfless
devotional service unto your lotus feet. I stand once again to be
inspected, corrected and directed. May I not be neglected.
Your aspiring disciple,

Arjuna Dasa
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Nirākulā Dāsī
My dear eternal master, Śrīla Prabhupāda,

I offer my heartfelt daṇḍavats in the dust of your lotus feet.
It was sometime in the autumn of 1972 that I happened to walk
into a friend’s living room, where the nightly news was on the
television. It was a broadcast of your arrival at the airport in New
York City. I had no idea what I was seeing, but I can still picture you
in my mind’s eye, as I saw you for the first time.
Surrounded by young men and women dressed in robes, and
beaming, you strode like a majestic lion through the terminal. I don’t
remember what the newscaster was saying, or if I could hear the
chanting, I only remember being mesmerized by you.
Though I was a cynical New York teenager at the time, I somehow
knew, “here is a genuinely holy man.” In fact, it appeared to me that
your feet weren’t touching the ground as you walked.
Fast forward four months and I found myself living at your New
Dwarka Temple in Los Angeles.
You came to Los Angeles in April of 1973 and stayed for a month
or so, giving Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class each morning. You lectured on
Queen Kuntī’s prayers, which I’ve coincidentally been listening to
recently, while fondly remembering those days.
During your lectures you spoke of the dangers and hardships
that the Pāṇḍavas endured, even though they were Kṛṣṇa’s dear
devotees, friends, and family members.
After describing the perils they endured, you said:
This is the instruction, that because Kṛṣṇa is protecting
you, you cannot expect that you’ll be out of danger. Danger
you must meet, because then you’ll know that this material
existence is full of dangers. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ This
we always remember. We should not be so fool that “I am
living very now comfortably.” No, sir. You are in danger.
That is said by Kṛṣṇa. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. Do not take
this material existence as comfortable at any moment.
Then you’ll not be able to make progress in spiritual
life. As soon as you think that ‘I am very comfortable
here,’ then you are spiritually fall down. That is māyā.
At different times in my life, I’ve profoundly resonated with what
you said in those lectures, and do so especially now that the world
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is in the throes of a pandemic. You said, “Do not take this material
existence as comfortable at any moment”; but it has struck me lately,
that I had indeed begun to think that my life, with my sādhana, sevā,
and good health, was peaceful and nice. I’m afraid that I have settled
into a cozy life, heedless of your warning.
As I now approach the age that you were when you left
Vṛndāvana to preach in the West, I shudder to think where I would
be now if you had settled for a cozy life. Lucky for me that you
instead took to a life of apparent inconvenience to fulfill the order of
your spiritual master.
Dearest Gurudeva, everything I am is due to your magnanimity.
You have saved me not only from settling for the so-called comfort
of material life, but also from the illusion that this material world is
my home. I admit that I am so ignorant that I am unaware of all that
you have saved me from. My debt to you, therefore, is as fathomless
as my gratitude for all that you’ve done for me.
On this day of your divine appearance, I again offer myself –
body and soul – in your service. My heartfelt longing is to cleanse
my blackened heart so that it may become a fit place to hold your
lotus feet. Please continue to shower your blessings upon me; and
though I am unworthy, please allow me to humbly serve you for
all of eternity.
Kindly keep me safe in the shade of your lotus feet.
Your grateful daughter,

Nirākulā Dāsī
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Baraha Murti Dasa


Well, it is that time of the year when we remember our spiritual
master’s Appearance day formally as Vyāsa-pūjā day. Śrīla
Prabhupāda is the 32nd ācārya in line from Śrīla Veda Vyāsa/Kṛṣṇa
Dvaipāyana who compiled the Vedas and who is a direct disciple of
Śrī Nārada Muni in the Brahma-Nārada Sampradāya.
Of course, it is not that we only think of our spiritual master
on this day alone! No, there is never a single day that we are not
remembering His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda and how he so mercifully accepted us as his disciples.
“He reasons ill who tell that Vaiṣṇavas die, When thou are living
still in sound! The Vaiṣṇavas die to live, and living try to spread the
holy name around!”
This stanza is from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur’s writing about
the samādhi of nāmācārya Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākur, and helps us
to understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda has left His spiritualized
“material” body in samādhi but He is not DEAD!
No, the spiritual master in the line of ācāryas from Veda Vyāsa
lives eternally in his books, lectures, talks and instructions.
So, every day I make an effort to hear the transcendental words
of Śrīla Prabhupāda, read his books, listen to his tapes and in this
way keep the connection alive.
Trying to estimate the value of what our spiritual master Śrīla
Prabhupāda has given us is nigh impossible!
Even a moment’s association with a pure devotee
cannot be compared to being transferred to
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heavenly planets or even merging into the
Brahman effulgence in complete liberation.
For living entities who are destined to give

up the body and die, association with pure
devotees is the highest benediction.
PURPORT
The great saint Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, a devotee of

Lord Caitanya, has stated: kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-
pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate. For a pure devotee, kaivalya, merging
into the existence of Brahman, the Brahman effulgence,
is no better than living in hell. Similarly, he considers
promotion to heavenly planets (tridaśa-pūr) just another
kind of phantasmagoria. In other words, a pure devotee
does not place much value in the destination of the
karmīs (the heavenly planets) or in the destination of
the jñānīs (merging into the Brahman effulgence). A
pure devotee considers a moment’s association with
another pure devotee to be far superior to residing in a
heavenly planet or merging in the Brahman effulgence.
The topmost benediction for those who are living in
this material world and are subjected to the repetition
of birth and death (transmigration) is association with
pure devotees. One should search out such pure devotees
and remain with them. That will make one completely
happy, even though living within the material world.
This Krishna Consciousness movement is started for
that purpose. A person who is overly affected materially
may take advantage of this movement and become
intimately associated with it. In this way the confused
and frustrated inhabitants of this material world may
find the highest happiness in association with devotees.
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.30.34, Translation and Purport)

I wish to humbly express my eternal gratitude and my commitment
to serve His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda in whatever capacity
I have for the rest of my life and to beg His forgiveness for all my
mistakes and anarthas which keep me bound to this material world
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and pray for his mercy that he will give me the strength to overcome
all obstacles on the path He has provided for us to go back home,
back to Godhead.
When I received initiation from you personally in your new room
at Bhaktivedanta Manor which we had just received from Śrīmān
George Harrison Dāsa, I was a young man of 21-years-old and did
not completely understand the true import of that wonderful day!
Of course, the initiation is a formality, as you have said, and the true
initiation is in following the orders of the spiritual master.
I have failed to completely follow your divine instructions as
you would have expected. Though I have never given up the fight!
Lord Kṛṣṇa directs the wanderings of the living entities, and He has
directed me to many countries and places where I have no association,
still, I always tell those I meet of this wonderful sublime Krishna
Consciousness which you have given us. I find that without your
physical presence, it is extremely difficult for me to be secure in my
devotional service. When I had your personal association everything
seemed so easy, one just had to bathe in your divine effulgence and
all doubts and shadows disappeared. When you departed, it was a
terrible day for me. I understand vāṇī is more important than vapuḥ
and this is true, however, your physical presence was so powerful
and your presence was the life and soul of the movement. Now alas,
you have departed us. May I one day be blessed to meet you again!
I sincerely and humbly pray that you may direct me in the future
to those places where I may have the association of sincere devotees
of the Lord as this will help me greatly in my sādhana.
I pray for your mercy and forgiveness and for you to continue to
guide me and instruct me so that I may achieve the final destination.
All glories, all glories, all glories, all glories, all glories, all glories,
all glories, all glories, all glories, all glories!
To the divine lotus feet of my spiritual master His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda!
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Mrgaksi Devi Dasi


Jai Prabhupāda! Jai Prabhupāda! Jai Prabhupāda! Jai Prabhupāda!

Your mercy is unfathomable.
That you would leave everything to come to this U.S.A. in your
last years on this Earth.
That you would come under the shelter of the Supreme Lord
through your spiritual master’s order.
That you have full faith and surrender to that order.
That you opened the eyes and hearts of so many people who
previously thought life was about consuming pleasure by the
unbridled senses.
That you gave shelter and purpose through the knowledge of
the words spoken by God Himself.
Not only did you give us His words, you gave us His example
and His requirements for our return to His abode.
That you taught us free will is there for us to use as we decide.
That you left the door open as we gradually looked inside to see
what our lives meant.
And we came, because of you.
Jai Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jai Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jai Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jai
Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Your mercy is unfathomable.
That you trained us and allowed us to serve The Supreme Personality

of Godhead.
That you engaged us in our eternal dharma as servants of the Lord.
That you enabled us to feel we are spirit soul and not this body.
That you gave us responsibilities you knew we were not prepared
for, but your faith that Kṛṣṇa will provide as long as we kept on the
path you set for us, gave us the power to do so.
That you left us as we were just learning to stand but are still
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with us in your books, words and our memories.
That you warned us of the cliffs and sinkholes to avoid and
taught us how to redirect our energy for our spiritual lives by
helping others do the same.
That you gave us a society to take shelter where our devotional
creepers would be nurtured and appreciated as we started again
our eternal lives.
Although we came from impersonal, material, atheist, māyāvāda
backgrounds in this life, we stepped out into the Light of the Bhāgavat.
We remember you saying, “Darkness is nescience, Godhead is
light. Where there is Godhead, there can be no nescience!” “Simple
for the simple, but difficult for the crooked!” “We fly our own ship!”
“Kṛṣṇa carries what we have and supplies what we lack!” “You
simply follow these regulative principles, chant sixteen rounds, read
and apply these books and go Back to Godhead!”
“Books are the basis, preaching is the essence, utility is the
principle and purity is the force!”
“Surrender everything except your intelligence!”
“Do not try to imitate, but follow in the footsteps of the ācāryas!”
“Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy!” “Guru, śāstra and sādhu!”
You spread your mercy all over the world and those who are serious
are taking advantage of your love. You who gave us Bhagavad-gītā As
It Is so clearly we could see the nectar in the glass filling up as we
chant His holy names. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare…
Jai jagad guru Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jai jagad guru Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jai
jagad guru Śrīla Prabhupāda! Jai jagad guru Śrīla Prabhupāda!
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Ramya Devi Dasi

How is it remotely possible for such a fallen soul as me to write
anything in praise of such an exalted spiritual master?
Had you not come where would I be?
A life without you

Impossible to conceive
There would be no kīrtanas
No blissful harināmas
No temples, spiritual refuges
No Kṛṣṇa conscious farms
There’d be no beautiful Deities
No offerings, Sanskrit prayers
No otherworldly bhajans
No prasāda to share
How would I fill my time
With no offerings to cook
No peaceful japa, gāyatrī
None of your wonderful books
No Janmāṣṭamī, no fire yajñas
No beautiful Dāmodara
No Sanskrit ślokas, Brahma-Saṁhitā
Halavā hill of Govardhana
Beautiful Rādhā-Londonīśvara
Would surely not be here
No Kṛṣṇa magic anywhere
Only a world of fear
How flat and stale my life would be,
The world of fearful place
Had you not come and brought to us
Your miraculous Divine Grace

Ramya Devi Dasi
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Badarayana Dasa

The world is now in the grip of a massive shutdown due the
influence of a virus. Numerous points of view prevail as to the
nature and origin of the so-called contagion. There seems to be
many agendas at play in this worldwide lockdown from medical and
political, to economic and even diabolical. Whatever the reality truly
is, it is certain that the world population is faced with the inevitable
result of its collective karma. Whether the delivering mechanism is
in the form of an organic or engineered biological agent, a medical
mishap, a contaminated wet market or a political weapon, the whole
of humanity is suffering under its spell.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, because of your illuminating presence
on this earth we have an understanding of these things from a
higher perspective.
There is a hierarchy of power structure in this material realm.
At the top of the food chain behind the scenes, beyond the veil
of government is demonic rule. Powerful elite families reign
as the puppet masters by pulling the strings of their deputed
leaders of society. You referenced this numerous times in your
conversations and writings.
At the present, especially on this planet Earth, the
influence of Lord Brahmā has decreased considerably,
and the representatives of Hiranyakashipu—the
rākṣasas (man-eaters) and demons—have taken charge.
Therefore there is no protection of brahminical culture
and cows, which are the basic prerequisites for all kinds
of good fortune. This Age is very dangerous because
society is being managed by demons and rākṣasas.
— SB 7.3.13
As a result of their rule the populace becomes victimized by an

atheistic agenda. They become implicated. They follow in the
footsteps of their masters who govern the general public.
People in general are not very advanced in knowledge
by which to discriminate between religion and irreligion.
The innocent, unenlightened citizen is like an ignorant
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animal sleeping in peace with its head on the lap of its
master, faithfully believing in the master’s protection.
— SB 6.2.6
As a result, there are great disturbances and calamities in society at

large – whether by social conflict, natural disasters, disease or war.
Much of this is intentionally generated to gain power/control of the
populace through the hidden hands of karma, irreligious influence
and the modes of nature are always operating in background.
What is the cause of these upheavals in the world at the present
time? In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.13.3–15, it describes how natural
calamities, spiritual and social breakdown are signs of the prevalence
of asuras taking birth on the Earth.
When there are natural disturbances like blowing cyclones,
too much heat or snowfall, and uprooting of trees by
hurricanes, it is to be understood that the demoniac
population is increasing and so the natural disturbance
is also taking place. There are many countries on the
globe, even at the present moment, where all these
disturbances are current. This is true all over the world.
There is insufficient sunshine, and there are always clouds
in the sky, snowfall, and severe cold. These assure that
such places are inhabited by demoniac people who are
accustomed to all kinds of forbidden, sinful activity.
— SB 3.17.5, purport
Thus, we are your faithful followers Śrīla Prabhupāda, should have

a clear understanding of how the world is being operated and by
whom.
David Lawrence: A very great deal of what one could call
demonology if you like. Now, I confess this raises problems
for me. When a book like that...
Prabhupāda: Bhāgavata was written five
thousand years ago.
David Lawrence: Yes, very, very ancient. Is it to be taken,
the references say to Pūtanā, is this to be taken...
Prabhupāda: It is also fact.
David Lawrence: ...physically or spiritually as a
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demonic power or what?
Prabhupāda: No, no, which one?
David Lawrence: Where, is it the demoness Pūtanā takes
Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa sucks her breast?
Syamasundara: Should it be taken literally or allegorically?
Prabhupāda: No, literally, literally.
David Lawrence: Yeah, literally as a physical fact.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes, oh yes.
David Lawrence: Now, having said that then, if one goes
on logically...
Prabhupāda: You’ll find so many demons like
Pūtanā even at the present moment.
— Morning Walk, August 30 1973
What then is the hope for a world run by the agents of Kali?
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you clearly recognized the dangers of not
only the overtly demonic rule but their philosophies as well. You
were an ardent denouncer of both atheistic communism and
materialistic capitalism – all forms of governance devoid of genuine
God consciousness. Your only intention was to bring to Kṛṣṇa to
the center. Then everything could ultimately be solved. And your
weapons that destroys the ignorance of the people and bring about
this revolution of consciousness as Śrī Caitanya’s Senāpati bhakta
General, were the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and transcendental literature
in the form of your Bhaktivedanta purports.
Prabhupāda: ... vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām.
Dr. Patel: Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. He must again
become. Sambhāvami yuge yuge. We must see that He comes.
We are all praying sincerely that “Let God come now.
Enough of this time!”
Prabhupāda: He has come already.
Dr. Patel: That is why some people say that...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Patel: ...Kalki-avatāra is born with...
Prabhupāda: Not Kalki-avatāra. This Harināma avatāra.
Yes. Nāma-rūpe kali-kale kṛṣṇa avatāra. Kṛṣṇa, in this
Age, He has descended in the form of Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Nāma-rūpe kali-kale kṛṣṇa avatāra. The name is already
there. It is being propounded all over the world.
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— Morning Walk, February 25, 1974, Bombay
And:
Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement is also astra [weapon] of Kṛṣṇa

for killing the demons, but it is not like a... Like a sword,
it is not active. But it is astra. It is killing the demons but
in a different way. The demonic habits are being killed,
demonic habits. Everyone, we can understand it, how our
demonic activities are being killed by this Hare Kṛṣṇa
movement. This is astra. This is astra, but it is being used
in a different way, because in this Age they are so fallen.
So... Manda manda-bhāgyā. This real astra weapon cannot be
used upon them. It is already dead. So, therefore, another
type of astra to awaken them to life, that is Hare Kṛṣṇa,
mahā-mantra astra. Otherwise they are already dead. A
dead horse... ‘Beating the dead horse.’ A horse is dead;
what you will get by beating with whips? It is already
dead. So there are big, big demons. Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was
required to be killed by the nails of the Lord. He appeared
as a ferocious lion. But here, the tiny demons, there is
no need of nails or any sword. They are to be awakened
simply by Krishna Consciousness, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
— Class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.47, April 2, 1976, Vṛndāvana
And:
These books and magazine are our most important
propaganda weapons to defeat the ignorance of māyā’s
army, and the more we produce such literature and
sell them profusely all over the world, the more we
shall deliver the world from the suicide course.
— Letter to Jayādvaita Swami 11/18/72
Our job as your servants is to strain our brains to find effective ways
and means to inject the populace with this potent transcendental
medicine.
It may take many external forms to attract their attention or pique
their interest. But the mission remains the same: somehow or another
flood the people with the nectar of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and
the concise liberating wisdom of the Bhaktivedanta purports.
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Every devotee and corresponding project has its own special
genius in this regard. As individuals we all have our unique God-
given personality and style. That should always be appreciated,
respected and honored in all devotees without the tendency to judge
or criticize. United in Diversity. Prabhupāda celebrated that. United
we stand, divided we fall...or fail.
The people of the world are looking for substantial solutions
to the problems and dangers they face, be it a real or engineered
pandemic, economic disaster, war and ultimately death. Many wise
men and women today are giving aspects of higher knowledge. But
rarely one of them have never seen God, walked and talked with
God or have the connecting link to the pure disciplic line from
the Personality of Godhead. But you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the pure
devotee, teach us the essence of the all revealed scriptures – that the
only safe haven for the living entities is taking shelter at the lotus
feet of the Lord.
By taking shelter at the lotus feet of Vāsudeva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can get released
from all kinds of material tribulations, such kind of
immunization is not possible by practising yoga, tapasya,
jñāna. This is the statement in the Srimad-Bhāgavatam.
— Class on The Nectar of Devotion, November 7, 1972, Vṛndāvana
This may be a troubling era, yet it is great practice for the time of
death when all we have known is stripped away. May we truly take
it as such.
You have taught us well – you have given us everything. Our
job is to apply it with patience and determination always seeking
your guidance whilst being confident that your mercy will surely be
there to shelter us.
There is a monumental battle being fought behind the scenes
– a war for the soul of the planet. There is great need for luminous
warriors who walk in the light of the Bhāgavat to stand in the
frontlines of this battle or act as wise counsel for those that do.
When this knowledge that you have given to the world is properly
understood by sane and sound men and women, there will be a
revolution of love and devotion. It will change the world. It has been
written. And it has begun.
This has been made possible only as a result the immense
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sacrifice, compassion and immeasurable glory of Your Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda.
May we keep your mood, your mission and your instructions
always in the center of all our activities at all times. That will be
the cause of the greatest good for ourselves, our loved ones and the
world at large. A new era will be born from the ashes and the golden
age of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu will be realized in due course. By
your grace, all this is not only possible, it is unfolding before our
eyes. All we need to do is roll up our sleeves and jump in the fight.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!
Your lowly aspiring servant,

Badarayana Dasa
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Govardhana Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories
to Your Divine Grace, and to your compassion. You kindly came to
this terrible world, and at an advanced age took the added trouble to
come West, on the divine order of your beloved spiritual father, Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur. Finally, after my billions of lives,
someone came to fish me out of the material world. Or should I say,
finally I heard the call?
Recently listening to your talk from Balboa Park, San Diego
(1972), I heard you almost shout something like: “Do not make the
mistake as in your English dictionary, where Kṛṣṇa is described as a
Hindu god...Kṛṣṇa is God.”
No-one before you or since could identify God, give us His
name, address and telephone number. Over and above that, as your
days were spent tirelessly preaching and lovingly organising your
growing Society, so were your nights spent translating spotless books
of transcendental information on your Kṛṣṇa and how to know Him.
Who could have guessed that child Kṛṣṇa carries his father’s
wooden slippers to him, on His head? Or that He drags a wooden
sitting place to His mother, on her request? Or that when His parents
ask Him to bring something too heavy (and what could be too heavy
for God?), He simply stands and moves His arms?
Your Kṛṣṇa, when He’s grown up, often prefaces His sweet
words with a gentle, encouraging smile to His associates. When
a challenger insults Him, He’s not offended, but He does riposte
by saying that great fighters generally don’t waste time talking.
When there’s a so-called dilemma for Him, He asks His advisor Śrī
Uddhava for help, as if there could be anything unknown or difficult
for Him. All these, you explain, are to increase loving exchanges.
Kṛṣṇa’s devotees are in a fix, trying to stop their tears so as not to
cause inauspiciousness on His departure from Hastināpura. Going
up to the roofs of the palaces, they shower flowers on Him, and as
they share their wonder at the fortune of Kṛṣṇa’s wives, their words
are more pleasing than the Vedic hymns, because they cut to the
chase – meaning that to attain that state of love for the Lord, for His
devotees and for the relationships they share, is the very point of the
voluminous Vedas.
As Kṛṣṇa enters His own town, all run to Him, asking how they
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could exist without His presence. The ladies get onto the rooftop
terraces and gaze down at their worshipful object of love – and that is
the greatest festival. How eloquently you have translated the phrase
‘pāna-pātraṁ mukhaṁ dṛśām’: ‘His face is the drinking vessel for eyes
which hanker after all that is beautiful’. With that phrase you have
captured my soul. (And by the way, I ask ‘Where is the need to go
elsewhere?’ Everything is in your books.)
Śrīla Prabhupāda, could it be that it’s not too late for me to
join your transcendental party? Your own Gokulānanda told me
there was still time. I remember His installation, when you led all
the assembled devotees round and round His altar. That was the
day when the boundary between the material and spiritual worlds
vanished, by your kindness, potency and by the sheer strength of
your determination to give your all to get your spiritual master’s
order fulfilled, and the prediction of Lord Caitanya.
So, so much could be said about your glories, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your personality glitters from a million facets. Like the time you
were asked to launch a book in Jagannāth Puri, and instead you
gave a telling-off to the town authorities, for their not knowing the
meaning of the name Jagannāth, ie. that He’s Lord of the whole
universe. Thus you made the point that your Western disciples
should be allowed into the temple. Ever the champion of your
children, you yourself did not go for darśana. And to crown all that,
you off-handedly picked up the book, said ‘This book is launched’,
and put it down again!
In connection with your being the embodiment of mercy and
right judgement, these few lines came to me:
Spotless servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī -

Enormous, the impact you’ve had on the world.
That will be felt, but even now,
No-one dares say a word against you
A shy girl who became an old woman

Is watching DVD 8 of Following You.
Sees you patiently sitting, the pundits intoning
And posturing, your cupped hands and eyes cast down.
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That’s you, by the strength of your faith in the name,
By the kīrtan you ordered, asking Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma
To inhabit Their temple at Ramaṇa Reti.
Jaya, Śrīla Prabhupāda! I’ll never stop saying it.
This offering is longer than usual, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I am sorry for

any inconvenience that might cause you. These words have come
from the heart of this conditioned soul, on Ekādaśī, Saturday 4th
April 2020, in anticipation of the glorious day of your appearance.
If it please you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I beg the blessing of being able
to chant harināma in public, alone or with one or two others, in this
North of England, where devotees are rare.

Govardhana Dasi
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Rukmini Priya Devi Dasi
As I sat there, completely unsure of what I would write to my dear

spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda for this Vyāsa-pūjā offering, I
thought to myself “I need inspiration!” So, I go to my bookshelf,
pick up one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s original Śrīmad-Bhāgavatams and
open it up to a random page. “Perfect!” I say to myself. “This verse
could not be better!”
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
Canto 2, Chapter 3, Text 23:
English Translation
The person who has not at any time received the dust
of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a
dead body. And the person who has never experienced
the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of
the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.
This verse describes everything that I should be grateful for; what
we should all be grateful for, as we are nothing but corpses without
the protection and guidance of our beloved spiritual master, His
Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda. I thank you dearest Prabhupāda,
and pray I always remember this verse.
Your humble servant and loving disciple,

Rukmini Priya Devi Dasi
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Jagaddhatri Devi Dasi

About 15 years ago I was experiencing some deeply troubling
personal issues.
I wrote a poem based on the myriad teachings you have given
me, that enabled me to overcome the emotional issues. The following
is that poem which is but a fraction of the comfort and shelter you
have given us to understand who I am and why am I here.
SOAR THE HEIGHTS IN HARMONY
Give up the ghost of memories past

They open the future
Are not meant to last
The basis of ‘we want and seek’
Lies in our hearts, so nurture and keep
Our natural desire for love and affection
Inherent in our expectation
But not to be forced into another’s maze
They have their own cycles and phase
When we hear the phrase ‘letting go’

It means a root buried deep in our false ego
We see no boundaries twixt us and them
We really cheat others to fill our whim
We struggle to clarify our wants and our needs
Discover truth lies not in the weeds
Of avoiding our lack of corrected sight
And using another to climb to the light
For see, we are whole and complete

A spiritual being not meant to deplete
Through selfish enjoyment others we meet
Else karmic debts of pain we’ll reap
The pain we feel is our attractions
For false relief from chain reactions
Our lack of love and lack of grace
Leaves us lost, enchained, alone, misplaced
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In truth any pleasure that is our fate
Comes on its own, so patiently wait
Surrendering to the tides and waves
Comprised of any love we gave
Each day so fresh, a sparkling slate
What lies before us through time’s gate
Is meant to share and give and love
The best we can of God above
For this alone will set us free

To soar the heights of harmony
When we truly come to give and not take
A full and pleasing life we’ll make
We are all joined in incremental ties
Of ropes made up of truth and lies
But what is more important still
Is how we use our own free will
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your mercy is unlimited.
Your worthless disciple,

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Mahacandra Dasa


My dear master and my dear father, years are passing by, and
the more they pass by, the more my appreciation for you increases.
The more my spiritual maturity develops, the more my love and
gratitude for Your Divine Grace becomes manifest.
I never get tired of hearing about your wonderful life, and my
ears become greedy of listening to your transcendental pastimes.
There will never be enough words to thank you as you actually
deserve, neither enough actions able to repay a little of what you
have given to us.
Thanks Śrīla Prabhupāda, thanks for having accepted us
as your servants and for having given us the most valuable
wealth: the holy name.
The most insignificant of your sons,

Mahacandra Dasa
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Krsnasravana Dasa

I offer my humble obeisances unto your lotus feet again and
again. Once again I am feeling your presence here at Rūpānuga
Vedic College in Kansas City, Missouri. Here devotees take pleasure
in studying your divine words, and singing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-
mantra, accompanied by sweet mṛdaṅga and karatālas, exactly as
taught by Lord Caitanya, both in the temple and streets of Kansas
City. It is enlivening to see young midwesterners being trained in
the transcendental loving service of your worshipable Deities, Śrī
Śrī Gaura Nitāi.
I know you have thousands of prominent disciples, including
His Holiness Danavir Gosvāmī Mahārāja, but please do not forget
me. You are my eternal father. I am weak and helpless. If you do not
protect and maintain me, I shall surely perish.
Forever yours,
Your son,
Krsnasravana Dasa
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Anavadyangi Devi Dasi
Our service is to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

We are part of his saṅkīrtana movement helping to carry his
message ahead into the future. We are on the cutting edge of a new
beginning. Listen to the voice within. Be part of the positive not the
gloom and doom of soothsayers and conspiracy theorists.
I come from a long line of pioneers. My ancestors were among
the first arriving from the British Isles to settle in the unknown new
wilderness of America. Some of these early pilgrims later came West
as the early settlers. Both my grandmothers’ (appeared to be the last
of these pioneer women) lines trace back to those Massachusetts Bay
Colonists in the early 1600s. All four sets of my great-grandparents
were settlers here in the West with my maternal grandfather’s
grandpa being a 49er at Auburn, California among the earliest.
Prabhupāda was a Pilgrim who all on his own brought his
message to the West. We owe it to him to carry his message into
the future. We are all in unique situations according to time, place
and circumstance, just as Kṛṣṇa plans. Each of us is affecting
those around us.
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Praghosa Dasa
O venerable spiritual master! You are the expression of bhakti. With

every breath you take, you exhale ecstatic love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. You are
just like the touchstone that can convert an unlimited quantity of
iron into gold. Association with you automatically turns one into a
bhakta of the Lord.
When you were manifesting your transcendental self among
us in this temporary manifestation, anyone who was fortunate to
see you was blessed to start or continue his journey back home,
back to Godhead.
Now that you have joined your beloved Lord Kṛṣṇa in His
eternal līlā, we are still sanctified by your spoken words. That sound
vibration is not different from you. It is as if you are still here. I have
humbly made those words available to all on the Prabhupadavani.
org website, and I am constantly amazed to see so many people who
come daily to hear your lectures, conversations and bhajans.
All of us who have been fortunate to come in contact with you
understand that we have become a product of your unfathomable
love for Kṛṣṇa. Having been touched by the pure words emanating
from your heart, we have become eligible to experience the ecstatic
feelings of the inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha, who live on the ultimate
platform of happiness.
I pray to the Lord to let me become an empowered representative
of Your Divine Grace so that I may attract more wandering souls at
your lotus feet in order for them to also get the same opportunity.
Prostrated at your feet, I offer you my humble obeisance.
Your lowly servant,

Praghosa Dasa
Montreal
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Prthusrava Das


Please accept my humble obeisances in great appreciation of
what you have given to the whole world, including my humble self.
You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are surely the modern representative of
Śrīla Vyāsadeva, for you have re-presented and elaborately explained
Vyāsa’s magnus opus, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Now the whole world can
understand that which was previously inaccessible by most, even
in India, and can apply the spiritual science to their life. Now that
economies and governments are dissolving, your books will surely
become recognized as the beacons which can reorganize society and
illuminate the ultimate goal of human life.
You have convinced the less intelligent residents of Kali-
yuga that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the supreme person, how all else –
material energy and living beings – emanate from Him, and how
devotional service is the natural life of the living entity by which
one can understand all of this and become completely happy.
As the Bhāgavatam states:
The material miseries of the living entity, which are
superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the
linking process of devotional service. But the mass of
people do not know this, and therefore the learned
Vyāsadeva compiled this Vedic literature, which
is in relation to the Supreme Truth.— SB 1.7.6
Without your elaborate explanation, how would we have known
that the process of devotional service is the answer to our material
miseries?
Simply by giving aural reception to this Vedic
literature, the feeling for loving devotional service to
Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
sprouts up at once to extinguish the fire of
lamentation, illusion and fearfulness. — SB 1.7.7
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Without your Bhaktivedanta purports, who would know that just
by hearing the Bhāgavatam one can become attached to the service of
Kṛṣṇa and thus become free from his material disease composed of
lamentation, illusion and fearfulness?
O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who
are completely freed from all vice, great service
is done. By such service, one gains affinity for
hearing the messages of Vāsudeva. — SB 1.2.16
You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, have solved our problem of having no
attraction or affinity for the message of Godhead. You are that
devotee who is free from all vice, and by serving you, beginning
with hearing from you, mystically we gain an affinity.
Human reason fails to understand how by serving the
devotee Bhāgavata or the book Bhāgavata one gets gradual
promotion on the path of devotion. — SB 1.2.16, purport
Indeed, by reading your purports people shall gain the eligibility to
receive Lord Caitanya’s gift of pure love of God.
Because you have, like an expert professor, taught this absorption
in hearing and chanting through your own demonstration of it, you
have perfectly represented the teachings of Lord Caitanya (gaura-
vāṇī-pracāriṇe). Therefore, we want to offer our respects to you who
follow in the footsteps of your Guru Mahārāja as the personified
energy of Lord Caitanya’s mercy (śrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya
namo ’stu te). You have surely satisfied Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.
Please continue to shower your compassion on this undeserving
soul as I endeavor to follow in your footsteps. You are OUR Vyāsadeva.

Prthusrava Dasa
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Sarvani Devi Dasi
I offer respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C.

having taken shelter at his lotus feet.
servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī.
You are kindly preaching The message of Lord Chaitanya
and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with
impersonalism and voidism.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, from the very beginning of this lifetime,
at birth, this present body was seriously struggling to survive and
in danger of dying. I was totally helpless and at the mercy of my
karma. One result of such a traumatic entrance into this world was
that I have from an early age contemplated death. Thus this world
has really held no feeling of security for me – no connection to
anything that was real and lasting. As a child I would often wonder
why we had to die, what happened after death, and why this world
existed at all.
As I continued in life, adrift in a sea of materialism, confronted
with the constant changing backdrops of my youth, I found myself
at an early age observing and experiencing the fruitless results of the
whirlpool of illusory desires this world presents – where the only
consequence of one’s passionate struggle to enjoy is one good or bad
karmic reaction after another. Over the course of this lifetime this
material world appears to have become even more so a place of pain
and suffering. Its ever-changing and dangerous landscape continues
to provide no secure foothold, nor has it ever offered any lasting
fulfillment on any level. For ultimately, if some material success and
happiness has been achieved by someone, fear of loss ultimately
becomes its companion and any peace is therefore lost.
As I look back on who, in this life’s sojourn, has provided a safe
refuge, I find myself bowing at your lotus feet, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Encountering your brilliance this lifetime has been the greatest boon
anyone could have received and no mere words can describe how
grateful I am for such mercy. You have been the only one who has
provided such powerful concise answers and conclusive solutions
to the ongoing suffering in this world…the answers to the most
important questions one can ask about having taken birth in this
material world, why there is no ultimate happiness, and why one is
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forced to experience death lifetime-after-lifetime.
Because of your deep love and dedication to following the wishes
of your spiritual master, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākur, Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana movement has spread
to the four corners of the globe. Through your many books, lectures,
and letters, you give the world the real solutions to the threat of the
repeated cycle of birth, old age, disease, and death. You have created
a spiritual family of all generations the world over who continue to
work together as aspiring vaiṣṇavas, striving to follow your example
and continue to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s mission of spreading Lord
Kṛṣṇa’s holy names to every town and village. Everyone who sincerely
attempts to read your books, hear you speak, read your letters, engage
in chanting, and listen to the intimate loving memories of those who
were fortunate to personally associate with you daily, cannot help
but be given a glimpse into your transcendental personality, and
the magical world of Krishna Consciousness, resulting in their life’s
path being miraculously changed forever.
The world is indebted to you, as am I Śrīla Prabhupāda. How
fortunate it is to have encountered your divine presence and mercy
this lifetime. I can only humbly pray that I may someday please you
and actually become qualified to serve your lotus feet and continue
to somehow serve Lord Caitanya’s mission in future lifetimes.
Begging to remain your humble servant, with heartfelt sincerity
and loving gratitude,
Your spiritual daughter,

Sarvani Devi Dasi
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Nrhari Dasa
My most beloved Spiritual Master Oṁ Viṣṇu-pāda Paramahaṁsa

Parivrājakācārya Aṣṭottara-śata Śrīmad His Divine Grace Śrīla A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami,
Please accept my most humble and prostrated obeisances at
your lotus feet!
Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga Jayataḥ!
It’s been 50 or so years since I heard the mahā-mantra for the
first time shortly after I joined, thanks to you, the Movement of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu!
Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair... there is no difference between
you and Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Being most munificent, you gave us the possibility of becoming
Kṛṣṇa conscious, the knowledge that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead and the treasure of Kṛṣṇa prema.
My debt to you, I will never be able to repay.
In these times of uncertainty, there is no other shelter than
your lotus feet.
You warned us of times like the present.
I’m not qualified and I’m very fallen, but still hope that you will
engage me in your service life-after-life. There my soul will attain
true happiness, peace and love.
Your most insignificant, aspiring disciple,

Nrhari Dasa
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Ramanya Dasa

Please accept my most humble and respectful obeisances at your
beautiful lotus feet.
Certainly there are so many words of appreciation on this most holy
and great day of your holy appearance day, your glorious Vyāsa-pūjā.
I would just like to thank and appreciate you for everything you
have done for us by giving us this Krishna Consciousness Movement
and helping us to go back home. back to Godhead, back to Kṛṣṇa.
You instructed us to develop self sufficient farms communities.
So many times you wanted to have farms to help the devotees and
the people in general.
You said there will be a moment at the time of dark hours when
the world would be in great need, and that your ISKCON Movement
will help the world in these dark moments of need.
This is the reason that you wanted self-sufficiency...farms all
over the world.
At the present moment, the world has a big problem...a virus
killing people all over.
The same world you travelled around many times, preaching
Krishna Consciousness.
Please, Śrīla. Prabhupāda, help us become more Kṛṣṇa conscious
and follow your instructions.
Please guide us to work together and cooperate to maintain this
institution together, and to help other during these difficult times.
We are supposed to help and preach to people always.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for all your mercy. You are a very
powerful ācārya.
Please help us to preach more all over the world.
Your lowest, most insignificant servant,

Ramanya Dasa
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Sangita Devi Dasi

to you on this most auspicious day of your appearance
On behalf of the Vaishnavas C.A.R.E. hospice organization I
co-founded 20 years ago (Counseling, Assistance, Resource, and
Education for the Terminally Ill and Those in Need), I am writing
to thank you for being our continuing inspiration. Since we first
presented the concept of end-of-life care (hospice care) to the GBC
members at the Māyāpur meeting in 2000 we have steadily, and with
determination, continued to teach devotees around the world how to
care for their family members, friends, and congregational members
when they are ill and facing their final months. We hope we have
pleased you by having trained volunteers care for your beloved
devotees for the remaining months of their lives. They then provide
post-mortem care with the family. We arrange for the Ash Immersion
Ceremony in the Yamunā River in Vṛndāvana or the Ganges River
in Māyāpur, if desired, and we offer Grief Support for the family
and close friends of the deceased devotee. By always remembering
your loving and compassionate mood and trying to follow in your
footsteps – not only toward your disciples but for all living beings.
From a blade of grass to a tiny insect on the ground to the humans
throughout the material world, you did not want to see anyone suffer
in any way. As our eternal Spiritual Master, you shared with us your
transcendental vision so we could also understand why those within
this world are meant to endure the threefold miseries.
Your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur,
quoted from the Mahābhārata:
The Supreme Lord says, ‘I have arranged so much
misery, pain, trouble, and danger, not to make you suffer,
but to teach you that all this misery is unnecessary; so
you will search for that happiness which is eternally
desirable, the joy that is eternally adorable.’
For those of us who were blessed to have your personal association
when you were present on this planet we, by your grace, were able
to personally associate with a “Vaikuṇṭha Man” as you used to say.
Being in your presence made me understand that you were not of
this Earth. Life, as we knew it, suddenly changed on November 14,
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1977, when the news arrived from Vṛndāvana that you had departed
from this world. For over four decades we have had to endure deep
separation from you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Life has never been the
same. However, all we can do as your disciples is go on following
your instructions and associate with you through your books and
by worshipping you in your deity form which is non-different from
you. Just as the Lord is non-different than His Deity form on the
altar in your temples, you are also non-different from your deity
form seated on the Vyāsāsana in every one of your ISKCON temples.
Kindly anoint our eyes with your divine mercy so we can have the
vision to see you within your deity. Please allow us to hear your
voice as we read your words within the pages of your books which
you worked so hard to translate for the spiritual benefit of the
planet. Please allow us to follow in your footsteps as we continue
to serve your devotees and assure that none of them will ever leave
their body alone and lonely without the loving care of the devotees
chanting the mahā-mantra by their bedside.
We pray to continue to care for your devotees and, in this way,
we beg to be able to one day please you, our beloved Guru Mahārāja,
Your Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda.
On behalf of our many Vaishnavas CARE Volunteers,

Sangita Devi Dasi
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Citraka Dasa

Please accept my most humble obeisances unto your lotus feet.
On this occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā, let your name be glorified
by one and all! As a fortunate recipient of your mercy, please allow
me to offer some words of deep gratitude, appreciation and love for
Your Divine Grace.
Reading the history of your coming to the West and starting the
Krishna Consciousness Movement, I noticed some small events that
occurred, apparently of trivial nature, often underestimated and
forgotten, but have proved to have been crucial in your mission!
Of course, we know, everything, from the beginning to the end,
has always been Lord Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement, but still I think it is
interesting to observe how these somehow secondary events had
such a decisive impact and allowed the big miracles to happen!
One such event was the persistence of your friend to get you
to meet Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta. Had he not insisted that day, what
might have been the consequences?
So when I met Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura... It
is a long story, how I met him. One of my friends, he
dragged me. (laughing) (laughter) I was at that time
nationalist and manager in a big chemical factory. My
age was about 24 years. So one of my friends, he asked
me that “There is a nice sādhu, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Ṭhākura. He has come in Calcutta. So let us go and
see.” So I was reluctant. I thought just like so, there are
so many sādhus. So I was not very much... Because I
had very bad experience, not very good. So I said, “Oh
these kind of sādhus, there are many.” So anyway, it was
Kṛṣṇa’s grace. I would not go, but their point of view
was that unless I certify that sādhu, Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he’ll not be accepted. Therefore he
dragged me.” — His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda’s Disappearance
Day, Lecture, Los Angeles, December 13, 1973.
Then, the correct answer of Bhaktisiddhānta Gosvāmī to your initial
objection about the proper time to be preaching Lord Caitanya’s
Movement in the West.
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Had he not impressed and convinced you with his statement,
what would be now of me?
On the very first meeting with His Divine
Grace, He asked me to preach the message
of Lord Caitanya in the Western world.
At that time, I was a young man and a nationalist,

admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and C.R. Dass. So I replied
Him at that time, who would care for the message of
Lord Caitanya while we are a subject nation? In this
way, I had some argument with my spiritual master, and
at the end I was defeated. — 1970 correspondence.
Then Gopal’s father who took seriously the task to find you a
sponsor:
So I did not say anything seriously, but perhaps he took
it very seriously, Gopal’s father. So he might have written
to Gopal that “Swami Bhaktivedanta wants to go to
America. If you sponsor, then he can go.” So whatever
the correspondence was there between the father and
son, I did not know. I simply asked him, “Why don’t you
ask your son Gopal to sponsor so that I can go there? I
want to preach there.” So after some months, three, four
months, the No-Objection Certificate from the Indian
embassy in New York, Gopal sent to me, yes, that he had
already sponsored my arrival there for one month. So all
of a sudden I got the paper, No-Objection Certificate by
the Indian embassy. — Conversation LA - June 08, 1976.
Then your determination won over Sumati Morarji:
Then I approached that Sumati Morarji. She once
gave me five hundred rupees in exchange of my
Bhāgavata book, so I approached her, that “Give me
one ticket.” They have got their shipping company,
Scindia Navigation. So she said, “Swāmījī, you are
so old, you are taking this so responsibility. Do
you think it is right? No, it is all right.”(laughs)
Then Mr. Rao, who passed the P-form:
P-form sanctioned by the state government, yes, state
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government. So it was applied for. It was . . . No sanction
was coming. Then I went to the State Bank of India, the
officer Mr. Bhattacari. So he told me: “Swāmījī, you are
sponsored by private man, so we can not accept it. If you
are invited by some institution, then we could consider,
but you are invited by a private man for one month, and,
after one month, if you are in difficulty, and there will be so
much obstacles and soon.” “Well, I have already prepared
everything to go.” I said. “You . . . what you have done?”
“No, I have decided not to sanction your P-form.” “No, no,
don’t do this. You better send to your superior. It should
not be done like that.” So he took my request, and he sent
the file to Chief Officer of Foreign Exchange, something
like that. Anyway, he is the supreme man in the State Bank
of India. So I went to see him. So I asked his secretary “You
have got such file? You kindly put to Mr. . . .” his name
was Mr. Rao, “I want to see him.” So the secretary agreed,
and he put the file and put on my slip that I wanted to see
him. I was waiting, So Mr. Rao came personally. He said,
“Swāmījī, I have passed your case. Don’t worry.” (laughs)
Then the kind gesture of the captain, who supplied you with an
electric stove:
The main thing is that I am alone and I am in my old
age. Because of this, crossing twelve thousand miles in
a ship, I became very sick. I crossed the Bay of Bengal,
the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the
Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. I passed
through Asia, Europe and Africa. I crossed these oceans
and seas and became so sick. Due to my request, they
served me vegetarian meals on the ship, yet I couldn’t
take them. I fasted continuously for eight to ten days. The
pitta (fire) increased so much in my body thus I suffered
terribly from colic pain. Afterwards, the captain of the
ship purchased an electric stove for me in PortSaid. I
then cooked for myself and took prasada. If they hadn’t
managed this stove for me, maybe there would have been
no possibility of me reaching America. I could have died
on the way, but instead, Kṛṣṇa mercifully brought me
here. Why Kṛṣṇa has brought me here, only He knows.
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— Letter to Śrīpād Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja, 4 October 1965
Your persistence during the struggling initial period:
“I was loitering here and there. So for one year there was
no success, you see? And I was going to the shipping
company: “When your next ship is coming to return
back?” So the manager was telling, “Swāmījī, you are
always inquiring, but you never go.” (all laugh) I said:
“Yes, when I am too much frustrated, I come to here to
ask you. Then again I go back: ‘Let me see two months
more.’ It was going like that. Nobody was there with me.”
These circumstances, where it came so very close to almost block
your mission, are very relishable because they are amazing
demonstrations of Kṛṣṇa’s reciprocation to your ardent desire to
serve your spiritual master’s order.
And later, when you had to fight cheaters, adverse politicians,
communists, bureaucracy, deprogrammers, legal battles, poor
health, criminals, ignorant followers, lack of funds and so many
other adversities, it was only your undeterred determination that
allowed the successful conclusion of your awesome achievements.
Well, one of the beneficiaries of these sacrifices of yours is
now my humble and insignificant self. Knowing all these details
of the struggles you had to undergo in order to reach me and
save me, how can I not be full of gratitude and feel completely
conquered by your love?
I am your eternal happy slave, Śrīla Prabhupāda, please allow
me to serve you.

Citraka Dasa
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Mahabuddhi Dasa
Mahā Vadānya
Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet. All
glories to our Gauḍīya Guru Varga and Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava!
It has been many years since we have offered you our puṣpāñjali in
Śrīla Prabhupāda Tributes book. We are thankful for the opportunity.
Some disciples choose to remember their past opportunities of
your association and for me, there have been many. I was your room
guard, running your darśanas in Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur, morning
walks, private blessings you gave me in San Francisco, New York
and Atlanta, being your instrument in the distribution of your books
to universities and libraries, and hearing numerous lectures sitting
at your lotus feet. But, I choose to focus on your kṛpā (mercy) that you
have shown me and your continued presence felt in my life. As you
commanded me and made me promise you in 1976 to daily chant
“Teṣāṁ satata yuktānām…”— Bg. 10.10, I have done so for the past 44
years. In so doing you have made me realize that you are not only
present in your vāṇī, but you commune with your disciples via the
heart if they have the adhikāra to do so with you. As you have always
done, you give advice to your disciples who, from the core of their
hearts ask for your guidance and want to remain anugata. So, we can
always feel your presence and guidance if we surrender ourselves to
your lotus feet. Your guidance can come in many forms and through
many persons, if we open ourselves up to listening for it.
We felt your mercy when we were able to glorify you all over
the USA in having millions of visitors hear your glories, take a
Tribute magazine, and see your mūrti at Prabhupāda’s Palace of
Gold in New Vrindaban, along with hundreds of news articles
and TV shows broadcasting your glories. But later, during the 80s
and 90s much there was much conflict in your movement. But, by
your mercy I was kept aloof from many of these things, living as a
gṛhastha somewhat independent of temple politics. But unsatisfied
with what my intelligence saw was going on and feeling deprived
of real sādhu saṅgha, I begged for your mercy to instruct me what
you wanted me to do. And by your mercy, I also received śikṣā
from your friend and senior Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava to deepen my bhakti
understanding of knowing what is the sādhya of our sādhana, the
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deep meanings of Śrīla Rupa Gosvāmī’s “anyābhilaṣitā śūnyam”, the
chance to read many of the works of our Gauḍīya Guru Varga and
the Gosvāmī’s literatures under anugata and ultimately deepen my
aspiration for Rādhā Dāsam as per Lord Caitanya’s command. All
by your continued blessings and kṛpā.
You are very active in your devotee’s lives for those who want
your association and have not turned their back to you for the
propagation of their own pratiṣṭhā. So it is this active relationship
that you connect with your disciples that is most sought after and
desired and gives us encouragement to go forward in our bhakti
bhajan and speak the truth.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the lion among preachers and a
fearless preacher of the truth and in these times of global tyranny
and darkness, we take refuge in your fearless preaching. In this
mood, I came across a quote from your sannyāsa guru, Śrīla Bhakti
Prajñāna Keśava Mahārāja that I felt that greatly applied to your
glories. So I will share it:
You must swear to always preach the Truth. Bhagavān
personally aids those who have the courage to speak the
truth. We will not be slaves to a world veering down the
path of falsehood. We were not born to indulge in sinful
proclivities and falsehood. We will not encourage in the
slightest the demonic education offered in the universities.
We must stop the world’s demise resulting from the forces
of Kali. People who want what is truly auspicious for the
world need to solemnly vow to do so. Those with such
spirit earn the name “Mahā-Vadānya”, ‘great benefactors’.
What they do is true altruism (jīva doya). Speak the truth
fearlessly. For the sake of preaching the truth, Nityānanda
Prabhu, Haridāsa Ṭhākura and other Vaiṣṇavas were
assaulted by the inimical. Many great personalities have
even had to give up their lives for the sake of truth. As such
it will not become us to be fearful. Mahāprabhu’s policy is
to have mercy on all living beings and to preach, becoming
humbler than a blade of grass and more tolerant than a
tree. Preaching the glories of the Lord is true altruism.
***
The true purport of tṛṇād-api-sunīcena – feeling oneself
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lower than a blade of grass, is tabe lathi mara tara śire
upare, ‘Kick them in the head.’ These words are found
in the writings of Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura.
If you remember Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura’s
words krodha bhakta-dveśi jane, may my anger be
channelled toward those inimical to the devotees.
You are that Mahā-Vadanya of this world and the fearless lion of
preachers!
Please grant us the intelligence to always remember your glories
and instructions, to be an instrument in your hands to preach the
mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and to make progress in our
insignificant attempt for vraja-bhakti and Rādhā Dāsam.

Mahabuddhi Dasa
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Saṅkīrtana Dāsa
O’ Śrīla Prabhupāda,
In this world, devotion to the Supreme Lord is very rare.
To receive the fellowship of Vaiṣṇavas
Cannot even be imagined in dreams.
To honor prasād, which makes one mad after God,
Is simply unfathomable for most.
The sublime pleasure of living and serving in the holy dhāma
Is something the faithful only hope to achieve.
The nectar and intoxication of the holy names
Is an experience that has only been attainable by a select few.
And above all, to receive the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa
From the lips of a pure devotee
Is certainly the rarest and most glorious experience in this world.
O’ Śrīla Prabhupāda
Your causeless compassion cannot be properly understood.
How is that in your old age you left your precious Vṛndāvana
And that single-handedly you flooded the world
With the rare gems of the Bhāgavat Purāṇa,
Spreading them far and wide, making them accessible to all?
O’ Prabhupāda, your mercy and kindness are immeasurable.
By your desire, New Vrindaban has entered into its sixtieth decade.
Most of the thousands of alternative communities
Which began in the 60’s and 70’s have fallen by the wayside.
But your devotees, who have endured so much,
Continue to remain steady and move forward.
And now, in this season of Covid-19,
In this time of economic upheaval and uncertainty
Your instructions for New Vrindaban,
And for the devotees worldwide, are more important than ever.
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You are the eternal guide and well-wisher of your devotees.
I beg that I may honor the Vaiṣṇavas properly,
And continue to have their association,
And that I may continue to serve you and please you
By serving the pilgrims who visit here,
And by always remaining at the lotus feet
of Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra.
Please allow me to chant the holy names with great attention.
Kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
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Havi Dasa
In the nearness of you

Very dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my loving obeisances to your delicate lotus feet.
All glories to your precious self.
Here I am in spinning my head, trying to put together some
sincere words of appreciation and gratitude that would convey
my love for you.
How extraordinary is your story, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and how
good it is to know that your disciples have endeavored to ensure
that every syllable that came out of your mouth is now recorded
and protected for posterity. So many things you have said and so
many things you have done in just the few years you were with us.
It’s not easy to do true justice with the legacy you left; dozens of
books, hundreds of temples, thousands of disciples and a map to
restore the world through the varṇāśrama system. Only a spiritual
giant can do this. It really is a challenge to begin to understand the
dimension of your person. Among your many celebrated phrases,
one in particular always moves me profoundly. You said: “If millions
of distributed books, if hundreds of temples and thousands of
devotees generate one single pure devotee, then I can consider my
mission a success.”
How fortunate a few of your disciples are to have met you
personally. To watch your aristocratic manners, your face and your
ancestral gaze; to be able to appreciate your raw and deep voice.
Who could have understood who was in there? Who can today?
By observing you, the person Bhāgavatam, the way you conducted
yourself, we were able to have a hint of the character of the great
personalities we read in the book Bhāgavatam.
The Western hemisphere has been influenced by Greece, Rome,
and the religious traditions that arose from the geography of the
Middle East. But the Vedic tradition, as old as life and as complete
as Kṛṣṇa was introduced by Your Divine Grace only 50 years ago.
So, there is hope. It is time to regenerate humanity and build a new
civilization. This is now possible, thanks to the goodness of heart of
Your Divine Grace. The glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme father,
son, friend, and lover, as well as the emblem of pure devotional
service, centered in your person, one day soon will be recognized
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and revered massively.
Ebe jaśa ghuṣuk tribhuvana. Your fame is spread all over
the three worlds.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I know how much I lack in this
purification process you gave us. When the time comes for me to
leave this world, wherever I may go, I implore to be allowed to serve
in the nearness of you.

Havi Dasa
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Jaya Bhadra Devi Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisance at your lotus feet. All glories
to Your Divine Grace and the great souls in the paramparā, whom
you so devotedly and masterfully represent.
I remember the first darśana I was blessed to receive from you.
We were greeting you at the airport in San Francisco in 1973. The
devotees were wildly ecstatic as you emerged with utmost humility
and were ceremonially garlanded.
Later that week you granted me dīkṣā, mercifully prompting
me, “Loudly” as I gasped through my vows. Then you told me
“Bhadra is a name for Kṛṣṇa meaning ‘the most gentle’ – and you
are the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa – Jaya Bhadra!” You extended your
golden hand holding my beads – it was all I could dare look at or
even see through my tears, and I felt amazed that you were present
within me also. Like Sukadeva Gosvāmī, you can enter into the
heart of everyone.
With the ever-increasing flood of mercy you continually bestow
upon me, it is most amazing that I am not a completely purified
soul. This is testimony to the pivotal role of free will in the matter
of bondage and emancipation. You often mention that Kṛṣṇa ‘does
not touch on your tiny independence’. Something so tiny poses
such a huge obstacle for those who do not use it for their own or
anyone else’s benefit. You give every facility to make me love you
and Kṛṣṇa. I am grateful yet ever lagging behind. I pray that you
may never forsake me.
Your irresolute, yet hopeful daughter,

Jaya Bhadra Devi Dasi
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Kalakantha Dasa
The Brāhmaṇas’ Wives

As Kṛṣṇa once dispatched his friends to beg from smārta priests,

when you sailed West and needed help, you naturally turned East
and asked some paṇḍit friends for men and funds to be released.
Yet all of them ignored you and did not help in the least.
As Kṛṣṇa told his friends that beggars sometimes are rebuffed,

you knew the Lord would send you help, and help came soon
enough.
It came from low-class people who were fallen, blind and rough,
and not from high-class smārta-types whose egos were too puffed.
As brāhmaṇa wives and not their husbands brought Lord Kṛṣṇa

food,
it was these fallen souls who caught your missionary mood.
While paṇḍits criticized your flock as muchis, foul and crude,
you knew the Pañca-tattva did not favor or exclude.
As all the brāhmaṇas’ wives received much more than what they
gave,
so grateful were the youthful boys and girls that you had saved,
they took your flood of love of God to Delhi and Bombay.
And when your countrymen took note, they too drowned in its
waves.
As all the brāhmaṇas’ wives then chose to stay right where they
were,
for Kṛṣṇa, not their husbands, was the man that they preferred,
we wanted you to stay with us, your youthful amateurs,
for how could we survive without your form and just your words?
As Kṛṣṇa told the brāhmaṇas’ wives to go back on their own

to handle household duties in their haughty husbands’ homes,
you told us all to carry on the way you’d always shown.
With Supersoul and guru in the heart, we’re not alone.
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As all the brāhmaṇas’ wives agreed to do what Kṛṣṇa asked,
returning to their homes, fulfilling ordinary tasks,
like you, we move ahead despite the smārtas who, in fact,
do nothing to assist, though they may claim to have our backs.
As all the smārta brāhmaṇas finally started to lament

for disrespecting Him for whom their sacrifice was meant,
dear Prabhupāda, you showed how spiritual intelligence
surpasses smug and superficial smārta sentiments.
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Naikatma Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your
merciful lotus feet
I am feeling a great vacancy in your physical absence although
your vāṇī is relieving me as I struggle in this burning existence.
To the degree one follows and applies the instructions of guru
and Kṛṣṇa, to that degree one overcomes the miseries of material
existence. Certainly, these times are very difficult for all, including
the forgotten animals, though this is no surprise, as it is foretold in
the Vedic literatures.
Kaler doṣa nidhe rājan, which you have so kindly presented
to this dark world.
Had you not taken the risk of coming here we can hardly imagine
the chaos that would be around us. Certainly, darker days are ahead
as the Age progresses, and Mother Nature reacts to the grossly sinful
and cheating activities she is burdened with.
However, you showed by example how serving Lord Kṛṣṇa
is the remedy for all crisis, no matter it be social, economic,
political or identity.
You proved that by serving Kṛṣṇa, wealth will come. “It’s waiting
to be used properly”.
You proved that simple living sufficiently provides the basic ne-
cessities and protection for the citizenry which includes the animals.
You proved that a leader can be truthful and compassionate
You proved to all that we can only be truly happy as
Kṛṣṇa’s servants.
Certainly, only the empowered representative of Kṛṣṇa could
have acted as you did.
As you are empowered by Lord Kṛṣṇa, your instructions have
become empowered by the Lord, so that one who follows these
instructions can be likewise empowered.
Your mission is quite clear. In the footsteps of the previous
ācāryas, you are distributing this message to everyone with no
condition. As you stated in the purport Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.50
that, “...the duty of the disciple is to take charge of the mission of the
spiritual master and execute it properly.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please allow me to assist you in this mission
which is serving Lord Caitanya’s desire of liberating all the suffering
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conditioned souls. I’ve wasted so much time surrendering to the
material energy with nothing to show but misery, and then again
you have proven by example.
Only by complete surrender to guru and Kṛṣṇa were you able
to battle thru the multitude of challenges and give the world the
perfect answer of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, for it, to be a better place or
at least an oasis in this time.
My prayer is that you please give me the shelter of your
instructions as I know they will give me the power of remembrance
that I am simply a servant of the servant of Guru and Kṛṣṇa.
Aspiring to do something to please you,

Your servant,
Naikatma Dasa
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Svavasa Dasa


On this most auspicious occasion of your Appearance Day, please
accept my humble obeisances!
Just a few months ago I was visiting Śrī Dhām Māyāpur for the
Gaura Pūrṇimā festival, and I was overcome with emotion in seeing
the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium. I was also struck by how sincere
and dedicated the devotees are in glorifying and fulfilling your
desires in spreading this Movement around the world. The mood
was surcharged with happiness in chanting the holy names, dancing
together and ecstatic feelings of love for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s
saṅkīrtana movement!
When I visited your Samādhi I felt a sense of joy and fulfilment
that inspired within me the desire to become more immersed in
your mission. So I am now reading your books more than I used to
and it has opened my eyes even more to your purity, your perfect
knowledge and your total surrender to the mission of your Spiritual
Master Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Mahārāja.
Who can understand the wonderful characteristics of a pure
devotee? When we think of you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are simply
amazed and our hearts fill with respect and great affection for you!
In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa proclaims who His most confidential
servant is (18.68–69):
For one who explains this supreme secret to the
devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed,
and at the end he will come back to Me.
There is no servant in this world more dear to Me

than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.
On so many occasions you have told us that if we can educate
people to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa that is the best service to Kṛṣṇa! You
would quote Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa
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āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa
You would encourage us to simply request everyone to chant the
mahā-mantra and preach the message of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam. That one should also give up all nonsense engagements
and surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that is the best service! Kṛṣṇa wants that
all these bewildered living entities who have come here to enjoy
material happiness be given information that this is not a good plan.
Therefore all the śāstras, Vedic literatures and great saintly
persons like you Śrīla Prabhupāda, simply come to give us a hint
how we can make spiritual advancement in life. They don’t come to
teach us how to become materially comfortable!
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you also taught us that real progress means
to make progress in religious concepts of life. You would say that
our material comforts according to our bodies are already settled
up and we cannot improve it, but we can improve our spiritual
advancement in this life!
Śrīla Prabhupāda you are a real mahātmā because you are broad-
minded and a great soul under the control of daiva-prakṛti. Daivīṁ
prakṛtim āśritāḥ. You had no other motive but to render service
to Kṛṣṇa. It was not about an exchange, or some gain, simply to
serve Kṛṣṇa! This was exhibited by your tireless efforts and today
the chanting of the holy names resounds throughout the whole
world. Millions of your books have been distributed worldwide,
and thousands are joining the Krishna Consciousness Movement
through your transcendental purports, and many more will
come in the future!
bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās
tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayam vibho
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni
svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhṛtā
“My Lord, devotees like your good self are verily holy places
personified because you carry the Personality of Godhead within
your heart you turn all places into places of pilgrimage.” (SB 1.13.10)
On this auspicious day I pray for your causeless mercy on
this fallen soul so that I may fix my mind, body, and soul on your
instructions in serving your mission.

Svavasa Dasa
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Parividha Dasa
My greatest well-wisher Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Every year your fame is spread more and more on this planet.
Every year more and more souls, due to the reading your books have
started
to visit a temple, started chanting japa, and offering their food to the Lord.
A few days ago, a song from the early sixties popped up in my mind,
and the lyrics evolved into an offering to you.
If my attraction, affection and gratitude were as strong in the seventies,
as it is these days, I could have written it on the 15th of November in ‘77.
Why does the sun go on shining?

Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
Cause you’re not here anymore
Why do the birds go on singing?

Why do the stars light the sky?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
For why don’t they fall from the sky?
I woke up this morning and wondered

Will I feel this sad evermore?
I can’t understand, no, I can’t understand
How life goes on as before
Why does my heart go on beating?

Why are there tears on my face?
The reason I cry: It’s the end of the world
As we have lost Your Divine Grace
Your grateful disciple,

Parividha Dasa
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Ujjala Devi Dasi
The Gift of Love

This material life has been but a bleep in time, lost spirit soul don’t
you recognize me?
Free fear spirit soul from withstanding facing the light, your back
to the sun is darkness!!!
Speak to us of friendship,
You are our needs answered
You are our field which we sow with love and reap the benefits
with gratitude
I come to you with spiritual hunger, and I seek for the Absolute
Truth
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

I have found the truth
I have met the soul walking upon my path
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals
The teacher walks in the temple among his followers,

Giving us wisdom, faith and his lovingness.
Teaching us how to understand our own mind.
My mind tells me false ideas about myself, But none of it is truth,
except for the mercy of your unconditional self.
Your purity is difficult to understand for this fallen soul, but by

your kind grace you take me along, come on spirit soul!
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find
Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is only that which has given you sorrow that
he is giving you joy.
My feet dance upon this earth to offer it all to you, understanding
the process is that which is joyfully performed.
You can loosen the strings of a sitar, but who shall command the
peacock not to sing?
And when you are silent my heart ceases.

You see all my thoughts, all desires, and the joy that is unclaimed.
For what I love in you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is clearer in your absence,
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as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
You are my spiritual master, so I want to give you my best.

I seek you always with hours to live, remembering the sweetness of
our friendship your laughter and tears.
For in the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is
refreshed.
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice in the holy name to take us home.
And let there be in the song a remembrance of your lotus feet.
How we sang and danced together in unison to the beat.
My heart swells with love and it overflows with thoughts of you.

And with a blink of an eye my heart fills dry, like a desert sky
Both push me on my journey to be with you.
Waiting again for the morning dew.
The deeper that separation carves into your being, the more joy you
can contain.
Joy and separation are inseparable.
Together they come when you sit alone.
You are suspended like scales between joy and separation.
When you feel separation look again in your heart, and you shall
see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your
delight.
Only then shall you know that the elite and the fallen, are but one
man standing in twilight between the night of his fallen-self and
the day of his blissful, eternal self.
And that the cornerstone of the temple, is not higher than the
lowest stone in its foundation.
Let today embrace the past with remembrance, and the future with
longing to serve your lotus feet.
Your mercy flows through me

Your servant and daughter,
Ujjala Devi Dasi
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Rajendranandana Dasa

All glories to Your Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupāda!
Once again, I have the good fortune to offer some glorification
and expression of gratitude to you on this most auspicious day of
the anniversary of your appearance in this material world. I am
feeling unqualified to properly perform this service, so like Dhruva
Mahārāja who needed the touch of Lord Viṣṇu’s conch shell or
Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, who needed the blessings of Lord Caitanya
to offer prayers of glorification, I need your mercy to say anything
of value you might be pleased with. I pray for your mercy and
permission to try and proceed.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, when we glorify you on your Vyāsa-pūjā day,
we focus on you and the unparalleled service to your Guru Mahārāja
His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and
Śrī Śrī Gaura Nitāi. With heartfelt gratitude, I also meditate on and
try to express how it was you who first approached me through your
purports in the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and showed me the path of
devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Before hearing your devotional
ecstasies of glorification of the Lord and the process of bhakti, I
was a blind ignorant fool simply suffering while trying to enjoy the
pleasures of animal life.
Due to my stubborn and causeless unwillingness to fully
surrender body, mind and words to your instructions, I am still an
ignorant fool, but I am not blind. You have opened my eyes sufficiently
for me to realize I have to fully surrender! I am confident this will
happen either voluntarily or by force by the arrangement of the Lord
to assist you in reclaiming this conditioned soul. By your grace, I am
seeing more and more how everything that happens in my life is a
manifestation of your desire to give me pure devotional service.
In this regard, on this day, we not only glorify you personally
but also glorify Guru Tattva which is the principle that everyone
and everything that help us is a manifestation of Ādi Guru, Lord
Balarāma and Lord Nityānanda.
Uddhava praises Lord Kṛṣṇa by saying:
Even if endowed with the lifetime of Lord Brahmā,
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great sages cannot properly express their gratitude
for you, because you appeared both as Caitya-
Guru internally and externally as the spiritual
master to deliver the conditioned living entities.
I often meditate on and try to realize your guru’s words when he
said:
If I did not see my spiritual master manifest in
everyone and everything, I would feel completely
bereft and without shelter in this world.
Coming to understand this more, I offer respects, and I listen to you
through so many devotees and so many experiences in my life. You
shared with us that you never felt alone, that your spiritual master
was always with you in his instructions.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I want to follow in your footsteps and become
a surrendered disciple of yours. I want to chant the names of the
Lord purely. I want to be an instrument in your hands to share with
others your message of hope, the teachings of Lord Caitanya and
Lord Kṛṣṇa. I understand the price for such gifts: the abandoning
of selfish desires for sense gratification, the desires for profit,
distinction and adoration. Such desires are the cause of my suffering
and the cause of again taking birth and dying in this material world.
I never want to do that again in ignorance.
By your grace, I understand I cannot accomplish this on my own.
I need your mercy in the form of your instructions and service. The
positive engagement of devotional service is the simple and perfect
process for replacing māyā with Kṛṣṇa. I have faith and confidence
that the impossible can be done if I completely and unreservedly
give this life to you and your mission.
I pray and I beg on this day for your blessings, the blessings of
Śrīla Akiñcana Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī, whose disappearance anniversary
is today, the blessings of the previous ācāryas, the blessings of the
Pañca-tattva, Prahlāda Mahārāja and Lord Nṛsiṁha, the blessings
of Śrī Dhām Māyāpur, the blessings of the holy names, Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, and Bhakti Devi, the blessings of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī
and Her maidservants, and last but not least the blessings of my
godbrothers and godsisters and all the members and friends of your
ISKCON movement.
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Please hear my prayer and give me the strength to stand firm
on this commitment of full surrender in devotional service to you
and the Lord. I am patiently waiting and endeavouring to accept
whatever mercy you give.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for everything!
Your lowly and insignificant disciple,

Rajendranandana Dasa
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Draviḍa Dāsa

Please accept my most respectful obeisances at your lotus feet.
All glories to you!
It’s been a little over 47 years since I decided at last that trying
to practice bhakti-yoga on my own was hopeless—that I needed the
encouragement, shelter, and spiritual strength that only a temple
and ashram filled with Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotees could provide. So I
gave up my little apartment, job, life savings, and car and joined
the legendary Henry St. temple in Brooklyn on March 27, 1973. Nine
days later you visited the temple.
I was way too wet behind the ears to appreciate at the time my
extraordinary good fortune of getting your darśana and hearing you
personally give class so soon after joining the temple. But I appreciate
it now. I still remember your class on one of Queen Kuntī’s prayers
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.21):
kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya
devakī-nandanāya ca
nanda-gopa-kumārāya
govindāya namo namaḥ
“Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who
has become the son of Vasudeva, the pleasure of Devakī, the boy of
Nanda and the other cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, and the enlivener
of the cows and the senses.” “Govindāya namo namaḥ” we all chanted
with you—as Govinda and His consort Rādhā gazed lovingly at you,
Their dearest devotee, from the altar.
In the class you said, “[It] is the duty of every kṛṣṇa-bhakta to try
to enlighten everyone to Krishna Consciousness.” For me, fulfilling
this duty came in the form of hours of daily harināma-saṅkīrtana in
Manhattan and engagement at ISKCON Press (soon renamed the
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) as a proofreader of your books.
After a year or so as a proofreader I became an editor for BTG
magazine, then came a stint at editing some chapters in the Fifth
Canto and the Antya-līlā for the famous “17-books-in-two-months
marathon” in LA, then more BTG work and a year at the BI in Atlanta
and Philadelphia, back to BTG in New York, down to Miami to help
complete your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam project, and since 1989 here in San
Diego for varieties of BBT work.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, my heart is filled with gratitude for all you’ve
given me—a lifetime of service worshiping your words and words
following yours, an opportunity to associate with many of your
sincerest followers, the facility to follow the full morning program
in or near a temple practically every day of my devotional life,
prasādam, pilgrimages to India, and in general all the devotional
opulences of ISKCON.
You risked your life to give me and millions of others the absolute
truth about the Absolute Truth, and to give us the practical means
for transforming our lives from sinful to sinless through the process
of bhakti taught by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and his followers.
There can be no greater sacrifice than what you undertook for our
sake, and therefore we owe you an unrepayable debt. Please bless
me so that I can dedicate the remainder of this life to your service, as
well as all future lives.
O Prabhupāda, on this great day

When you appeared, just like a ray
Of Kṛṣṇa’s vast effulgence bright,
To give this blind world back its sight,
We thank you from the bottom of

Our heart, and pray with deepest love
That we may serve your lotus feet
In every circumstance we meet.
As years go by and books go out,

We see what life is all about:
To serve your mission, and our Lord’s,
By spreading wide your sacred words.
As well you want us all to strive

To let those words direct our lives.
This safest path will lead us Home,
No more in māyā’s realm to roam.
Your deeply thankful servant,

Draviḍa Dāsa
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Pranesvara Dasa


As a limousine driver, I was given the blessing of driving you
when you visited your Paris Isvara and New Māyāpur dhāmas.
Onboard the Mercedes-Benz limo, you asked Bhagavan Prabhu why
such a luxurious car, because you did not want to waste Kṛṣṇa’s
money. He explained that my boss, the owner of the limo, after
hearing Harivilas Prabhu glorifying you, said “for such a servant
of the Lord, use the car as long as required and just pay for petrol.”
Looking in the mirror I heard you saying: “Very good, very good.”
Another time in 1977, I received another blessing from your
disciples. In your Calcutta ISKCON temple I served as your
chowkidar (guard). Your personal servant, Bhavananda Prabhu, had
gone to the kitchen for he was serving your lunch. I was sitting alone
outside, guarding your room, when I heard the sound of your bell
requesting service. I thought, ‘Here is my chance’, and entered the
room offering my prostrated obeisances. Sitting on the floor, your
elbow resting on a small table, you asked: “Please carry me to the
bathroom!” Then I helped your aged body to stand up, and arm-in-
arm we walked the few steps to the sink. You rinsed your hand, and
before going to pass water, you told me, “Go back to the room and
see that they don’t take away my plate, because I haven’t finished.”
Then the servant returned, and to this day I am slowly realising
the immense value of a second’s association with a pure devotee of
Kṛṣṇa! Please Śrīla Prabhupāda, I beg your forgiveness for all my
offences and misbehavior, and my only hope today is to become the
servant of the servant of your devotees.
Once in Māyāpur, India, I joined Acyutananda Swami and went
to Asansol, West Bengal, where we distributed books in the street of
that industrial city to please Your Divine Grace. After a few weeks,
returning to Māyāpur, I joined the devotees to accompany you on
your way downstairs, as you did every morning to greet the Deities
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of Rādhā-Madhava and Pañca-tattva. Seeing you accompanied by
many Vaiṣṇavas chanting your glories, prostrating my self halfway
down the staircase I silently thought, “My dear Kṛṣṇa within my
heart, and you Śrīla Prabhupāda, to both of you I offer this saṅkīrtana
performed with my godbrothers.” Your Divine Grace stopped a few
seconds till I raised my head, and said “Jaya”. The Lord in the heart
and you are one. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
Nitāi Gaur Haribol!

Pranesvara Dasa
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Madhusevita Dāsa

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa
on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

Here are twenty-six reasons why we can’t fail you:
We can’t fail you because you are most dear to Kṛṣṇa.
We can’t fail you because you are Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s envoy.
We can’t fail you because you are Nitāi-

Gaurāṅga’s mercy incarnate.
We can’t fail you because you are the pride

and joy of the previous ācāryas.
We can’t fail you because you underwent

so many tribulations just to save us.
We can’t fail you because nobody ever loved us as you did.
We can’t fail you because you created the family of ISKCON.
We can’t fail you because your instructions are impeccable.
We can’t fail you because your adorable

disarming smile conquered us.
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We can’t fail you because you tolerated so much nonsense.
We can’t fail you because you turned

us from failures to sādhakas.
We can’t fail you because you are Prabhupāda.
We can’t fail you because you devastated our foolish pride.
We can’t fail you because you annihilated

We can’t fail you because you are the person bhāgavata.
We can’t fail you because it would be so stupid to do so.
We can’t fail you because your deep

affection left us no way out.
We can’t fail you because you cried to Kṛṣṇa for us.
We can’t fail you because you told us you depended on us.
We can’t fail you because if we do, remorse will kill us.
We can’t fail you because we want to see you again.
We can’t fail you because without you there is only void.
We can’t fail you because you are carefully watching us.
We can’t fail you because if we do, Lord

Nityānanda will get mad at us.
We can’t fail you because it would displease

so many wonderful devotees.
And finally, we can’t fail you because by some inconceivable fortune

we have developed love for you.

Madhusevita Dāsa
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Divyanga Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances
Forgive my offences
Thank you for rescuing me
As rascal as I am I still participate daily in sādhana
Every day I read your books and distribute them
And every single time I do I find guidance and shelter in your
“personal ecstatic” purports
Thank you.
“Forgotten Kṛṣṇa
we fallen souls
Paying most heavy
the illusions toll
Darkness around
all distress
The only hope
Your Divine Grace.
That says it all “The Only Hope”
You wrote in your poetry (Shower of Divine Compassion)
Your explicit order for us:
everyone should work together
to enact the preaching mission
while remaining immersed in your instructions.
Those who serve the instructions of the spiritual master
actually worship him.
In serving the spiritual master’s instructions
the disciples are empowered by his transcendental
sound vibration
Our spiritual master has commanded us to go out and preach
All of us should unite in purpose and flood the lands with waves
of Kṛṣṇa conscious preaching
crossing oceans, covering the world
penetrating the universal shell
Oh please, make a pledge this very day
to give up all petty fault finding
Do not protest!
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Just join together and preach.”
Thank you
Your words are always there for us we simply have to hear
The disciple has an eternal debt to his spiritual master that can
never be repaid
However a sincere bhakta tries every day his level best
Thank you for allowing me to stay on your saṅkīrtana party
I promise I’ll try and be a better disciple
sarva-vaiṣṇavera pā’ye kari namaskāra
ithe aparādha kichu nahuka āmāra
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your rascal servant,

Divyanga Dasa
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Dhanesvara Dasa

Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet.
I came to meet you as a young adult, still very ignorant of the
ways of life and in the process of learning about the nature of this
world. Even though at that time I had what is called an “advanced
education,” the education I received from you has been the greatest
and most significant education that anyone could receive. Not only
about the practical steps of navigating this world, but an education
that has given me a worldview of not just the big picture, but the
biggest picture of all! viz., universes emanating from the pores of
Mahā-Viṣṇu and the entire material and spiritual worlds – and
how it all works in the most wondrous manner by Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s
inconceivable energies!
Still, book learning and realization are two different things,
and over the course of time my life’s experiences would give
further lessons – and many realizations – of the knowledge learned
earlier from you.
Many of those realizations came as a result of devotional activity
and both selfish and selfless service, while others have come as
a result of unpleasant, difficult and sometimes even disgusting
experiences. I write this not just for myself, but speaking for many of
your sincere followers.
Realizing the very limited extent of what we can do as individual
living beings constrained by our guṇa and karma.
Realizing that if we allow ourselves to be used as instruments in
your service that amazing miracles can be accomplished.
Realizing how māyā stands at the ready to “serve us” with
illusion the instant that we give her an opportunity.
And also realizing that you and Śrī Kṛṣṇa also stand ready to
protect us if we will remember your instructions, and immediately
seek your shelter from māyā.
Realizing that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is indeed present in His arcā vigraha and
does reciprocate with the devotees who serve Him with love, and
that such love is developed by serving Him in that form.
Realizing that a true and advanced devotee is to be recognized
by criteria other than dress, position, title or number of followers.
Realizing that advancement in devotional service is not merely a
matter of leading a good kīrtana, giving a good class, or performing
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some devotional service by which we receive recognition and
approval of other Vaiṣṇavas.
Realizing that chanting of the mahā-mantra indeed raises our
consciousness, freeing us from our earlier disgusting habits.
Realizing that vox populi is not the criteria of a bona fide guru.
Realizing that a bona fide guru is servant, not an enjoyer.
Realizing that there are many varieties of people in this world
and that everybody is not like us, that projecting our understanding
and motivations onto others is a big mistake.
Realizing that there are many cruel, and even demonic people
in this world, and even gaining this realization through personal
experiences with them.
Realizing by our own lived experiences, not reading about them
in some book, that this world is indeed controlled by the demonic.
Realizing, to our horror, that your statements about rākṣasas as
beings who find pleasure in eating children and drinking their blood
are shockingly true! And that such “people” are present, well known,
and even adored by some as “entertainers” or “political elite.”
Realizing that the theories we have read over the years, that this
world is controlled by demons who think nothing of killing thousand
and even millions of people to achieve their aims, are indeed real,
and that the depths of their depravity is beyond the comprehension
of any normal human being.
Realizing that these demons, are very much like the
Hiranyakasipu we have learned about from you, and their goal, like
Hiraṇyakaśipu, is total control over every human being and living
thing in this world, and that they will lie, cheat, terrorize and kill the
populace, and do anything whatsoever to achieve that control.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, through our life’s experiences your
teachings have come to life and given us a perspective from which
we have been able to understand what is what, and which is which.
And by those realizations we have become firmly established in
the truth and realized these statements Śrī Kṛṣṇa has given in the
Bhagavad-gītā (6.21–23): “established thus, one never departs from
the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain.
Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the
midst of the greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from
all miseries arising from material contact.”
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, we pray that we will have yet more years
in this world through which we may have many more wonderful
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realizations, especially including the following:
How, by spreading the holy names around,
the entire world will become happy.
How by calling for Kṛṣṇa’s shelter in His holy

names we will see how He effortlessly frustrates
and defeats the demonic world controllers.
How everyone in this world will have the opportunity

to read your original, unadulterated books, and by
doing so recognize you as the savior of this world, as
Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s senāpati bhakta, and worship you as such.
And how it will be written in future chapters of

the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda engaged his army of less-than-human
monkeys, to defeat the powerful demons of Kali-yuga.
Śrīla Prabhupāda I fall at your feet again and again to thank you
for a most wonderful life of learning and realization in Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s
devotional service, and I pray that you will bless me with the
opportunity to continue to act as your servant in any manner
possible, life-after-life.
Please be kind and grant me this request.
Always and everywhere I aspire to be your servant,

and the servant of your true servants,
Dhanesvara Dasa
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Aristaha Dasa

Thank you for accepting me as your disciple. I want to submit
a poem I wrote. It is a subjective piece of writing, free writing. It
is more an expression of my heart than an expression of my head.
Usually I am more within my head than within my heart, but as the
heart is the seat of the soul, I think this free writing is a more honest
expression of my true intention. I offer my daṇḍavat praṇām to your
divine lotus feet, and pray for forgiveness for all the negligence and
offences I may have committed to your lotus feet. I offer my humble
obeisances first to you, then to your disciples, then to your grand
disciples. ISKCON is a wonderful society, I am feeling grateful for
being allowed to play an insignificant role in your mission.
Your servant,
Aristaha Dasa
O Prabhupāda, you came to us

To give us spiritual salvation
In the form of love of Kṛṣṇa
Not impersonal liberation
We are already impersonal

In our dealings with the Lord
And also among each other
Forgetting that Kṛṣṇa is our Mother
Seed-giving Father and source of everything

Without Him we cannot exist for a single moment
This is the world where forgetfulness is the essence
Thinking of everything except the Lord’s eternal presence
I am grateful, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you came

The way you did in great humility with grace
Teaching us the Vedic knowledge
A powerful mace
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In the hands of someone like you
Completely pure with unadulterated devotion
Reaching down to the most unfortunate
Who are suffering in illusion suffering in confusion
I am a fallen soul
Born in this dark painful Age
But I was praying in a helpless way
And you descended from above a swan-like sage
I tried and failed so many times

But someone (you) picked me up
And placed me in the best association
Of saintly devotees giving me the priceless cup
To drink the transcendent knowledge

Flowing from your heart
Of transcendental sound vibrations
A loving force a faithful promise to never leave depart
From your lotus feet

Pinkish cool and soft and sweet
Creating an umbrella
Under whose shelter all devotees can lovingly meet
I am like a barking dog a restless child

Who needs a good forgiving master just like you
I easily go astray what shall I say?
What shall I do? Your answer is please
Stay in the association of devotees

And try to chant the holy name
Perform your assigned service
And work to increase Kṛṣṇa’s fame
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It is all your mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda
From the beginning to the end
I make unlimited offences
But you are the one selected who the sinful can defend
You are like the moon

A shining star
A light to guide those wayward souls
From near and from far
Who are in illusion confined in confusion

Who have forgotten the Supreme Lord
Please cut their ignorance to pieces
With Bhagavad-gītā’s illuminating sword
Thank you, dear spiritual master

A thousand times I seek your mercy bowing down
Please forgive my many offences
Your kindness and compassion you have shown
To one who was completely lost

Whose heart was bitten by the atheist frost
Who was born in darkness and in pain
Still devotional service is our undying gain
O Śrīla Prabhupāda, please

Be kind to us who are your servants
We have nobody else like you
Please accept us, please tell us what to do.
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Nirantara Dasa
My dear Spiritual Master,

I beg the privilege of offering obeisances at your lotus feet,
although I am not actually worthy of doing so.
My attraction to you first came in the form of reading your
powerful words. By reading only a few chapters of Kṛṣṇa Book,
I decided to dedicate the rest of my life to you and your mission.
Since 1973 I have tried to obey your instructions, although I have
failed and fallen too many times to count. However, your books, and
your sound vibration through your bhajans and kīrtanas, has kept
me somehow or other connected to your great ISKCON Movement.
Kṛṣṇa Book is still my favorite, and I read and re-read it so many times.
I am asked again and again to visit India, but because of my
fragile health condition it is too risky for me to do so. But when
I read your Kṛṣṇa Book I feel I am in the spiritual world, what to
speak of India.
It is better I remain on the battlefield of preaching. I have learned
from you that preaching is the best service, and I have realized that
steadily since 1994. I once asked you in 1975, “What pleases you the
most?” to which you replied, “If you love Kṛṣṇa”. I have taken that as
your instruction to me as my heart and soul. In my preaching I have
tried my best to take your words and explain them in my own way.
I have found that if I just stick to your teachings, your books, your
message, then I am protected and empowered. I can never repay
what you have done for me, as you saved me from going to hell.
That is a debt that can never be repaid. But I can attempt to repay by
preaching and gradually developing my love for Kṛṣṇa. Somehow or
other, by your grace I have some attraction for Kṛṣṇa’s name, fame,
form and pastimes. I still have a few more years, hopefully, to preach
and so I will continue just as I have been doing now for so many
years. There is no need to change anything, I just have to repeat your
message. I want that one day you will appear to me in a dream and
affirm that you are pleased by my menial service. Until then I will
never give up learning how to love Kṛṣṇa as taught by you ONLY!

Nirantara Dasa
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Ramanatha sukha Dasa

Somehow I have been given a small fraction of your limitless
mercy and have been allowed to do some service to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Gokulānanda and Their sincere servants at New Gokul dham,
Bhaktivedanta Manor. I remain eternally grateful for whatever
service you ask of me.
As I write this offering in early May, the world has been turned
upside down. People around the world are reflecting on their
own mortality as the coronavirus threatens to disrupt the status
quo in health, economics, and geopolitical posturing. Potentially
this can be beneficial for your ISKCON society and the saṅkīrtana
movement. Undoubtedly, there will be many changes in the coming
year that will challenge people to re-evaluate their philosophical
world view. ISKCON properly situated will help educate them to
the truth of Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Lord Caitanya’s
saṅkīrtana movement.
I recently read in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.8.31:
Since the creation of the material world, there have
been two kinds of men—the devas and the asuras. The
devas are always faithful to the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, whereas the asuras are always atheists who
defy the supremacy of the Lord. At the present moment,
throughout the entire world, the atheists are extremely
numerous. They are trying to prove that there is no God
and that everything takes place due to combinations and
permutations of material elements. Thus the material world
is becoming more and more godless, and consequently
everything is in a disturbed condition. If this continues,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead will certainly take
action, as He did in the case of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Within a
second, Hiraṇyakaśipu and his followers were destroyed,
and similarly if this godless civilization continues, it
will be destroyed in a second, simply by the movement
of one finger of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The demons should therefore be careful and curtail
their godless civilization. They should take advantage of
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the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and become faithful
to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; otherwise they
are doomed. As Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed in a second,
the godless civilization can be destroyed at any moment.
These words have special relevance now as people are challenged
with the world pandemic. No one knows how long this situation
will continue. Even in our devotional communities devotees are
challenging the status quo and re-evaluating how to organize our
preaching vision so it will be most effective in these difficult times.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, in your last months with us you
expressed some transcendental lamentation. You said that 50%
of your mission was complete and 50% was incomplete. Here in
London there is great opportunity to establish Daiva Varṇāśrama
in a practical manner. I foresee how your vision to unite the Sikhs
(kṣatriyas) with the devotees (brāhmaṇas) can be practically applied.
There is immense scope for preaching to the followers of Guru
Nanak and have them understand you as a continuation of the Guru
Granth Sahib. Lord Caitanya and Guru Nanak had mutual love and
respect for one another, similar to your loving relationship with
Yogi Bhajan in the 1970s. By your mercy, I aspire to assist you in
developing this preaching potential. On the auspicious anniversary
day of your appearance, I beg for your benediction that the large Sikh
community in London can have a more meaningful and symbiotic
relationship with ISKCON. My greatest happiness and blessing will
be in assisting you to broaden the non-sectarian philosophy of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu and create an auspicious atmosphere that
allows more and more people to appreciate your transcendental
genius. With the clarity of 20-20 vision, I pray that this year becomes a
turning point so that future generations of devotees will understand
how in 2020 important reforms and changes manifested to make
your mission 100% complete.
This sinful and unfortunate disciple

prays for your eternal mercy and guidance,
Ramanatha sukha Dasa
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Indriya Damana Dasa
Beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your all auspicious lo-
tus feet. Despite my obvious lack of qualification, let me try to write
some sincere words of appreciation of Your Divine Grace. Bearing
the ocean of mercy in your heart overflowing with compassion, you
worked tirelessly to save all conditioned souls from the cycle of birth
and death in this miserable material world. In spite of having to over-
see the development of a fast-expanding worldwide Movement, you
had time for everyone, so-called big personalities as well as so-called
insignificant ones, and even trees and bugs, we have heard. With so
much hard work and facing whatever danger and difficulties which
came up, you gave all of mankind the knowledge required to get out
of this material world and develop love for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Such a
huge task accomplished, you gave all the credit to your spiritual mas-
ter, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. The
whole world is indebted to you. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
the embodiment of Lord Nityānanda’s mercy.

Indriya Damana Dasa
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Yadavendra Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances always and in particular
on this occasion of your 2020 Vyāsa-pūjā day! All glories to
Your Divine Grace!
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am a fruitive servant. When I chant the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mantra and remember the Lord, it is more like a matter of
thanksgiving. Many countries, especially the USA, have thanksgiving
days. Time and again I find myself in a situation where Lord Kṛṣṇa
graces me with unexpected, incredible and even unimaginable
benedictions. Thus I feel His hand in my life, remember Him and
indeed become ecstatic and chant. It is no wonder that you stated
that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the nicest boss. As always, your statement is
fully justified!
I also listen to such ecstatic kīrtanas such on YouTube such as
“Final day of parikrama” by your talented disciple H.G. Bada Haridāsa
Prabhu. As you have taught us, this is the saṅkīrtana sacrifice (yajña)
in full swing, the specific Kali-yuga dharma. You say that kīrtana
must be melodious. We may say that H.G. Bada Haridāsa Prabhu’s
kīrtanas are not only melodious but also sweet and pleasing to the
heart. We have Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and anthem of the European
Union. But here, especially towards the end, we have the march of
liberation and triumph over the fourfold material miseries, birth,
death, old age and disease. This is true religion, as opposed to
“pretentious religion”, (Cc. Ādi 1.91). All glories to your disciple
H.G. Bada Haridāsa Prabhu, among many, many others, a worthy
representative of yours!
As far as being your dancing elephants, I feel most like a
dancing elephant when bouncing around on a nice wooden floor
at the sounds of kīrtanas led by the like of H.H. Indradyumna
Swami, H.H. B. B. Govinda Mahārāja, H.H. Kadamba Kānana
Mahārāja, H.G. Bada Haridāsa Prabhu, H.G. Mādhava Prabhu, H.G.
Śrī Prahlāda Prabhu and others. In all fairness, I should also add
H.G. Jāhnavī Jīvana Devi Dasi to this brief list, who is an excellent,
graceful and enthusing singer as well. Additionally, some of these
personalities add an excellent, healthy and welcome dose of Kṛṣṇa
conscious humour to their performances. Mostly I am referring to
the now-famous annual Sacred Sound kīrtana retreat at ISKCON
New Govardhana, in Murwillumbah, northern New South Wales,
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Australia, headed by the expert Ajita Prabhu. This is its fifth year.
Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the news of the
cancellation of the 2020 edition has just arrived (mid-March 2020).
There is a similar annual Sādhu Sanga retreat event in Boone, North
Carolina, USA, at an elevation of 1016 metres. This elevation reminds
us of Mahāmuni Vyāsadeva and the Himalayas. We know from your
trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1973 (elevation 1822 m), the year of
my joining your ISKCON for good in Paris, France, that you do not
like to visit such cold places. To you, it is St. Hellish. Prabhupāda
Lila, Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami SPL 7-9 Zurich and New York.
This dancing – and the entire festival indeed – must be happen-
ing under the influence of the internal hlādinī-śakti, otherwise why
would I feel inclined to dance with my old material body? I have
noted this with others as well. The late Mahavishnu Goswami from
India used to appear like a frail old man, but as soon as he absorbed
himself in śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam viṣṇoḥ, Mahārāja would be-
come very much alive, and he would glow.
Sometimes of course, Lord Kṛṣṇa just lets me dangle as well. But
that is also His kind mercy for my ultimate benefit. I have no doubt
about it. I accept it as a form of brainstorming.
With your spiritual genius, you have coined the abundantly used
expression “your ever well-wisher” from the Sanskrit word suhṛdam.
The Supreme Lord is also described as suhṛdam
(“ever well-wisher”). The Supreme Lord is always
a well-wisher, just like a father or mother. Despite
all the offences of a son, the father and mother are
always the son’s well-wisher. — SB 4.28.25
Similarly, you have coined the expression “The living entity is part
and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.” I still do not understand why you are using
the expression “part and parcel” and where it comes from. As you
are using two different words, there must be two different meanings
and there must be some distinction, even though superficially it may
seem that “part” and “parcel” are the same. Or is it simply to be
considered an idiom like in many other cases of literature?
By meditating on your smile one actually becomes happy and smiley.
This is because Guru’s pictures are not different from Guru himself,
and one can almost see the muscles of your friendly transcendental
face moving and twitching. You are so kind, Śrīla Prabhupāda! You
are an ocean of kindness!
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śrī-guru karuṇā-sindhu, adhama janāra bandhu, lokanāth lokera jīvana,
Our spiritual master is the ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor
and the Lord and Master of the devotees.—Śrī Guru Vandanā, in
the Prema-bhakti-candrikā by His Divine Grace Śrīla Narottama Dāsa
Ṭhākura.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.4.12 describes your personality very nicely:
Those who are devoted to the cause of the Personality
of Godhead live only for the welfare, development and
happiness of others. They do not live for any selfish
interest. So even though the Emperor [Parīkṣit] was free
from all attachment to worldly possessions, how could he
give up his mortal body, which was the shelter for others?
It has become more difficult to distinguish reality from illusion and
the cheater from the well-wishing and honest person. The distinctions
between the two have become hazier. At the least seemingly wrong
or unconventional move, friends and relatives clamour “Watch out
scam, scam, scam!” There has been, however, an ashram break-in and
theft, a tax office impersonator, and an attempt to steal bank account
details, to name three crimes only since my last offering. People are
becoming paranoid in their relationships with one another. This is
a sign of the times. Let us, therefore, follow your advice: Why be
satisfied with any less quality of love than the love directed toward
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa?
Because of his development of transcendental attachment
for the Supreme Lord, a surrendered soul feels the presence
of his beloved everywhere, and all his senses are engaged
in the loving service of the Lord. His eyes are engaged
in seeing the beautiful couple Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa
sitting on a decorated throne beneath a desire tree in the
transcendental land of Vṛndāvana. His nose is engaged in
smelling the spiritual aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord.
Similarly, his ears are engaged in hearing messages from
Vaikuṇṭha, and his hands embrace the lotus feet of the
Lord and His associates. Thus the Lord is manifested to
a pure devotee from within and without. This is one of
the mysteries of the devotional relationship in which a
devotee and the Lord are bound by a tie of spontaneous
love. To achieve this love should be the goal of life for every
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living being. — Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Adī-līlā 1.55, purport.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for giving us the matchless gift, the
yuga dharma, strictly according to the rules of the paramparā system.
You have not added or subtracted anything.
What a mighty gift! What a jewel of jewels! What a crown jewel!
We only have to pray to develop the desire, perception and ability to
appreciate your gift at its proper value and full potential. You have
delineated the straight path back home, Back to Godhead for the
next 10,000 years of human civilisation on planet earth.
Here is the evidence!
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā
viśate tad-anantaram
— Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, 18.55
“One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of

Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full
consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom
of God.”
(BTW we note that this current rendition of BGAII 18.55 seems
undoubtedly improved in comparison to the previous version. In
the word for word of both versions, we clearly find “yaḥ ca asmi” or
“as I am.” The passage from the third person to the first, nice and
personal, is therefore fully justified. One may, however, ask where in
the Sanskrit does “only” come from?)
You are not a cheap compromiser! Neither are you a foolish
deviator! And most of all are you not a rascal cheater! All glories to
you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
YOU ARE THE BEST! And you will always reside in the
innermost chambers of our hearts. And our hearts will always
remain at your holy lotus feet, ready to serve your instructions
within our respective capacities.
In addition and in my humble opinion, we would do better to
first become completely competent and conversant in the study and
realisation of your main three works, that is Bhagavad-gītā As It Is,
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and your presentation of the glorious Caitanya-
caritāmṛta before moving to non-Prabhupāda books. That task, it
seems to me, is the occupation of a lifetime. And just as at the time
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of incorporation of ISKCON, you insisted on Krishna Consciousness
instead of God consciousness, we, your followers, if only as a
marketing ploy, ought to insist on Bhagavad-gītā As It Is when it
comes to Bhagavad-gītā. Even though we may hold Bhagavad-gītā As
It Is in our hands, it seems to me that it is protected by some sort
of veil, which dissipates under certain circumstances. This principle
applies to all aspects of devotional service. This veil robs us of “ruci”,
the taste of attraction and understanding of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
When one is freed from all unwanted contamination, he
advances with firm faith. When firm faith in devotional
service awakens, a taste for hearing and chanting also
awakens. After taste is awakened, a deep attachment
arises, and from that attachment the seed of love for
Kṛṣṇa grows in the heart. When that ecstatic emotional
stage intensifies, it is called love of Godhead. Such love
is life’s ultimate goal and the reservoir of all pleasure.
In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes
interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter
one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes
the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one
is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly
fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops
taste and attachment. This is the way of sādhana-bhakti,
the execution of devotional service according to the
regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and
finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual
development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested
in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. — CC Madhya 23. 11-15.
Furthermore, even though it is a unique and unavailable position
to be your dīkṣā disciples, it ill behoves us to be proud of such a
unique position. I am saying this for my own sake. In His dealings
with the gopīs, Kṛṣṇa has sufficiently proven that He does not
approve of pride. The initials ACBSP are far more prestigious than
any mundane initials such as BA, MA or PhD. Every member of
ISKCON is your śikṣā disciple, so I could propose the appellation
ACBSPgen1, ACBSPgen2, ACBSPgen3 etc….to dispense everyone
with this honour in the ISKCON family.
Just like in the old days, when we joined your ISKCON, my current
doctor, a 72-year-old remarkably fit Englishman and ex-serviceman,
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reminded me in an indirect way, to offer you my daṇḍavats
immediately upon rising from sleep. To strengthen the psoas
muscles, he recommended a thirty-second exercise which is very
much like daṇḍavats, but resting on the forearms and toes, keeping
the body ten or twenty centimetres parallel to and above the ground.
In thirty seconds, I can utter at least twice very distinctly the Sanskrit
part of your two praṇāma mantras and I can use them as a rough stop
watch as well!
Robin, my current doctor, is such a dynamic personality that he
gave me on-the-spot, a practical demonstration on the floor of his
practice. I was impressed and I subsequently gave him a copy of
your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Let us hope he will take full advantage.
But as you said, one is benefitted simply by touching the book. But
as a preacher, one should not be satisfied with the bare minimum
either. My previous doctor was unfortunately unable to heal himself
and died before the age of 50. Jai Śrīla Prabhupāda!
This chanting process is so inconceivably simple and sublime!
Deceptively simple because “Even a child can take part in the
chanting, or even a dog can take part in it.” Sublime because it
delivers the highest benefit of human life: redemption from this
material world.
O my Lord! Transcendental poets and experts in spiritual
science could not fully express their indebtedness to
You, even if they were endowed with the prolonged
lifetime of Brahmā, for You appear in two features—
externally as the ācārya and internally as the Supersoul—
to deliver the embodied living being by directing him
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how to come to You. — SB 11.29.6 and Cc Ādi 1.48
Here is the ultimate occupation, the ultimate shelter and ultimate
medicine for the recalcitrant mind: the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra, as well as the scrutinising study, assimilation, realisation
and bold preaching of Prabhupāda vāṇī. This is the dynamic samādhi
of Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, as opposed to the meditative samādhi
of the aṣṭāṅga yoga process!
I offer it back to you, my lord and master, as one would offer
Ganges water back to Mother Gaṅgā:
Your humble and immature servant in Krishna Consciousness,

Yadavendra Dasa (ACBSP gen1)
Founder of The Australian Society for Kṛṣṇa Culture
www.krishnaculture.org
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Tattvavit Dasa
Around sunrise, a full moon’s reflection on the water at Juhu Beach

reminded me of Soma, the moon-god. We heard of him from you,
Śrīla Prabhupāda, to begin with, and I discussed in a recent class
your purport: Soma’s dynasty established righteousness, so Lord
Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma appeared in it, also to establish dharma.
Like you at Juhu Beach early in the morning, we walked,
chanting japa in uniform—unlike clothes of the Mumbaikars. Those
with unfocused spiritual intelligence chill there, not unlike clams
with colored shells.
I stepped past a pair of wet blue-jeans, lost or forgotten on the
sand. On shores of an ocean of birth and death, all bodies that souls
acquire must be abandoned. You compared temporary, material
bodies to fragile paper boats on a sea. We embodied souls in the
material ocean struggle, tossed by uncontrollable waves, and you
advise getting out of the dangerous water by boarding the boat of
the transcendental knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
You taught us about the creation’s temporary, recurrent nature,
Śrīla Prabhupāda. The endless, sounding waves of the ocean create
bubbles that appear and disappear like universes, you said.
Staying at Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rāsavihārī’s temple near Juhu Beach,
paging through a book of photos with descriptions of places in your
earlier life (Hidden Treasures of Kolkata), I recalled your early and later
life: A Calcutta boy and former householder and pharmacist, you
distributed a renowned medicine internationally as a sannyāsī: kṛṣṇa-
kathā, praised by the Tenth Canto as potent medicine for the mind.
India’s BBT division at your Juhu “office” now leads the world
in printing and distributing books. You learned the importance of
book printing from your guru.
Your maiden voyage to America started from Bombay, in
mid-1965, when you took a train to Calcutta, where you boarded
Mrs. Morarji’s Jaladuta, “a messenger on the water,” with the
best message ever.
You turned sixty-nine on the ship. I reached that age in October
2019 and celebrated the birthday outside Mumbai, at Govardhan Eco-
Village, where Rādhānāth Swami’s followers engineered tranquil
replicas of Govardhana Hill, Yamunā River, and the main temples
of Vṛndāvana—with no distracting shops, no crowded streets. This
was a dream of yours, and they fulfilled it.
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You were fifty-four years older than me. On one birthday in
America, in the late 1960s, Govinda Dāsī baked a cake and decorated
it with burning candles, telling you that if you made a wish and
blew them out, your wish would come true. You said, “My only
wish is for Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service,” and extinguished
them. She congratulated you, and you responded, “Yes, I did good.”
Every few minutes airplanes descend over Juhu Beach for early-
morning landings. I never thought that I would fly to India, until I
did (midway through my life) in 1986, for the quincentenary of Lord
Caitanya’s appearance. Cumulatively, I have served you now for ten
years in India itself as a pilgrim, an editor of books, a writer of Back
to Godhead magazine articles.
I learned literary skills inspired by you, after meeting Satsvarūpa
Dāsa Gosvāmī and Jayādvaita in Minneapolis in the autumn of
1973—being the son of an automobile dealer, I drove devotees around
Minneapolis in one of my father’s cars. When serving with them for
five years (1980–86) on the staff of Back to Godhead in Philadelphia, I
lived and worked at “the BTG house” on Lincoln Drive.
Almost right after joining ISKCON (on Friday, January 11, 1974)
in San Francisco, I saw you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, at the Deity greeting
in Los Angeles on January 13 and heard your Bhāgavatam class.
Grateful that you were opening centers for young Americans,
gladly submitting to you as my spiritual master, I approached you
during a short kīrtana after the class and stood on your right—and
admired you. You were not leading the kīrtana. You turned, on the
vyāsāsana, to look and see me.
You accepted me as a disciple in early July, just before the San
Francisco Rathayātrā. At that festival Viśākhā took a famous photo
of you onstage wearing a red-rose garland over a white sweater,
arms raised in kīrtana. And thousands of people raised their arms in
response, prompted by the Lord in the heart. You told this crowd in
Golden Gate Park that you travel all over the world, and everywhere
people want to be like Westerners; so if we Americans chant and
dance, then the whole world will follow.
ISKCON has the purpose of “making men of good character.”
You wrote in a letter: “Actually we are not a religious institution. We
are presenting a cultural program, making men of good character.
Therefore it is a cultural institution.” One way to build character is by
ungluing our minds from thoughts and remembrances of mundane
sense objects. If we don’t, we will be confused and self-deluded
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devotees, whose conduct is said to be false (in Gītā 3.6). “Do not
pretend,” you might have said to me.
You’ve written, “All that exists is a product of Kṛṣṇa’s energy;
therefore activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are transcendental and
have no material effect,” and they fill one with peace, but “one
who is entangled” in enjoying the results of action cannot have that
peace. Kṛṣṇa says that yogīs or devotees who know reality, or know
the truth—tattva-vit, entrust their actions to the Absolute, giving up
attachment, for purity of the self. (Gītā 5.8–12 and purports)
Putting my life in Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s care

under your able guidance, I remain.
Your unworthy servant,

Tattvavit Dasa
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Purnamasi Devi Dasi and Krsnadasa Kaviraja Dasa


We offer our humble obeisances to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who
continues to save the entire world from the cycle of birth and death
by the distribution of your books.
Unlike you when you declared “Never was there a time when I
did not remember Kṛṣṇa”, we do remember a time when we knew
nothing about Kṛṣṇa. We were convinced that God exists, but had
no idea how to approach Him. We were so fortunate to meet your
disciples who were carrying out your instructions to distribute your
books and the knowledge in them. By this great fortune we now
have the association of thousands of very pure souls who are also
distributing your books and carrying out your instructions. When
asked about what is so great about being a Hare Kṛṣṇa devotee, I
respond, “The best thing about being a Hare Kṛṣṇa devotee is that
I get to associate with the very best people on the planet.” Your
disciples and granddisciples, even some great-granddisciples are
the most selfless people on the planet. As you have instructed, they
look after themselves, their families and friends, but they also go to
great lengths to give people the most valuable gift of transcendental
knowledge about Kṛṣṇa.
“For one who explains the supreme secret to the
devotees, devotional service is guaranteed, and at the
end he will come back to Me.”—Bhagavad-gītā 18.68.
“There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he,

nor will there ever be one more dear.”—Bhagavad-gītā 18.69.
Because these devotees are so dear to you and Kṛṣṇa they become
via mediums of Kṛṣṇa’s qualities. And so it is that each of them
displays various aspects of Kṛṣṇa’s unlimited personality.
And it is you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who brought this out in
us. By your pure relationship with your spiritual master, Śrīla
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Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa, you unlock the
hearts of everyone. You allow us to share in devotional service to
Kṛṣṇa and fill our hearts with pure love for Kṛṣṇa.
How can we ever thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for making our
lives perfect? We may not necessarily go back home in this lifetime,
but we are well on our way. The fuel for this journey is measured
by how many souls we can drag with us. As with most spiritual
understandings, it is opposite to what happens in the material
world. More drag generally slows one down, but by being dragged
by you and grabbing others to drag, we accelerate our trip Back To
Home, Back to Godhead.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
May we be eternally engaged in thanking you.
Your servants,
Purnamasi Devi Dasi and Krsnadasa Kaviraja Dasa
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Rasaliladevi Devi Dasi

Please accept my most humble obeisances.
All glories to your holy lotus feet, that are the shelter for anyone
seeking relief from the cycle of birth and death.
I first met Your Divine Grace early in 1973, through the
Back to Godhead magazine. After reading just two paragraphs
from the Founder’s Lecture, I felt certain that I must meet you,
the author, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. The contents of those
short, yet eloquent paragraphs resonated with me like noth-
ing else that I had ever read or heard before...it was truly mind-
altering and, ultimately, proved to be life-altering as well.
Not long after that, I was guided to an ISKCON temple and to the
association of your followers. Inspired by their sincerity, kindness,
dedication to service, I came to understand a little about the path
of bhakti-yoga and about the teachings that you had given in your
wonderful books. In due course, initiation followed, and I am still
trying to repay your kindness upon me.
In my fallen condition, I have no qualification to glorify you. I
can barely remember your exalted position as Lord Kṛṣṇa’s most
confidential servitor. Only by your mercy, can one understand what
it means to become a devotee of the Lord – a servant of the servant,
of the servant. I pray for such understanding as this, and I thank you
eternally, for this most rare opportunity.
Standing in your presence for the first time, I was overwhelmed
by your purity and potency. It was a mystical and otherworldly type
of experience – the likes of which can change one’s life on many
levels and in ways that one cannot even begin to imagine.
Your extraordinary example of loving, devotional service
continues to inspire me to honor the commitments that I made upon
taking initiation. It enables me and empowers me to remain fixed
in the ideal of service, with all its wonderful possibilities...and it all
started with those two short, yet eloquent, paragraphs that opened
up a window to the spiritual world! Such is the quality of your mercy
that even one who is blind, can see.
You once said that we, your disciples, are your miracles. You
have transformed my life. From the darkness of ignorance, you have
brought me to the light of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As for me, your
compassionate love is the greatest miracle. It is the matchless gift
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that changed my life forever.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for the great personal sacrifices
you have made and for all the austerities you performed in order
deliver the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to so many fallen,
conditioned souls – including me! You never wavered in your
determination to fulfil the order of your beloved spiritual master.
Always teaching by your most wonderful example, you are my
beacon of light on this ocean of nescience, my true north.
I pray always to become a worthy disciple of Your Divine Grace,
and in your mood of compassion and love, assist you in spreading
this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, for as long as you see fit.
Thank you for tolerating me.

Rasaliladevi Devi Dasi
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Balabhadra Bhattacarya Dasa
Savior of the Fallen

In 1965 you set out across the ocean
to a land so far away, so far from your home
You didn’t know anyone there
You didn’t know which way to turn
But deep within your heart, you felt complete protection
(Prabhupāda)
With faith in the holy message, that we all live eternally

You left your home in Vṛndāvana, to give us life
and set us free
You set the perfect example, and put it down for all to see
You changed our lives, you changed history
On each page your personal ecstasy
(Prabhupāda, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Savior of the Fallen Souls)
The force of your purity, turned our minds away

Away from our petty games, and made us long to play
With Kṛṣṇa in Goloka and dance with Mahāprabhu
We can never know defeat, Prabhupāda remembering you
(Prabhupāda)
You opened many temples, so the world

could come and see
The beauty of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality
You made an army of preachers, a transcendental company
In every language your mercy, a flood through the BBT
(Prabhupāda, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Savior of the Fallen Souls)

Balabhadra Bhattacarya Dasa
Atlanta, Georgia USA
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Langaganesa Dasa



“By satisfaction of the spiritual master, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead becomes satisfied. And by not satisfying the spiritual
master, there is no chance of being promoted to the plane of Krishna
Consciousness. I should, therefore, meditate and pray for his mercy
three times a day, and offer my respectful obeisances unto him, my
spiritual master.”
When you were preparing to leave us, you commented that your
“only regret” was that you hadn’t established the varṇāśrama system.
And when pressed further, you stated that if you had more time you
would “sit down with us and show us how to live off the land”!
I captured your “regret” in my heart and in early 2017 joined
the New Tālavana community. Introducing them to the concept of
Permaculture Design principles as a catalyst to develop our natural
resources into a long-term plan for self-sufficient abundance was a
most vital step. Subsequently, in 2018 we developed our community
“Vision and Mission Statement”, formulating this as a guideline to
follow in your footsteps.
As previously reported, by the end of 2017 I had certified two
additional Permaculture Designers/ Consultants in the community.
They continue to apply and share their expertise with other
community members and were instrumental in the development of
the previously-mentioned “Vision & Mission Statement” in 2018.
In this light, I want to submit to you my current annual report of
my humble effort to serve your mission.
My feeble attempts to serve you for 2019 & early 2020:
Separately, I also previously reported on my development of a
2-acre “Food Forest Demonstration Site”, beginning with 104 fruit
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trees in a mix of 4 varieties.
1. By the Fall, the fruit trees had become mostly 6-7-foot single
(healthy & leafy) shoots with limited branching. Therefore,
they were pruned during their ninth month, in mid-November
to generate appropriate branching. This would give them the
Winter dormancy to recuperate their strength for the Spring
recovery and expansion.
The troughs above their swales have been filled with well
composted wood chips to keep the troughs from collapsing,
while allowing rainwater to wash the nutrients from the
compost directly into the soil at their root systems. This also
allows for occasional treatments of cow urine and cow dung
mixtures seasoned with biochar to be added advantageously
into the compost trough, where it would be absorbed by the
compost, and then be released to the trees over time.
The trees are currently sprouting new branches and
exploding with new leaf growth. Now, I will be preparing the
swale mounds for the companion plants that will be planted
beginning in the upcoming Fall season, shortly after your
birthday anniversary.
We will intermingle berry bushes, medicinal and cooking
herbs, and root crops as companion plants to “demonstrate” a
series of rows of fruit tree guilds on this level-contour. We will
then separate these rows with productive vegetable gardens.
This “demonstration” can then be duplicated elsewhere
throughout the property.
2. My effort to generate interest in establishing a Permaculture
Demonstration-site Fund was practically a total failure! In
a six-month period there were so little donations collected
(which had to be divided for the Temple’s “50%” tithe) that
I didn’t want to deprive the temple of the paltry amount left
over. It would not have been sufficient to accomplish much of
an upgrade for the orchard. It was depressing for me, but a
standard result for my past “collecting” experiences.
3. I also tried to generate some funds by presenting a
Permaculture Design Course in Alachua’s “New Raman Reti”
community. The course was minimally successful in that, it
shared this important system of agricultural symbiotics with
only six students who took it (out of a community of over a
thousand devotees). Of these six students, four have presented
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me with their innovative Permaculture Design Plans which
has qualified them for their Permaculture Design Certificate.
Hopefully, they will go on to teach others the means
for living off the land while increasing the land’s bountiful
resources. This would be a “success,” but the cost of presenting
it exceeded the income generated from the students who took
it.
I am determined to do my part to support your effort to
establish self-sufficiency in our floundering rural farming
communities, and am always seeking the means of financially
supporting and expanding this effort!
4. Every year we hold a “Cow Festival” here in New Tālavana,
and despite the yoga classes, and numerous vendors that
provide hot food preparations and sandwiches, it is only the
freshly-squeezed sugar cane that is grown here. Similarly, the
greatest majority of products that are displayed and sold are
brought from other locations around the USA…
With 1,200 acres, we have not developed any sense of
importance for cottage industries as you have encouraged
us to do! Our annual “Cow Fest” festival is a demonstration
of show-bottle self-sufficiency in this respect. However, this
brings in some of the funds needed to care for our cows over
the winter and covers any medical bills; in this sense it has a
valuable place in lieu of our actually developing self-reliance
on Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Rādhākānta’s bountiful property.
5. There is some talk amongst the second generation of an
interest in developing a hemp business to help support the
agricultural department. But I have not heard of any interest
from them in processing the hemp fiber into any of the over
5,000 known byproducts; neither for this community’s use,
nor for public marketing. The sale of the raw hemp bales
would generate some additional cash-flow, but would not
create any necessary community occupational handicrafts
or subsequent cottage industry products for public sale. We
need devotees who want to turn their “hobby-interests” into
marketable entrepreneurial businesses!
6. Over the decades since you personally visited, devotees who
were inspired by your impact on their lives, have dedicated
themselves to studying the natural flora in this region and
have developed a herbal pharmacy that they have called
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“Blue Boy Herbs”! This reference to Kṛṣṇa’s energy is the
basis of their outreach preaching to their clients about His
healing nature. They hold semi-annual seminars and tours
to train others in this science and its relationship to healing
the body and spirit. They produce varieties of tinctures,
holistic skincare products, salves, perfumes, essential oils,
and other Ayurvedic products. This is the only leadership in
this community that has taken your idea to heart! I personally
find it deeply gratifying to see their effort bear fruit, and
prosper so generously by Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Rādhākānta’s grace.
Perhaps their good association will influence the handicraft
development of the hemp project – I pray so!
7. With our handicap-accessible parking pad and sidewalk
system which connects the Temple building, kitchen, office
complex and the pavilion’s restrooms, the temple’s Community
Complex is now qualified as a state-licensed “Agri-Tourism”
destination. The signs for this were also approved and will
be installed throughout the local region this year, from which
we can advertise broadly. This is the prime opportunity to
demonstrate your objective of “self-sufficiency” to the masses
– including other ISKCON communities. It IS the most viable
outreach for rural farming communities!
8. We have so many positive factors already in place to facilitate
the necessary growth. And we have a “Master Plan” being
developed from several excellent proposals, and sites for
proposed expansion projects being identified and updated
using drone and LiDAR technology. A new multi-media
presentation plan is in the works, as a result.
You have told us that the masses, becoming overwhelmed
by the onslaught of material energy, will soon be coming to
our rural-farming, “Vṛndāvana-like villages”, and will need
our support and guidance. We are doing our best to capture
and imbibe this vision and mission, and prepare for this
rising-tide of urgent need!
9. Currently, the global population is overwhelmed by a viral
pandemic that provides a glimpse of the future increases of
Mahāmāyā’s strength. The segregation of devotees to reduce
the spread of this virus (as opposed to the association of
devotees) is an opportunistic demonstration of Mahāmāyā’s
sanction from Kṛṣṇa to test the resolve of individual and
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collective members of Lord Caitanya’s mission! I find it
interesting to note the variegated transformations that
individual devotees go through in the throes of such angst.
Even the various temple communities take a defensive
posture against neighboring community members, or other
travelling parties.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you stated that each devotee
community should be managed in an autonomous manner,
and rightly so. However, this gives the GBC an unparalleled
challenge to maintain uniformity during such calamitous
chaos. I understand that this only a test of the resolve of
the surviving devotees who will be faced with future major
calamities; as you, our BEST friend and ever well-wisher
have described! In the face of this illusion of Mahāmāyā’s, the
challenge to see through the multitude of ‘fearful’ veils which
manifest in the minds of the individual devotees results in
so many speculations! We all have so much on our plates
now – to mitigate our separation behind our anxious “social
distancing”, we want what we are missing!
The non-devotee communities are even LESS trusting
of others at times, as this ‘test’ signifies! How much tension
there must be in their reactionary minds? But we DO have to
cling to our patience, and our compassion to enlighten them!
As you have described Śrīla Prabhupāda:
“AFTER the war, preaching will be good”!
Let US first learn the message that is being shared by this
‘anomaly’; then, when this event subsides, teach others to
prepare for the inevitable tests that are yet to follow!
Saṅkīrtana WILL go on, as demonstrated by Lord Caitanya;
and, we will become stronger for our participation, by our
participation in community!
By our patience, and compassion for others’ suffering the
angst of separation and resultant confusion; we will define
how we become stronger in our own sādhana, and in service to
His other part and parcel children!
10. In this respect, I am especially happy to be combining my
efforts with my revered companion, who is also sincere for us
to help each other in participating in opportunities to serve
you together. I thank you for allowing our distant past to
catch up to us at this time, and to afford us the opportunity to
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complete this chapter together, in this lifetime!
We pray that people may see the light beyond segregation
and sectarianism and acknowledge the higher purpose of
Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which is to serve and love Him unconditionally.
So, we at New Tālavana, celebrate the Lord for His wonder
and mercy to create diversity within His unity according to
individuality, love and needs.
11. The hesitancy of individual community members to develop
handicrafts that are capable of replacing the artefacts that
they purchase at the local Walmart is like trying to break one
of an addiction. It is only by the involuntary “cold-turkey”
elimination of such dependent sources of supply (such as the
current Covid-19 pandemic), that it will become obviously ben-
eficial for them to develop these simple skills of self-reliance!
I pray ceaselessly for the community’s collective realization and

compliance with Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s “Vṛndāvana-like village” concept, that
you have come to deliver to us!!!
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Your struggling servant in the groves of New Tālavana Dhāma!

Langaganesa Dasa
Carriere, Mississippi – USA
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Mahamana Dasa

Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet.
On this day of your blessed Vyāsa-pūjā, I pray and seek
your causeless blessings, and the strength to carry on with my
devotional service.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.22.47 Prithu Mahārāja expresses
his gratitude to the four Kumaras vide this śloka. He says that he
is not able to repay his debt to the Kumaras for the transcendental
knowledge that they have imparted to him, and that they should
be satisfied with their own auspicious activities. He uses the word
‘vinoda-pātram’ which you have explained means “joker.” You explain
that it is simply not possible to repay the debt that a disciple owes
to his spiritual master. One who thinks he can do so is vinodpatram,
or “joker.” Nevertheless, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have also said that if
we at all feel obliged to you, please preach, preach as I preach.
I pray that I become worthy of being a servant of your
beloved servants.
An ambassador from Goloka Vṛndāvana, you could exactly feel
the pulse of the people on earth and touch their hearts. It is difficult
to imagine anyone else to have had such influence.
The progeny of a lion is also like a lion. Similarly, like your
siṁha-guru Mahārāja Śrīpāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur, you
make atheists flee.
Kali-yuga’s forces march relentlessly on. Material energy
continuously poses challenges, but Lord Caitanya’s mercy is being
distributed by you and your followers.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.18.44, it is stated that the first class
son or disciple can anticipate the will of his spiritual master or father
without being told. Clearly, you are this first class devotee who could
fathom and execute the divine will of your beloved spiritual master
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur.
Finally, Śrīla Prabhupāda, as stated in Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi
1.44, although I know you as a servitor of Śrī Caitanya, I know you
also as a plenary manifestation of the Lord.
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Krishnarupa Devi Dasi


My beloved master,
I place my head at your lotus feet, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and beg you
to continue to give me the ultimate shelter, which is your service.
Hearing your voice delivering this vast spiritual knowledge of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness has revived the remembrance of our eternal
relationship with the Lord. The voice of the pure devotee has a
direct connection with the “saffron mercy-particles strewn over
Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet” and “although when a pure devotee speaks the
articulation of his voice may resemble the sound of this material sky,
the voice is spiritually very powerful because it touches the particles
of saffron dust on the lotus feet of the Lord”, as you describe in the
purport of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Fourth Canto, Chapter 20, verse 25.
You woke us up, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and you continue to “live in
sound” and in the hearts of all your disciples.
That is the miracle you have performed, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You
have shaken us awake after being lost in the slumber of aeons, and
you have awarded us this wonderful Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
I know I am not much of a disciple, my beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda,
and that I fall short in so many ways, but I do try to meditate upon
you as much as I can and what you have done for the world. I do
my best to encourage your granddisciples and great-granddisciples
to develop their relationship with you. And I am swimming in the
nectar of your many wonderful pastimes by listening to narrations
about them as much as possible and talking about them to others.
You will go down in history, O divine master, Supreme
Personality of Servitor Godhead, as the Senāpati Bhakta, Lord
Caitanya’s Commander-in-Chief. Your disciples, although we are
ageing now, don’t give up the hope of being able to continue to
serve you even in our old age. I always think that at 70 years old,
you embarked on a revolution, a great transcendental adventure,
to please your spiritual master, so I can at least get my rusty bones
moving a bit to continue serving you, although I probably could not
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keep up with you during a morning walk!
On this most blessed event of your Appearance Day, I offer
whatever service I can perform at your soft, pink-hued lotus feet.
Your servant,
Krishnarupa Devi Dasi
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Avyaya Dasa
My dearest Guru Mahārāja,

All glories to your lotus feet, my only shelter.
In our young years, we would be part of a community and temple
life set the beat of our days. One of our first duties just before maṅgala-
ārati was to pay obeisances to your vyāsāsana and chant a few rounds
glancing at you. Large pictures of you were framed and displayed
everywhere with flower garlands. Yes, temple life really gave us all
the facilities to connect with you. It was obvious and natural.
Then we were scattered all over the world, deprived of your
physical presence, your loving shelter, and drowned in a battle
to survive in this material world, for many of us joined at a very
young age and had no scholarly degrees. Dealing with karmīs was
frightening and traumatizing.
We still had your books (at least some of them) stacked
in trunks somewhere with our favorite pictures of you. Our
śikhās cut, our hair grown, we looked for petty jobs, begged the
government aids for allowances. To carry a bead bag would be too
conspicuous so we used clickers, but even they became too loud...
Separation. Cold, superficial lives. No more kīrtanas, no more
mahā prasādam. The material world was out there and we were in
it. But somehow you had given us a matchless gift: the sweet holy
name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Whose potency is
inconceivable. We were drawn back to it like iron to a magnet.
Then step-by-step, baby steps, we opened your books again,
purchased more books, visited Hare Kṛṣṇa Temples, held old
godbrothers to our hearts and shared prasādam. The Deities were
there, effulgent as ever. Very little had changed, or for the good
mostly. New bead bags, new tulasī beads, a new dawn. The turmoil
of life is still there with its ever-increasing disease and death
everywhere and many have passed away.
Chanting gāyatrī three times a day puts me right back where I
belong: at your lotus feet as your humble servant “...gurave namaḥ”.
All glories to you Śrīla Prabhupāda, our ever well-wisher.

Avyaya Dasa
France
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Aja Dasa

Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master.
You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva
and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with
Every day, I wonder how I was so fortunate to have met you.
It is only yours and Kṛṣṇa’s incredible and unlimited grace that
allowed someone like myself to receive sacred initiation from a Mahā
bhāgavata, Śaktyāveśa, Bhakti Senāpati, such as yourself.
Although I am most fallen, I recognize the utter simplicity
of what you have given us, and how it is unparalleled anywhere
– Krishna Consciousness – the simple process of absorbing one’s
consciousness in Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa – His holy names, pastimes, and
associates. Additionally, you gave us everything we could ever need
to do that – Lord Kṛṣṇa’s instructions in Bhagavad-gītā As It Is; Lord
Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Kṛṣṇa Book; as well as the
instructions and pastimes of Lord Caitanya and His followers.
Your every word is nectar to my ears and heart, and I only wish
to bathe in that nectar continuously. Everything I am is based on
your mercy. I would not / could not exist but for you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please be merciful to me. Bless with me ever-
increasing attachment to you and your transcendental instructions.
Let me fully realize the essence of those instructions and carry them
out for your pleasure. Let me take complete shelter in the holy
names of the Lord.
I am barely qualified to even write of your greatness or approach
you at all. But as you have seen fit to accept me as one of your disciples,
I can only beg that you allow me to remain eternally in your service!
Aja Dasa
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Mahakarta Dasa
To my dearest spiritual master His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta

Swami Prabhupāda,

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
tasmai śrīi-gurave namaḥ
I had the opportunity to see you first in Germany in the year 1973 at
the Schloss Rettershoff in Königstein. Even though I was an ignorant
soul, you blessed me by accepting me as your initiated disciple.
Because of your mercy, I have been in your presence in other places
in the world as well such as in London, Paris, and Vṛndāvana. You
gave me my second initiation in London in 1975. I also got your
unlimited mercy in Vṛndāvana Dham where I was able to personally
serve you many times and also perform Guru-pūjā for you. I came
back to Śrī Lanka in 1976 after you instructed me to start a Temple
here and spread Krishna Consciousness.
To be born as a human being is so fortunate. It is more fortunate to
have associated with a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa such as yourself,
have you as a spiritual master, and to serve you to fulfill the mission
of spreading Krishna Consciousness in this Age of Kali. Since I came
back to Śrī Lanka, now we are in the point of building a Temple for
Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa and the project is nearing completion with the
expected date of consecration of August 2020. However, the sudden
onset of the coronavirus since March 20, 2020 in Śrī Lanka has stalled
everything and everyone’s day-to-day activities and economic
sustainability and schools and jobs, etc have all come to a standstill.
However, by your mercy and the mercy of Śrī Narasiṁhadeva, the
Temple construction has not completely stopped. It is still going on.
You had faith in Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission and
tried to fulfill your spiritual master’s order and established this
International Society for Krishna Consciousness for the welfare of the
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world. My humble prayers to you Śrīla Prabhupāda, is to bless me to
have your mission established in Śrī Lanka with a beautiful temple
for understanding Lord Kṛṣṇa. This will also fulfill your spiritual
master’s desire, as well as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission to
have people in every town and village chant the name of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Please bless me so that this temple in Sri Lanka is also completed
without any further hindrance and that we can progressively spread
Kṛṣṇa consciousness to every town and village in Sri Lanka.

Mahakarta Dasa
ISKCON Śrī Lanka
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Phalini Devi Dasi

to Your Divine Grace, the emissary of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for accepting me. Try as I might
to be a good disciple, I have to often remind myself that every
endeavor is tainted by some sort of fault, and my endeavors to serve
you are no exception. But by your causeless mercy, you somehow
have chosen to keep me under your wing all these years, despite
my faults and offences, for which I am immeasurably indebted to
Your Divine Grace.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I take heart in your words when you say that
even if we are imperfect, even if we can’t follow everything perfectly,
if we have unflinching faith that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, then we are “saint.” I’m not a saint, but it’s
encouraging to hear you say that.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for all that you have given us
– japa, kīrtana, your books, service, Deities, ISKCON, devotees to
associate with and try to serve, your lectures, your conversations,
your letters, your personal association, both physical (in the past)
and subtle (in the present).
Please show me how to please Kṛṣṇa at every moment, and give
me the desire and the courage to choose to do what is most pleasing
to Kṛṣṇa at every moment.
Begging to serve and to remain in the association of your disciples
and granddisciples and great-granddisciples for all of eternity,
Your grateful daughter,

Phalini Devi Dasi
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Manonatha Dasa
For my spiritual master

This is a part of a preface to the book “Śyāmānanda, the joy of
Rādhārāṇī.”
Never could a Vaiṣṇava write a book without first addressing a
thought to his guru mahārāja.
My spiritual master is the light that has illuminated a path in a
dark world. Without his words so full of knowledge where would I
be now? I would have fallen into a ravine without even knowing it,
victim of lust, greed and anger.
My spiritual master is the selfless angel who gave free of
charge everything to others, without caring about his own
comfort or pleasure.
My spiritual master was sent by Nitāi Gaurāṅga to make Śrī
Nāma known all over the world. Nobody had had such power
before. In the Western world nobody knew the holy names of Rādhā
Kṛṣṇa. Now everybody knows.
My spiritual master did not care about disqualifications. He
didn’t say to anyone “you are not qualified, I’ll not give you initiation
and instructions.” He accepted everybody and anybody. He gave
us chance that we had been waiting for ages, and our fortune
is incalculable.
pātrāpātra-vicāra nāhi, nāhi sthānāsthāna
yei yāṅhā pāya, tāṅhā kare prema-dāna
“In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His
associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was
not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place.
They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the
members of the Pañca-tattva distributed love of Godhead.”
— Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.23
My spiritual master dealt with everyone – disciples and nondisciples,

with love. He gave us everything and did not expect anything in
return.
My spiritual master gave me another life. A wonderful life.
The best life I could have desired. Had he not arrived, what would
I have done, said, felt, thought? There would have been no Kṛṣṇa.
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No Rādhārāṇī. No Vṛndāvana. No Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
Veda, Vedānta. Nothing. I tremble at the thought.
Being unable to express in words what I feel in heart, I only
prostrate again and again at the lotus feet of my spiritual master, Śrī
Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, my Prabhupāda,
the representative of the Lord.
Manonatha Dasa
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Jagadvira Dasa

Please accept my obeisances at your lotus feet.
Every day we are remembering how you left Vṛndāvana and
your Lords Śrī Govinda, Gopinātha, Rādhā-Dāmodara, and came to
the West. But today (13th August 2020), we can especially meditate
on what you accomplished in such a short period of time. As Śrīla
Bhakivinoda predicted, “a personality will soon appear to preach
the teachings of Lord Caitanya and move unrestrictedly over the
whole world with His message.”
When you arrived in New York, after traveling by ship for 37
days, you were 70-years-old. Alone in New York, you were thinking
“...who will listen to me in this horrible, sinful place? All right, I
shall stay little longer, at least I can distribute a few of my books,
that is something. But Kṛṣṇa was all along preparing something
I could not see, and He brought you to me one by one, sincere
American boys and girls, to be trained-up for doing the work
of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Now I can see that it is a miracle.
Otherwise, your city of New York, one single old man, with only
a few books to sell for barely getting eatables, how he can survive,
what to speak of introducing God-consciousness movement for
saving the humankind? That is Kṛṣṇa’s miracle. Now I can see it.
(Śrīla Prabhupāda Letter, December 23, 1972)
(Miracle – an unusual and mysterious event that is thought to
have been caused by a god because it does not follow the usual
laws of nature.)
I have just turned 70 and can now appreciate much more (than
when I was younger) what you have accomplished. Actually I feel
you are still here with us guiding us and leading us on the path back
to Godhead. Your instructions are not difficult to follow – in fact they
give us great happiness and are saving us from being swallowed up
by the external energy which is trying to derail us. That’s her job,
and she is happy when we don’t succumb to her temptations. Every
moment she is there doing her service – but if we are strong and
sincere in our devotional practices then we can succeed.
Chanting 16 (minimum) rounds and hearing the philosophy are
daily practices that cannot be neglected. As you said in the Sixth
Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, “There are so many dangers in this
material world that one may fall down from an exalted position at
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any time. Yet if one keeps himself always pure and steady by chanting
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he will be safe without a doubt.”
There are so many things going on within and without, but let’s
try and keep it simple... chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, follow the four rules
and try our best to spread Krishna Consciousness to every town
and village. “The citizens (of Kali-yuga) will suffer greatly from
cold, wind, heat, rain and snow. They will be further tormented
by quarrels, hunger, thirst, disease and severe anxiety.” (Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, Canto 12: The Age of Deterioration, Text 10).
You saved us, of this there is no doubt and we shall never forget
your compassionate service and dedication to the mission of Lord
Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Every town and village is unfolding right
before our very eyes, and as Kali-yuga intensifies, more lost souls
will take shelter of your ISKCON movement.
I remember one morning in 1974 in Melbourne after you had
darśana of Śrī Śrī Rādhā Vallabha. You paid your obeisances and we
all followed you. My head was on the floor and your lotus feet were
just a few inches away from my head. So I am praying and hoping
that I will always be close to your lotus feet in this life and whatever
future lives that I may have.
Your servant,
Jagadvira Dasa
Okinawa, Japan
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Lalita Devi Dasi


Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity at this point
in my life to absorb myself in service. There is an urgency about this
time of life. You so kindly engaged us in our youth and we made
sacrifices to please you and Lord Kṛṣṇa for which we have felt your
reciprocation throughout this life.
You said on occasion that, “when you go to Bengal, you take
your fortune with you!” Upon arrival at our new home, there have
been some striking tests for which all I could do, was take shelter
of the Narasiṁha Kavaca Stotram. These prayers were compiled with
pictures of the Lord and given to me years before as a gift by my very
dear friend. Only now have I dedicated each day to reciting them.
This recitation was prompted by fear and those circumstances have
not resolved as of yet.
However, when I repeat the translation of each verse and request
that Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva destroy my obstacles, kick out my fears,
scatter my enemies and destroy my karma, I am greatly affected
by these words. I feel you are allowing me to capture some of the
depth of these prayers by your mercy. It is not that the situation
being resolved is the goal. That it clearly is not. Rather, these intense
feelings that I want to be released from anything and everything
which is keeping me from tasting pure devotional service has
now become the impetus. Although I had been unable to relish
Queen Kuntī’s prayers before, because of not being aligned with
her perspective of requesting suffering, my present situation has
brought about some real appreciation. Some very valuable advice
given to me a long time ago in regards to spiritual matters was to be
brutally honest with oneself.
I am aware that to please you, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa,
I must recognize and identify which enemies need to be scattered as
there are many lurking inside of me which I have been blind to. I am
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now begging to become purified by sincere chanting and by your
daily guidance.
Please forgive me for all of my offences, and I beg you to let me
stay sheltered at the dust of your lotus feet,
Hoping to become a sincere disciple,
Your daughter,
Lalita Devi Dasi
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Mayesa Dasa
Kali thought the struggle over

But Back to Godhead on every street
The war now rages as bright as ever
Hope for the fallen, at your feet
You showed how one grain becomes a mountain

And how māyā is made to retreat
No one can measure the debt we owe you
Tearful prayers, at your feet
You brought a society a new way of living

To replace our slaughterhouse complete
Varṇāśrama dharma when all is shaken
Delivering fallen, at your feet
Mayesa Dasa
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Arcita Dasa


Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, my
eternal master.
My connection to you began when I received a copy of Kṛṣṇa,
The Reservoir of Pleasure from Devamrita Dasa Brahmacari in 1973.
The first two sentences of that pamphlet (“Kṛṣṇa—this sound is
transcendental. Kṛṣṇa means the highest pleasure.”) made it clear to
me that your mission was to give Kṛṣṇa to others!
By your grace, my connection to you strengthened as I listened
to your lectures and engaged in service at The Bhaktivedanta Book
Trust, your main channel for distributing consciousness of Kṛṣṇa to
others. Even one as dull as me could appreciate your dedication,
determination, and patience in the matter of spreading Kṛṣṇa
consciousness and thus I continue to give some of my time and
energy to assisting you in your tireless efforts.
In your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.51 you state:
When one becomes serious to follow the mission of the
spiritual master, his resolution is tantamount to seeing the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. As explained before, this
means meeting the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the
instruction of the spiritual master. This is technically called
vāṇī-sevā. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura states in
his Bhagavad-gītā commentary on the verse vyavasāyātmikā
buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (Bg. 2.41) that one should serve
the words of the spiritual master. The disciple must stick to
whatever the spiritual master orders. Simply by following
on that line, one sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In a letter to Gargamuni prabhu you wrote:
Certainly you are mine and I am Krishna’s,
therefore you are also Krishna’s. In the Krishna
Consciousness activities that is the process.
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There’s no doubt that to be in your presence is tantamount to being in
the presence of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, therefore I am hopeful
that in the future, despite my deep-rooted recalcitrance, I will be
admitted into your association in the spiritual world. The remains
of the form that you exhibited in your ISKCON līlā are interred in
Vṛndāvana, land of Kṛṣṇa. Having only experienced association
with that form, I wonder how I will recognize your original spiritual
form when that day finally arrives.

Arcita Dasa
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Gopisa Dasa

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa having taken complete shelter at
His lotus feet.
Most respectful obeisances unto you, my spiritual master,
servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You have so compassionately brought
the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to these Western countries
that are filled with impersonalism and voidism, just to save this
worthless beggar, such that I am.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda! How can these inadequate words
possibly carry the full measure of meaning that I wish to convey?
You accepted me as your disciple, though I lack any qualification,
and have given me a chance to be restored to my true nature.
The austerities you performed to come here are still beyond
my ability to comprehend. The depth of compassion you possess
to run headlong into this Western inferno and single-handedly
drag us to safety and freedom, sometimes kicking and screaming,
is incalculable.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you brought the Spiritual Sky to us, showed
us Kṛṣṇa’s extraordinary pastimes, filled us with prasādam and
bestowed on us the most precious gift imaginable, Śrī Śrī Rādhā and
Kṛṣṇa in the form of Their holy names.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu broke open the storehouse of love of
Godhead, you gathered up its contents, packed it up in a trunk and
carried it around the world, freely giving it away to any and all, no
matter the qualification or lack thereof.
Without you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, my life would have been without
meaning, just another roll through the grist mill of the material
energy, struggling, suffering and dying over and over in an endless
cycle of despair.
By your loving grace, the shackles have been unlocked, freedom
is in reach and the opportunity of continuous joy without measure
serving your lotus feet is within my parched grasp.
It is only by your potency that I can do anything of value. Every
moment engaged in service, chanting, reading, associating with
your disciples, everything is by your mercy alone.
And your greatest gift to us has been each other. Without the
shelter of association, I would be lost. Thank you for the gift of your
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disciples! They are the wellspring that can quench the blazing fires
both within and without.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I pray that I may always remain in the shelter
of your lotus feet. Please do not let me go or kick me away, even
though in my heart I know that is what I deserve.
Kindly bless me that I be allowed to remain eternally in the
association and service of your devotees.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Your servant,
Gopisa Dasa
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Taraka Dasa


Please accept my repeated obeisances, prostrated in the dust of
your lotus feet.
Today I am remembering your extraordinary kindness toward
me, despite my insignificance and uselessness. I have done nothing
to deserve your mercy, but causelessly you chose to pick me up and
give me your shelter. You saved me, Śrīla Prabhupāda. How can I
ever thank you enough?
Your blessings upon me have been innumerable. But not only
have you taken care of my spiritual upliftment, providing all facility
for my progress in the present and into the future, like a loving father
you even personally looked after my material well-being.
Once in Mumbai, I unwittingly consumed some very bad water.
I then traveled to Māyāpur where I soon became very gravely ill. I
was in a coma with a raging fever for a week before I was discovered
by the devotees. When my condition came to your attention, you
made arrangements for my care at the devotee-staffed infirmary
within the temple compound. There, I remained on a gurney under
a papaya tree outside the infirmary. You prescribed a medicinal diet
for me, and you personally came to check on my welfare daily.
You were giving classes every morning, but I was unable to
attend due to extreme weakness. I was greatly aggrieved to miss the
opportunity to hear the nectarean and medicinal words emanating
from your lotus mouth. Understanding the importance of hearing
to my spiritual sustenance, you personally came to my side every
morning and spoke for many minutes. It was your habit to take a
morning walk each day with an entourage of sannyāsīs and GBC
men. Each day during your walk you made a point of stopping
beside my gurney where you spoke extensively on many subjects.
Though your words were intended for everyone present, it
seemed to me as though you were speaking to me personally and
in retrospect I see that you appeared to anticipate all the events of
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my life, providing pertinent instruction. Over the many days I lay
ill, you instructed me on all kinds of spiritual topics and though I
was a brahmacārī at the time, you even went into detail about how I
should raise my children, particularly my daughter. In the years that
followed, all of your instructions from those days have proven to be
immensely valuable to myself and my family.
Daily you monitored my recovery, but after weeks had passed
I still could not properly digest and I remained so weak I could
barely move. Seeing this you sent a message to me one afternoon.
You said, “If you work hard you can digest even a stone”. You made
arrangements for me to work at the gosala and I was immediately
shuttled there to begin serving the cows, a service that entailed lots of
hard work such as lifting heavy bags of feed. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you
are always expert and your words never fail. I struggled to perform
my cowherd duties at first, but quickly I began to gain strength.
I began attending temple functions again, and there you kept
your eye on me. I felt too weak to dance in kīrtana, but you would not
allow me to sit or even stand and simply shuffle. At every kīrtana you
would stand in front of me and motion for me to jump up and down.
The extremely pained look on my face surely conveyed the extent of
my inability, yet you were absolutely insistent that I jump and so I
did, though awkwardly and with much difficulty.
Because I had acquired great faith that you alone could deliver
me from all my life’s miseries and out of an intense desire to please
you in reciprocation of your kindness, I followed your instruction
to jump in kīrtana and to care for the cows in spite of the pain and
difficulty. Sure enough, within days I recovered my health and
though I never attempted to digest a stone, my power of digestion
was fully restored!
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a
spiritual master, who is possessed of such great compassion that
he lovingly cares for his disciples, both body and soul; even an
insignificant rascal such as myself. Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I
can never adequately reciprocate your kindness, but I humbly beg
for the chance to try, birth after birth. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your servant,
Taraka Dasa
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Edhaniyasvabhava Dasa


I offer my prostrated humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
The profound example of serving Guru, you have set.
Left me in loving gratitude, never forget.
The magnanimous sacrifice you have made.
To save a fallen soul, from māyā’s darkest shade
Your love and compassion, knows no bounds
At your lotus feet I beg, please keep me around.
Please bless me with taste and attachment to the holy names
Please keep me in your service in loving attitude of gratitude
And follow your example of giving Kṛṣṇa to others, as
you have taught
O’ Śrīla Prabhupāda I beg to remain your loyal servitor, please
give me the shelter of your divine vāṇī.
All glories to your most auspicious holy appearance day! Jaya

Edhaniyasvabhava Dasa
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Radhapriya Devi Dasi
Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you for everything.
For the reason to wake up in the morning,

to pay obeisances to you before rising.
For the purpose of being up before dawn, to chant,

sing, offer myself with love for another day.
For the joy of cooking, not for my belly, but for making an
offering to the Lord, and to any soul who may partake.
For the energy to work, as a loving offering,

making all work joyfully performed.
For the ability to keep in touch with the bliss of devotional

service, regardless of external circumstances.
To know that nothing I may have worked so

hard to create, belongs to me, that it all belongs
to Their Sweet Eternal Lordships.
To see that my ageing body is simply

becoming like a threadbare coat, covering
my bright and everlasting true Self.
To know that each pain and every heartbreak

is another chance to allow the holy names
deeper entry into the cavern of my heart.
To cherish each relationship as another

chance to share the most precious gift.
To know the overwhelming nectar of the Gift of Faith.
To learn as I stumble and fail, that these are nourishment

for humility, softening my heart for bhakti.
To see, as I create things of beauty, that any

apparent achievement is another drop of grace
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to always have something special in my heart
to offer anyone who may cross my path
to have been given the invitation to let flow, all the

love that can possibly occur in this human form.
To feel the beautiful, melting sweetness of bowing down.
To touch new beatitude with every Vaiṣṇava festival,

celebrated with deep attention and smaraṇam
To have inspirational images imprinted in my mind

of others’ devotion, far greater than my own.
To not be afraid to say sorry from the depths of me, for

hurts or offences knowingly or unknowingly committed.
To know each moment and every breath to be

due only to your kindness toward me.
To be able to lay my head down at the

end of each day and be grateful.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you for everything.
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Haripada Dasa


My dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda
Forty-seven years have passed
Since seeing you in New Dvārakā dhāma
Hearing your Bhāgavatam class
From that very special moment

I gave my heart to you
Though ISKCON’s had some ups and downs
We’ve just kept on pushing through.
Not a single soul on planet Earth

Could preach like you, dear Prabhupāda
Or print books by the millions
And build temples for glorifying God.
Without a doubt, dear Prabhupāda,

You are a śaktyāveśa avatar
You spread the holy names far and wide
You are the greatest of all stars
And by your strong conviction

To build the gigantic TOVP
May Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitāi
Bless you eternally

Haripada Dasa
Udupi, Karnataka, India
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Hiranmayi Devi Dasi


Haribol to all Vaiṣṇavas!
All glories to our beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Glorifying the ācārya and spiritual master is always very
auspicious. So, even if I am an insignificant devotee, Śrīla Prabhupāda
Tributes gives everyone the possibility to do so. I’m therefore
immensely grateful.
I was certainly born in the darkest ignorance, but by the mercy
of His Divine Grace, who has opened my eyes with the torchlight
of knowledge and bhakti, I have now become civilized. I notice that
Kali-yuga doesn’t affect me as often and I remain centered on the
essence so as to put the finishing touches on this human life.
The ordeals along the way have allowed me to grow in wisdom.
I thank Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa for all this mercy.
Prabhupāda said that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not an imposition
on the mind; it’s the living entity’s original energy and is beyond
our mental, intellectual and speculative conditioning. Always taking
shelter of Śrī Viṣṇu/Kṛṣṇa in order to be more and more established
in the mode of goodness, so as to receive the mercy of transcending
this goodness to become definitely fixed in transcendence and our
original position as servant. One must not leave the path of complete
healing even if difficulties as always encountered there.
I encourage one and all to always remain at the lotus feet of
our glorious master and well-wisher. A thousand thanks to Śrīla
Prabhupāda as well as to the Pañca-tattva he introduced us to.
Everyone, please accept my humble obeisances.
An insignificant servant among the many

other servants of Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Hiranmayi Devi Dasi

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
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Jaya Gouranga Dasa
Divine Lord Śrīla Prabhupāda my celestial Eternal Father.

Please accept my most humble prostrated obeisances at your divine
lotus feet millions and millions of times.
How I long to be with you.
I miss your divine presence so very much. In your separation,
every minute of my useless life seems like twelve years or more.
Of course, it is very true that you have never left us, you are
always present in your divine instructions, in your books, in your
temples, in your devotees, in all the wonderful gifts you bestowed
upon us, and of course, you are always present in my heart, guiding
me and instructing me about my real identity and my duty to serve
the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And yet, because I am so fallen, I need
your physical presence...I need to see your beautiful smile, and if at
all possible, touch and care for your divine body once again.
Every day now I have become addicted to hearing your divine
voice, as I joyfully listen to your classes. Oh, how much nectar there
is in listening to your divine voice. It soothes my mind, my heart and
my spirit and gives me so much bliss and peace and understanding.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are so kind and merciful to all
of us, we are nothing without you.
The world is experiencing such turmoil right now with a deadly
epidemic that is killing lots of people, but for us, your helpless
disciples, your divine lotus feet are our true and only shelter and, at
least I can speak for myself when I say that just thinking about Your
Divine Grace makes me feel safe and protected.
Please don’t ever leave me, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and don’t allow
me to drift away either.
Please always remain in my heart and in my mind like you have
been all these years.
As I get nearer to the point of having to depart from this useless
body I now occupy, you have allowed me to see things better and
clearer. I only pray to be engaged in your service, either in this life or
in whichever life I go to.
If Lord Kṛṣṇa kindly allows me to serve you, to serve your divine
lotus feet and your divine mission, as well as those sincere devotees
who serve your divine lotus feet and your divine mission, before I
reach the end of my life in this body, then my life will be successful
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and sublime. I pray to Lord Kṛṣṇa that wherever I go from here I can
serve you, serve your divine lotus feet, and serve those devotees who
are serving you and your divine mission.
These are my sincere desires, Śrīla Prabhupāda, please allow me
to fulfill them.
So many times you corrected me while doing different things.
Like the time I was sitting at your lotus feet while the Gurukula boys
were having a kīrtana, and I was clapping my hands trying to create
some intricate beat to follow. You were so kind and merciful to me
at that moment; you didn’t have any physical strength because of
so much fasting, and yet, you turned to me and took the trouble to
tell me “No, not like that, like this”, and showed me how to clap my
hands in a proper way...
“One, two, three” you calmly said while showing me with your
own hands how to do it.
Such compassion, so much mercy.
Oh dearmost Father.
And what about the time I entered your room and while paying
obeisances, I put my japa beads on top of a little mat thinking it was
ok, but you immediately corrected me and like a roaring lion said to
me, “why you put your beads on the floor!”
Or the time I was so foolishly trying to ask a nāga-bābā sādhu to
please leave the temple because he was standing naked in front of
Gaura Nitāi while he was getting darśana,
I was thinking that because I was the manager of the temple I
would show my gurudeva how I could handle a situation like that
(which at the time I considered wrong, because in The Nectar of
Devotion it says that one should not stand naked before the Deities).
Well, I was making a fool of myself, trying to ask the nāga-bābā
sādhu to please leave the temple, but you, very calmly simply called
me and said to me, “don’t bother him, let him be,” showing me that
not all the rules apply to everybody.
Or how about the time I was carrying you back to your house
and suddenly I stumbled and I nearly dropped you, you remained
so calm and unaffected, and when I finally put you down instead of
chastising me you put your hands together and with great kindness
and compassion said to me, “Thank you very much.”
Oh Prabhupāda, you have given me so much love and infinite
mercy, and not just to me but to everyone.
You even allowed me to travel with you in an airplane, and even
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though you didn’t arrange for me to come along, I know that it was
due to your divine mercy that I was able to do so, just like everything
good and auspicious that has happened in our lives has been just a
product of your causeless mercy. I remember on that airplane trip,
we all enjoyed the remnants of the prasādam you had just eaten, and
when the flight attendant came to ask you if there was anything
that she could bring you, you so casually said to her, “Yes, bring
7-ups for everyone.”
What a thrill! Useless me flying in an airplane with my lord and
master, my eternal father and drinking a 7-up with Him. How much
more could I ask for?
All thanks to your divine mercy.
I could go on mentioning all the different times you gave me
your special mercy in so many different ways.
You even allowed me to put your divine lotus feet upon my head
while I was massaging your legs and your divine lotus feet.
You told me you liked the mamey milkshakes that I was making
for you and said that that was Kṛṣṇa’s favorite fruit.
Indeed, all these memories and many others of being with you
are sustaining my otherwise useless life, and I can simply weep
longing for your divine association once again.
It has been 50 years since I joined your Movement, and even
though I have rendered service in many departments of your great
society and in different temples, when I look back at the wonderful
things that some of my godbrothers and godsisters have done for
you and your divine mission, I feel so humble and ashamed thinking
and realizing that I haven’t done enough to serve you.
Please forgive me, dear Father, I am so fallen and useless. Please
engage me in your service, let me serve your divine mission, let me
serve those devotees that are so sincerely serving your divine lotus
feet and your mission, and please, please, forgive my offences.
I totally belong to you, so you please do with me as you like.
All glories to your divine lotus feet, all glories to you, oh divine
Father, divine Lord, divine Master, You are my life and soul.
Begging to remain a speck in the dust of your lotus feet
forever and ever,
Your most fallen and humble dog,

Jaya Gouranga Dasa
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Mahadevi Dasi
“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in

Me, I am never lost nor is he ever lost to Me.” — Bg. 6.30
Please accept my humble obeisances Śrīla Prabhupāda, my most
wonderful lord and master.
All glories to you for your sublime munificence,

a brilliant divine beacon for clarity, sanity
in the darkness of disturbed emotions and commotion.
You enlighten ‘n’ heighten our awareness of devotion.
“Standing before you can be thus seen directly.
Only in this way, can you enter into the mysteries
of My understanding.” (Bg. 11.54)
You fill our hearts with transcendental

knowledge that inspires,
so we can cross over the ocean of material desires.
Only by Your Divine Grace, can we serve favorably
Hearing from you, serving you, we are safe, strong and free.
Deaf can hear, lame can walk, blind can see,
By Your Divine Grace and the merciful glances of our Lords
I fervently aspire to live, serve, sing, sway ‘n’ pray

For you, Prabhupāda, every day.
Celebrating you, Prabhupāda, every day
Hearing the Absolute Truth from you
Ultimate shelter and solace, you.
I relish hearing your bhajanas ‘n’ classes every day

Especially your NOD classes from ’72, Vṛndāvana
or like “The Thief in Vṛndāvana…”
“Faithfulness, we must be very eager to see Kṛṣṇa.”
Bliss in hearing you chuckle when you speak,
how the thief was trying to trick Kṛṣṇa with duplicity,
Humorously, you describe how the thief was dealing with
the Supreme Trickster
Association with Kṛṣṇa, the thief became purified.
“You simply make contact with Kṛṣṇa.”
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Maybe some hope for me…
Your sacred voice Prabhupāda,
Goloka Vṛndāvana śabda.
Prabhupāda, you are always with me
You constantly help me hear and see

even when I don’t want to hear and see…
Your divine presence and Kṛṣṇa
is in everything, everyone
You help me calm my restless mind
Time after time,
So I can learn to love you and Kṛṣṇa
All the time.
I pray every day to be able to serve your devotees

selflessly, effectively, devotionally.
Your stumbling, bumbling, fumbling,

sometimes grumbling servant,
Mahadevi Dasi
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Maha Punya Devi Dasi
“I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master
opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful
obeisances unto him..”
All glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda. Jaya Gurudeva Patita-pāvana!
pitāsi lokasya carācarasya
tvam asya pūjyaś ca gurur garīyān
na tvat-samo ’sty abhyadhikah kuto ’nyo
loka-traye ’py apratima-prabhāva
“You are the father of this complete cosmic manifestation, of the
moving and the nonmoving. You are its worshipable chief, the
supreme spiritual master. No one is greater than You, nor can anyone
be one with You. How then could there be anyone greater than You
within the three worlds, O Lord of immeasurable power?” — Bg.
11.43.
In this significant verse, we can realize the infinite supremacy of
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, masterfully explained by His close friend and pure
devotee, Śrī Arjuna. Actually the blessed Lord is the original spiritual
master, and He decided to speak this divine and eternal science to
Lord Brahmā, the first living being, from whom emanates the chain
of disciplic succession of genuine and authorized spiritual masters,
until it reached our much loved gurudeva, His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is the center and guide of
our destiny, our life and our devotional service.
From the moment he decided to come to the West, he gave us the
great example of what a genuinely sincere, loving, humble, simple
and 1000% dedicated devotee is, and who has Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and
his guru mahārāja, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Gosvāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda, at the center of his life, solely and
exclusively. He has never found meaning at this material life, except
through the absolute dedication of devotional service at the lotus
feet of the blessed Lord, renouncing all pleasure that could offer it.
His example of life is surprising to anyone who has in his hand his
biography, the books he wrote, the books he translated, masterfully
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written, with their brilliant meanings.
Despite his advanced age and upon reaching a continent
unknown to him, he risked his life, his health, his safety, his personal
comfort, to arrive in a country where he believed with full conviction
that people – especially young people – needed someone to guide
them on a luminous and spiritual path, and in this way to leave
the infernal world of drugs, illicit sex and ignorance in which they
were submerged.
Apparently he came alone, but in reality, he brought with him the
guidance of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the divine association of many pure
and liberated souls who guided him and gave him the necessary
strength to continue in his effort to save this multitude of souls
and bring them back home, back to Godhead; always following the
instructions of his spiritual master.
After many obstacles, his absolute effort, dedication and
dedication triumphed. And in this way, he made many disciples
and followers around the world, in all corners of this planet Earth,
founded hundreds of temples, farms, Gurukula schools, preaching
centers meanwhile publishing hundreds of books that to this day
continue to be successfully translated, printed and distributed
throughout this planet As he himself predicted, his books will be
read for the next 10,000 years.
Year after year, we are allowed to pay him a sincere tribute for
the celebration of his wonderful transcendental Vyāsa-pūjā, with
deep love, dedication and devotion from each of his disciples.
Every day I try to honor his holy memory, trying to follow his
divine and sacred instructions. In this way I perceive him instructing
me, guiding me and enlightening me for the rest of my insignificant
existence in this current body and in all the future ones that he
wishes to give me, life after life, to continue fighting in an attempt to
serve and please Him as he’ll see fit.
It is true that each year we disciples are less, since many have
already left, perhaps some to meet him for all eternity, others taking
new births to continue their service at his divine lotus feet.
But there are also new generations of devotees surrendered to
his divine lotus feet, who read his books and sincerely try to follow
his instructions, distributing books and performing various services
to please Him. It is a devotional chain that will never be broken,
because fortunately, this Movement for Krishna Consciousness that
he created and founded with so much love will continue to grow.
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Thank you, thank you very much, Your Divine Grace, for coming
to this material world and bringing the mission to cleanse us from
the material contamination with your holy association and guidance.
Infinite thanks for being my spiritual master, my guide, my light,
my illumination, my counsellor, my confidant, my companion, my
father, my friend, my example to follow. With you I have everything,
without you I have nothing. I’m nobody, please don’t ever leave me
as you have not done yet.
All glories be to you for all eternity!!
All glories to your divine, immaculate, perfect and sacred books,
just as they are, just as you left them!
All glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupāda! Over and over I fall at the shadow and dust of your
divine lotus feet.
Your retractile servant of the servant of your servant’s servant,

Maha Punya Devi Dasi
Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
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Mrtyuhara Dasa


Never like this year (2020), due to the pandemic that hit the whole
world, have those who took shelter at your divine lotus feet had such
an opportunity to take particular advantage of your teachings. For
the first time, I have tangible experience of how the authoritativeness
of your instructions is an indispensable condition for our survival.
From every point of view – both material and spiritual.
Recently I listened to one of your lessons on the various
calamities that afflict this material world. Calamities that can
directly affect also the devotees, even though they are under Lord
Kṛṣṇa’s protection; the Supreme Lord whom you have made known
to us, not in that “sentimental” and generic way as many (perhaps
on purpose) present Him, but in His authentic aspect, as described
by the Vedic scriptures.
The benefit we are enjoying, especially in such a moment
where the material energy is clearly revealing all its nature of
precariousness, is exclusively due to your teachings, authentic and
devoid of any hint of personal interests.
“Authentic” is something that in this era of Kali is very
difficult to be found.
You taught us how, by fixing his mind in your teachings, even in
the midst of calamities, the devotee always remains undisturbed and
free from fear. If those teachings were not genuine and authentic,
they could never give us such tranquillity, realization and trust.
We read in your comments and listened in your lessons, “the
devotee always knows how to make a good profit, even from a
bad deal”. A phrase that perhaps until now we have only read and
listened to, without being fully aware of how this would have been
possible in a practical way; now that we are in it (the bad deal),
we fully understand the importance of these instructions and how
important true spiritual realization is.
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Thanks to you, I am becoming aware and realizing in its crude
reality what this material world really is.
Your teachings are not like the flowery language that many
self-interested so-called “gurus” show, just to capture as many
sentimental disciples as possible. On the contrary, your teachings
make us touch reality as it is, without deception and without double
purposes, in a real and direct way, without the need for subterfuge.
In a dangerous situation the mind becomes confused, it tries all
the possible remedies to get out of it but, as far as we are concerned,
everything becomes easy, even in the most fearsome circumstances.
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca
buddhayo ‘vyavasāyinām
Without asking for something in return, you have endowed us
with that resolute intelligence that allows us to remain stable and
determined in facing any danger caused by material nature.
Materialists cannot understand our privilege in having you as a
source of all our inspiration.
If the world could truly realize the importance of having an
authentic spiritual teacher like Your Divine Grace, as in a gust of
wind, all suffering would be swept away.
Just as the spiritual soul, being part and parcel of the Supreme
Lord Kṛṣṇa, naturally possesses His qualities, by our contact with
you, we disciples, have acquired a portion of your characteristics. As
far as I am concerned, my only hope is that this tiny particle acquired
by me will remain always ignited, so that I can serve you until the
end of my days. Both in this life and the next.
With sincere and endless gratitude that will never be
enough to repay you.

Mrtyuhara Dasa
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Nartaka Gopala Dasi

Please accept my loving obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All
glories to you!
When I was living at Juhu temple, Hare Kṛṣṇa Land, Bombay,
from 1990 to 1995, I knew there were several of your key associates
still alive at the time, and I felt compelled to meet and interview
them. One of your friends who ended up performing very crucial
service for you and our Movement was Mr. Kartikeya Mahadevia,
who I met and interviewed in 1992.
He first began to hear about you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, through
the local papers and a few international magazines in 1968. He was
quite surprised to understand that an Indian sādhu was attracting
followers in America. He thought it rare that an Indian could attract
the attention of the American people. Well, he had not yet met you,
Kartikeya Mahadevia was from a Gujarati textile family. He was
working as a purchaser for the textile industry. When one of the
merchants invited him to his house to meet you, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
he was eager to do so.
Kartikeya Mahadevia: “One day in 1971, my friend Mr. Rasiklal
Gandhi invited about 20 executives of the Mafatlal Group to his house
in Santacuz to meet Śrīla Prabhupāda. This was my first meeting
with Prabhupāda, and he explained clearly how his teachings were
coming from the paramparā, or line of disciplic succession, which
was authorized by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I had been raised since
childhood as a Vaiṣṇava and I knew about Lord Caitanya, but I didn’t
know that He was non-different from Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda
explained these things so clearly, and that very same day I became a
Life Member of ISKCON.”
At the time, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you had the small temple at the
Akash Ganga building close to downtown Bombay. You would
periodically visit for 10 to 15 days, and Mr. Mahadevia came often
to see you there.
Kartikeya Mahadevia: “Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mystic potency was
not to create gold, but his chamatkaar (miracle) was that he was
completely cleansing contaminated people and changing them
into Vaiṣṇavas.”
In January of 1973, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were invited to visit
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Ahmedabad in Gujarat aa a guest at the house of Navanitlal Patel.
Mr. Mahadevia went there for eleven days to meet with you, and
he invited you and some of your disciples to stay at his place in
Bombay after you left Gujarat. As soon as you returned to Bombay,
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you stayed at Mr. Mahadevia’s house with four
of your disciples for four days, after which Mr. Mahadevia let the
devotees use one of his empty flats, and you established a small
temple there for 41 days.
Kartikeya Mahadevia: “I watched him from close quarters. Every
morning I drove him to Worli at 6 am, and we walked for 45 minutes
along the main footpath at the oceanfront. I realized that he was a
different type of sādhu; he spent his own money and didn’t want to
burden me. In fact, after he stayed at our house for a few days, he
would always give us a gift in return, such as a sari for my wife, or
a tape recorder. I found this loving exchange to be very touching.
Ultimately I realized how genuine he was.”
When you gave lectures, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you would read the
Sanskrit, and you asked Mr. Mahadevia’s 14-year-old daughter to
read the English translation. One day she asked you if they could
do their own Deity worship at home. You, in turn, asked her, “Who
will wake up early to bathe and dress the Deities, and perform ārati
and regular pūjā in the afternoon and evening?” When she promised
to do so with the assistance of her family, you presented them with
nine-inch brass Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa Deities. Then, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
you yourself performed the first ārati to Them on March 8, 1973.
How magnificent it must have been.
One day, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you told Mr. Mahadevia that if he
wanted to propagate ISKCON’s work, he should either publish,
translate or sell the books. He contacted his former school teacher
who spoke perfect Sanskrit, English and Gujarati. He paid him to
translate the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is into Gujarati. After 18 months
it was completed.
In those days, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were travelling throughout
India. Mr. Mahadevia went to hear you speak in Hyderabad,
Vṛndāvana, Calcutta and Māyāpur. Then, in December of 1975, he
invited you to return to Ahmedabad because he knew that a lot
of Life Members could be made there. During this visit, Kartikeya
Mahadevia arranged for you to stay for six days, December 24 to
29, 1975, as a guest at the palace of the Mahārāja of Sanand, which
lies 18 miles to the West of Ahmedabad. While there the Mahārāja
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greatly appreciated your presence, and he arranged evening
pandal programs so that hundreds of villagers could attend your
Hindi lectures.
As Kartikeya Mahadevia’s family had lived in Gujarat for many
generations, he knew many important people there. He was able to
help make almost 100 Life Members. He also became the guarantor
for the first ISKCON temple in Ahmedabad.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you had told Mr. Mahadevia that you wanted
some agricultural land near Ahmedabad for a Gurukula. This
compelled Mr. Mahadevia to attempt something, as he worded it,
“very bold”, for your pleasure.
Kartikeya Mahadevia: “I knew that the elderly gentleman, Mr.
Bhogilal Patel, had a large piece of suitable land in Ahmedabad.
I asked him to please give some to ISKCON. I was prepared to be
refused, but he told me to return the next day after he consulted with
his son. The next day I was astonished that they decided to give 100
acres. I had only expected 5 or 10 acres. As this land is in the middle
of the city, its value is now incalculable. Some day ISKCON will build
a wonderful project there.” (Of course, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you
know that by your mercy, twenty years later in the 1990s the most
splendid and stunning temple, ISKCON Ahmedabad was built.)
Very dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I could see that by your association,
Kartikeya Mahadevia developed the utmost respect, admiration
and affection for you. Please help me to serve you and push on
your mission, so that others may be given the blessings of your
association as well.
Aspiring to serve you,

Nartaka Gopala Dasi
ISKCON Miami/ISKCON Alachua, Florida
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Rathayātrā Dāsa

I offer my humble obeisance to your lotus feet on the most
auspicious day of your divine appearance.
We were young, strong and very determined, helping you
change the world in those times. Now we are ready for your call at
this time of uncertainty. This is the time the bell is ringing. This is the
time for us to stand up and unite and be the change you wanted us
to be in your revolutionary mission, which will bring an end to the
present satanic system in control.
You boldly challenged modern “civilization” as demons. You
told us paper money is worthless, universities as slaughterhouses
that were degrading people to the level of dogs (job-seekers) that
go begging for a master in modern society that is nothing but an
animal society. Its entire populace nothing more than dogs, hogs,
camels, and asses.
And you rightly, and repeatedly emphasized that real wealth
was land, cows, and actual goods that people can use. You told us
“Don’t be dependent on anyone else. Become self-independent. And
don’t be after money. Simply produce your bare necessities of life.
Keep yourself fit, strong. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read my books. Then
you’ll grow strong. Is there any difficulty?” (lecture, Oct. 5th, 1975,
Mauritius). No, there isn’t any difficulty. Become self-independent,
it’s the secret to my success in spiritual life by following these
simple instructions.
For your glorification on this auspicious day Śrīla Prabhupāda,
our distribution is still going on of your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatams in
ten-volume sets.
K.B.I printed the first 5,000 sets and recently another 5,000 sets
under B.B.T. India labels were printed thanks to your sincere, self-
independent disciples financing both printings.
Ten thousand sets total printed and being distributed with
only Your Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
translations/purports up to 10.13.64 with Kṛṣṇa Book included in a
beautiful wooden case.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your glorious achievement of the Macmillan
1972 edition of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is that changed my life is still
in demand and our team is distributing both B.B.T. and K.B.I.
printed editions.
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This classic book is enjoyed by our customers who told us how
they appreciate the perfectly composed, thoughtfully considered
and well-said preface you selected by Dr. Dimock. They also tell us
they are inspired to continue reading by the pictures you approved
of, including your smiling picture, along with our Brahma-Madhva-
Gauḍīya disciplic succession, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla
Gaurakiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Ṭhākura revealing the line of bona fide saints authorizing your
transcendental writings as authentic and bona fide.
We must continue glorifying all the artists under your guidance
on this classic book who labored to create amazing artwork, all
vivid and effulgent pictures that you have authorized, including the
attractive beautiful cover of your worldwide bestseller, the original
Macmillan 1972 edition of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Our customers ask
for this book because they know not a single scholar or academic
anywhere complained about this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
The fact is, they all gave rave and outstanding reviews, many
buying outstanding orders, including libraries, colleges, and
universities, and local book stores in every city and town.
The worldwide devotee community have been financing the
purchases for this fallen fool to buy and distribute your original
books. Only by your mercy can this happen, and I’m forever grateful
for their support.
Śrīla Prabhupāda you boldly declare, “I will never die”.
“I will live forever in my books and you can take advantage”.
The more I read and distribute your original books the more I
realize you are right there with me, helping me at every step taking
advantage of your association which is ever fresh.
In return for your mercy upon this fallen fool, here are my humble
book scores for this year on your 124th appearance day celebration:
1. Distributed 1,500 large hardback Macmillan 1972 edition of
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. (K.B.I. printed).
2) Distributed 100 B.B.T. India printed Macmillan 1972 editions
of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is (5 sets) along with our distribution of On
Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa pamphlets with your transcendental message
about chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa with each book, small and large, sold
throughout India and overseas cases were donated by K.B.I. for our
mass distribution for your pleasure.
Distributing your books since joining Chicago ISKCON in 1974
has been an honor. Śrī Govinda Dāsa, our Temple President invited
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me to be part of your mission on my very first visit. Seeing devotees
on the temple steps is forever etched in my memory. Truckloads
of books came to our saṅkīrtana temple in Evanston, Illinois, every
week. We distributed everywhere we could and even where we were
not allowed to by wearing wigs and suits in disguise to conceal our
shaved head and śikhā.
Having the opportunity to be trained up by Tripurari Swami at
O’Hare International airport busy terminals gave me the skills to
sell your large books and handle all kinds of adversity in those early
days until Detroit ISKCON needed me for their saṅkīrtana leadership
after the Fisher mansion was purchased. Spending precious time in
that glorious temple during your stay was magical, especially when
you personally gave me the Gāyatrī mantra and thread privately in
your office where we spoke our first words together. This continues
to be an inspiring moment that is helping me to be like you one day.
You told us “…just distribute my books throughout your life,
and even if you don’t think of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, then Lord
Caitanya will force His way into your mind and carry you back to
Godhead”. (letter to Rupanuga, Māyāpur, 21 February 1976)
This will be always my service to you Śrīla Prabhupāda, my only
business, obeying your order, “distribute my books”.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda for giving me your constant
association daily and continued great memories as your book
distributor. Om Tat Sat.

Rathayātrā Dāsa
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Please accept my obeisances at your divine lotus feet.
Śrīla Prabhupāda – Thank you for all you have taught us – every
day I appreciate more and more all the instructions you have given us!
The more I read your books, the more I am amazed at how you
have given us everything – practical and philosophical.
At this point, we are having a “pandemic” but I can see and hear
your words instructing and guiding us. The practical knowledge you
have given us – keep cows, grow vegetables and live simply – more
and more the value of such a “simple” existence is becoming obvious.
Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa 24 hours a day is going on through “The
Festival of the Holy Name Global Pandemic Kīrtana” – inspiring,
encouraging and giving solace to so many. Prasāda distribution is
going on – many people are accepting and relishing prasāda.
You said “Kīrtana and prasāda distribution. This is our
preaching mainly.”
We could not predict this situation which is happening all over
the world – but you have already given us the solution!
I am not much of a devotee but am trying my best to follow
your instructions.
As this body gets older I can appreciate how hard you worked to
spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for guiding us, instructing us and
saving us from drowning in this material world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda ki, jai!
Your useless servant,

Jagaddhatri Dasi
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Krishna Gopala Dasa


A sparkle in their eyes

Yes, this is what we see time and time again when we speak of you
to the newer devotees. They listen in amazement and with such
attention hearing every word with such excitement. Spellbound they
sit and listen to the stories about you, wishing they would have had
just a moment in time with Your Divine Grace. And, as we speak
to them about your glories, we too are relishing the moments we
shared with you. We too feel the special bliss of having had your
personal association. Your smiles, your stern looks, your loving but
scolding words, your laughs at our foolishness, and your forever
instructing ways linger in our hearts and reawaken as we speak to
the young. It is truly a blissful experience to speak about you, to
remember you, to render service to you, to repeat your words, to
follow your instructions.
Yes we are so fortunate to be messengers of the past and share
the memories we had with Your Divine Grace. So, just as Śrī Sūta
Gosvāmī recited the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and spoke of the glories of
the pure devotees like Nārada, Prahlāda Mahārāja and Uddhava
feeling pure transcendental bliss, we too get a taste of that spiritual
nectar as we speak of and glorify your persona. What a gift you have
given us. What a gift we get to share with others.
Yes, you are that sparkle who is enlightening the whole world with
the words, knowledge, and beauty of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Krishna Gopala Dasa
Austin, TX
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Lelihana Devi Dasi
My Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

You are so glorious and special. When you were here on this
Earth planet you took so many troubles to give Kṛṣṇa consciousness
to the most fallen souls. I am one of the most fallen. But I am also
one of the most fortunate, because by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy I came into your
association and was initiated by you.
You are a great soul, a pure devotee of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and you
are all glorious. I would like to glorify you by reciting some of your
words that you have allowed me to remember over the years. Because
I left ISKCON due to my own māyā and nothing else, Kṛṣṇa has given
me much suffering. But I have found many words of wisdom in your
books and lectures that have helped me make it through this life. I
hope that other devotees who may happen to read this may also be
inspired by your wonderful words.
In the purport of your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, 12.13–14 you wrote:
Whenever a devotee is in distress or has fallen into
difficulty, he thinks that it is the Lord’s mercy upon
him. He thinks, “Thanks to my past misdeeds I should
suffer far, far greater than I am suffering now. So it is
by the mercy of the Supreme Lord that I am not getting
all the punishment I am due. I am just getting a little,
by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
And then you say a devotee “is always calm, quiet and patient,
despite many distressful conditions.”
These comforting words of yours are greatly helpful, more
than I can express.
Next is an excerpt from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.12, a class you
gave in Vṛndāvana in 1976:
Therefore, even in the worst condition, a devotee does
not see that this thing is happening without the direction
of Kṛṣṇa. Even if he is in an adverse condition, he does
not feel any pain, because he knows that this adverse
condition is also under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. So, ‘I am
fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, why I shall take this adverse
condition as not mercy of Kṛṣṇa? It is also the mercy of
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Kṛṣṇa.’ So, a devotee is not disturbed by adverse conditions.
He takes that this is a gift of Kṛṣṇa. It is Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.
‘Although I am put into difficulty, it is Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.’ So
anyone who takes it that way, his going back home, back
to godhead is guaranteed. Because he takes everything
as Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda
Mahārāja was so much chastised by his father. You know
how he was put into difficulty in so many ways. But he was
taking it as Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. He did not take it otherwise.
So in this way, everywhere there is Kṛṣṇa’s hand.
I was always puzzled that suffering is a gift of Kṛṣṇa. But you
explain that in an excerpt below. Whether we are fully surrendered
or not, suffering is always a gift. We can meditate on this and accept
it, because everything you say is the Absolute Truth.
Who else but you could give us this amazing transcendental
knowledge? It is great mercy if we can see Kṛṣṇa’s hand in everything,
that suffering is His gift, and that He is bringing us closer to Him by
our suffering as you say in this next purport excerpt from Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam 6.17.17:
A devotee is naturally so humble and meek that he accepts
any condition of life as a blessing from the Lord. A devotee
always accepts punishment from anyone as the mercy
of the Lord. If one lives in this conception of life, he sees
whatever reverses occur to be due to his past misdeeds,
and therefore he never accuses anyone. On the contrary, he
becomes increasingly attached to the Supreme Personality
of Godhead because of his being purified by his suffering.
Suffering, therefore, is also a process of purification.
How wonderful this is! To know know that by our suffering we are
getting purified and closer to Kṛṣṇa. Thank you so much for giving
us this knowledge, and giving it to me.
These last words I quote by you are from Nectar of Devotion
Chapter 10, in which you quote a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
10.14.8, which summarizes it all:
My dear Lord, any person who is constantly awaiting
Your causeless mercy to be bestowed upon him, and
who goes on suffering the resultant actions of his
past misdeeds, offering You respectful obeisances
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from the core of his heart, is surely eligible to become
liberated, for it has become his rightful claim.
This statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be the guide of

all devotees. A devotee should not expect immediate relief
from the reactions of his past misdeeds. No conditioned
soul is free from such reactionary experiences because
material existence means continued suffering or enjoying
of past activities. If one has finished his material activities
then there is no more birth. This is only possible when one
begins Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, because such activities
do not produce reaction. Therefore, as soon as one becomes
perfect in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, he is not going to
take birth again in this material world. A devotee who
is not perfectly freed from the resultant actions should
therefore continue to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously,
even though there may be so many impediments. When
such impediments arise he should simply think of Kṛṣṇa
and expect His mercy. That is the only solace. If the
devotee passes his days in that spirit, it is certain that
he is going to be promoted to the abode of the Lord.
My dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you from the core of my heart
for your comforting and enlightening words of wisdom. Thank you
for every drop of Krishna Consciousness you’ve bestowed upon me
by your divine grace. How wonderful and absolutely glorious you
are. There is actually no end to your nectarean words and mercy.
I am praying that you may be so kind to lift this fallen foolish
soul back up to my proper position of devotional service in the
association of Kṛṣṇa’s wonderful devotees. I pray to you that I can
live in the wonderful Śrīdhām Māyāpur, where your beautiful and
glorious “Temple of the Vedic Planetarium” resides. It will be the
greatest and most glorious temple in this universe.
Thank you so very much for everything.
All glories to you again and again.
Your insignificant fallen servant,

Lelihana Devi Dasi
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Medhavi Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet.

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
I offer my respectful obeisances to all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the
Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfil the desires of
everyone, and they are full of compassion for all the conditioned
souls.
yaḥ svānubhāvam akhila-śruti-sāram ekam
adhyātma-dīpam atititīrṣatāṁ tamo ‘ndham
saṁsāriṇāṁ karuṇayāha purāṇa-guhyaṁ
taṁ vyāsa-sūnum upayāmi gurum munīnām
“Let me offer my respectful obeisances to him (Śuka), the spiritual master
of all sages, the son of Vyāsadeva, who, out of his great compassion for
those gross materialists who struggle to cross the darkest regions of
material existence, spoke this most confidential supplement to the cream
of Vedic knowledge, after having personally assimilated it by experience.”
—SB 1.2.3.
I will suppose that the ravages of the “virus” and “lockdown” will be
still fresh in everyone’s minds at the time this offering is presented,
but it has offered devotees much time to reflect on how much time,
thought and effort can go into unnecessary activity.
How the real problem of life is to meet death remembering Kṛṣṇa
alone, anta-kāle ca mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram. (Bhagavad-gītā 8.5)
Now, at times, the choice is clear that one must serve
Śrī Kṛṣṇa by the processes of hearing, chanting, remember-
ing and praying for engagement in His service or else one
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can continue wasting much of one’s valuable time.
It is something that you remind us of constantly on every
page of your books.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have so wonderfully carried the mission of
all the ācāryas – the Goswamis, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda, Śrīla Gaurakiśora
and especially your guru-mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Ṭhākur with such immense compassion and determination.
We were reading recently in your Lilāmṛta, of your visit to
Europe in 1974.
You landed from India in Rome and experienced a very positive
reception by the Italian people of Rome who behaved as if coming
to receive the blessings of the Pope. You then proceeded to Geneva
where you were officially received by the Mayor in the City Hall,
spoke at the World Health Organization at the UN and met with the
Indologist Jean Hulbert and several scientists and professors.
At the La Salle Pleyel in Paris, you were presenting a talk to a
large audience of 2500, mostly students from an overly large vyāsāsana
supplied by the devotees. Because of your reference to ‘criminals
being punished by the government’ and their own anti-government
stance, the students became agitated and began demanding for you,
Par terre, Par terre – Get down, get down, (from the vyāsāsana.)
In my mind, the thought was, “When and where in the entire
history of the Vedas and Vaisnavism has such an abominable event
occurred? It was like the ‘9/11’ of offensiveness.
But there is a somewhat similar instance in Lord Caitanya’s
pastimes, CC Adi 17. 250, when the impudent student criticized the
Lord in His ecstasy of chanting, “Gopī, Gopī,” was chased by Him
and then organized to retaliate and possibly strike the Lord.
Students, it seems, have always had a rather chequered reputation.
Still in France, you calmly replied, “I could speak to you from
the floor also, but that doesn’t mean that you would understand any
better. If you know the science of God consciousness, then you can
sit on the vyāsāsana and they will bow down to you.”
In the Vedic Age, a powerful sage would have burnt the
protestors to ashes with a powerful curse or turned them into some
amoebic species for a few million births, but you, Śrīla Prabhupāda
compassionately instructed the devotees, “Have kīrtana,” to which
most of the audience participated.
The next day, you were on a 20-hour flight to Melbourne,
Australia to attend Rathayātrā.
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In this one passage from Līlāmṛta; in one location you are
reverentially respected, in another, offered a high governmental
reception, then speak at the United Nations, to an Indologist and
intelligent professors, and in another accosted by disrespectful
anarchists. But you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, take it all in your stride as
Lord Caitanya’s servant and ambassador, not concerned with how
you are treated but only how to distribute the Lord’s teachings
and His holy names. Then you step on a plane and travel halfway
around the world.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, your tireless efforts of traveling around
the world spreading Lord Caitanya’s message, while instructing
and inspiring your disciples, still every early morning rising to
present the “cream of Vedic knowledge” in your books, is simply an
indication of your immense compassion for all those struggling in
this darkest region of material existence.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please allow me to always remember
and be amazed by your unparalleled service to Lord Śrī Caitanya, to
maintain a deep appreciation for all your servants – past, present and
future; and a strong and unshakeable faith in your ISKCON society.
Still your aspiring servant,

Medhavi Dasa
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MokshaLaksmi Devi Dasi
My dearmost Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your wonderful lotus feet.
All glories to you my Divine Spiritual Master.
As I was thinking about what I could say to you on this most
auspicious of days I realised that there is one thing that I really must
say; thank you.
I know that it was not easy for you to do this – truly impossible
– task of spreading Krishna Consciousness throughout the world.
You saw your godbrothers fail before you, but your determination
to serve and fulfil the orders of your beloved spiritual master never
wavered. I recently read how you said that actually your health was
not good after you left India, that you suffered three heart attacks.
Yet you made everything look so effortless as you traversed the globe
repeatedly. Thinking about your health makes me recall such a sad
occurrence I was witness to in Bombay. As was the norm whenever
you arrived in Bombay we would all follow you up to your room and
cram in to hear your sacred words. This time was a more sobering
affair. Rolling up your cloth to reveal your red and swollen knee, you
explained that you had been in a car crash in Mauritius. You went
on to recount how just prior to the impact you had positioned your
walking stick in such a way that it was supporting the weight of
your body. This had protected you from the full impact of the crash.
Kṛṣṇa had saved you, you declared.
Maybe it was because of that crash and subsequent knee injury
that you changed your toilet in Bombay from an Indian style one to
a Western one. At the time I was baffled, surely everything Indian
was superior to its Western equivalent. Ah but now my 67-year-old
knees have helped me fully understand it.
Consequently, I can understand that your life was not as
comfortable as it may have seemed to us youngsters. For us you
walked through fire. And for that, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I thank you.
But, my thanks do not stop there. I also want to thank you for the
effect you have had on my own life. For you put the numbers in front
of the zeros that was my life and made sense out of this senseless
world that I found myself in. As a child I knew instinctively there
was something wrong. But I had no idea what it was, and no one
was able to explain my uneasy feelings about the world. I tried to
find answers at Sunday school and even took an A-level in religious
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education, but I couldn’t even get an explanation as to why my
uncle was blind. I mean why is one baby born perfectly and another
blind? No one had an answer that satisfied me. Thankfully you were
working on the answers to life’s puzzling questions in the form of
your books and you had some pretty dynamic and forceful (in a good
way) followers who were able to finally give me satisfactory answers.
So thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda, for burning the midnight oil as
you tirelessly toiled over the translations and purports of your books
making every word count. And thank you for, figuratively, heaving
that trunk of books onto the Jaladuta and ensuring that they got
read so that the extraordinary knowledge within them got spread
even to a bemused girl like me in a faraway land.
To be honest with you Śrīla Prabhupāda, I never consciously
planned to join your Movement. Materially speaking my life was
good, but by associating with you and your devotees, I kind of
just got swept along in the powerful energy that flowed from you
and your followers. So thank you for just kind of gathering me
up along the way.
I also thank you for the time that I had the good fortune to spend
with you; every second was a blessing.
In one way your association was predictable and in other ways it
never failed to surprise. I remember one thing that happened in the
Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Temple Guesthouse. It was sometime
in 1976, and the guesthouse had been opened for just over a year.
Someone decided to remodel the reception area of the Guesthouse.
A wall was knocked down and another one was built. It seemed
everyone was sure you would like the ‘improvements’ and upon
your arrival you were taken straight to see them. I don’t think
anyone was prepared for your reaction. It was clear from your face
that you did not approve of the transformation, and you complained
that Westerners like to change things. I think it was quite a learning
curve for those who witnessed the intensity of this exchange with
your devotees. It certainly cemented my understanding that you,
Śrīla Prabhupāda, do not like changes.
So thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda, for making me reflect on the
decisions I make in life. I would not want to upset you.
I once had a more direct experience of your correcting people. It
all started when you discovered that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma’s garlands
were being made by the local flower seller, and not by the devotees.
You did not like this and wanted to higher the standard. In fact you
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invited all the lady devotees to your house to learn the art of garland
making. Needless to say at the given time your house was packed,
I wasn’t even sure where everyone had come from as there were so
many people. To be honest Śrīla Prabhupāda, on this occasion, I found
you a little tricky because we were all under the impression that you
were going to teach us how to make the garlands, but being so busy
with your mission you had one of our godsisters do it. Anyway I’m
sure we all knew how to make garlands, we were there for you.
Consequently in the following days we would all gather and
make garlands for the Deities. On one occasion there were a lot of
small white Jasmine flowers left with broken stalks rendering them
useless for garland making. Almost impulsively, with an idealistic
vision in my head of demigods showering flowers from the heavenly
planets, I scattered the flowers from the guest house balcony as you
passed underneath. I got a message back. Don’t waste flowers. This
not only was an example of your humbleness but also a lesson in
frugality and economics. On reflection, the flowers could have been
used for the ārati offerings.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda, for giving me these insights
into the workings of the mind of the pure devotee. You just never
wasted anything.
Prabhupāda, since I started writing this offering, a most unusual
thing has happened. Due to some virus the whole world is in
lockdown. Borders closed, airplanes not flying, supermarket shelves
empty, non-essential shops closed and people ordered to stay at
home. Even your Temples are closed. It is certainly unprecedented
in my lifetime. It makes me feel very grateful that I know you care
about me. You once showed how you care not only for my spiritual
being, but also my material self. Somehow, in Vṛndāvana, you
discovered I was walking to maṅgala-ārati alone from, what is now,
the gośālā. I was innocent to the ways of the world in those days and
had no idea about the dangers involved in this seemingly harmless
morning ritual. You informed the management that they should
find a place for me in the temple, which they did. Prabhupāda, as
the apocalypses may be near, I have a confession to make to you;
after you left they told me I could go back to the gośālā, so I did. Now
it seems unthinkable that it happened like that, but it did.
So thank you so much Śrīla Prabhupāda for being so caring
in every way about this naïve girl’s well-being. It is such a relief
knowing that you care about me in every way, come what may.
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You are the person who made me make sense of my journey to this
material world. You made it possible for me to join the dots in the
puzzle that I find life to be; helped me navigate the shark infested
waters I unknowingly swam in. You put the 1 before all the zeros
that made up my life.
Thank you so much Śrīla Prabhupāda.
My prayer is that you allow me to remain in your service.
Your unworthy servant,

MokshaLaksmi Devi Dasi
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Prassannatma Dasa

On this auspicious occasion of your appearance, I pray that I
always remember you until my last breath. Many years ago I came
to Vṛndāvana one dark evening during the cold winter. It was not
my plan to come here. I met a devotee at the train station from Delhi,
and he asked me to come to Vṛndāvana.
We took a tanga from Mathura, and he dropped me outside the
construction site of Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Mandir. I was in a strange, dark
place. I went inside the construction site and slept on the cement
bags, covering myself with an empty gunny sack. I was comfortable
and stayed warm. The next morning I met the devotees who took me
to Yamunā and shaved my head, and I became a Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Ever since you have been kind and gave me shelter and taught us
the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The greatest understanding
of all the knowledge was that ‘you are not his body’. Simply
understanding that we are not this body, our ego can be smashed,
and we can become a humble servant.
On this auspicious day. I pray to remember your glories every
day until my last breath.
Your servant,
Prassannatma Dasa
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Adikarta Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet.
Out of your compassion and austerities, you have given so many
forlorn souls a chance to be happy. Your glorious master Oṁ Viṣṇupāda
Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya Aṣṭottara-śata Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākur, himself, a veritable touchstone, said that making
one devotee of Kṛṣṇa, was a far greater act of charity than opening
thousands of hospitals. What a merciful personality you are, that
you cured so many souls dying in the prison of material life, and led
them to the freedom of the spiritual world.
It is certainly amazing, how much you labored to see to the success
of your ISKCON Movement. Your thoroughness in presenting the
philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, writing exacting, exhaustive
purports, for instance, in the Ādi Līlā, to close any loopholes in the
siddhānta of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The thousands of letters, to anyone
that approached you, your constant travelling, are testaments to the
fact that you gave everything, to help others. You were a perfect
living example of someone following Lord Kṛṣṇa’s instruction. In
that very important verse, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.22.35, “It is the duty
of every living being to perform welfare activities for the benefit of
others with his life, wealth, intelligence, and words.” You certainly
epitomized the fully surrendered soul who lived for other’s benefit.
Where would the world be without you? Your divine Movement,
which you explained, was a branch of the desire tree of Lord
Caitanya’s Saṅkīrtana movement is the only hope for this planet,
which is travelling, with ever-increasing speed towards the darkest
modes of ignorance and madness. You have given humanity a ray of
hope. It is up to your followers to capitalize on your great gift, and beg
for the intelligence to maintain your Movement and preach it with
our lives and souls. We need to set aside our petty disagreements,
which, are described in the Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, as false arguments,
and in the same verse, the whirlpool of unfortunate circumstances.
There is absolutely no religion, philosophy, political system,
or culture, that compares to the philosophy of the Vedas, and
specifically of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is a vast ocean of nectar, and
I feel so fortunate to be a part of it, and occasionally get a tiny drop
of that life-sustaining nectar.
Ideally, I would like to be empowered to help many poor souls
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from the ghastly experience called material life; I try in my own small
way, but I would be much happier if I could bring millions to your
lotus feet. That is my desire, but I realize it’s unrealistic. I am trying
to accept my shortcomings, which is a humbling experience, but my
desire is to see you, recognized as the greatest friend and well-wisher
of all living entities. So, therefore, I beg you Śrīla Prabhupāda, to
bless me with a tiny drop of your purity and potency, and to be an
anonymous touchstone made of your mercy.
I have, and have had, a wonderful life, due to your blessings,
and my family is trying to follow your instructions about preaching
and cow protection. I remember somewhere about every gṛhastha
having 12 cows, which we have now, but it’s a little hard to take
sannyāsa because of that. So I hope you will overlook my weakness of
heart and my addiction to the wonderful milk products we get from
Mother Cow. I go out and distribute books usually on a daily basis,
so I am hoping Lord Caitanya will be kind to me, and one day, give
me a chance to see you again, and thank you personally for being my
best friend and truly ever well-wisher.

Adikarta Dasa
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Sandamini Devi Dasi
Serving Your 20/20 Vision

Each day passes, another is lost,
So many goals I set,
Marveling at your deep compassion,
How to repay my debt?
Serving your mission is serving you,

To that I give my life.
Duty calling, seldom falling,
Free from undue strife.
To follow in your footsteps,

Always on my mind,
With each instruction followed
Desires are realigned.
You give me true purpose,

You set my firm resolve,
To help guide our Society,
Knotty problems to solve.
I strive to do much more,

But attachment holds me back
From being more bold in preaching,
Wish I had more your knack.
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Empowerment from you,
Gaurāṅga’s strong mandate,
To reach the souls in this land,
Their fortune you create.
Uncertain times in which we live,

māyā strikes the heart
Of greedy takers loathe to give,
Our purity sets us apart.
Since your mood of mercy flows

Toward each conditioned soul,
Bring the fallen back to Kṛṣṇa,
What else could be our goal?
Long days service, then brief rest

Early morning rise,
Living fully what you teach,
Going home our prize.

With such fervent desire,
Working as you showed us,
Our eagerness shall never tire.

Sandamini Devi Dasi
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Sukhavaha Devi Dasi


Dearest father, master, and guide,
Bowing to you, in prayer I confide,

Though I, most certainly, unqualified,
Even still, your mercy was not denied.
How gracious are you!
Though outwardly you were tested and tried.

Your guru’s order in your heart fortified.
With faith, you accepted Kṛṣṇa’s free ride,
Though in the belly of that ship, you almost died.
How committed are you!
With no viable, visible support from outside,

Your compassionate love spread far and wide
Whatever you needed, Kṛṣṇa supplied.
Showing the power of prayer from inside.
How devotional are you!
Though I, a fool, so full of pride.

You open my eyes, exposing I have lied,
To myself mostly, though I cannot hide
Your clear words at my closed heart pried.
How transparent are you!
Never giving up, though you openly cried,

You persevered, your faith did abide.
Spreading the holy name world wide
With Guru and Kṛṣṇa ever by your side.
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How resolute are you!
Your life epitomized what your words implied.

Pure and simple, by your message I was tied.
You showed us how Kṛṣṇa would always provide.
By your inspiration, we gratefully complied.
How supportive are you!
You asked us to cooperate instead of collide;

To curb our tongue, our senses subside;
To diligently chant, devotion applied;
Bringing back the mind whenever it would slide.
How attentive are you!
Smiling and nodding as we meagerly tried

Encouraging us when we got fried
Without you, dear father, to hell I would glide
Your life is a tribute, love exemplified.
How caring are you!
You showed us that māyā never gratified

Instead ever binds us, our soul defied.
Through service we learn to be satisfied
As our connection to you becomes solidified.
How available are you!
Not looking for quick fixes from the outside,

I pray that I find my soul buried inside;
That my tiny love becomes intensified
As you actively continue to be my guide.
How grateful am I!
Praying for your blessings to remain,

Your ever appreciative servant,
Sukhavaha Devi Dasi
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Raga-Bhumi Devi Dasi
My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Please accept my sincere obeisances unto your lotus feet.
We are in a very difficult time on this planet of Mother Bhūmi.
So I pray that you will look after all of us, wherever you are, near
Kṛṣṇa, for sure, without any doubt.
We all know that this era of Kali-yuga is an ocean of failures (doṣa-
nidhi) – a very critical moment that came faster than we expected.
It is time to take complete shelter in your lotus feet and to humbly
welcome in our hearts the holy names of the Lord, deeply, as the
only important shelter at this time.
There is a chance, an opportunity. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet: simply by chanting the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mantra, you can free yourself from the contamination
of Kali-yuga and, in your original spiritual body, you can
return home, return to God. This is Kali-yuga’s opportunity.
My dear Spiritual Master, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are our best
example, because you revealed to all your disciples how to leave
the body in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We also have knowledge of how
Parīkṣit Mahārāja, even having only seven days of life, instructed
the Naimiṣāraṇya sages on the science of Vedic knowledge, before
leaving his body.
I really don’t know how many of us will go through this critical
time successfully and continue to serve Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s
mission by spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness around the world by
continually serving your lotus feet. Everything will change and a
new worldview will be established; your instructions will be always
the main purpose of our life in the art of serving Kṛṣṇa.
We know that Kṛṣṇa is the true sanctioner of everything and
nothing moves without His consent. We also know that our dear
Mother Bhūmi, Earth, has been under a lot of pressure for a long
time and those who are supposed to protect her are exploring
her to their maximum and she cannot tolerate it any longer.
Everything will change.
Right now, we are sailing in this ocean of misery, but we want to
be protected by the captain of the boat, because you have the answer
for everything, for any doubt, for any problem and you know how to
be above any material disturbance by applying true knowledge, faith
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and love for all ācāryas in the line of disciple succession.
Please, Prabhupāda, bless all of your disciples and sincere souls
who came to serve Kṛṣṇa and you in this life, because the most
important thing is the knowledge you have brought to us and the
Brāhmaṇic Vaiṣṇava culture.
You wanted everyone to be happy in Krishna Consciousness.
Everyone means men and women, regardless of race, color,
creed or religion.
You are our only savior and eternal spiritual master.
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Ambarisa Dasa

Please accept our most fallen obeisance.
All glories to your mission of compassion for the misguided,
suffering people of Kali-yuga.
Daily, we are striving to fulfill your order for a grand temple
in Śrīdhām Māyāpur. We now have several teams who are working
together to complete this mission. Every day practically there is a
new problem, which can affect the work and timeline. Today there
is a global pandemic that makes it difficult to collect funds and
move resources. Despite these challenges, the work goes on and the
devotees’ enthusiasm is undiminished.
You have told us not to expect things to be easy as māyā is always
ready to make things difficult. If it were easy, it would not be worth
doing. As it is, the difficulty and struggles have made the small
victories so much the sweeter.
This year we had the official opening of the massive pūjārī floor.
There are over 60 rooms dedicated to the service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Mādhava, Śrī Pañca-tattva, and Śrī Prahlāda-Nṛsiṁhadeva. The
TOVP team worked hand-in-hand with the project management
company at a fever pace to bring this to fruition by February 13.
This was the appearance day of your beloved spiritual master Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. This is the largest pūjārī facility of its
kind in the world.
We know you wanted us to do things in a big way, and thus
we have paved the path to excel all the temples of India in deity
sevā. This event is most significant because it heralds the re-location
of the Deities into Their long-awaited new home.. All ISKCON
leaders and devotees who attended the celebration and saw the
entire floor for themselves were overwhelmed by the size, beauty,
ornateness, quality, and functionality of the whole floor. We are very
pleased with Cushman & Wakefield and our wonderful TOVP team
for handling this marathon effort so thoroughly and efficiently.
Our in-house GRC factory has earned a global reputation and
has supplied the myriad of decorative elements in the temple. These
elements have greatly enhanced the beauty of the building which is
becoming famous throughout India and the world. Many beautiful
deva mūrtis are being created by the wonderful artists in Māyāpur, to
adorn the temple inside and out.
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The external features of the Main Dome are almost complete, and
the East and West Wing domes are not far behind. Marble flooring
is complete in some parts of the temple such as the six chatrīs that
surround the temple domes, as well as in other areas of the temple.
Beautiful hand-made relief panels which will adorn the temple
interior are underway and several pieces are now complete. The
marbling of the temple interior walls and columns continues at a
steady pace throughout the main temple and East and West wings,
as well as the stairwells and other areas throughout the structure.
Installation of custom-made railings for the stairs and open areas of
the temple such as the chatrīs is well underway.
Work Planned for 2020
This year will see further progress in all areas of the temple, but
special attention will be made to completing your vyāsāsana, the
Deity siṁhāsanas, and especially the planned completion of the entire
East Wing of the temple housing Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva and His altar.
Many big fundraisers are planned for 2020 such as the
#GivingTOVP 10 Day Matching Fundraiser and the possible North
America tour to shore up the pledges made several years ago, and to
bring donors up to speed on the remarkable progress being made.
We aim to raise $15 million this year and with your mercy, this
will be possible.
Plans for 2021
As we are planning the completion of Lord Nṛsiṁha’s East Wing
of the temple in that year, we will be celebrating the opening of the
entire Wing and Lord Nṛsiṁha’s altar around Gaura Pūrṇimā, 2021.
This will be another spectacular event and milestone in our progress
and will bring us one more significant step closer to the Grand
Opening of the TOVP in 2022.
In 2021, we will celebrate your 125th Vyāsa-pūjā Anniversary.
We are planning to offer you a one-of-a-kind, jewel-like Vyāsa-pūjā
Book containing the names of all of the worldwide donors who have
supported this project and made it possible to become a reality.
It will symbolize our combined efforts to please you and bring to
fruition your most cherished and ambitious project, the Temple of
the Vedic Planetarium.
Please continue to bless all of us as we endeavor to do this humble
service for you, the Guru Paramparā, previous ācāryas and Śrī Śrī
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Gaura Nitāi. Only by your blessings will we be able to somewhat
realize your brilliant plan for Śrīdhām Māyāpur.
Your servants,
At the TOVP
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Vidyananda Dasa
Dearest Prabhupāda,
Please accept my daṇḍavats at your lotus feet. All glories to you,
my dear master.
A brother asked me to tell him how I feel about you in my
life; he said...
Hare Kṛṣṇa Dear Vidyananda prabhu
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!
When you have time; please text me or email

me with your few appreciations of, and
gratitude towards Śrīla Prabhupāda. So that we
can adopt your sentiments in our lives.
Your servant
Pran Govind Dasa

Here’s my reply to him:
Mostly, I just remember that Prabhupāda saved
me and he continues to save me every day.
I don’t add anything more flowery than that.
This is my entire message of gratitude to Prabhupāda...
Thank you very much!
You saved me, once upon a time, by coming to America;

and spreading the love of Śrī Śrī Rādhe Śyāma in the divine
form of Lord Caitanya, accompanied by Lord Nityānanda.
You continue to save me every day by filling my heart,

guiding my mind, and being my ever well-wisher.
Prabhupāda, thank you for hearing my simple words.

Bless me to please you. I pray to be your disciple
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one day and to rejoin you soon, as a helper, as you
continue your sevā mission; wherever you are.
Jai Prabhupāda!
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
I love you.
Your servant,
Vidyananda Dasa
(As you said in Chicago, July 5, 1975, “The servant of one who takes
pleasure in learning about Kṛṣṇa.)
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Gauridasa Pandita Dasa


Please accept my respectful obeisances.
Please let me offer you your Vyāsa-pūjā offering on this Kāmada
Ekādaśī Day 2020.
The whole world is suffering from birth, death, old age and
disease! Right now especially disease. You gave us the solutions to
the problems of life. You instructed us to become self-sufficient and
live simple lives. You told us to establish varṇāśrama and produce
our own food. Now we have to wait in lines to get whatever food we
can. The coronavirus is king right now and is ruling the world, even
causing the temples you worked so hard to open, to now be closed!
It seems like the world is ending, but how could that be? We
are within the Golden Age of Lord Caitanya and spiritual life is
supposed to be getting better for the next 9,500 years. Your books
are destined to be the spiritual lawbooks throughout this Golden
Age. So how are all these calamities happening?
We need to take full shelter of you. You told us time and time
again you would be here for us, for all of your followers. You said
you are present in your books. You said you are present in your
pictures. Your mūrti form is presiding over all of your temples and
honored every day in Guru-pūjā by all the devotees. There is no
shortage, there is your spiritual abundance available to one and all.
We are so fortunate to have your recorded lectures, talks and sweet
songs. All of us are blessed by Your Divine Grace.
You came from the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇa’s ambassador with
your ‘Matchless Gifts’ and gave them to unlimited fortunate souls all
over this world. The seeds have been planted. Some have fructified
and some are going to fructify in the future. Many devotees have
already been delivered Back to Godhead by your grace, by your
books. You are surrounded by your devotees now and many more
are on the way. The perfection of our life is to continue to associate
with you after our deaths.
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For those who follow you by chanting 16 rounds and following
the regulations, your shelter is guaranteed. We should not take a
gamble. We should take shelter of you and be assured of our ultimate
victory; your eternal association with our sweet Lord chanting,
dancing and feasting in the spiritual world. No disease can stop
us from attaining victory as long as we follow your lotus-like feet.
Please grant us your mercy!

Gauridasa Pandita Dasa
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Chaitanya Chandra Dasa
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda!

All glories to you on this day and every day! It has been so many
years...and I pray for you to accept this humble offering in the form
of a Sanskrit song for your pleasure and the pleasure of all of your
disciples and aspiring followers.
(refrain)
jayācārya śrīla prabhupāda paraṁ
guruniṣṭhā padati sadāsmaram
karuṇāvatārādivāṇī śataṁ
bhaktivedānta svāmī(jī) śaraṇam
jaya - all glories to you, ācārya śrīla prabhupāda - our ācārya Śrīla
Prabhupāda, param - supreme, guruniṣṭhā - firm faith in the guru,
padati - standing firm, sadāsmaran - remembering again and
again, karuṇāvatāra - most munificent incarnation, ādi - beginning
with, vāṇī - teachings, śatam - always, bhaktivedānta svāmījī - A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami, śaraṇam - surrendering.
All glories to the ācārya, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.

Infused with the highest guru-niṣṭhā and always absorbed in it,
he is distributing the original instructions of the most merciful
incarnation, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, so we surrender.
kathaya nijaya kalusam harata karuṇa sindhuḥ prema prakāśam
bhakti parama bhāsita tattvavidā rasasukha mauna rahasya bhṛtam
(refrain)
kathaya - story, nijaya - own, kalusaṃ - impurities, harata - removes,

karuṇa - compassion, sindhuḥ - ocean, prema - love of Godhead,
prakāśam - reveals, bhakti - devotional service, parama - supreme
truth, bhāsita - spoken, tattva - truth, vidā - knowing, rasa - supreme
loving relationship, sukha - bliss, mauna - silence, rahasya - mystery,
bhṛta - bearing or carrying.
The story of his own life removes impurities; as an ocean of

compassion he is manifesting the path to prema. He knows the truth
spoken about the supremacy of bhakti, and keeps silence about his
confidential rasa, a source of joy. We surrender unto you.
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prabhupāda mukha sūri sabhāguruṇāguṇa sañcaya bhāva sudādhina
śiṣyagūḍha sahasra kārena yathā vāṇīpracāra gupta mahāmahāsa
(refrain)
prabhupāda - Srila Prabhupāda, mukha - beginning with, sūri - learned

men, sabhā - assembly, guruṇā - guru, guṇa - good qualities, sañcaya
- repository, bhāva – highest bhakti, sudādhina - great repository, śiṣya
- disciples, gūḍha - concealed, sahasra - one thousand, kārena - ray
(of light), yathā - as, vāṇī - instructions, pracāra - preaching, gupta -
hidden, mahāmahāsa - true greatness.
He is the guru for all; the assembly of gurus is beginning with Srila
Prabhupāda; he is a great repository of the wealth of good qualities.
As thousands of disciples are being created by his followers they are
indeed his, just as any ray of sunlight is originating from the sun,
even if hidden by a cloud, thus true greatness of his own preaching
continues through his vāṇī, instructions.
padadeśa calendriyanigrahaṇe patuna parakīyaguṇagrahaṇe
chalavarjita graṇṭhācāryabhāsa balatarjitabhīkarakāmaruṣā
(refrain)
padadeśa - the countries of sinful people, calendriya - who’s

uncontrolled senses, nigrahaṇe - in defeating, patuna - skillful, para
- others, kīya - belonging to, guṇa - virtues, grahaṇe - in mentioning
with praise, chala - deceit, varjita - without, graṇṭha - scriptures, ācārya
- previous ācāryas, bhāsa - expounding, bala - strong, tarjita - reviled,
bhīkara - fear-causing, kāma - desires, ruṣā - slayer.
He is expert in defeating the materialism of the sinful countries,

where people fight with the uncontrolled senses; he is also expert
in appreciating and using the good qualities in others. He gives us
scriptural views of the past ācāryas explained, “as they are”, without
deceit; and by that he is subduing those possessed by strong and
passionate uncontrolled desires.
bhavabhīkaravarinidhiṁ tarata karatāla kīrtana nijakaram
svadṛśādhika śītalakantibhṛta bhayamanghrisarojajuṣām haratā
(refrain)
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bhava - worldly existence, bhīkara - fear-producing, varinidhiṃ - ocean,
tarata - crossing, karatāla – with karatālas, hand cymbals, kīrtana -
singing the kīrtana, nija - always, karam - performing, svadṛśa - own
gaze, adhika - unsurpassed, śītala - calming, kanti - bright, bhṛta - to
have, keep, bhayaṃ - fear, anghri - foot, saroja - lotus, juṣāṃ - resort to,
haratā - removing.
He has crossed the fear-producing ocean of the worldly life and is

always performing kīrtana of the holy names. His gaze is calm and
bright, and he removes the fear of everyone who surrenders to his
lotus feet.
nāma saṅkīrtana tathā nidhina ghana tapa vidhunanasannidhina
parā dharmatatim paripalayata paritaś ca tamo vinivarayata
(refrain)
nāma - of the holy names, saṅkīrtana tathā – by the saṅkīrtana chanting,

nidhina - treasure, ghana - dense, tapa - misery or austerity, vidhunana
- destroying, sannidhina - presence, parā - highest, dharma - duty, tatim
- mass, group, paripalayata - maintaining, paritas - everywhere, ca -
and, tamo - darkness, vinivarayata - preventing.
He is a power-house behind the saṅkīrtana movement, his mere

presence destroys deep-rooted misery. He maintains the parā-dharma
for everyone to follow, and thus he is preventing darkness all over
the world.
JAYA ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA!
Your servant,
Chaitanya Chandra Dasa
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Tejaprakash Dasa


All glories to you on this most auspicious day of Your
divine appearance!
Your appearance in this world is the greatest blessing for all the
conditioned souls. We have been rotting here for millions of births,
since time immemorial. Without the compassion of the Vaiṣṇavas of
your caliber there would be no hope. As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura
says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra peyeche kebā, “Without serving
a self-realized Vaiṣṇava, no-one has ever been released from the
materialistic way of life.”
You descended into this material world on the request of your
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Yes, Lord Kṛṣṇa is yours, and He will do anything
for you. By understanding your earthly pastimes it is clear that the
Lord was constantly fulfilling your desires and aspirations and
always looking for an opportunity to serve you. As when the Lord
appears He also brings with Him His associates, You have followed
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to fulfill His prophecy, pṛthivīte āche yata
nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma. “In every town and
village throughout the world the chanting of My name will be heard.”
You are His great general who came to inaugurate the saṅkīrtana
movement to the Western worlds and to reignite it within India. Once
when you were asked why Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself
did not preach outside of India, you replied “Because He wanted
to give the credit to Me.” We sing daily, ebe jaśa ghuṣuk tribhuvana.
Your fame is spread all over the three worlds. You truly are jagad-
guru and a dearmost servitor of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme
Lord Himself, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Nārada Muni, what to
speak of other demigods, know of your glorious activities that you
performed while physically present here on Earth. In the Śrī Caitanya
caritāmṛta, when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was speaking about the
activities of Śrīla Mādhavendra Puri, He spoke about him with great
relish and ecstasy. Śrīla Madhavendra Purī’s devotional service and
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your devotional service have many parallels, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I
will quote from some passages of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā,
Chapter 4 to show these parallels:
170:
Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally praised the

nectarean characteristics of Mādhavendra Purī, and while
He related all this to the devotees, He personally relished it.
172:
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Mādhavendra Purī

was so fortunate that Kṛṣṇa personally appeared before
him on the plea of delivering milk. Three times the
Lord gave orders to Mādhavendra Purī in dreams.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you also had many dreams, some of which
You shared with us. Your spiritual master Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and the Lord appeared a number of
times and gave you orders. On the night of the second consecutive
day of heart attacks on the Jaladuta, you had a dream. Lord Kṛṣṇa,
in His many forms, was rowing a boat, and He told you not to fear.
You felt assured of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s protection, and the violent attacks
did not recur.
176:
In the provinces of India governed by the Muslims, there

was much inconvenience in traveling with sandalwood and
camphor. Because of this, Mādhavendra Purī might have
gotten into trouble. This became known to the Gopāla Deity.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in order to deliver the poor conditioned souls,
you underwent so many inconveniences in printing your books
and trying to obtain passage to America. So many obstacles were
there. Then once onboard the Jaladuta you suffered sea sickness, ill
health and in two consecutive days two heart attacks. You thought
that if another heart attack had come, you would have not survived.
Sumati Moraji and her associates had also said prior to your going
“Swamaji, don’t go to America, you will die”. But living or dying,
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your only concern was to execute the order of your spiritual master.
180:
“After receiving the transcendental orders of

Gopāla, this great personality traveled thousands
of miles just to collect sandalwood by begging.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, at the advanced age of 69 years, You traveled to
the other side of the planet on a cargo ship. An ocean voyage that
lasted 38 days!
182:
Without considering his personal comforts, Mādhavendra

Purī carried one maund [about eighty-two pounds]
of sandalwood and twenty tolās [about eight ounces]
of camphor to smear over the body of Gopāla. This
transcendental pleasure was sufficient for him.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, without considering Your personal comforts,
sometimes not even eating sufficiently, you sacrificed everything to
get the First Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam published. Going back
and forth from Śrī Vṛndāvana dhāma to Delhi and Bombay on a very
meager budget. Then you brought 200 sets (600 books) with you
aboard the Jaladuta!
185:
Although Mādhavendra Purī did not have a farthing

with him, he was not afraid to pass by the toll
officers. His only enjoyment was in carrying the
load of sandalwood to Vṛndāvana for Gopāla.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, You were fearless about coming to America.
Along with the 600 volumes of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, You had only $7
in rupee currency, a suitcase, umbrella and a supply of dry cereal
in your possession. Not caring if you would die on the voyage or if
there would be suitable facility or food once arriving in America.
Your only pleasure was to please your spiritual master. You never
did spend those rupees until you returned to India two years later.
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186:
This is the natural result of intense love of Godhead.

The devotee does not consider personal inconveniences
or impediments. In all circumstances he wants to
serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
187:
“Śrī Gopāla wanted to show how intensely Mādhavendra

Purī loved Kṛṣṇa; therefore He asked him to go to
Nīlācala to fetch sandalwood and camphor.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in exactly the same way, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa wanted
to show the three worlds how much love and devotion you have
for your spiritual master and Him. Therefore, He had you endure
so many initial hardships. All this was for your future glorification.
You will come to be known as the greatest hero of this Kali-yuga!
188:
With great trouble and after much labor, Mādhavendra Purī

brought the load of sandalwood to Remuṇā. However, he
was still very pleased; he discounted all the difficulties.
189:
To test the intense love of Mādhavendra Purī,

Gopāla, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
ordered him to bring sandalwood from Nīlācala, and
when Mādhavendra Purī passed this examination,
the Lord became very merciful to him.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Lord similarly tested you, and after passing
the Lord’s examination, He fully empowered you to spread His holy
names to every town and village on the planet. The whole world is
forever indebted to you for your glorious service!
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190:
Such behavior exhibited in loving service between the

devotee and the devotee’s lovable object, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is
transcendental. It is not possible for a common man to
understand. Common men do not even have the capacity.
210:
In this way, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally

tasted with His own mouth the transcendental qualities
of Gopālajī, Gopīnātha and Śrī Mādhavendra Purī.
211:
Thus I have described both the transcendental glories

of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s affection for His
devotees and the highest limit of ecstatic love of God.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I offer You millions upon millions of obeisances.
I humbly beg that you forgive all of my countless offenses and fully
engage me in pure devotional service at your lotus feet.
Your fallen, aspiring servant,

Tejaprakash Dasa
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Pavani Devi Dasi

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to you!
I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world to have gotten
your mercy to catch hold of your lotus feet at your temple on Capitol
Hill, Seattle, Washington in September 1974. Shortly after I moved
into the temple, your servant, Sukadeva Dasa, the Temple President,
asked me to go into the understaffed Deity kitchen to assist Nistulla
Dasa during the Christmas marathon. Just a few weeks later he sent
me out on Saṅkīrtana to distribute your small books. Damagosh Dasa
and Sura Dasa scrambled us out the door every morning by 8:30
sharp! Thank you for that initial opportunity to join your worldwide
Saṅkīrtana Movement and to start doing service for you.
I thank you also for being our brilliant Saṅkīrtana general,
our beloved teacher and our spotless example. In a world where
the reputations of the founders who came from India of most of
the other yoga organizations have fallen into dishonor, you are
being recognized as a śaktyāveśa-avatāra and pure devotee of the
highest caliber.
I am writing this offering to you from across the street from
New Dwarka, one of your most loved temples, where my husband,
Mrigendra, and I have been fortunate enough to live and serve amidst
your disciples and granddisciples for almost 30 years. I am praying
that you will continue to bless us to continue to serve you in some
small or huge and wonderful way for many, many years to come.
Enthusiastically, your humble servant,
Pavani Devi Dasi
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Samapriya Devi Dasi
There are no contradictions in the pastimes of the Lord or His pure

devotee. What appears to be contradictory automatically becomes
equalized in their transcendental personalities.

Possessing great humility

yet confident and bold,
though you are meek and gentle,
the truth is always told.
And fearless as you wield your sword

of knowledge all around,
you kick your lotus boot on heads
of rascals to the ground.
You are renounced and detached

from everything we see,
yet you are using all of this
to somehow set us free.
Though aloof from everyone

you are our greatest friend,
but seeing you as one of us
will cause our dismal end.
As you walk through this world

that wreaks of condemnation,
your purity cannot be touched
by gross contamination.
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And in that secret place
beyond the lure of māyā’s veils,
you live with your beloved Lord
where truth and faith prevails.
You have come to save us all

from the things we hold most dear,
steeped in illusion thinking
that our home is really here.
O’ ambassador of the Lord

and master of my soul,
you bestow the sacred gift
of life’s eternal goal.
Hearing from the perfect master,

I’m quenched by nothing less.
Your sacred words are my life
and all I need possess.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda…
Your grateful and dependent daughter,

Samapriya Devi Dasi
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Satyarāja Dāsa
Prabhupāda Tattva
My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my repeated obeisance in
the dust of your lotus-like feet. Why do we offer such obeisance?
Aside from being an expression of affection for Your Divine Grace,
for all the many riches you have bestowed upon us — and aside
from the fact that you so fully deserve our reverence and love — we
offer obeisance unto you because nothing pleases Kṛṣṇa more. As
you taught us: Honoring and loving the Lord’s pure devotee is even
better than honoring and loving the Lord Himself. It is all about
pleasing Kṛṣṇa.
In Kṛṣṇa-līlā, Śrī Balarāma assists Śrī Kṛṣṇa in His enjoyment as
Master of Līlās, and, through expansion and spiritual alchemy, He
offers this same opportunity to all living beings. Indeed, everything
in existence ultimately assists or serves Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, and is thus an
expansion of Balarāma, either directly, through the various Viṣṇu
expansions, or twice-removed as ordinary living entities and finally
as material energy.
In Caitanya-līlā, this same Balarāma manifests as Nityānanda
Prabhu, and, as Guru Tattva par excellence, guides us in pleasing
Kṛṣṇa, the project initiated by Śrī Balarāma. Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda
— you bring this same pleasure principle to everyone who has come
after you, in all its fullness, and so Balarāma Tattva emerges in our
world as Prabhupāda Tattva.
All glory, all glory to Lord Balarāma-Nityānanda-Prabhupāda,
by whose mercy we may one day bring pleasure to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
But who serves Kṛṣṇa best? You have taught us that Rādhikā is
unparalleled in Her devotion, in Her mood of loving Kṛṣṇa, even
if Her level of consummate love is unreachable by any other living
being. She is the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure (hlādinī-śakti).
Her very name “Rādhā” is derived from the Sanskrit arādhana,
which means “worship,” and she is commonly known as “Rādhā-
rāṇī,” for She is the “queen” of such worship. Her name implies that
Her love for Kṛṣṇa is unsurpassed. You taught us that although Kṛṣṇa
is so beautiful that He can attract millions of Cupids, and is therefore
called Madana-mohana, “the attractor of Cupid,” Rādhārāṇī can at-
tract even Kṛṣṇa. She is therefore called Madana-mohana-mohinī —
“the attractor of the attractor of Cupid.”
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Our greatest achievement, then, would be to follow in your
footsteps, for you attract that unique personality who attracts the
attractor of Cupid!
As you said, “If we approach Kṛṣṇa through Rādhārāṇī, through
Her mercy, then it becomes very easy. If Rādhārāṇī recommends,
‘This devotee is very nice,’ then Kṛṣṇa immediately accepts,
however a fool I may be. Because it is recommended by Rādhārāṇī,
Kṛṣṇa accepts.”
This is the great secret of Guru Tattva.
Along these lines, your Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī, has written as follows:
Guru-tattva is indeed a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa, but
one must understand the spiritual master to be a
manifestation of the supreme worshipper [Śrī Rādhā]
rather than the supreme worshipable object Rādhikā-
nātha [Kṛṣṇa]. . . . If we can see the beauty of Śrī
Rādhārāṇī’s toenails in our spiritual master’s lotus
feet, we will no longer think about where to find Her.
If we are fortunate enough, we can attain service to
and darśana of our spiritual master’s lotus feet, because
he is non-different from Śrī Rādhā and very dear to Her.
In the realm of mādhura-rati, it is Śrīmatī Vārṣabhānavī

[Rādhā], Kṛṣṇa’s ānanda-dāyini-śakti (pleasure-giving
potency) who is considered to be guru-tattva. She has
two manifestations — one is Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu
and the other is Śrī Gadādhara or Śrī Gaurasundara
who has taken the heart and halo of Śrī Rādhā. Those
who take refuge under Śrī Baladeva-gopī Ānaṅga-
mañjarī accept Śrī Baladeva Nityānanda Prabhu as
their guru, and they also accept Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-devī
as guru. The reason is that except for allegiance to Śrī
Vārṣabhānavī, Śrī Ānaṅga-mañjarī has no separate
fulfillment. Many have performed bhajana under the
shelter of Śrī Jāhnavā, the śakti of Śrī Nityānanda.
Although expressed in esoteric terms, this is the essence of Guru
Tattva as you have presented it to us. To summarize: Balarāma’s
position as spiritual master is manifested further in his form as
Nityānanda Prabhu, crystallized in His ultimate act of mercy to
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Jagāi and Mādhāi. The two brothers virtually defined sinfulness
and atheism among the townspeople of Śrī Chaitanya’s Navadvīpa.
Still, they eventually became great devotees by Nityānanda’s grace.
You offer this same opportunity to the rest of the world. You thus
represent the essence of Balarāma and Nityānanda Prabhu.
And your guru affords us the inner meaning: Śrī Nityānanda is
considered non-different from his wife Jāhnavā Ṭhākurānī, and it
is She who represents guru for practitioners in mādhurya-rasa, or the
most confidential form of conjugal love in the Gauḍīya tradition — the
special dispensation that Mahāprabhu came to give. By Nityānanda
Prabhu’s causeless mercy, one attains Jāhnavā’s shelter and thereby
the shelter of Ānaṅga Mañjarī (the younger sister of Śrī Rādhikā),
Jāhnavā’s incarnation in Kṛṣṇa-lila. She is thus representative of Śrī
Rādhā, the ultimate in Guru Tattva.
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda — it is you who manifest as all of these
personalities for us, your disciples, and for your disciples’ disciples,
and for everyone forevermore, for without Your Divine Grace, we
would have no access to Them or the mercy They so freely give. For
us, YOU are Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma-Gaurasundara-Nityānanda-Jāhnavā-
Ānaṅga-mañjarī-Rādhā Tattva, all summarized as the direct and
beautiful Prabhupāda Tattva. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jai!
Your servant,
Satyarāja Dāsa
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Sikhi Mahiti Dasa



“We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence,
good qualities of a human being.” — SB 1.1.22

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet on
the 124th anniversary of your divine appearance in Kolkata,
West Bengal, India.
I am writing this offering the day after Narasimha Caturdashi.
The world is suffering a pandemic caused by a flu-like virus. No
one can enter the temple by edict of the Mayor of Atlanta. All the
citizens are suffering great material stress and fear. An economic
hardship like the Great Depression of 1929 in the USA has appeared.
The worst has yet to come.
During this time of uncertainty and strife, I am meditating on
your pastime during World War Two. This pastime is written by
H.H. Satsvarupa das Gosvāmī in his book Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta:
Then in 1943 the British found that the Japanese, who
had already taken Burma, were at the doors of India,
approaching Bengal. By their tactic known as the “denial
policy,” the British sank many Indian boats carrying
food and destroyed large rice crops, fearing that they
would fall into the hands of the enemy. This left local
Indians starving and without the boats they needed for
trade. The famine that ensued was the worst that had hit
Bengal in 150 years. The government removed all control
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of food costs, and those who could not afford to buy at
the skyrocketing prices died in the streets of Calcutta.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: I have got experience – the government

created artificial famine. The war was going on, so Mr.
Churchill’s policy was to keep the people in scarcity so
they will volunteer to become soldiers. So this policy
was executed. Big men, they collected the rice. Rice was
selling at six rupees per mound. All of a sudden it came
to fifty rupees per mound. I was in the grocer shop
purchasing, and all of a sudden the grocer said, “No, no.
I am not going to sell any more!” At that moment the
price was six rupees per mound. So suddenly he was not
going to sell. A few hours later, I went back to purchase,
and the rice had gone up to fifty rupees per mound.
The government-appointed agents began to purchase the

rice and other commodities which are daily necessities.
They can offer any price, because the currency is in
their hands. They can print so-called papers, a hundred
dollars, and pay. A man becomes satisfied, thinking, “Oh,
I have a hundred dollars.” But it is a piece of paper...
That was the policy. “You have no money, no rice? So

another avenue is open – yes, you become a soldier.
You get so much money.” People, out of poverty, would
go there. I have seen it. No rice was available in the
market. And people were hungry. They were dying.
Abhay managed to purchase just enough for his own

family to survive. But he saw the beggar population
increase by the hundreds. Month after month he saw
the footpaths and open spaces congested with beggars,
cooking their food on improvised stoves and sleeping in
the open or beneath the trees. He saw starving children
rummaging in the dustbins for a morsel of food. From
there it was but a step to fighting with the dogs for a share
of the garbage, and this also became a familiar sight in
the Calcutta streets. The British had little time to spare
from their war efforts, and they worked only to save those
lives essential for the fight. For the common people the
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empire’s prescription was uniform and simple-starvation.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: One American gentleman was present

at that time. He remarked, “People are starving in this way.
In our country there would have been revolution.” Yes, but
the people of India are so trained that in spite of artificial
famine they did not commit theft, stealing others’ property.
People were dying. Still they thought, “All right. God has
given.” That was the basic principle of Vedic civilization.
Abhay knew that under the laws of nature there was no

scarcity; by God’s arrangement the Earth could produce
enough food. The trouble was man’s greed. “There is no
scarcity in the world,” Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
had said. “The only scarcity is of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
And this was how Abhay saw the 1943 famine. Now
more than ever, this spiritual vision was relevant – Kṛṣṇa
consciousness was the prime necessity. How else could man
be checked from his evil propensities to become greedy,
hoard, make war, and thus create misery for millions?”
The inspiration I take from this pastime is:
1. Everyone must face extreme suffering. It doesn’t matter if

you are a Vaiṣṇava or non-believer.
2. A person who loves Kṛṣṇa is never disturbed by excessive
happiness or distress.
3. The topmost devotee is so fixed in the preaching mission
of his guru that his determination and desire to fulfill that
mission intensifies in times of worldwide suffering.
4. The real mahātmā has great compassion for the fallen souls
and is always thinking how to uplift them.
From this current worldwide crisis, it is difficult to see what our next
step in service to your preaching mission is.
We know that book distribution must increase so that people will
have the knowledge they need to get relief from the material world.
I can foresee people who purchased the books out of kindness but
not reading them put them on their bookshelves. At times of great
stress and hopelessness like this, they will reach for your books and
find the real solution.
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We also are aware that we must become self-sufficient so that
there is some shelter for the devotees and others who will need food,
home, peace of mind, and happiness that comes from dependening
on nature and Kṛṣṇa.
We must continue the worship of the Deities installed under
your shelter. You requested them to appear and accept our service.
These holy places can counteract the sinful reactions of the local
residents and induce an auspicious atmosphere conducive for
Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Kṛṣṇa is showing the world the fallacy of life devoid of simple
living and high thinking (Kṛṣṇa consciousness). I pray for the
intelligence and spiritual strength to expand your mission at this
opportune time. Please empower us to fulfill your mission.
Your servant,
Sikhi Mahiti Dasa
ISKCON Atlanta
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Sukhada Dasi
Śrīla Prabhupāda,
We never imagined you could ever leave us. It just didn’t seem
possible. Your bold steps, effulgent personality, filled with faith,
knowledge, determination, and love. After all, you could have left on
the Jaladuta as you sailed across the Atlantic, but Kṛṣṇa saved you...
Kṛṣṇa personally saved you! When your health deteriorated here in
America, you went back to India, but returned rejuvenated, ready to
align your soldiers and continue the battle against māyā. We never
dreamed of a world without you...such a transcendental personality
will never leave, right? That’s how we felt...that was our illusion.
When you left New York to go to San Francisco to assist your
fledgling disciples, the New York devotees were lost. What could
they do without you? You instructed them to keep your picture
on the altar and to worship it as if you were there and thus they
would feel the reciprocation. It was true. They felt your presence
and strived to maintain and build their temple community, push on
the saṅkīrtana movement. So it went, as you traveled from country-
to-country, giving your association freely, leaving, but remaining in
your picture and your instructions. Again you became ill, and we
all prayed, “Dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, if you so desire please save our Śrīla
Prabhupāda.” Every devotee in each temple worldwide held this
prayer on their lips and in their hearts. Again it looked as if our
desire was strong enough to keep you with us. We worked harder
than ever to please you.
So in November 1977 when you physically left it felt
incomprehensible. The captain of our ship was no longer visible,
and we floundered. Still, we flounder. There are so many questions
we would like to ask. Could you just set us straight on some of the
controversial issues that face us? Could you just return for a month,
a week, a day, a few hours?
You closed the door on your vapuḥ pastimes on this planet.
Devastated, bereft, heartbroken, confused...how could we go on?
We struggled, fought and lost, struggled, fought and won, as we
endeavored to remember and follow your instructions, continued
with classes on holy Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, continued distributing
your books, continued to care for the Deities, continued to
maintain your temples.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we do feel your presence! The door to your
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vāṇī pastimes unfolded, and we saw, we see you everywhere. In
every remembrance of Kṛṣṇa we remember you. Without the grace
of the spiritual master no one makes any advancement. In every
drink of water...raso ‘ham apsu kaunteya, the aristocratic way you
held and drank from your cup, we see you in the light of the sun
and the moon, in every flower that is meant to be offered to the
Supreme Lord. Paṇḍitaḥ sama-darśinaḥ, you have given us the vision
to see everyone from the germ up to the most perfect being as spirit
soul. This vision allows us to see equally and thus divisions of race,
nationality, and gender are erased. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam, everything
is owned and controlled by the Lord. Knowing this we should accept
only what is necessary as our quota, and not accept more knowing
full well to whom they belong. You have gifted us the perfect Peace
Formula, and now it’s our business to put it into action. You have
awarded us true happiness. As you explain, one who thinks himself
the master is automatically troubled by the three modes of material
nature, but when one understands he is a transcendental servant
he is at once freed from the threefold miseries. How incredibly
amazing. As soon as we’re feeling out of sorts, if we reflect on our
position of transcendental servant we can begin to serve and all
misgivings vanish!
You are in the hearts of every one of your disciples, granddisciples
and great-granddisciples. As we strain our eyes to see, there are
signs of you everywhere. You are in your cherished books...if
someone touches the book, reads even one sentence, one word, his
path back to Godhead begins. Kīrtana is fast becoming a household
word spreading transcendental sound everywhere. You noted when
you first arrived in New York that your classes didn’t seem to make
devotees, but when you started kīrtana that’s when it really started
to happen. So armed with our transcendental weapons of books,
prasādam, and kīrtana there’s a lot of your love spreading around.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, the path back home, back to Godhead you
have laid with a touchstone, revealing itself due to your mercy. It’s
decorated with the footprints of all who have traveled on this path
before....your guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, his guru, Bhaktivinoda
Ṭhākura, the six Goswamis, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura have
all laid the foundation. The path at times seems long and arduous,
but your words, and the words of the ācāryas as guides, are the fuel
that nourishes. We know that the ocean can be reduced to a calf’s
footprint. These words hold all the promise we need to stick to the
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path. You told us unequivocally, “Chant 16 rounds, follow the four
regulative principles, and you will go back to Godhead at the end of
this life.” Also, “chanting, dancing and feasting – this is the method
for this age of Kali-yuga!”
You encouraged us that a beautiful feature of this process is
helping others as we progress. At times it seems we are running,
skipping, and jumping along the path as we reach out to those who
long for relief from this desert-like existence. One of the amazing
features of this trek is that the more we stop to help others the farther
along the path we find ourselves. It doesn’t heed the normal rules of
physics. Someone who walks slow, carefully, meditatively can find
themselves magically transported even catapulted long distances
into the bhakti world.
You advise us “Don’t become enmeshed in politics....avoid
the crows and become like the swans, the paramahaṁsas.” Please
empower us to avoid the pitfalls of politics, fault-finding and
bickering in the greater world and in our ISKCON. Allow us to
remain your transcendental servants... your white, black, brown
elephants who aspire to humbly remain the servants of the servant.
Your eternally grateful servant,

Sukhada Dasi
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Vaiyasaki Dasa Adhikari


All things must pass, and my time is coming.
Many of our godbrothers and godsisters have already
left this world.
You taught me, “just do as I am doing.”
I have reached 77 years of age and still follow the teachings you
gave me – doing as you did.
You have been the greatest influence in my life.
I am living in Śrī Vṛndāvana dhāma for many years since I first
lived in our Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Mandir in 1975. Now I have my own
home in the holy dhāma and cannot imagine living anywhere else.
Of course, I continue to travel and preach, lead kīrtanas for many
diverse groups – both in person and online, and lecture from the
Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
I live the life of a sannyāsī although I am a gṛhastha with wife and
child because every disciple follows the regulative principles!
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu preached to every person he met:
kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya
You have explained this verse in many purports:
“It does not matter whether one is a brāhmaṇa,
śūdra, gṛhastha or sannyāsī. These are all material
designations. A spiritually advanced person has
nothing to do with such designations. Therefore, if
one is advanced in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
regardless of his position in human society, he may
become a spiritual master.” — SB 6.7.33 Purport.
Yes, the external aśramas are all material designations that’s
why I travel and preach like a sannyāsī although a gṛhastha.
When one of my grhastha godbrothers was recommended for
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sannyāsa, you quoted this kiba vipra śloka and commented that he
could reach more people by preaching as a householder. Then you
added, “Besides, you don’t need a pole to preach!”
Unfortunately, he did not follow your direction. After you left
us, he took sannyāsa. Later, he could not maintain the sannyāsa
aśrama and remarried.
All difficulties in spiritual life are due to not following the
instructions of the spiritual master.
In a personal darśana in November 1976 in your Vṛndāvana
rooms, you quoted the kibā vipra verse to me while looking me
directly in the eye.
Yes, I have taken this verse as my prabhu-datta deśa – the personal
instruction given by the spiritual master – and have lived my
life accordingly.
Personally, I am healthy, happy, and content, although not all is
well in your ISKCON. You taught me that the disease of Westerners
is change, change, change.
There are many conflicts in our society now all due to this
change, change, change mentality. I stay aloof from ISKCON politics,
knowing well that Yamarāja will mete out justice to those who
transgress Vaiṣṇava behavior.
Again, difficulties in spiritual life always come when we
disregard the instructions of the spiritual master. I have seen this
again and again.
Kindly bless me so I can continue living in Vṛndāvana, traveling,
preaching, and doing as you did until my time is up and I also must
pass from this world.
Your endeavoring servant,

Vaiyasaki Dasa Adhikari
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Dayanidhi Dasa

I offer at your divine lotus feet my most heartfelt obeisances.

Such a privilege for me to be in front of you! You are that
special and unique devotee ācārya chosen by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Caitanya Mahāprabhu as a Śaktyāveśa-avatāra for spreading
Krishna Consciousness all over the planet! And this happened
because of your extraordinary high level of consciousness,
or Kṛṣṇa consciousness! No other devotee has received such
power as you received! This means that YOU ARE UNIQUE!
I was a young and bewildered boy looking for knowledge and
understanding of the real goal of life. I was wandering the streets
of Rome confused, frustrated. By your grace, I met the devotees
Mrida Mataji, Somaka Prabhu and Dhananjaya Prabhu, who gave
me shelter and hope!
Nowadays the entire planet is completely bewildered and
confused about the present and future situation due to this unseen
enemy called coronavirus. People are lost in deep confusion and
frustration. Such a heavy situation! But under your shelter, I feel
secure and intrepid as you said: “You have to be intrepid person!”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you. We are growing old, but we feel
strong and secure with you in our hearts and your words in our ears.
Your words give us security and strength to not only to carry on, but
also develop – as you told us – a strong desire to help others to take
up Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, thanks to you, our old age is becoming the
best age. l feel younger and younger, because you give me strength,
day after day, and because of you l feel I’m entering in the eternal
life. Where is old age, where is the coronavirus? I see your beautiful
lotus face, your words resound in my ears and go into my heart. You
are my only lord and master.
For you I gave up everything, and I’m very happier each day.
Thank you dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please give me the strength and
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the understanding of who you really are...the greatest devotee and
ācārya who has ever graced this hearty planet! Śrīla Prabhupāda, I
bow down again and again with deep gratitude at the dust of your
divine lotus feet which are my real life and soul.
I’m happy, really happy to remain forever with your servants.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I understood with great happiness that the
company of your disciples and servants are the greatest privilege.
And when I’m away from them, I miss them all so much. Here in
Genova we are starting to apply the self-sufficiency program that
you spoke of many times, depending on Mother Earth and Mother
Cow. We receive our water from the mountain, good and pure air,
simple living and higher thinking, as you wanted.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we have only one desire, to remain in your
service in your ISKCON family forever and preach your glories
life after life!
Your servant from Śrī Prabhupāda Dhāma Genova,

Dayanidhi Dasa
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Śrī Padāmbuja Dāsa

Please accept my humble obeisances to your divine lotus feet.
Having met you and having your holy association marked my
life forever, and having the opportunity to thank you every year on
the day of your Vyāsa-pūjā fills me with emotion.
The prediction made more than 500 years ago by Lord Caitanya,
that the saṅkīrtana movement would spread throughout all the
cities, towns and villages of the world is being fulfilled thanks to
the impulse of the disciplic succession of spiritual masters that you
represent with total dignity. The architect of this prediction has been
you, helped by your disciples, who have then multiplied the number
of new followers, and whose disciples continue to multiply them.
Now, the institution you established is an increasingly voluminous
snowball that absorbs thousands and thousands of conditioned
souls in its path to purify them and integrate them into Lord Kṛṣṇa’s
pastimes in the field of eternity.
By your grace, and by the faith placed in your person, your
followers enjoy a little taste of what the spiritual world is, in the form
of real happiness and true love. As the śāstras say, “to those who
have full unwavering faith in the guru and Kṛṣṇa, all the meanings
of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.”
My dear father and master, although after serving you for almost
thirty years, actively participating in your mission, creating temples
and attracting devotees in various parts of the world, I became the
shame of your institution. I feel that you have not abandoned me,
otherwise I could not observe the four principles, sing Hare Kṛṣṇa
and write books. For 20 years I have gone from one place to another
in India, Europe, North and South America, without the opportunity
to preach as actively as before for being severely sanctioned (fairly,
I believe) by the GBC authorities. But today, after listening to your
lecture (Atlanta, 1975), on the occasion of your spiritual master‘s
Vyāsa-pūjā, although I have been in a town in Argentina for a few
days, I thought that perhaps Lord Nityānanda has brought me here
to introduce the glories of Lord Caitanya in this remote place. Please
give me your blessings so that the desire that has sprouted in my
heart upon hearing you continue to grow and never wilt. I think I
have written enough books to exercise my spiritual understanding
and communicate it in writing. Now I would like to proceed as in the
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old days, publicly singing the holy name, distributing your books
and prasāda, and preaching directly in the way the Lord allows me to
do. Please tell your Guru Mahārāja that to also take me into account
and bless me. I am very fallen, and I have no choice to serve Kṛṣṇa
without your blessings.
With humility, respect and trust in your great mercy.

Śrī Padāmbuja Dāsa
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Subhangi Devi Dasi
My dearmost Gurudeva, Śrīla Prabhupāda!

My heart is crying for you, day and night!
When did you ever take any credit for yourself? It recently
dawned in me, when I meditated on your name ‘Prabhupāda’. Why
did you agree so easily to have this title of your guru mahārāja added
to your own name?
You allowed it really to happen because whenever anyone would
call you Prabhupāda, Jaya Prabhupāda, you could be reminded of
your own guru mahārāja and we also were unknowingly calling or
glorifying not only you, but him as well. You did not want to take
any credit for yourself. Who in the world is so selflessly engaged in
Kṛṣṇa’s service?
And his instruction gave you the power to pull us dreary, health
abusing, misled hippies out of our hopeless, miserable life to lead us
to a sheltered, regulated cultured life of ‘happies’.
We young people were unknowingly waiting for something
to happen, for somebody to come. Apparently it was for you.
You were the only one who could free us from our animalistic,
hellish godless life.
Now a much bigger mass of people, practically the whole
world, is unknowingly waiting for something to stop this torturing
‘lockdown situation’ to return back to normal or even to some
drastic change. Could they be ready to become humans and God-
fearing? The deadly corona, or ‘karuṇā’(?) virus has been sent by the
adhidaivic disturbing demigods to make us, by the appearance of
the overbusy Yamarāja, remember what is the most amazing thing in
this world? Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was the only of the Pāṇḍavas who
knew the answer for Yamarāja: We are every second confronted with
death, in the nature, by seeing the decomposing plants, numerous
dying insects etc and people around us facing death, but we think,
that we will never die.
Now in this time of the world’s lockdown, where nobody is
allowed to have a stroll in the park or a funfair to divert one’s mind
from an imprisonment phobia, the noose of fear of starvation and
financial ruin is tightening around everybody’s neck. That moment
in many a person’s mind has sprung up where each person looks for
a real, reliable shelter deep within.
We hippies were lucky because we were personally given a taste
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of this real shelter at the lotus feet of you, Śrīla Abhaya Caraṇāravinda
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the representative of Śrī Śrī
Gaura Nitāi, the munificent benefactors of all living beings and the
most merciful and compassionate incarnations of Godhead.
Where could the world in this probably most receptive situation
find somebody of your caliber to convince them that the omniscient
Lord can give us eternal shelter and real happiness of an eternal life?
My heart is crying day and night.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please be merciful and send an
empowered personality down to these most suffering souls,
somebody as compassionate as you….
Thank you sooo much!

Subhangi Devi Dasi
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Anandamaya Dasa

For the past year or two, I did not submit an offering, thinking
that what I have to say is not significant. Although that is certainly
true, to not submit glorification of Your Divine Grace, nor a report
on my current status constitutes, in my opinion, what can be termed
“dereliction of duty.” Therefore, I am attempting to rectify that with
this offering. Please kindly accept it.
We disciples are eternally indebted to you. There is no
greater gift than that of your acceptance of we who were mainly
wholly unqualified people from mleccha and yavana lands. Almost
immediately after initiation many of us proved by our actions that
we could not fully follow your instructions. You stated that your
Western disciples are not afraid enough of māyā. This is certainly
true in my case. I was unable to follow all your regulative principles
fully, causing me to victimize others and to also become a victim of
sinful reaction, that ever-present reaction to deviation from dharma.
After 1986, with a moderately materially successful business and
some krodha issues, my sādhana began to wane until it became very
weak. The big wake-up call came in April 2008 with a major motor
vehicle crash and ensuing emergency surgery. After surgery, the
nurses gave me morphine for pain, and the morphine sent me into
an altered state of consciousness; I became entangled in some kind
of personal hell from which I could not escape, though I tried using
yogic techniques. When I say hell, there is practically no describing
how hellish a state of mind this was. Once I realized that I was truly
trapped, Kṛṣṇa, in His infinite causeless mercy, saw fit to rescue
me. That rescue was a truly lovely experience which will stay with
me forever. After that experience, I managed to revive my sādhana
somewhat and have maintained it since, although it is still not up to
the level which you had prescribed for your disciples.
Now I have been in old age for about four years. It is so awful.
Janma, mṛtyu, jarā, vyādhi – all only suffering conditions. Something
breaks down, I attempt to repair it, then something else breaks down.
I can see where this is headed and it will only intensify. The pristine
soul, whether aware of his identity as pristine soul or not, will no
longer able to tolerate a debilitated and decrepit body. Then he leaves,
or if too attached...kicked out!! His attachments carry him to his next
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birth. If only I were attached to Kṛṣṇa, but alas, it is obvious that I am
not serious enough about KC, that I am more attached to my false
independence, which is illusory. Still, I attempt and do make some
little progress. I am hoping to enter madhyama adhikārī status before I
pass because of what use is it staying forever a kaniṣṭha?
My friend and godbrother, Kalanka Dasa, who had the good
fortune to meet you personally, has always told me that we don’t
want to come back and be forced to enter a womb. Previously I didn’t
take the issue seriously, but recently I had a dream in which I was
driving a tank. We drove in one direction, then had to turn the tank
around. I had gotten out of the tank already, but had to climb back
up the turret to see well to drive properly. I started climbing up the
turret, but it was too narrow and tight and I became stuck. I realized,
while dreaming, that it represented the womb. Then I became fearful
and woke up. When we think about it, we all take for granted the
ability to stretch out our arms and legs. But in the womb, even this
is not possible, and the jīvātmā, the minute atomic-sized spirit soul,
prays to God that if released from this restrictive condition, he will
dedicate his life to God (Kṛṣṇa). Immediately upon birth, however,
the jīva reneges on his promise and begins another life in an attempt
at self-gratification, rather than service to and love of guru and
Kṛṣṇa. This is despicable!
Very recently, as an immediate reaction to some deviation, I had
a severe bout of bronchitis. I am now better, but the first 72 hours
were nasty. This had given me the realization that we truly are
on a razor’s edge, and the slightest deviation can bring about an
immediate reaction, leaving us open to a suffering condition.
As to what I am currently attempting to do in service, I had been
co-sponsoring a monthly kīrtana program at a public hall, but due
to what I considered low attendance (8–14 people), I discontinued
it. Upon introspection, the real reason it did not take off can only
be attributed to my own lack of genuine KC. Under the current
Covid-19 shelter-in-place restrictions, now such a gathering would
not be advisable, as it would endanger the lives of the devotees
needlessly. Thankfully I am now distributing your pre-edited book
reprints in “little free libraries” as well as one public library that has
a public book exchange section. When I look at what some of my
godbrothers/sisters have done in their service to you, it becomes
readily apparent that I am far back in the pack based on both
realization and service attitude. Frankly, my mentality (mixed modes
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of passion and ignorance) and work in this life have amounted only
to that of a middling vaiśya. I hope that in the next birth I can rise
a notch to that of genuine kṣatriya, then perhaps within a few more
births I can finally fulfill your desire to have your disciples become
genuine Vaiṣṇava brāhmaṇas.
With full daṇḍavat praṇāms, I remain, your disciple,

Anandamaya Dasa
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Mahavisnupriya Devi Dasi
Please accept our humble obeisances, Śrīla Prabhupāda. All glories

to you, who are a beacon of light in our rapidly darkening world.
We can literally see the acceleration of Kali-yuga around the
world. You foretold this, but in our younger days, we foolishly
thought since Kali-yuga is hundreds of thousands of years long,
not much would change in our little lifetime. Yet today conditions
are so tense and uncertain because many evil dictators around the
world are rising to power and flexing their muscles much more than
ever before. Because now they view the weakened state of America
under an ignorant, inept, con-man president. Thus, US citizens are
consequently teetering on the brink of disaster, with long-range
missiles, drone technology, chemical and nuclear weapons aiming at
total annihilation of countries and masses of people in the foreseeable
future. Additionally, a worldwide pandemic is hastening the loss of
lives on our planet.
In the 1970s, you warned us of impending war. You said that war
would begin between India and Pakistan. Then China would come to
India’s aid and Russia would give help to Pakistan. But some months
later, you told us that Kṛṣṇa had changed His mind about war at
that time. Perhaps your success, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in spreading KC
beyond the borders of India, into the West, helped Kṛṣṇa change his
mind. But now there is no one who can tell us Kṛṣṇa’s mind.
In Hawaii in 1975, you were translating the 5th Canto, while
speaking to us in Bhāgavatam classes of other universes, other
worlds and positions of the planetary systems. You stated then,
that living entities from subterranean hellish planets were currently
taking birth on our earth planet. You stated they would be very
advanced in technology which they would use to fascinate, distract
and mesmerize the human population. Yet none of this would be
of any good, because, you said,” they (these leaders of technology)
are all Godless.”
Today in China they have created a 5G network where all citizens
and all those entering China have their facial recognition, their eyes/
irises scanned, their personal information, passports, cell phones
decoded and their activities tracked wherever they are, wherever
they shop or wherever they go within the country.
One young American journalist with shoulder length hair and
a beard was walking through a park where children were playing.
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Because of this activity of just walking through the park, his face
popped up on a computer screen in some govt. office, comparing his
features to others of criminal behavior.
His identity and phone were immediately flagged with warning
signals, his phone charged with a fine, money taken from his bank
account instantaneously. Then he was charged with a crime with no
explanation and with NO recourse. No court of appeals, no trials or
judges, no way to challenge China’s authority. Increasingly, China
has weaponized technology to abuse international human rights
laws established around the world.
Interestingly enough, the United Nations pinpoints the origin
of Human Rights to the year 539 BC. To a time when the troops
of Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, King Cyrus then freed all
slaves, declared that every person had the right to choose their own
religion, and he established racial equality in his empire. (However,
the UN was unaware of the saintly kings of Bhāratavarṣa, millions
of years earlier.)
Yet the Godlessness mentality is growing by leaps and bounds
daily, making the spreading of KC more and more important and
necessary. Back then you urged us to spread this KC Movement
daily, by putting your books in the hands of all the people we meet.
You said that you have done the preaching in your books and we just
have to distribute them to everyone. You said emphatically we must
do this before the world goes “mad”. I thought about this statement a
lot in those days. How will the world go mad? I knew you had grown
up in British India where “mad” is the Brit’s synonym for crazy.
So how does the world go crazy? Is it from pollution of our water
systems, or foods processed with chemicals that are later to be found
harmful to our brain cells? Or does this happen from war’s nuclear
fallout or global pandemics? Listening to your lecture some time
ago, you suddenly stated clearly, “When I say, “mad”, I mean the
sum total of all STUPIDITY!”
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda! That’s clear to me now as we all
are witnessing the “dumbing down” of society, that uses less and
less critical thinking with each passing day. Your mission and your
instructions to us are more vital now than ever before.
Despite this ensuing darkness, your disciples and granddisciples,
that you claimed to us in Hawaii, would all be far more advanced
than any of us, your direct disciples. You said, “... because they
will know the perfect, pure example without ever having seen it.”
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Without ever having seen you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, they will know
you deeply and understand your mission more fully. Many times
you commented that the demigods were lining up to take birth in
this movement. Well, they are here now and they are among us and
they are expanding the mode of goodness in the world as we speak.
In the Science of Self Realization, you stated:
This very important Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement
is meant to save human society from spiritual death.
At present human society is being misled by leaders
who are blind, for they do not know the aim and
objective of human life, which is self-realization and
the reestablishment of our lost relationship with the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
You have put everything thoughtfully in place through your
determined dedication and desire for pleasing your spiritual master
by writing and printing books in English (and other languages
also). You have sent warriors for the future to assist us in what you
have begun here in our world. Your books are the law books for the
next 10,000 years. Your forethought, compassion and genius are
protecting us daily, as long as we remain faithful.
We say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you are the miraculous WONDER
of our world and there is no end to your mercy.
All glories to our Founder-Ācārya, His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami, Śrīla Prabhupāda! Thank you for all your
blessings, all your gifts, and all your sacrifices to bring Krishna
Consciousness to us. Thank you for all your unflinching mercy
throughout all these years!

Mahavisnupriya Devi Dasi
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Bhutiha Dasa

I know that I don’t have the proper words to express my thanks
for everything you’ve done for me and the whole world.
I thank you for giving me the mahā-mantra, your books with
your translation.
I thank you for saving me from the illusion in which I was caught.
I thank you for the transcendental vision you have given me.
Thank you for introducing me to Kṛṣṇa by sweeping away the
Māyāvādī philosophy.
I am grateful to you from the bottom of your heart.
Your servant,
Bhutiha Dasa
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Saumyarupa Devi Dasi

Our merciful and glorious spiritual master His Divine Grace
Please accept my respectful obeisances at your lotus feet.
Thank you very much for keeping me and protecting me
as your servant.
I am very happy to be allowed to dress the Deities Gāndharvikā
Giridhārī three times a week. This service is so wonderful and
keeps me alive.
Thank you very much for whatever I have and whatever
insignificant service I can do, is due to your mercy and the mercy
of your devotees.
Please allow me to go on and to develop love and devotion.
Please help me to get rid of envy and frustration.
I wish to please you and be able to help and inspire others on the
path of devotional service the way how you liked it.
Your unqualified servant,

Saumyarupa Devi Dasi
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Bhagavat Ashraya Dasa

Please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus
feet. All glories to your Divine Grace.
Your Lordship is my only means of getting out
of this darkest region of ignorance because You
are my transcendental eye, which, by Your mercy
only, I have attained after many, many births.
This verse is very instructive, since it indicates the

relationship between the spiritual master and the disciple.
The disciple or conditioned soul is put into this darkest
region of ignorance and therefore is entangled in the
material existence of sense gratification. It is very difficult
to get out of this entanglement and attain freedom, but if
one is fortunate enough to get the association of a spiritual
master like Kapila Muni or His representative, then by his
grace one can be delivered from the mire of ignorance.
The spiritual master is therefore worshipped as one who
delivers the disciple from the mire of ignorance with
the light of the torch of knowledge. The word pāragam is
very significant. Pāragam refers to one who can take the
disciple to the other side. This side is conditioned life; the
other side is the life of freedom. The spiritual master takes
the disciple to the other side by opening his eyes with
knowledge. We are suffering simply because of ignorance.
By the instruction of the spiritual master, the darkness of
ignorance is removed, and thus the disciple is enabled to
go to the side of freedom. (SB 3.25.8, verse and purport)
Like holding a candle to the sun, I hold these words up to you.
All I can say to you at this time is that I am very aware of my
good fortune in encountering you and for the opportunity you have
given me, literally, “out of the blue.” I was lost and hopeless in this
world; and in this life, I was in the midst of futility and despair, when
one bright blue-sky day I purchased your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto
One, with its bright sky-blue dust cover. I took it home and read the
preface and my life changed forever.
You mean more to me than life itself. I pray that, no matter what
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lies before me in this world in this life, or however many lives it
takes me to rectify myself completely, I never forget you. That I never
forget your infinite and causeless kindness upon me. That I never
forget your instructions. And that I never forget and cease to engage
in your mission to fulfil the prophecy of Lord Caitanya that His
name will be heard in every town and village on this planet.
I have a debt to you that I can never repay, but will always try to do
so in whatever way I can by working to become your useful servant.
I was once in a darśana with you and a number of other devotees
in your rooms in Vṛndāvana, when, after knocking on the door,
Lokanātha Mahārāja popped into the room. He had only recently
received sannyāsa initiation from you and was returning from his
first preaching tour since that day. You stopped everything, beamed
a broad smile at him and said “Yes, come on.” You were so pleased
to see him and eager to hear of his preaching activities.
Literally and figuratively, we have to pass through many, many
doors in life. I live in hope of the day, no matter how far distant in the
future it may be, after returning from a preaching engagement, I will
knock a door and enter a room, knowing you are there on the other
side and you will smile at me and say, “Yes, come on.”
Your ever-grateful servant,

Bhagavat Ashraya Dasa
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Narakantaka Dasa


Most beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble and respectful obeisances.
All glories to Your Divine Grace.
I bow down in the dust of your lotus feet, well aware that,
without you, I am nothing.
In Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 17.185 , purport), you write:
Those who follow social customs and behaviour forget
to follow the path chalked out by the mahājanas; thus
they are offenders at the feet of the mahājanas. Sometimes
they consider such mahājanas very conservative, or
they create their own mahājanas. In this way they
ignore the principles of the paramparā system.
At the end of your purport on the same verse, you conclude:
One who tries to imitate the mahājanas just to become
an imitative spiritual master is certainly far away
from following in the footsteps of the mahājanas.
Sometimes people cannot actually understand how
a mahājanas follows other mahājanas. In this way,
people are inclined to fall from devotional service.
In a submissive frame of mind I beg Your Divine Grace to forgive me
for my questionable behaviour when at times, forgetful of my true
position and engrossed in a false perception of myself, I am led into
thinking that I’m more of what I really am.
Sometimes even up to the point where I think, “I know better”,
and thus neglect to check if what I consider the best and the right
thing to do, is confirmed by you and it is coherent with your
conclusions and personal behaviour.
Please forgive me. I will avoid that at any cost.
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It is hard to be found, even since days of yore,
A soul of such glory, so kind and so pure
That even Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Greatest of all,

Adores your feet and responds to your call.
Your teaching and guidance, beyond time and space,

Know no faults or limits; are free from mistakes.
The wheel-saw of time, with its grinding teeth,

For thousands of years will meet its defeat
In chewing and crumbling your books and your fame,

Since after you appeared, no life is the same.
Your powerful Movement will face everyone,

So that also a rebel will come and become
The most happy and humble, a surrendered soul,

And by love and your mercy, fulfil his life’s goal.
Of Spiritual Sky you have opened the door,

And of Love of Godhead you have plundered the store.
By flooding the world with your loving grace,

You’ve shown the true beauty: the Lord’s lotus face.
Your lotus-like feet, unsinkable vessel,

Grant shelter to those who struggle and wrestle
Within this dark ocean of nescience and fear,

By just one condition: being willing to hear.
The sound of transcendence flowing out of your mouth,

Will shrink that vast body, without any doubt,
Again and again, by half and then half,

Downsizing to a hoof-print, left over by a calf
You’re father, you’re master, you are everyone’s friend;

You’re named “Prabhupāda” ’cos that’s where you stand!
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And all living creatures within these three worlds,
Men, angels or demons are struck by your words.
My life is worth nothing, without serving you,

No matter how “spiritual”, fresh or anew.
And even if held in the Lord’s warm embrace,

This soul cannot live without Your Divine Grace.
Dear Lord Caitanya, mahā-vadānyāya, please, protect me from the

ill-advised inner thought that, “Śrīla Prabhupāda has given me
everything was needed and for this I will be forever thankful. But
now it’s my time, the time to walk with my own legs”, (an unseen
offensive – ‘thank you and goodbye’).
Please concede me to remember, always, no matter in which life,
that forever and ever I will depend on Śrīla Prabhupāda and that ‘we
should always remain a fool before the spiritual master’.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jay!
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your menial, respectful servant,

Narakantaka Dasa
Radio Kṛṣṇa Centrale – Italy
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Drutakarma Dasa

Grace on the occasion of your appearance in this world.
Thank you for giving me the bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed of the
creeper of devotional service, which for me means devotional
service to you. You are Kṛṣṇa’s confidential servant, and whatever
service I render to Kṛṣṇa is only through my service to you. You and
your service are the polestar by which I navigate through the ever-
shifting constellations of life. I continue to water the creeper that has
grown from the seed I received from you and your Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Drutakarma Dasa
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Ashalata Devi Dasi


I pay my most humble obeisances on to your lotus feet again and
again on this auspicious day, your Vyāsa-pūjā day.
Devotees glorify Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, glorifies
His devotees. Kṛṣṇa chose you to spread His message and to
fulfill His mission.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur, your Guru Mahārāja
also chose you out of all his disciples to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness
to the Western world.
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “My name will be sung in
every town and village.” That is happening with your hard work,
sincere efforts, and working day and night dictating your books.
Not many people knew the name of Kṛṣṇa. You declared that
Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme God and created a revolution all over the
world. Now Kṛṣṇa is known all over the world.
Your books are read in so many different languages
which are opening people’s eyes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and
making them devotees.
Kṛṣṇa is worshipped all over the globe, even in China and
Pakistan. Your lotus feet are like touchstone. Your lotus feet touched
the land of Russia only once, and look how many Russians have
become devotees serving Kṛṣṇa. It is a miracle.
What has happened in your ISKCON movement is amazing. It
is spreading more and more. So many temples have been created all
over the world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the most pure devotee; you were a
very pure devotee from the beginning of your childhood serving Śrī
Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa and doing the Rathayātrā festival. Rathayātrā, your
childhood pastime, has become a global event.
Your dream came true; TOVP has manifested. A landmark,
a wonder of the world where millions of people from all over the
world will come to glorify the Lord.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, what can I say to glorify you. It is not
in my capacity.
That was the luckiest day of our lives when we met you and you
accepted us at your lotus feet. Not only that, you gave us unlimited
mercy whether we were qualified or not. Your mercy is keeping us
in ISKCON and making us serve you and Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please always keep us at your lotus feet and in
service regardless of any obstacles or obstructions.
Thank you very much for everything, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your worthless servant,

Ashalata Devi Dasi
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Subhavilasa Dasa


Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus
feet. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
It is a fortunate time again to prepare an offering for your
annual Vyāsa-pūjā to honor your most wonderful and blissful
appearance day.
Your glories are limitless and a person like me is not qualified
to even touch upon them. In spite of this, I try to remember you not
only today, but every day for your causeless mercy on me as well as
upon millions of souls all over the world.
Your unique position has been summarized by H.H. Viśveśa
Tīrtha as follows:
Of all people, the devotee of the Supreme Lord is the
greatest. And in order to become a devotee, one does
not need to be born in any specific type of class or
caste or nation. Devotion to Kṛṣṇa was limited only to
India but Swami Prabhupāda took this devotion out
of India, and distributed it to anyone and everyone
all over the world. That’s why today we can see
that people from all over the world are accepting
devotional service and becoming devotees of Kṛṣṇa.
In this way, they are becoming the best of humans.
The river Gaṇgā is famous for her purifying effect. At

one time, however, this Gaṅgā did not flow through
the earth planet. It is Bhagīratha who brought the
Gaṅgā from the celestial planets down to the earth
planet. That is why Bhagīratha is celebrated. Swami
Prabhupāda, like Bhagīratha, brought the bhakti-gaṅgā,
down from above and flooded the whole world. In this
way, Swami Prabhupāda has done something which
is much better than what Bhagīratha had done.
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In 1896, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur in his Sajjana-toṣaṇī predicted
the future appearance of a great personality who would come to
the West and preach the message of Lord Gaurāṅga and fulfill the
prediction of Lord Caitanya as follows:
Śrīmān Mahāprabhu did not descend with His associates
to deliver a certain number of human beings in the land
of India, but rather His purpose was to deliver and uplift
all living beings in all countries of the world by preaching
the eternal religion of all souls. There are many kinds of
religion in the world, and among all of them the highest
development of religion is the congregational chanting of
the Supreme Lord’s divine names. Of this there is no doubt.
Alas! When will that day come when all greatly fortunate
souls in countries such as England, France, Russia, Prussia
and America will take up banners, kettle drums, mṛdaṅgas
and karatālas and thus cause the ecstatic waves of Harināma
kīrtana and the singing of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s holy
name to rise in the streets of their towns and cities? O when
will that day come, when pure and transcendental Kṛṣṇa
prema (love of God) will be the only religion of all souls and
all tiny sectarian religions will meet in the unlimited and
universal religion of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, as rivers
merge into the great ocean? O when will that day come?
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you appeared in 1896 and fulfilled Śrīla
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s prediction.
You are the greatest Jagat Guru. You had a vision for ISKCON,
and it is now one of the largest worldwide preaching organizations.
In 1922 and 1935 you received instructions from Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasavatī Mahārāja, and you took them to heart
as your mission.
You had a vision in Māyāpur. With a field and a small piece of
land with no buildings and no roads, you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, declared
it as the world headquarters of ISKCON and now it is a spiritual
hub with the TOVP rising. The Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is
becoming true because of your vision and mercy. With your mercy,
the largest pūjārī floor was open on February 13, 2020. And now, the
largest temple in the world will open in 2022, on the 100th anniversary
of your first meeting with Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī in 1922. It
is your vision and mercy carried out by your sincere disciples and
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devotees like Ambarīṣa Prabhu and associates.
In the early days of New York in 1966 only a few people were
coming to the program at 26 2nd Avenue. But Your Grace announced
that you wanted to set up the International Society of Krishna
Consciousness. Each word was very important to your vision. With
your mercy, ISKCON internationally came true.
The pillars of ISKCON are book distribution saṅkīrtana, prasādam
distribution, Deity worship in your magnificent temples, and devotee
saṅga. With your unlimited mercy you have somehow engaged me
and my family in your activities as we humbly try to contribute to
these pillars, and for this service we will be eternally grateful to you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I can go on and on and on for all my life to
describe your glories and still then they would not be complete.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am yours. There is no greater, no higher
destination, no greater fortune than serving you and your
ISKCON mission.
Please always keep me in your shelter. You are my protector and
my maintainer. Without you there is only darkness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, my humble request is to always please keep
me and my family at your lotus feet and in the service of you
and your ISKCON.

Subhavilasa Dasa
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Ugresa Dasa


jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya
prabhu nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara
śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet, on this
your Vyāsa-pūjā day.
As the world remains captured in the grip of māyā’s illusion,
so many years after you delivered the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra to the Western world, I marvel at the house you built, where
anyone with a genuine desire can find shelter.
We are living in unprecedented times, with the influence of Kali-
yuga showing its face on every front. Although pure spirit souls,
with contact to the material world, we have become influenced by the
three modes of material nature (goodness, passion and ignorance).
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
gunāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho
dehe dehinam avyayam
(Bhagavad-gītā 14.5)
By your grace, we have the key to overcome these obstacles to our

real nature, and find our true identity in the spiritual realm.
Your example is supreme, guiding us along the path, showing us
how to eat, how to sleep, how to pray and dance in glorification of
the one true God (Kṛṣṇa).
I recently read that you were observed laughing while
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reading your own books, and stated that, “It is not possible for an
ordinary man to write these books. I did not write these books,
Kṛṣṇa wrote them.”
This is proof that you are the via medium of the Supreme Lord.
To love you is to love Kṛṣṇa. To serve you is to serve Kṛṣṇa.
So it is by your mercy, that I continue to strive for the nectar
that we all hanker for, unadulterated purity and love, free from all
desires for anything, but attachment to your service.
I remain your most unworthy servant, still carrying a glimmer
of hope, that one day I will be worthy, and maybe one of the stars,
illuminating the universe in your honor.
Your servant,
Ugresa Dasa
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Aniha Dasa
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my humble obeisances in the

dust of your lotus feet.
Lord Caitanya instructed:
śuno śuno nityānanda, śuno haridās
sarvatra āmār ājñā koroho prakāś
prati ghare ghare giyā koro ei bhikṣā
bolo ’kṛṣṇa’, bhajo kṛṣṇa, koro kṛṣṇa-śikṣā
(Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Madhya-Khaṇḍa, 13.8–10)
“Listen, listen, Nityānanda! Listen, Haridāsa! Make My command

known everywhere! Go from house to house and beg from all the
residents, ‘Please chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, worship Kṛṣṇa, and teach
others to follow Kṛṣṇa’s instructions.’”
As the perfect servant of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Ṭhākura you are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanya,
and specifically fulfilling the order of your Gurudeva, “If you ever
get money, print books.” Over and over you demonstrated your
dedication to this instruction, by distributing your Back To Godhead
magazines in the heat and dust of Delhi though you barely had
food to eat, by selling your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam volumes to New York
bookshops though you barely had a roof over your head and, despite
failing health, by fighting like a lion to establish ISKCON as a platform
for inundating the world with your Bhaktivedanta purports.
The account of how you distributed the first Kṛṣṇa Books at the
1970 San Francisco Rathayātrā is most wonderful to hear. A devotee
presented you with the advance copies. Surrounded by devotees
and curious festival-goers, you admired the front cover, with the
beautiful painting of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa on a silver cover and ‘Kṛṣṇa’ in
bright red letters. You opened the pages and examined the paintings,
the print, the paper, and the binding, and exclaimed, “Very nice!”
Announcing that this greatly valuable book, ‘Kṛṣṇa’, had just arrived
and that everyone should read it, and with the books stacked before
you, you asked anyone desiring to buy a copy to step forward. With
great excitement everyone pushed forward, clamouring with ten
dollar bills in their hands, eager to obtain a Kṛṣṇa Book, and you sold
every copy without even saving one for yourself.
I pray that one day I may become a worthy disciple and assist
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my revered godbrothers and godsisters who are fully determined to
serve you in your mission to distribute the message of Lord Caitanya.
Your servant,
Aniha Dasa
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Haridāsa Dāsa


While wonderfully preaching and teaching about devotional
service, and setting an inspired personal example, you always put
Śrī Kṛṣṇa first as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and always
presented yourself as the humble servant of servant of the Lord. By
your selfless service, the people of the world came to know of the
Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement, and the Hare Kṛṣṇa
people. Everything was Hare Kṛṣṇa, which pleased you very much.
But comparatively speaking, while this was occurring, the world’s
people knew little about you. That has changed.
Nowadays, you and your mission of establishing Kṛṣṇa
consciousness around the world is better known, because your story
is being told with devotion again and again in books, films, through
computer connections, and by word of mouth. In the wake of your
spreading the holy name of Kṛṣṇa throughout the world, now your
disciples and followers are spreading your fame worldwide. And
just as you appeared the day after the appearance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, you
are appearing more prominently to the world’s people just after
the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement has become historically more solidly
established, though you are the Movement’s Founder-Ācārya.
Of course, in the Bhagavad-gītā you write that it is Śrī Kṛṣṇa who
founded the Kṛṣṇa consciousness Movement, and Lord Caitanya
inaugurated the Saṅkīrtana Movement, but practically we see that
it was your mission in modern times that spread it far and wide.
Though when interviewed about how Kṛṣṇa consciousness grew
during its early days in New York City, you humbly credited “the
boys”. And there was truth in that because they were part of
your mission, as are all of your disciples and followers. But when
Professor Hopkins commented on what he saw in those early days,
he said that only when he met you did everything the boys were
doing become understandable. You were at the heart of the Hare
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Kṛṣṇa Movement then, and for your disciples and followers you will
always remain there. As many more people learn about you and your
compassionate activities, we trust this pleases Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Who we
have heard is especially pleased when His pure devotee is glorified.
Praying to become your sincere disciple.

Haridāsa Dāsa
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Arjuna Dasa

Grace!
Thank you for your wonderful and enlightening explanation of
how to avoid the ten offenses in chanting the holy names of the Lord
in your brilliant purports to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.11 & 12.
oṁ ajñāna timirāndhasya jñānājana-śalākaya
In this time of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercifully forcing us to stay at home
under lockdown, what can we do but surrender to chanting the
mahā-mantra and reading your extraordinary books?
While recently studying the above verses and purports of
your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam I was surprised to realize why I have been
struggling to daily chant 16 rounds for the last 41 years. I am still
immersed in the ocean of the three modes of material nature because
of my offensive chanting, with hardly any taste to chant properly.
O kind well-wishing savior of this fallen rascal, who is still on
the level of ‘ahaṁ-mamādi paramo nāmni so ‘py aparādha-kṛt’ – which
you so nicely explain as follows:
The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy
name of the Lord even after hearing of the transcendental
nature of the holy name. The effect of chanting the
holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as
liberation from the conception of false egoism. False
egoism is exhibited by thinking oneself to be the
enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the
world to be meant for the enjoyment of one’s self only.
The whole materialistic world is moving under such
false egoism of “I” and “mine,” but the factual effect
of chanting the holy name is to become free from such
misconceptions. — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.11 purport
Before joining your ISKCON and surrendering unto your lotus feet
I was a crazy frustrated fool wallowing in the mire of drug-induced
illusion, but you kindly saved me from thinking I was the supreme
being. Thank you kindly my dearmost sir. Impersonal calamity thou
hast removed.
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Viṣaya chaḍiya kabe? Driven down repeatedly into māyā’s depths
by the strong waves of saṁsāra I feel I am simply a botheration to
Your Divine Grace and unto your dearest Lordships. When will I
stop being an embarrassment to you? My only desire is to please
you and your Lord.
If we don’t follow your instructions then we fall down and again
suffer. When we again take up our sādhana seriously then we feel
humbled, ashamed and remorseful.
However, my repeatedly falling down has been beneficial
to me because it is curing this ādi-vyādhi or original disease of
misidentifying myself as God and teaching me true humility. I feel
so ashamed that my chanting becomes like a child crying for his
mother. Sometimes I foolishly pray to die, pāsāṇe kutibo māthā, yet I
mostly wish to live many more years so as to fully scrutinize all your
teachings. Please kindly save me, although I am so unqualified.
Instead of futilely trying to lord it over everyone and everything
please let me realize how to offer sincere and heartfelt obeisances to
all, as Lord Kṛṣṇa teaches in His final instructions to Uddhava in the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.29.12–22:
With a pure heart one should see Me, the Supreme Soul
within all beings and also within oneself, to be both
unblemished by anything material and also present
everywhere, both externally and internally, just like the
omnipresent sky. O brilliant Uddhava, one who thus views
all living entities with the idea that I am present within
each of them, and who by taking shelter of this divine
knowledge offers due respect to everyone, is considered
actually wise. Such a man sees equally the brāhmaṇa and
the outcaste, the thief and the charitable promoter of
brahminical culture, the sun and the tiny sparks of fire, the
gentle and the cruel. For him who constantly meditates
upon My presence within all persons, the bad tendencies
of rivalry, envy and abusiveness, along with false ego, are
very quickly destroyed. Disregarding the ridicule of one’s
companions, one should give up the bodily conception
and its accompanying embarrassment. One should offer
obeisances before all – even the dogs, outcastes, cows
and asses – falling flat upon the ground like a rod. Until
one has fully developed the ability to see Me within all
living beings, one must continue to worship Me by this
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process with the activities of his speech, mind and body.
By such transcendental knowledge of the all-pervading
Personality of Godhead, one is able to see the Absolute
Truth everywhere. Freed thus from all doubts, one gives
up fruitive activities. Indeed, I consider this process – using
one’s mind, words and bodily functions for realizing Me
within all living beings – to be the best possible method
of spiritual enlightenment. My dear Uddhava, because I
have personally established it, this process of devotional
service unto Me is transcendental and free from any
material motivation. Certainly a devotee never suffers even
the slightest loss by adopting this process. O Uddhava,
greatest of saints, in a dangerous situation an ordinary
person cries, becomes fearful and laments, although
such useless emotions do not change the situation. But
activities offered to Me without personal motivation, even
if they are externally useless, amount to the actual process
of religion. This process is the supreme intelligence of
the intelligent and the cleverness of the most clever, for
by following it one can in this very life make use of the
temporary and unreal to achieve Me, the eternal reality.
When your grace is bestowed upon us by allowing me to remain
fixed in following your instructions, then I feel so deeply grateful
and experience real happiness. After years of taraṅga waves up and
down, oh the joy and happiness!
Please kindly keep me engaged in your service, it is my only hope.
Begging to remain,
Your servant,
Arjuna Dasa
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Jagannathesvari Devi Dasi
I offer my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

In these dark times, in the midst of a global pandemic, you are,
even more than ever, my shelter and succour. While I was suffering
with coronavirus, I was faced with my own mortality, not knowing
how it was going to end. You were always there by my side, calming
my fears, and by your mercy, I survived the ordeal and was given
another chance. It was a humbling and purifying experience. I am
very grateful to the Lord to be alive today, because honestly, I don’t
feel ready to die, not only because of my material attachments,
which I am certainly not free from, but also because of my strong
desire to serve you more with this body. While I understand that
my relationship with you and my service to you are both eternal,
and will therefore continue beyond death, still I can’t help feeling
that I have not done enough in this lifetime, that I have wasted too
much time, and that there is much more I could contribute to your
mission. After all, there are countless lost souls in the world who are
in need of spiritual knowledge, the same knowledge that you gave
to us, and there are so few of us who can help them. Of course, there
is no-one who can come close to doing what you did, transcending
your frail body and working tirelessly to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness
throughout the world. But still, we owe it to you to make an effort.
If only I could contribute a tiny little fraction of the vast amount that
you gave, I would feel worthy to be called your disciple.
Please bless me that I can do something to put a smile on your
face and make you proud of me before I die.
Your unworthy daughter,

Jagannathesvari Devi Dasi
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Atitaguna Devi Dasi


I bow down to your beautiful lotus feet by whose causeless
mercy I’ve obtained the supreme holy name, the divine mahā-
mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda, although I am unqualified, please bestow
your mercy on me. Your mercy is a constant source of inspiration and
sustenance to all us devotees in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
You taught us that if we engage in devotional service to Kṛṣṇa,
we will get a different nature as told by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākur. He
says that if one associates with bhaktas, one’s very nature will change.
If one fails to take advantage of this opportunity, one’s human life
is wasted. You established ISKCON, and we bhaktas have a family, a
community of like-minded souls whose focus is to please you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, if you are pleased then Kṛṣṇa is pleased. You
are saving human society from degradation. You elevate people to a
higher consciousness by the sublime bhakti-yoga process.
In my family, we start our day by hearing your nectarine
words in your recorded classes. It imprints our consciousness
and sets the tone for the rest of the day. This allows us to be in
transcendental consciousness throughout the day to make our lives
spiritually successful.
You say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that we need to follow the Six
Goswamis, especially Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī
so that we would be able to understand the love of Śrī Śrī Rādhā
and Kṛṣṇa. As you said, “There’s only one price to pay for achieving
Kṛṣṇa prema, and that’s the anxiety to have it”, and “If you are
anxious to serve Kṛṣṇa, that is the real asset”. You also said, “Kṛṣṇa
is unlimited so what service does He require from you or me? He’s
perfect in Himself but if you are anxious to serve Him, then He does
not refuse. That is His mercy. That is His magnitude.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you just made us aware of what is really
happening in this world, both spiritually and materially. How can we
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repay your causeless mercy? You told us that the Supreme Absolute
Truth is a person, and this makes so much sense.
The year, 2022, will mark the hundredth anniversary of your
getting the instructions from your spiritual master to establish a
worldwide movement of God consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you
gave all recognition to your spiritual master Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja.
On the material level, there is a coronavirus that is disrupting
the lives of everyone on this planet. It is also showing the populace
that we cannot exploit Mother Bhūmi any more. We need to follow
in your footsteps, Śrīla Prabhupāda, of simple living and high
thinking, by establishing farming communities, living off the land
and forgetting factories, factory farming and the ugra-karma way of
life. We need to establish, without a doubt, what you have talked
about in your books. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Mahārāja sent
a letter to you hardly two weeks before he passed away, asking you
to take the message of Lord Caitanya to the whole world.
This was 1936, and by 1944 you had established Back to Godhead
magazine. You would publish it and sell it in Delhi. You went
through so much hardship to deliver the message of Godhead to
the people. You also prepared yourself by living in Rādhā-Dāmodar
mandir in Vṛndāvana where you chanted bhajans and translated
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
In 1971, you sent Tamal Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī to Māyāpur. It was just
a paddy field, but you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, wanted to establish the
world headquarters of ISKCON in Māyāpur. You struggled to even
build the grass hut with small Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Deities to worship,
but you had the vision to see that in the future the TOVP would
be built and millions of people would come. The TOVP will show
that the Purāṇas are good science. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam shows that
there’s life on every planet of the universe. You liked to point out
to the scientists that they needed to read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to
understand real science.
Thank you for being my guide and shelter. I have no ability,
strength or intelligence of my own. I am completely dependent on
your mercy. Remembering your greatness and my smallness keeps me
safe under the shelter of your lotus feet. I want to reflect on the many
spiritual treasures you have given to us by your mercy. The greatest
gift is the gift of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name. I want to please you by assisting
you to the best of my ability and to help others to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
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I have just come down from my fourth storey rooftop in Māyāpur.
We go up there at dusk. We can see the treetops and different
birds flying around and chirping their hearts out. My husband,
Pancharatna Prabhu, blows a big conch shell and I ulalate loudly.
Then we have a rip-roaring kīrtana until the sun sets. We shout out
your name at the end of the kīrtana – Jaya Prabhupāda!! Being in
Māyāpur, your place of worship, is like being in a spiritual paradise
in the material world
Many people are suffering around the world due to the
coronavirus, and ISKCON is helping by prasādam distribution
making sure that no-one goes hungry within a ten-mile radius of
Māyāpur. You have taught us to internalize our world by going deep
within ourselves by reading your books, doing service and chanting
Kṛṣṇa’s names. The transcendental vibration is going through the
atmosphere here and purifying our consciousness. We want this to
happen all over the world by your mercy.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for being my guide and shelter,

Atitaguna Devi Dasi
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Bada Haridāsa

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your
divine lotus feet.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we hear how Yudhiṣṭhira praised Vidura,
“My uncle, do you remember how you always protected us, along
with our mother, from all sorts of calamities? Your partiality, like the
wings of a bird, saved us from poisoning and arson.” (SB 1.13.8) In
the same way, Śrīla Prabhupāda, your timely instructions, like the
wings of a bird, protect and guide us again and again.
You gave us the positive path of progress in devotion to Śrī Śrī
Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, the path of hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. This
cleanses the heart and gives us a taste of real life. This is the best
protection. But you also caution us again and again of the many
pitfalls on the path. Out of immense wisdom and compassion you
guide us away from danger and suffering. We simply have to hear
from you again and again.
The dangers on the spiritual path come from outside of us and
also from within. From outward attacks you warn us about the
deviant and atheistic philosophies that destroy bhakti coming from
so-called spiritualists, philosophers and scientists. You caution
us again and again to be wary of materialistic association and the
contamination and bewilderment that comes from carelessness. In
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there are numerous examples. You commented
candidly once, “The problem with you American boys and girls is
that you are not afraid of māyā”.
You also caution us again and again of the destructive nature idle
talk and fault finding. Once you put it very simply, “Gossip! It will
destroy this movement.” Lord Caitanya said, “grāmya-kathā nā śunibe,
grāmya-vārtā nā kahibe,” Do not talk like people in general or hear
what they say.” (Cc. Antya 6.236). Rupa Gosvāmī said that prajalpa
will destroy our bhakti. And Lord Caitanya compared offending
Vaiṣṇavas to a mad elephant that can uproot our bhakti creeper.
Your powerful words save us from inward attacks due to
conditioning and the lingering tendency to try to enjoy and control
this flickering material energy. You help us see through the subtleties
of māyā’s endless tricks. You reveal the enemies within and give us
strength to confront them. You save us from anger and envy.
In practically countless ways your instructions protect,
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strengthen and fortify us. Your words give us hope that we can free
ourselves from illusion and find shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord.
Your words illumine our life with joy. As you summarized, “There
is great hope!”
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you for saving me and protecting
me. I pray that I can always take shelter of your divine words and
make them my life and soul. I pray that they will live in my heart and
life. Please let me perfectly understand you in mood and intention
and not misrepresent you in any way. I pray that I can become an
instrument of your compassion.
Praying to become your eternal servant,

Bada Haridāsa
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Madhavi-Devi Dasi
Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to your
lotus feet! Your lotus feet are the perfection that fulfils all desires; you
opened my darkened eyes and filled my heart with transcendental
knowledge. By your mercy I feel no fear in these troubling times
of rākṣasas doubling down on their world subjugation into
unspeakable evil.
It is impossible to express the deep gratitude I feel for your
boundless mercy and your tireless crusade against māyā in this world
of darkness, gifting all of us with the matchless gift of Kṛṣṇa. It is
difficult to grasp what a monumental transcendental opportunity
you have provided us all. It is even more difficult to grasp the depth
of your pure spiritual potency, which is the only hope for humanity
in this time of abject material hopelessness.
My only wish is that you be pleased to engage me in the service
of your mission to bring Satya-yuga to this dark Age of Kali, as you
describe in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Your glories will shine above all the
turmoil and warring when all of us fulfill our duties to you and
the holy names are being sung on every street corner, and every
bookshelf displays your glorious, unmatched, original books. I only
live for doing my small part.
I pray for the day I can please you in some humble way, and for
the day I can see your transcendental smiling face.
Your humble and extraordinarily grateful daughter and servant,

Madhavi-Devi Dasi
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Mandapa Dasa


Every year the enormity of your achievement bears down on me just
a little bit more heavily.
Despite your bodily age the energy you manifested is
difficult to comprehend.
You displayed a boy-like zest, which kept your disci-
ples in total awe.
It is clear you were a Vaikuṇṭha man and you seemed to get
more enthused to preach with every challenge that came your way.
It is described in Shyamasundar prabhu’s book just how fast a
pace you kept. This can only be because of your full realization of the
glories of your cowherd boyfriend Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
No sooner you had triumphed in one place, you were heading
to the next. Within a short time in ‘71/’72 you had opened Russia,
France, UK, Africa, and yes INDIA, your dearest preaching field.
How inspired the devotees were when you met with and were
lauded by prominent Indians, especially in Vṛndāvana.
Then there were the phenomenal successes of Bombay, Calcutta
and Delhi pandals. All knew then, positively, that you were
the jagad-guru.
Nobody could match your desire to preach and present Kṛṣṇa
consciousness with such a tremendous knowledge of the śāstra.
Thank you for your acceptance of the request of Śrī Śrīmad
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī to preach the cult of bhakti to
the English speaking world.
Where would we be if you had not done so?

Mandapa Dasa
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Nandanandana Dāsa
Paramahaṁsa Ācārya

Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa,
We think that we have met Your Goodness by the
will of providence, just so that we may accept you
as captain of the ship for those who desire to cross
the difficult ocean of Kali, which deteriorates all the
good qualities of a human being. — SB 1.1.22.
Śaktyāveśa avatāra
vande śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nityānandau sahoditau

gauḍodaye puṣpavantau citrau śan-dau tamo-nudau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Lord
Nityānanda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen
simultaneously on the horizon of Gauḍa to dissipate the darkness of
ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all. — Cc.
Ādi 1.2
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as the yuga-avatāra for the present Age,

predicted:
pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma.
“In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.”
— Caitanya-bhāgavata, Antya 4.126.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have said:
(Śrī Caitanya and Śrī Nityānanda) They appeared on
the horizon of Gauḍadeśa to spread the science of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and it is predicted that as the sun
and moon gradually move west, the movement They
began five hundred years ago will come to the Western
civilizations by Their mercy. — Cc. Ādi-līlā 102, purport
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you represent that mercy, you are that mercy
personified. That ocean of prema that was contained in India, you
have brought it in the form of an overflow of constant waves of
chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, not only to the Western
countries but also to the entire world and back to Bhārata-varṣa.
Even ascending through the universe back to Goloka Vṛndāvana.
The most merciful Lords, Śrī Caitanya and Śrī Nityānanda, wanted
this, to overflow the entire universe with Kṛṣṇa prema, and you Śrīla
Prabhupāda are the śaktyāveśa-avatāra to fulfill this mission loved by
all the Vaiṣṇavas. There was one person meant to do it, Your Divine
Grace.
kali-kālera dharma—kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana
kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nāhe tāra pravartana
“The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting
of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot
propagate the saṅkīrtana movement.” — Cc. Antya-līlā 7.11
“…kṛṣṇa-śakty vinā nahe tāra pravartana: Unless a devotee is specifically

empowered by the Lord, he cannot preach the holy name of the Lord
all over the world.” — Cc. Madhya 20.165, purport
Whenever the Lord is present in someone by portions of His

various potencies, the living entity representing the Lord is called
a śaktyāveśa-avatāra—that is, an incarnation invested with special
power. — Cc. Madhya 20.373. Quoted from Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (1.18).
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were invested with that special
power to spread the saṅkīrtana movement and save us, the fallen
souls of Kali-yuga.
preme matta nityānanda kṛpā-avatāra
uttama, adhama, kichu nā kare vicāra
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Because Lord Nityānanda is intoxicated by ecstatic love
and is an incarnation of mercy, He does not distinguish
between the good and the bad. — Cc. Ādi 5.208.
Lord Caitanya started the preaching of saṅkīrtana movement sending
out the merciful Lord Nityānanda and Haridāsa Ṭhākura (of Muslim
origin). Lord Nityānanda saved Jagāi and Mādhāi, but you have
come to rescue millions of Jagāis and Mādhāis as representative of
His mercy. As Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda accepted everyone
from all walks of life, so you did Śrīla Prabhupāda. You made us,
fallen Westerners, to be instruments to assist you in your preaching
work to the amazement of the entire world, by your grace, by your
mercy, by your power, by your surrender to your spiritual master
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. Some said it was magic,
you answered that it was simply to believe in the words of the
spiritual master, that is the formula for success.
You preached mercifully to the yavanas, mlecchas and other sinful
races, is it not, then, that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam refers to you?:
kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā
ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ
ye ‘nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ
“Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana,
members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts
can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to
His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances
unto Him.” — SB 2.4.18.
Although it may refer to any Vaiṣṇava, it is you, although living
in Vṛndāvana, who went out to reclaim everyone for Kṛṣṇa. At the
time when you went to preach to America, many did not understand
that every human being has the right to become Vaiṣṇava, and
criticized you. Even now, many have not understood. However, here
is the proof. By taking shelter of the pure devotee of the all-powerful
Lord they can be purified, śudhyanti. Lord Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu is all-
powerful; everything is possible for Him, tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ.
Therefore, the Vedas and great ācāryas command:
chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā; ācārya-upasanam;
mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ; ācāryavān puruṣo veda;
mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ: [Cc. Madhya 17.186, purport];
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tad viddhi praṇipātena; tad-vijñānarthaṁ sa gurum eva
abhigacchet; guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja, etc.
Your Books
Actually anyone who tries to understand these books will

become a great realized devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa gradually.
The original potency of the śāstra remains in these books
because I have not added or opinionated anything of
my own. I have simply presented the scriptures such
as Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as they are.
Therefore, just see the effect they have on the world. — Śrīla
Prabhupāda letter to Miss Nedungadi, 19th March 1975.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
In the Preface to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you made a declaration that
this transcendental literature is meant to bring about a spiritual
revolution in the impious life of a misdirected civilization.
In the Skanda Purāṇa is also predicted that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
would be distributed all over the world, a fact that you also did,
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Uddhava to Mahārāja Parikṣit: “Up to this time, very few men
have heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It will be by your mercy that the
people of Bhārata-varṣa will become acquainted with this great
text. The great sage, Sukadeva Gosvāmī, whose form resembles that
of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, will recite Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to you. As a result, you
will attain the eternal abode of the Lord, and the fame of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam will spread all over the Earth.” — Bhāgavata Mahatmya of
the Skanda Purāṇa.
You personally started to distribute the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, later
on, as the senāpati bhakta, you sent out your warriors like disciples
to preach and distribute this transcendental literature. What a joy!
You also established recitation and hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a
regular function around the world, as enjoined in the Bhagavata (SB
1.2.18), starting with chanting Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava…
“By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by
rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to
the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the
Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs,
is established as an irrevocable fact.”
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were predicted by Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu when He said that His holy names would be heard all
over the world.
Therefore, you are the sakty-avesa avatāra to distribute the holy
names and prema-bhakti.
You were predicted by Locana Das Ṭhākura, that a senāpati
bhakta would appear.
You were predicted by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura when he said
that there would be chanting of Jaya Sacinandana in Māyāpur by
devotees from different nations.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura, your dear spiritual master, said
you would do everything in due course of time.
You made the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam known to the world.
You revealed Lord Caitanya’s merciful aspects and the intimate
reasons why He appeared.
“He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy
to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most
sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of
conjugal love...” — Cc. Ādi-līlā 1.4–6.
As the Ganges is worshiped offering Her own waters, so I
worship Your Divine Grace offering your own teachings. I am
made of your mercy only. You opened my eyes with the light of
knowledge. You filled my heart with transcendental knowledge,
prakāśito, it is being manifested by your mercy. You are my lord and
master birth after birth.
Please consider me yours,

Nandanandana Dāsa
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Garuda Vahana Dasa

Expressing my gratitude knows no bounds for the wonderful
practical and simple teachings of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because of
your merciful influence, my life is happy and peaceful. So many
memories, good times of singing, dancing and feasting with the
devotees, the nectar for which we all hanker. You are the biggest reason
in my life. I can never forget you or the devotees, for remembering
the sweet pastimes fills my heart with joy and love for Kṛṣṇa.
Your servant,
Garuda Vahana Dasa
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Ramananda Dasa
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the savior of all fallen souls of this dark
Age of Kali for those who are fortunately enough to take advantage
of your mercy.
You are the spiritual master at whose feet the whole universe can
take shelter. May I forever be counted amongst your servants. May
I always keep your instructions and mission in my heart and be an
instrument of your will. I fall at your feet again and again and glorify
your great personality.
Ramananda Dasa
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Gaura Dasa

Before we met you, we were addicted to many tamasic habits.
You taught us that we don’t have to make an extraneous endeavour
to stop them but that we replace them with the higher taste of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You filled us up with so much Kṛṣṇa, that
He displaced the inky consciousness of māyā in our lives, filling
up on more Kṛṣṇa through the process of hearing and chanting.
Your service to reform us was/is so huge. You made the impossible
possible. Your task was impossible, but you did it anyway.
You taught us that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is our only insurance
policy. Only Kṛṣṇa will never let us down. In Kṛṣṇa we trust.
When we took our initiation vows, you asked us how many
rounds we chant? When we said 16, sometimes you said, “Minimum.”
Some young fanatical brahmacārīs in the early days of 1966–1968,
said that women cannot give classes because they are less intelligent.
Govinda Dasi was one of your personal servants, so Jadurani asked
her to ask you, “Is it true that women can’t advance as quickly as
men?” She was feeling depressed. You said “Yes, if you think you are
a woman, how can you make any advancement?”
A brahmacari wrote to you saying that the women should not
be giving classes, even though many of your spiritual daughters
were giving classes in those days, such as Kanchanabala, Lila
sukha, and Jadurani.
You quoted the Cc verse: kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, regardless of
whether one is a sannyāsī or anything, if one knows the science of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everyone should be given a chance to speak.
Today is Mother’s Day. You stated that just as a crying child is
only pacified when being held by the arms of its loving mother,
we are only happy when we are in the arms of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
under His shelter.
You explained how sickness comes upon us. You said, “90% of
all sickness is caused by the mind. Our mind will affect the body
if not engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service”. In another place you said that
overeating, anxiety and uncleanliness is the cause of disease.
A strange phenomena has taken place in the world right now
called the Covid-19 virus, which has impacted society in many ways
due to quarantining. When you were in L.A, you gave a class with
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reference to the Hong Kong Flu. You stated that we should inoculate
ourselves from the influence of māyā by the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa.
“This world is Hong Kong Flu. māyā Jāgo, Jīv Jāgo. I have brought this
medicine for killing this Hong Kong flu of māyā.”
We were/are always impressed by your ability to speak out
against the Māyāvādī impersonalist philosophers because of the
destruction they did to the Vaiṣṇava culture of India. You said
you did not come to win the popularity contest, or to be a part of
a “mutual back-patting society”. You did this amongst us and
not in public. You were doing your surgery of cutting away at the
cataracts of ignorance, eclipsing everyone’s realization of Kṛṣṇa, and
a surgeon should never be impeded when doing his life-saving work
by some compromise.
When we remember your instructions and activities, you are
present in our lives and in our hearts. You taught us everything.
Sometimes we may feel lazy, and wonder what we can do to please
you, and may feel depressed and hopeless. You have told us if we
are reading your books, then we are pleasing you. If we are reading
your books, the fruit of that reading will inspire us to distribute your
books, which you told us repeatedly is what pleases you, because
they transform not only the lives of those who receive them but
this act purifies us. Beyond that, in Atlanta when Nirantara Prabhu
asked you on behalf of all the book distributors what pleased you
the most. you simply said, “If you love Kṛṣṇa”. If we could get one
smile from you, by our devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, that didn’t just
make our day, it became a memory to keep us going for our life.
In educating our children, you instructed us to never hit children
but just to show the stick if they got too out of hand. You said the
highest qualification to teach them is to love them.
One guest asked you about China, and the Chinese, being such
a significant population on the planet, did not have much access
to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So what about them? Your demeanour
became very grave and you raised your finger like Madhvācārya and
said: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead says “First they must
suffer severely, then they can have some Krishna Consciousness.
Therefore the bomb is now ready and in the next war, it will be
used”. Everyone was trembling. You once said that the preaching
will be very good, after the next major war. You are Kṛṣṇa’s viceroy,
speaking on His behalf.
You taught us how to develop rapport with others, how to
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establish relationships, which many of us are still unconscious of.
When Locanananda Prabhu came to visit you in your room in L.A,
you asked him to sit beside you and told him that (out of the 400
devotees), you saw him in the class. How special that must have
made him feel. You made everyone feel special because of your
pure heart full of love for Kṛṣṇa. You asked for his opinion of your
travel itinerary, so that you could spend time translating the Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam. You said you were thinking of spending four months
in Los Angeles, four months in London, and four months in India,
so that your disciples could also come and visit you. You asked,
“What do you think of that plan?” He told you he thought it was a
great plan. We all knew that we could not make your plans, because
your every move was being guided by Kṛṣṇa, and that you would
make your own plans based on that. But still you would engage us
and ask our opinion, getting us on board and more connected to
you. This is also an example of how our spiritual leaders could be
consulting with their godbrothers and godsisters, so that there is
not such a feeling of disconnection with those of us who still remain
in your service.
Pusta Kṛṣṇa Prabhu asked you, “Will we recognize you in the
spiritual world when we arrive?” You said, “Yes you will recognize
me”. You had previously said, “We will have Big ISKCON in the
spiritual world. That is my role that when you return home, back
home, back to Godhead, the spiritual master will take your hand
and put your hand in Kṛṣṇa’s hand and make the introduction.”
So that is an eternal position that he has. We are eternally elated to
The above memories of you came from my transcribing the latest
Prabhupāda Memories #79 interviews, by your disciple Siddhanta Dasa.
Once when a devotee mentioned that the “big devotees were
coming”, you said “big devotee means big-hearted devotee”.
Another time you said “We do not wish to become ‘big devotees’
we want to be small devotees”. You are the biggest-hearted devotee,
and you showed your mood of all-inclusiveness. You welcomed
everyone. You never told us we are not needed. You never turned
anyone away from your door. Because you loved us, we loved you .
Thank you for creating many wonderful disciples that I may
benefit from their association, even if it may only be through social
media. We currently have 848 of your disciples in an online Facebook
group we created for you, entitled “Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Disciples, My
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Godbrothers & Godsisters.” In your spirit of care that you showed
us, we connect with one another to remember Kṛṣṇa through your
instructions, discuss the practical application of your teachings,
help your disciples that may be in hospitals or hospice, and find all
of your disciples so that we can be of service to one another. I am
grateful to your disciples, my Coadmins Sarvani Devi Dasi, Ashram
Mahārāja, Mahashakti Dasa, Srutakirti Dasa, Rasangi Devi Dasi, and
Mayapriya Devi Dasi and to others for their guidance and support
in service to you. I hope we can connect with all of your disciples on
Facebook before it is time for us to depart.
I pray to you that you will eternally engage me in your plans for
increasing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I want to be with you forever. I miss
your physical presence a lot. When you were physically present,
the whole planet felt like it was electrified. You are still here, and I
must rise above the lower modes to really feel your presence. I will
continue to listen to your lectures and read your books

Gaura Dasa
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Cakri Dasa
Śrīla Prabhupāda, An Ocean Of Mercy

All Glories to Your Divine Grace.
I have the good fortune of being able to still distribute your
transcendental literatures. You gave us such a wonderful activity
that at the same we can help others and purify ourselves as well.
Many people have your Bhagavad-gītā and other books. So much so
that sometimes it’s hard to give it to someone. But on the other hand,
there are many people who are looking for it and are very happy
when they receive it. Your books are like a vast ocean. There is no
limit to the quantity of water in the ocean. Similarly, the mercy that
you are giving through your books is unlimited. Anyone, anywhere,
anytime, can get your causeless mercy through your books. Most
people don’t realize what you are giving them. Many times when
we approach people with your books, a standard reply is “No, I’m
good”. They don’t understand their precarious position. But, now
after the current events in the world, they can no longer say, “I’m
good”. Perhaps now they will listen to your divine message.
One time we were on a walk with His Holiness Giriraja Swami
at a beautiful beach overlooking the vast Pacific Ocean. We were
on a hilltop cliff with a wonderful view of the ocean. As my wife
and I were walking, and chanting japa, a lady walking in the other
direction approached us, and asked us, “Oh, are you praying?”. We
replied that we were, and that we were chanting the names of the
Lord, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. The lady was familiar with this
since she had visited one of our temples on numerous occasions. She
told us that she had fallen on hard times and that she was homeless
and asked us to pray for her. We said we would, and asked her to
chant the mahā-mantra as well, and that Kṛṣṇa would help her. We
parted ways and then I wished I had given her one of your books.
But, then we saw her again at the end of our walk, and I ran to the
car to get a book and I gave it to her. She was very happy and very
appreciative to receive it. The interesting thing was that earlier in the
day, I had heard you say in a lecture, that the pure devotee is just like
an ocean. Just as the ocean has unlimited amounts of water, the pure
devotee has unlimited amounts of mercy. He just keeps giving and
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giving. So we got an example of that, giving this lady one of your
books. At that time we were overlooking the vast Pacific ocean, with
unlimited water, and giving her your mercy through your books.
We could see that your mercy never stops. It just keeps giving and
giving, through your books and your Movement.
I am also reminded of your mercy when we go on the altar, and
we recite the following prayer: “I am by nature the eternal servant of
Kṛṣṇa, but my misfortune, due to being inimical towards Him since
time immemorial. I have been identifying with this body and have
been wandering in the cycle of birth and death again and again in
this material existence, being burnt by the threefold miseries. Now
as a result of some unimaginable good fortune, by the mercy of my
spiritual master, I know that I am an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, and
that I am an infinitesimal spiritual being, completely apart from the
gross and subtle body. Now by the order of my spiritual master,
following in his footsteps, I have obtained the good fortune of being
able to serve his lotus feet as well as the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu, and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Śyāmasundara”. Again, your
mercy is everything. By your mercy only can I serve The Supreme
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
You said that your mission was to make sādhus that would
spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. You have fulfilled
that mission. So many of your disciples are powerful pure devotee
preachers that are spreading your mission everywhere. We are
fortunate that we have their guidance and inspiration. They are
constantly enlivening us with their lectures, kīrtanas, kīrtana festivals,
and seminars. I am personally benefiting by hearing from them, and
I would like to thank them for giving us so much. That is another
way your mercy keeps giving to us: through your perfected disciples.
Please let me continue to dive into your ocean of mercy. Your
mercy is everything to me. Without it, I am lost. And, please allow
me to assist you in your mission.
Begging to be your servant,

Cakri Dasa
Dallas, Tx. USA
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Drumila Dasa

You are the calm in the storm. You are a beacon of hope for a
ship in stormy seas. Your Divine Grace IS the only hope for suffering
humanity. As you well know, I am devoid of any good qualities, and
therefore I would like to petition you to please be extra merciful to
me, as you are an ocean of mercy. Time and time again, I become
exposed, as not actually being humble, and definitely not sincere.
The ‘proof’ of your ‘greatness’ is that you have created a home
in which the whole world can live. Your International Society for
Krishna Consciousness is thriving, and it is obvious that you have
sincere followers and disciples all over the planet. I relish their
association, and delight in their accomplishments. And...this all–
and only – because of you, and your pure love for Kṛṣṇa.
You are glorious, your Movement is glorious, and your followers
are glorious. I pray to you to keep this wretched so-called follower
close to you forever, and hope that one day, or lifetime, I will ‘truly’
become a sold-out dog, at your lotus feet.

Drumila Dasa
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Makhanacora Dasa
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda.


servant of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly
preaching the message of Lord Chaitanyadeva and delivering the
Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
On meditating on your transcendental appearance into this
world today I am reminded of two of my favorite Bhagavad-gītā verses:
Bg. 18.57
cetasā sarva-karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-paraḥ
buddhi-yogam upāśritya
mac-cittaḥ satataṁ bhava
TRANSLATION
In all activities just depend upon Me and work always under My
protection. In such devotional service, be fully conscious of Me.
And
Bg. 18.58
mac-cittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi
mat-prasādāt tariṣyasi
atha cet tvam ahaṅkārān
na śroṣyasi vinaṅkṣyasi
TRANSLATION
If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles
of conditional life by My grace. If, however, you do not work in such
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consciousness but act through false ego, not hearing Me, you will
be lost.
To me, these verses describe the essence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness

(which is a term at least in English that I think you may have
coined), and I do believe they were the secret of your success. You
are the perfect example of one who is always conscious of Kṛṣṇa and
depending upon Kṛṣṇa for your success and protection.
Another principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness that you embody in an
extraordinary way is the idea that the order of the spiritual master is
the active principle in spiritual life.
yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ‘pi
“By satisfaction of the spiritual master, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead becomes satisfied. And by not satisfying the spiritual
master, there is no chance of being promoted to the plane of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. I should, therefore, meditate and pray for his mercy
three times a day, and offer my respectful obeisances unto him, my
spiritual master.”
Your spiritual master instructed you, as a service, to do two
things. To preach to the English-speaking world, and to print books.
Because you took these instructions into your heart as your purpose
in life, Kṛṣṇa has reciprocated in an extraordinary fashion.
I was not fortunate enough to see you in this lifetime. I was not
one of those fortunate few who had much vapuḥ association of Your
Divine Grace. But I am fortunate enough to be initiated by you,
and I do have my own direct connection with you through your
instructions in your books. That is my lifeline to Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
and I will be forever grateful to you for providing these books for
us. In your books you have very clearly delineated the process of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness and what is
not Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are perfect as they were published
back when you were with us. Those who are sincere will accept your
books as described by Śrī Nārada:
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SB 1.5.11
tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo
yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api
nāmāny anantasya yaśo ‘ṅkitāni yat
śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ
TRANSLATION
On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the
transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the
unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental
words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious
lives of this world’s misdirected civilization. Such transcendental
literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and
accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.
This verse by Śrī Nārada is very clear:

Such transcendental literatures, even though
imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted
by purified men who are thoroughly honest.
I pray for the day when your original books take the place of primary
importance in your institution, ISKCON, and again flood the world.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda for your causeless mercy upon
this fallen soul. May I have the blessing to properly take up
this transcendental process with my whole heart and soul, just
like you have done.
Your servant,
Makhanacora Dasa
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Vegavati-Devi Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus
feet. All glories to you!
Once, in Honolulu, after you had come back from your walk in
the park, I opened the car door for you. Later, I took dust from the
floor of the car, where you had been sitting, and put it on my head. I
didn’t know so much, but had read in your books about the potency
of the dust of the lotus feet of the spiritual master.
You’ve been gone from our vision for more than forty years
now. I still love the Movement that you started, even though I know
it’s far from perfect. So am I. Yet your formula for practising bhakti,
devotional service to the Lord, is perfect. I keep trying to practice,
keep associating with your devotees, and reading your wonderful
books. I’m so grateful that, despite my many faults, I still have a taste
for reading your books and discussing the philosophy within them.
Twenty-three years ago, while I was engaged in college
preaching, you gave me a spiritual son. Through the intervening
years, we’ve both grown in our understanding. Now he is becoming
deeply involved in your Movement, preaching, guiding others, and
trying to keep the spiritual standards you set strong. He makes me so
proud, even though I had little to do with his spiritual development.
You have given me everything, Śrīla Prabhupāda, friends,
family, the most wonderful philosophy and way of life. Even in this
time of global pandemic, I feel the shelter of my faith, which you
have instilled in me, that whatever happens cannot happen without
Kṛṣṇa’s sanction and permission. So I trust that in the end, things
will work out all right.
I pray I can be of some help in pushing on the Kṛṣṇa consciousness
movement, even in a small way. To encourage others in their progress
is small, but may be powerful.
Thank you for everything you have given to me, and to the whole
world. I pray to become worthy of the dust of your lotus feet.
Your very insignificant servant,

Vegavati-Devi Dasi
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Hari Chakra Dasa


My dear and always remembered Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please allow me to offer my humble obeisances to your divine feet!
In this new year of your advent to this planet, I must confess that you
have always been absolutely right, Śrīla Prabhupāda, regarding your
forecasts of Kali-yuga. Every time I feel this way and in the midst
of my amazement, I recognize that you have saved us from all the
miseries that occur in this desolate world.
For example, currently, all of the inhabitants of this planet are
in the midst of a pandemic, which undoubtedly is due to all the
sinful activities and offenses that are committed at the lotus feet of
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
However, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s promises that His devotee will always be
free from all kinds of material misery and suffering are confirmed
by Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā 5.29:
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
“A person who is fully aware of Me, who knows Me as the ultimate
beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, as the Supreme Lord of
all planets and demigods, and as the benefactor and well-wisher of
all living entities, gets rid of from the torments of material suffering
and find peace.”
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my infinite thanks for
having taken me out of material hell, and placed in the real position
as an eternal servant of yours.
Eternally at his divine lotus feet, his insignificant servant,

Hari Chakra Dasa
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Bhaja Govinda Devi Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your lotus
feet. All glories to your service to your spiritual master.
There are no words I can fathom to express my gratitude for your
guidance in my spiritual pursuits. Your instructions are my life and
soul, a beam of hope and light in the darkness of this material world.
As we are in the midst of a world crisis now, your instructions are a
great source of refuge. The threefold miseries of this material world
are very much prominent now. Your books, classes and instructions
are the pathway to sanity in this insane world.
As I didn’t have the opportunity of your personal association,
I took solace in your books, so to me you are ever-present in my
heart. Your books are the life raft to cross this ocean of death. You
have given us so much. Your disciples have taken up the service to
make available your teachings in so many different ways. Modern
technology keeps us connected around the globe. It is so exciting to
be able to have your association through so many venues. To have
darśana of the Deities globally. There is so much to be thankful for.
I am just in awe and full of gratitude. I pray that I am able to take
full advantage of all you have given us. I pray to always remain your
eager, grateful and humble servant.
With much love,

Bhaja Govinda Devi Dasi
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Brahmatirtha Dasa

Daṇḍavats. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
In October 1977, I had the privilege of being one your scientist
disciples speaking in Vṛndāvana at the First International Conference
on Life Comes from Life. You called us into your bedroom for us to give
you our ‘saṅkīrtana’ report of the arguments presented by the invited
academic scientists and the counter-arguments presented by your
scientists. You were not well enough to attend yet this was keenly
on your mind as you called for us each evening. Sadaputa Dasa,
Svarupa Damodar Brahmachari, Jnana Dasa, Madhava Dasa and I
presented various arguments based on science and metaphysics that
consciousness is non-material and cannot evolve from matter. Our
opponents presented theories that life is the result of the complex
mixing of chemicals. To any neutral outsider, your scientists came
out on top – you trained us well.
Fast forward 43 years, I am now the Director of the Bhaktivedanta
Institute for Higher Studies. The Bhaktivedanta Institute (BI) was
formed in 1976 to build intellectual bridges and create joint research
paths between the empirical knowledge of modern scholasticism
and the metaphysical, cosmological, and cultural descriptions of
India’s Bhagavata Vedanta tradition. You have blessed us with many
great devotee scholars with new scholars coming forward each
week to help us.
In 1977, you wrote to Balavanta Dasa:
Now I want that we shall recruit more and more of our
men amongst the intelligent class of men. Because they are
a little educated or they have got some wealth or fame or
ability, so they will be sometimes little puffed-up, but that
is all right, they deserve it. Now we shall have to learn the
art how to approach such higher-class men and attract them
to apply themselves to this Krishna Consciousness process
of self-realization. That requires much tact, and we shall
have to expect to meet all challenges by sharp minds. But if
we remain always absorbed in remembering Lord Caitanya,
how He converted so many intelligent men, even sitting for
three days and nights to hear them speak without Himself
speaking anything, and if we remember how Kṛṣṇa was so
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much patient to explain everything to Arjuna, even Arjuna
was speaking like a fool—in this way, being always tolerant
of others and appreciating their points of view, it will be an
easy matter for us to convince them gradually to join us.
In 1976 you wrote to Rupanuga Dasa:
“We require many PhDs for our Bhaktivedanta
Institute for Higher Study.”
In January 2019 we put on a conference entitled “Consciousness
in Science” with 400 attendees on opening night including several
famous scientists. We followed your suggestion from 1976 and
reached out to PhDs in ISKCON, and I am pleased to report that 50
devotee scholar PhDs attended. Your wish to gather PhDs is being
fulfilled.
We pray that we can please you by keeping our consciousness
elevated by following the principles of bhakti-yoga and present
with credibility, scholarship and patience the great science of
Krishna Consciousness.
On behalf of the executive board of the BIHS
Pracarananda Dasa, Prishni Devi Dasi, Tamraparni Dasa
Your servant,
Brahmatirtha Dasa
Director, BIHS
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Dīna-śaraṇa Devī Dāsī


Who can comprehend the immense fortune
of what it takes for someone who has become so fortunate
as to be able to bow down at your lotus feet,
not only on this auspicious day of your appearance,
but again and again daily to your mūrti at guru-pūjā?
You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are waiting for us

to guide us through the rest of our spiritual life
and take us back to Godhead . . .
You are asking us to please accept the

blessings you are offering us . . .

of what it takes for the pūjārī on the altar
just about to decorate
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
with a necklace and a garland?

of what it takes the book distributor on the streets
just about to deliver your books to unknown persons,
who later become the next disciples in line?

of what it takes to transfer
but just a drop of your mercy to others,
to touch their hearts,
to help them see . . .
“Yes, here it is, what your soul has been looking for!”
“Stop getting distracted!”
“Have the courage!”
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“Take it!”
“Do it!”

of what it takes to comprehend the kind of surrender it takes to
understand . . .
“This is Jagat Guru!”
“Take advantage!”
“Surrender unto him forever!”
“Have faith and trust him!”
“He will show you the truth because he has seen it!”

of what it takes to assess its deepness?
Who can witness its reality?

of what it takes a fallen soul—as I am still today
after fifty years of Krishna Consciousness,
in such a deep state of ignorance—
to develop the intelligence it takes to understand your instructions?

of how much chanting, how much worship,
how much financial support,
how much management,
how so much of everything
is needed
to make one devotee
and have him trust and develop enough faith to stay, never
to leave again?

of what it takes for this moment of clarity,
when the curtain opens
for less than a split second,
less than the blink of an eye,
when our thoughts and our heart are lined up
just for that particular span of a moment?
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“Lets wake up to this one split second!”
“Lets wake up to our reality out of our material dream!”
“Lets wake up to our enlighten!”
“Lets act upon it!”
Through the incredible struggle for survival

in the tsunami-waves of the ocean of material life,
only on the strength of your mercy can we comprehend that.

Your love for the fallen souls
Is all-pervading
Unconditional
Everlasting
Because you are
The transparent medium for the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is
Himself all-pervading, unconditional, and everlasting.
You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are waiting for us

To guide us through the rest of our spiritual life
And take us back to Godhead.
You are asking us to please accept the blessings you are offering us.
Your trying-to-be servant,

Dīna-śaraṇa Devī Dāsī
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Jaya Madhava Dasa

On this Vyāsa-pūjā Day 2020, I offer my head to your lotus feet.
I humbly offer this poem to honor Your Divine Grace
Hail the great day Your Divine Grace appeared!
You came to America and saw it was weird.

A land of Godlessness and conditioned souls
People who were impersonalists and meat-eaters
You made the ultimate sacrifice to save conditioned
souls who had no brains and behaved like trolls.
Time waits for no man, the ole saying goes

You gave me the option to end my material woes
Under your mercy and guidance at your lotus feet
I found the purpose of my life was to serve Lord Śrī KṚṢṆA
Not just to exist like a dog and live like a hippie bum in the street.
Now we live in dangerous times, your instructions were to make

Varṇāśrama, community, farms for all devotees, mankind.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you gave us the MAP and told us what to do
You said that we fill in the gaps and follow only you.
You also strongly told us, “DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING”.
Your KC instructions were the transcendental BEST!

Alas......history tells us the rest. I must be serious about KC
You told us this time and time again...was I (we) listening?
When will we take your instructions to the letter... seriously?
Fearlessly, I hope we will. Only then we will really be FREE.
Free from the cycle of birth, death, disease and old age
To go back to our eternal HOME, Back to Godhead.
With you and Lord Kṛṣṇa and devotees’ association
Far from the material world of suffering, false ego, pride and
endless exploitation. You gave us KC, the mahā-mantra.
You preached KC was The ONLY solution to our

precarious situations
Being trapped in the world of māyā illusions is our mistake
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Was your very grave warning to us, get out of this
horror for God’s sake
In the 70s we heard and saw your serious, grave preaching to us
to not KC alter
Not that we think we know better than you,
then change things and falter.
Now in 2020, the world is full of FEAR, as coronavirus

is far and near
This is the time to follow your exact instructions on KC
in all respects
Not be a Titanic ship and sink or get lost at sea. To be
only loyal to thee
I bow to your lotus feet and pray you protect all your devotees
Bless them with the intelligence to practice KC very pure and clear.
Dear Your Divine Grace, Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Forgive me for my fallen condition. Pardon me for my offenses.
I’m very grateful to you eternally for taking me as your disciple
Giving me your “family of devotees in and out of ISKCON”
Your gift of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is PRICELESS
Everything I have that’s auspicious is due only to you
Thank you Your Divine Grace Śrīla
Prabhupāda for EVERYTHING KC.

Jaya Madhava Dasa
Moscow, Russia
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Vaibhava Dasa Adhikari

Everyone who understands the importance of the path to Śrī
Kṛṣṇa which you made available to us knows that it is impossible
to pay back such a gift. We must adore every occasion to serve the
mission which Śrī Kṛṣṇa entrusted you with.
Daily I offer guru-pūjā to you by studying your books, and from
your books, I get the guidance for every daily resolution. To defend
such a generous gift is the basic duty of my life, and to make known
your guidance every time you requested it, is what the Supreme
Soul wants from me. For every incident, your instructions are the
only solution, and in order to become a light even during real or
unreal social calamities, the regulative principles you taught us of
devotional service to the Supreme Lord are our substantial answer.
I hope to be able to persevere in following your teachings up
to the end of my life, so that my little example could be in some
way useful for others. You are the representative of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the
Absolute Master of the whole universe, who will come to save us, in
our need as His devotees, from this exile, life after life.

Vaibhava Dasa Adhikari
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Vaikunthadeva Dasa


How can I even begin to offer a tribute to the one who saved my
life? There are no words that can adequately convey the importance
of what you achieved, and whatever words I contribute here have
already been written countless times before. Yet you tolerate my
feeble attempts at glorifying you, such is your mercy!
You showed us the path by which we can save ourselves, and
that path is by rendering service to the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the
Lord. Nobody in this modern world has exhibited the 26 qualities
of a devotee more than yourself. Therefore, even so many years after
your departure, we can all still benefit by these offerings. That is but
one feature of your munificence.
Although I had never demonstrated any qualification or
devotional sentiment, somehow or other by your compassionate
glance so many years ago, you took root in my heart and that seed of
love you planted has sprouted to become a mighty tree that continues
to bear unlimited fruits. I have heard this same account from so many
other souls, and yet this is only but one of your mystic potencies!
When you announced that the spiritual master should be
worshipped the same as God, many of your followers blanched. I
myself didn’t understand it at the time. Now that the seed of love
has grown in my heart, I can see the validity of that statement. Just
as Kṛṣṇa is all-attractive, so you have included so many aspects to
your service that one can approach you from practically any angle
of vision. You have accepted service from scholars, scientists, artists,
cooks, musicians, writers, philosophers, engineers, military leaders,
politicians, laborers and even those like me, who have no capabilities,
but are simply suffering the pangs of this material world. Anyone can
bring themselves to you, and you are so compassionate you accept
all of our offerings. This is impossible in the material world! The only
place such things can occur is the spiritual world. Therefore, we
must conclude that wherever you go is Vṛndāvana.
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My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I pray you never give up on this
useless soul. After a lifetime of floundering like an armless man in a
turbulent sea, I am now in a whirlpool circling the drain. Your love
is my only refuge.
Your eternal debtor,

Vaikunthadeva Dasa
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Jayagurudeva Dasa
sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
“…The spiritual master is addressed as Prabhupāda because he is
a completely self-realized soul. The word pāda means “position,”
and Prabhupāda indicates that he is given the position of prabhu, or
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for he acts on behalf of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unless one is a prabhu, or controller
of the senses, he cannot act as spiritual master, who is authorized
by the supreme prabhu, or Lord Kṛṣṇa. In his verses praising the
spiritual master, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura writes: sākṣād-
dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ “The
spiritual master is honored as much as the Supreme Lord because he
is the most confidential servitor of the Lord.” Thus Pṛthu Mahārāja
can also be called Prabhupāda or, as described herein, prabhu.” From
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purport, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.23.18

You are an authentic saint, a true “sākṣād-dharitvena” – God’s
representative. In a lecture you gave in 1973 at the University of
Uppsala, you explained the role of the spiritual master as one who
acts on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, delivering
His mercy, just like a post pion who acts on behalf of a rich uncle or
relative, delivering us a large sum of money that they have mercifully
sent, when we were in need. It is not the mercy of the pion. The
honest post pion simply delivers the money, and so we are very
satisfied with him. Similarly, the spiritual master delivers the mercy
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spiritual master does
not have his own mercy. He acts on behalf of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. The spiritual master is compared to a cloud (what a
lovely analogy you gave). The cloud does not have its own water
– the water in the cloud comes from the ocean, by the evaporating
power of the Sun. The spiritual master delivers Kṛṣṇa’s message as
it is. He does not add or subtract, he does not represent himself as
one who has mercy of his own. Rather, he honestly delivers Kṛṣṇa’s
merciful message – as it is. Please take it, and be happy.
In the purport, cited above, you state, that “unless one is
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a prabhu, or controller of the senses, he cannot act as spiritual master,
who is authorized by the supreme prabhu, or Lord Kṛṣṇa.” You, dear
Śrīla Prabhupāda, controlled your senses perfectly – always, and
without an exception. You were untouched by māyā, illusion. That
is why I wish to always remember You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and never
forget you. You are alive in the form of your vāṇī, your instructions.
In this connection, I would be a great fool, if I was not grateful, to
all the hard-working and dedicated devotees who created your
Vanipedia, a transcendental encyclopedic tool for getting your vāṇī
in written and spoken form on internet – 24/7.

Jayagurudeva Dasa
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JayaGauri Devi Dasi

This year, 2020 has started with a bang. Mother Nature fighting
back by slowing down the pace of the population. People are having
to find happiness and satisfaction in their homes with their family
members. What a wake-up call!
Now more than ever the wisdom you imparted upon us is paying
dividends. You gave us the tools to stay peaceful and hopeful in this
lockdown situation. I am just so grateful to hear your words, to read
your teachings, and to practice this bhakti-yoga life. My enthusiasm
to follow the process of purification only increases as time goes on.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa as His holy names bathes us daily of envy, lust and
greed accumulated from many lifetimes.
I am just so grateful for Vaiṣṇava association, devotee warriors
fighting daily the onslaught of māyā. Devotees have an aura of bliss
around them. No matter the troubles they are facing, they glorify the
Lord, praise Him, and you have taught us an endurance we never
thought possible! Your association allotted this wealth in our lives.
I have learned to see difficulties as an opportunity for growth
in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I hope to grow more and more lucid in
my views of this world, and more and more in love with the Lord,
His holy names, His pastimes, appreciating the qualities of the
devotees, and the way they help me get closer to Kṛṣṇa. Thank you
so much for taking the trouble of crossing the ocean to bring us
Gaura-Nitāi’s mercy.
I pray to be a worthy disciple and see you again when my time
is up.
Your grateful servant,

JayaGauri Devi Dasi
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Gaura Keśava Dāsa
ॐ अज्ञान तिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जन शलाकया

चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः
oṁ ajñāna timirāndhasya jñānāñjana śalākayā

cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ
unto him.
नम ॐ विष्णुपादाय कृष्णप्रेष्ठाय भूतले
श्रीमते भक्तिवेदान्त स्वामिनिति नामिने
nama oṁ viṣṇupādāya kṛṣṇapreṣṭhāya bhūtale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta svāminn iti nāmine
नमस्ते सारस्वते देवे गौरवाणी प्रचारिणे
निर्विशेष शून्यवादि पाश्चात्यदेश तारिणे
namas te sārasvate deve gauravāṇī pracāriṇe

nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi pāścātyadeśa tāriṇe
Our respectful obeisances unto you, O spiritual master, servant of
Gaura Keśava Dāsa
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Atmatma Dasa

My respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master,
servant of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly
preaching the message of Lord Caitanya and delivering the Western
countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
We are always reciting this prayer to you, but Śrīla Prabhupāda
is it correct? You did not stop at preaching just in the Western
countries, but also went to the Eastern, Northern and Southern
countries, in fact the whole world. Your preaching is having great
effect in so many places. Every day in all parts of the world your
books are being read. The holy names are being chanted and many,
many souls are coming to your divine teachings, and all it took was
one pure devotee of the Lord to conquer the whole world.
And what of the impersonalist and voidist agents of māyā, those
who are the last ones to hear the message you bring? They are just an
empty shell. They seek to lead the world to a dark future due to their
constant blindness. As Jesus said “they have ears to hear, but do not
hear and eyes to see, but do not see”.
Now the times are different. Due to your books the impersonalist,
voidist persons have become diminished. Your army of devotees
are countering their nonsense philosophy. Before you there
was no one to stop the onslaught of māyā, her agents had a free
range. Lord Caitanya sent you, His secret weapon to push on this
transcendental Movement.
The world is changing by the presence of your books and the
chanting of the holy names all over the world. This year meat
consumption and animal slaughter have diminished. Now we see
a change in society by the presence of a virus. As everything is
happening by the sanction of Lord Caitanya and as mentioned in
the Ādi-līlā 7.38:
“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in order to deliver all the
fallen souls. Therefore He devised many methods to liberate them
from the clutches of māyā.”
You are the great ācārya who is devising so many ways to capture
the fallen souls.
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You came and you conquered, you did not just win the battle
against māyā Devī but you conquered our hearts and minds. You
gave us the great gift of your books, books that are beyond the
material sphere, full of great potency. The mercy that flows from
them is from a place far beyond the material world, every person
who receives such a gift is the most fortunate person, and that is
before even reading.
Thank you for bestowing your kind mercy upon this fallen soul.

Atmatma Dasa
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Gunesvara Dasa
Ocean of mercy, Your Divine Grace, my spiritual master, Śrīla

Prabhupāda,
I bow down completely again and again in the shade of
your lotus feet.
I know I’m not qualified to be your servant or disciple because of
my disqualifications. However, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by His unlimited causeless
mercy, kindly put me in your shelter when I was still a teenager. I’m
here today to surrender my mind, body and everything at your lotus
feet, knowing that you are my eternal well-wisher, eternal (and real)
father and friend.
I’ve not enough words to glorify you because nobody can
describe completely your divine qualities, but still I want to say
thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. What you gave us has no price nor
a way to repay the debt. At least, allow me to serve you life after
life. If I could be fortunate enough to take birth in a family that has
great love, dedication and respect for you and for your teachings,
I will consider that my years of dedication to your mission got a
wonderful and precious reward.
Jay Śrīla Prabhupāda! All glories to you!! All glories to all your
associates and servants!
Your menial servant,

Gunesvara Dasa
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Janaki Devi Dasi
I am writing this in April 2020, in the midst of ‘lockdown’, an
unprecedented situation that is affecting practically the whole
world. It has been a time of much contemplation and reflection –
which for a devotee or spiritual practitioner is a much-welcomed
bonus in these usually busy lifestyles we lead…
Because of this wonderful wisdom you have made available to
us, we are able, to a certain extent at least, to rise above from some
of the illusion, fearfulness, lamentation and misery which we could
so easily find ourselves drowning in, were it not for the extensive
writings of Your Divine Grace. Coming in disciplic succession in the
Brahma Gauḍīya Sampradāya, this wisdom of the ancients has been
presented with such clarity, vision and realization by you. Out of
compassion for the suffering of mankind, nay, every living entity
within the universe, and on the order of your spiritual master Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Mahārāja, undergoing so much austerity
and hardship at an age when most people are looking for the comforts
of retired life, you have painstakingly translated and written vast
works which you have told us “will be the guidebooks for the next
10,000 years” as we enter into the prophesied “Golden Age of Kali”.
Could this lockdown be the beginning of the ushering in of this
Age? Certainly, due to your influence Śrīla Prabhupāda, millions of
these transcendental literatures have been flooding the world for
the past 50 years. Throughout every continent there are devotees
and spiritual seekers who have been influenced and affected by
your words – in towns and villages around the world, the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mantra is being regularly chanted – this surely is having a
tremendous effect on the consciousness of the planet.
For years concerned people have highlighted the plight of this
Earth planet, and how as human beings we are the most dangerous
species – polluting, dumping, exploiting the Earth’s resources
due to our lust, greed, envy, avarice. Our misdirected civilization
running headlong to the edge of the precipice in pursuit of ever
more levels of sense gratification, ignorant of the eternality of the
soul and the karmic reactions for every activity. Mankind is destined
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for destruction, war, famine, pestilence, disease, untold suffering
and natural disasters. Completely the opposite of what everyone is
desperately searching for...happiness, love, satisfaction.
Then suddenly, after years of lobbying and protests, world
summits on “greenhouse gases and the ozone layer destruction”
– a tiny little virus has stopped the world in its tracks. Suddenly
Mother Earth has been given a chance to breathe fresh air, renew her
rivers and oceans, to repair and recuperate from the damage and
rape humans have been inflicting upon her since the beginning of
industrialisation and so-called “civilisation”.
Will this be enough to shake up and wake up the world? I doubt
it, but it’s a start...
As your disciples and granddisciples, “O expert and thoughtful
men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of
Vedic literatures…..” (SB 1.1.3) Let us collectively and co-operatively
serve you unreservedly, in making these important literatures
available and understood throughout the world. You came to the
West with three volumes of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you understood
the importance of this knowledge being disseminated throughout
the world. May we be as useful instruments in your hands to assist
you in making this wisdom available for the benefit of the whole
world. It’s time.
Please bless me with your merciful glance, that I may be purified
within the heart, so that I can make tangible spiritual progress in
order that I may be a help, not a hindrance, to your great mission
and vision for the world.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your very fallen, unqualified and foolish daughter,

ever grateful and aspiring,
Janaki Devi Dasi
ISKCON Leicester
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Yogindra Dasa
Interview with the Religion Editor of the

Associated Press – July 16, 1976, New York
Interviewer: … by getting up and having the two hours or three
of chanting in the morning and prayer beads constantly and the
group life … Did you work out the spiritual disciplines for the group
yourself? I mean about the morning chanting and the recital of the
two thousand Hare Krishnas a day and ... Did you work those out
yourself?
Prabhupāda: No, this is the disciplic process.
Interviewer: Yes, who originated those steps?
Prabhupāda: It is since time immemorial … Just like in the Bhagavad-

gītā you’ll find, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg.
9.14]. Find out this ...
Radhavallabha: ... verse Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām.
Hari-sauri:
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ
yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ
namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā
nitya-yuktā upāsate [Bg. 9.14]
“Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination,
bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me
with devotion.”
Prabhupāda: So, this was spoken five thousand years ago, and we
are doing the same thing … Now your answer is there, it is not that
I invented something.
The morning program established by Śrīla Prabhupāda – maṅgala

ārati, japa, Deity greeting/guru-pūjā, Bhāgavatam class – comes from
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the disciplic succession “since time immemorial”. By following this
sādhana, we associate not only with Śrīla Prabhupāda through his
instructions, but we enter the association of our ācāryas. It is not that
Śrīla Prabhupāda invented something new. Sādhana bhakti, especially
in the early morning, is an age-old practice. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākuras practiced and preached this same
method. At the time of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, when Bengal and
Vṛndāvana were under Muslim rule, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas maintained
close association with one another not so much in civic life, as in
their individual and collective practice of the regular routine of
hearing and chanting. “[I]n any position and anywhere in the world,
he can perform this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and thus become actually a mahātma, a great soul” (Bg 9.14,
purport). It is not that devotees must live in a temple. The temple
standard from early morning until late evening is exemplary, but
wherever one lives and whatever one does for a living:
These four things will make one happy… One need
only chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa,
Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare
Hare, accept the remnants of foodstuffs offered
to Kṛṣṇa, have some discussion on books like
Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and engage
oneself in Deity worship. (Bg 13. 8–12, purport)
Under all circumstances, we should live like this, as far as possible.
Now in 2020, disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda have been Kṛṣṇa
conscious for at least 43, some as many as 55, years. Now more than
ever as the end of life approaches, Kṛṣṇa’s promise to be “the swift
deliverer” (Bg, 12.7) points us toward the imminent realization of
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s promise that “not only is this devotional service
easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood … guided by an
expert spiritual master” (Bg, 9.14, purport).
May I always remember the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda and

recite them without difficulty.
Yogindra Dasa
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Jagajjanani Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you Śrīla
Prabhupāda for your never-ending compassion, guidance, love and
protection. You have so kindly given us more than we can ever repay.
I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful life I have lived
in your temples with your dedicated devotees. You have provided
us with everything we need to always remember Kṛṣṇa and never
forget Kṛṣṇa. You have worked tirelessly every day translating your
books and managing successful temples throughout the world. You
have given shelter to unlimited souls and made being in this material
world bearable. You have told us this is no place for a gentleman.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I simply pray (beg) to become your sincere
and surrendered servant. Please empower me to help many others
along the way. Although I am beyond unworthy, please allow me to
remain in your association forever.
Your loving daughter,

Jagajjanani Dasi
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Paurusa Dasa

It has been 43 years since you left us to continue your mission in
the material world.
It was difficult knowing we could no longer hear about your
preaching activities, or that a personal letter from you was not going
to happen, or that you were not present for us to rush to with news
of activities, as an eager child hastens home to parents to convey
their day’s events.
If only it was possible to regress time to those former days, so
long ago, knowing what I know now, how different things would
be, how much more gratitude I would express. It is an unfortunate
trait in this material world that we don’t fully learn to appreciate
those around us until they are gone, just like most children never
fully appreciate the love and sacrifice of their parents until they have
children themselves. If only it was possible to see you now with a
warm inviting effulgent smile on your face.
Out of your kindness and pureness you didn’t completely leave
us alone. When my father passed on there was sadness and sorrow
to lose a gentle, kind hearted well-wisher and friend. But the passing
of time gradually and carefully healed that loss. However, the loss of
your physical presence has never diminished in my heart, particular
now at this time of year. My mind is invariably drawn back to the
sorrow and utter overwhelming grief that filled my being when you
ended your physical pastimes. Whenever your departure enters my
mind it quickly overwhelms every corner of my existence causing
symptoms of crushing pain, but miraculously, also great joy.
Just as we are all only a good joke away from laughter, so
similarly, by your grace, just a hint of your presence in my mind
in any form whatsoever, immediately dispels the darkness and
ignorance of this cold and damp Age of Kali, filling me instead with
hope, strength, and joy.
Now, by your unfathomable mercy, I know that I am never
alone, nor was I forsaken in the past. Also, I understand Kṛṣṇa
never ever let me down in any of my countless lives in the material
world. He fulfilled every desire I dreamed of; if not immediately
then in time when I deserved. Desires that aided and assisted my
growing Krishna Consciousness and even other desires that were
not healthy or beneficial for spiritual growth. Fortunately, He set the
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material world in motion with a self-regulating system to realign
the misguided consciousness of fallen living entities; they question
the utility of their actions for their greater good. Also, He allowed
saintly souls such as yourself to be available to guide those who
were not convinced about māyā’s illusionary façade.
By your boundless kindness I can see Kṛṣṇa’s hand everywhere
I look. Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself in countless different ways that
even a blind person, such as myself, can appreciate and derive
transcendental nectar from when looking through your eyes.
Upon reflection of my life I realise that the last decade has
contained the most defining moments. Contentment, cheerfulness,
joy, and bliss have been present in the midst of great turbulence,
and yet, each single solitary moment had Kṛṣṇa conscious relevance.
And each moment was only available by your causeless ceaseless
love for me, all collectively bound tightly to your magnanimous gift
of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Hemingway coined the term ‘movable feast’, and in the real
sense of that term that’s exactly what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is. Your
free gift of Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be compared to a wondrous
feast. Just as a feast is a situation of great pleasure and abundant
enjoyment, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is precisely that, at every moment.
Out of your causeless mercy, you taught how Kṛṣṇa consciousness
can be available to me through each change of mind and as I move
through each situation in my life. Life has truly become a moment by
moment moveable feast through each interval of time.
I can never praise you enough for the compassion you showered
upon this most unfortunate soul. Your association, your books, your
temples, your disciples, your personal untainted saintly example,
and your kind heartedness to freely give all these things. I am
happily bound to you eternally for you are the best well-wishing
father and friend.
I was raised in England as a child and was addicted to sweet
things from my earliest years. In the coldest and darkest moments of
winter I was only ever one sweet away from feeling lively and happy,
or one hot chocolate away from feeling cozy and cheerful, ready to
push ahead in life with renewed resilience. Similarly, your super-
excellent gift of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the most brilliant boon,
better than sweet dark chocolate, for when Kṛṣṇa consciousness
is applied the result is astonishingly sudden; sugary sweet; mind-
blowingly potent. Just a hint of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in one’s life is
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all that’s needed to produce auspiciousness, just like the suggestion
of a sweet, when I was a child, brought a warm glowing jolly change
in consciousness.
However, you didn’t just give a hint of the spiritual world to your
spiritual soldiers, you gave everything needed, the whole kitten
caboodle. You left nothing to speculation. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is just
like the most desired King of Sweets, rasgulla, for when it is sincerely
applied in life, the sweet-smelling syrupy essence of transcendental
nectar bursts forth like the floodgates of a dam bringing about a
rapid change in consciousness and character.
You exposed that love is really lust in this material world, while
in turn making public to the world the secret of what true love is,
where it could be found, and how we could taste its sugary mellows.
You revealed that happiness was really a cessation of suffering,
and brought to light the real source of where eternal bliss and ecstasy
could be discovered.
You clearly explained we were spirit soul, part and parcel
of Kṛṣṇa, eternal, blissful and all cognizant. You disclosed
that we were not the body, and misidentification with the
temporary realm would lead to repeated birth and death.
You finished your pastimes by bitter-sweetly implanting in us a deep
love for You. You were very ill, so we prayed for you and held 24-
hour kīrtanas feeling great sadness and distress as if our own life was
leaving us. Then miraculously you began to eat and regain some
strength, ordering that a bullock cart be brought, so you could go
out and preach village-to-village. This pleasantly gave our life back.
Soon afterwards you fell ill again, which broke our hearts once more.
Then again you threw a lifeline saying it was up to us if you stayed
or left. In response we practiced Kṛṣṇa consciousness meticulously,
doubling saṅkīrtana efforts in the hope bigger scores would make
you pleased; knowing you were in our hearts we chanted with
attentive care believing this would invigorate you; in our minds we
offered you the results of our own sacrifice and penance trusting
Kṛṣṇa would intervene and you would want to recover and stay.
How simple our thoughts were, like children not wanting to lose
something dear to their heart. You pulled our heart strings this way
and that, to the point of elated happiness and then total despair.
Reports were coming constantly, one moment you gained strength
then the next you weakened, recovered then fell ill again. Over and
over. Then you finally left it in Kṛṣṇa’s hands and my heart sank
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when I heard this knowing that Kṛṣṇa would want you close. But
then one sunny day I heard You had eaten some strawberries after
not eating in such a long time and I thought Kṛṣṇa is going to fulfil
our desires for you to remain. Oh..., how wonderful that day was!
However, too soon afterwards my elated heart became profoundly
overwhelmed again by devastating grief on hearing your body was
not digesting food; then filled again by overwhelming joy because
you expressed a desire to go to London to preach.
Over and over, ISKCON’s grapevine news reports dragged my
consciousness from the heights of rapt euphoria to the lows of dark
melancholy. Constantly, from day to day, my usually steady mind
involuntarily flickered from jubilance to woefulness. All the while
setting the perfect example, you never stopped preaching and
translating, and your loving devoted disciples increased their purity,
perfected their sadhana, stayed out day and night to distribute more
books for your pleasure. After months of good and bad reports,
wrenching and pulling on my heart, the very seat of my deepest
thoughts, emotions, feelings and sensibilities, I could understand
that the love I felt for you had been growing in leaps and bounds.
Finally, even though the signs had been there all along, it was
most unexpected when the devastating news arrived… “Śrīla
Prabhupāda had left.” I couldn’t believe the news… surely it
was a mistake… I had only just got to know you! You had left, it
was so final. Overwhelming grief grabbed my throat, I couldn’t
think or breathe. My body became extremely hot and tears fell
uncontrollably as I struggled to keep upright. I kept thinking,
without you how unfortunate the world became, how ugly and dark
everything appeared.
It took some time to hide my grief, but I understood that you
had been using the time before leaving to teach us your final lesson;
how to deepen our love for you! Love is a most wonderful magical
experience, and you gave it to the world in spades. The love you
showed us does not acknowledge material corporeal boundaries
and isn’t confined by distance or moments in time. Along with
the great pain of separation from you there grew an ecstasy that
remains today because of the efforts you made to bring my heart
and soul back to life. Although this pain is still existing, you are still
very much present at every moment blessing me with your divine
teaching, guidance, and blessings.
Forty-five years after coming in contact with you I am still in awe
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of your saintly nature and what you inspired and accomplished in me.
From the depths of my heart I wish to thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
for introducing me to the transcendental sweet that never wears
down and always increases in size and taste the more I partake of it.
The sweet that gives eternal blissfulness to my existence.
On this auspicious day I have only one prayer; I don’t desire
anything material; I see no value in a long healthy happy life if your
instructions and Kṛṣṇa are not central to any thought or activity; I
simply pray that Kṛṣṇa will soon bless me with your presence in
Vraja, so I may assist you in service to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, as you
desire. Whether by a word, a slight gesture, or a momentary sidelong
glance, I am ready… to act according to your will.
Your loving disciple,

Paurusa Dasa
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Nidra Devi Dasi

Please accept my respectful obeisances.
All glories to you Śrīla Prabhupāda. Thank you for giving your
shelter to all devotees and the whole world, now and always.
Without your vāṇī, it would be hell on earth. Many souls now
are able to take advantage of your words via electronic means. Right
now devotees are having much sādhu saṅga via the internet, etc.,
during lockdown.
One person who listens to our classes via webcam said that
if it were not for your books, she would have ended her life. Now
during quarantine, she has your words to give her hope, and she is
spreading that hope amongst her friends and family.
Another person during lockdown distributed your books online
with the conviction that the books saved him from suicide. He made
many phone calls to friends and shared your message of hope and
everyone in his life wants books and wants to ask many questions
about this human form of life.
One congregational friend decided to go alone to the train
tracks, where hopeless souls were committing suicide at this time of
pandemic, and loudly chanted the mahā-mantra. Other persons who
were waiting to possibly do the same suicidal act became uplifted by
the names and simply walked away and gave up their despair. This
congregational friend continued to chant for the souls there and the
world. She was doing it because she learned it from your books. She
cried and cried out the names and felt your presence. She felt more
hope for her own life, which she had almost given up many times.
She glorified your instructions with happiness and devotion.
I was so touched how you touch lives. Only because of you are
so many devotees appealing to the suffering souls to chant, to pray.
“We are not being sectarian; just glorify the Lord. Please uplift
yourselves and the world.”
It’s because of you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that the darkest times are
times of beacons of your vāṇī. People want your books now more
than ever. May more and more of the bewildered fall at your lotus
feet as they realize now and in the near future how you are imparting
the most valuable knowledge, saving all of us from despair.
By your blessings and mercy, may your saṅkīrtana army be your
pure instrument to deliver your vāṇī everywhere. By your grace,
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may the weeping of this planet become joyous cries to Lord Caitanya
and Lord Nityānanda. May the people know how much you care for
them and may they reciprocate by glorifying the holy names. May
your army of devotees all prepare themselves more and more to be
qualified to be empowered to be your nstruments to turn the cries of
hopelessness into joyous harināma.
Begging to aspire to be an instrument,

Your servant of your servants of your servants,
Nidra Devi Dasi
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Guruprasad Dasa


On this very auspicious day of your divine appearance, I
humbly prostrate at your lotus feet and submit some words as my
humble offering.
ISKCON is now a rapidly growing society in all parts of the
world. The welfare activities you have chalked out for ISKCON are
also growing by leaps and bounds. For many years, I wondered how
you established an ever expanding international movement, with
practically no resources in terms of funds, property and facilities,
with just around a dozen volunteering devotees in 1966. I know one
thing. Way back when you decided to enter vānaprastha, you were
already thinking, praying and preparing yourself in this regard.
Your life’s very purpose itself was, as per the instructions from your
Guru Mahārāja, to preach in “English speaking countries” and to
“print books”. You knew the “Books are the basis”. You wanted to
publish the entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrī Bhagavad-gītā and other
books of our lineage, and to distribute them widely along with the
mahā-mantra. In this way you were to bring to reality the prediction
of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu, “The chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-
mantra will be heard in every town and village all over the world.” It
is no exaggeration that you became obsessed with your purpose and
you spared no opportunity in this relentless pursuit.
(Many books have been written by your disciples who were
with you in the early days. A few as biography and many others
as memoirs about the times they spent in your auspicious and
empowering association. From these books one can easily recognize
your true identity as a loving servant and true emissary of Supreme
Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa. You are also the “Senāpati Bhakta”, as predicted
by none other than Śrīmān Mahāprabhu.)
For me still something was missing to complete the picture
in my mind to understand how you created an ever expanding
international movement. Recently upon reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
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1.5.16, “the picture” became complete in my mind.
This chapter is titled “Nārada’s Instructions on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
for Vyāsadeva” . While reading the translation and the purport of text
16, something became very clear to me. The translation reads,
The Supreme Lord is unlimited. Only a very expert
personality, retired from the activities of material
happiness, deserves to understand this knowledge
of spiritual values. Therefore those who are not so
well situated, due to material attachment, should
be shown the ways of transcendental realization,
by Your Goodness, through descriptions of the
transcendental activities of The Supreme Lord.
The above was spoken by the great sage Śrī Nārada Muni to Śrīla
Vyāsadeva, as the latter was sitting by the bank of the River Sarasvatī
and thinking, why even after all the contributions he made for
the liberation of mankind from the material existence, he still felt
incomplete in his work.
In the second half of the purport to this text 16, it is stated:
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the topmost theological science, and
therefore it can react on the laymen as medicinal doses.
Because it contains the transcendental activities of the
Lord, there is no difference between the Lord and the
literature. The literature is the factual literary incarnation
of the Lord. So the laymen can hear the narration of the
activities of the Lord. Thereby they are able to associate
with the Lord and thus gradually become purified from
material diseases. The expert devotees can also discover
novel ways and means to convert the non-devotees in
terms of particular time and circumstances. Devotional
service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can
find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains
of the materialistic population. Such transcendental
activities of the devotees for the service of the Lord
can bring a new order of life to the foolish society of
materialistic men. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and
His subsequent followers exhibited expert dexterity in
this connection. By following the same method, one can
bring the materialistic men of this age of quarrel into
order for peaceful life and transcendental realization.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda, upon reading this part of your purport, I
now understand how you carried out what you were so persistently
trying to accomplish. This part of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written by
you in early 1960s. You had clearly thought of your methodology,
that you would pursue the mission “as an expert devotee, applying
novel ways and means to convert the non-devotees in terms of
particular time and circumstances.” You were strong and fixed in
your purpose but flexible in your methodology. Whatever possible
you would undertake with whoever was ready to do it. You didn’t
mind some mistakes committed by inexperienced followers. You
were so kind and encouraging that even those who faced your
chastising didn’t leave your association. In fact, those who left on
their own, also came back to you.
Even in the beginning only with the three volumes of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam (you brought from India) you made it a routine of
daily morning SB class after the japa period. You instilled in the
new followers, the key message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing and
glorifying Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, The Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This became such a basic practice, that all the newcomers to the
Movement all over the world were introduced to the Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, through the morning SB classes regularly. They
benefited by listening to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and felt empowered to
distribute them to the public.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you encouraged those with musical skills
/ inclinations, to learn how to chant the mahā-mantra, to lead the
kīrtanas and to make musical records for distribution amongst the
public. You encouraged the artists to make wonderful paintings of
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, His dear associates, His transcendental abode, His
pastimes, etc., later also to be used in your books. You encouraged
all the devotees to go out for book distribution and street saṅkīrtana.
You made capable individuals as leaders to open new temples in
various parts of the world and others to carry out certain projects.
You gave the devotees ideas to create and perform plays to impart
the spiritual wisdom of Śrī Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The
First American Theatre Ensemble (FATE) not only performed plays,
the idea was extended also for making dioramas for public display.
You knew your Guru Mahārāja Śrī Śrīmad Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Gosvāmī Prabhupāda already used such a method successfully.
You expanded this method of preaching. You often talked about
cultural presentation of the values of sanātana-dharma. Now your
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disciples and granddisciples are continuing your methodology
through various avenues, whether separately or in conjunction with
“Woodstock” style gatherings.
The Festival of India accompanying many Rathayātrās around
the world is also very popular. Of course the idea of the Rathayātrā
itself was introduced by you, having been inspired by the set of
small Śrī Jagannātha, Śrī Baladeva and Śrīmatī Subhadrā Devī,
sold as figurines in an art shop and brought to you by your dear
servant Malati Mataji in San Francisco in 1967. Your methodology
is followed by your disciples even to this day as a proven formula,
successfully. They are also using the latest technological facilities in
their devotional service, on the principle of yukta vairāgya, originally
coming from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda.
I was not there with those early devotees. Nonetheless I know
that you are with us through your vāṇī. I know individually I can’t
do much for ISKCON. I pray that your merciful glance will fall upon
me, and inspire me to strive with faith and cooperate with your
dedicated servants in the expansion of your society far and wide.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, out of your causeless mercy, you have given
me the association of wonderful devotees and the opportunities to
serve you by serving them. Please keep me on your leash and don’t
let me go astray.
gurudeva! kṛpā-bindu diyā, koro ei dāse,
tṛṇāpekhā ati hīna
sakala-sahane, bala diyā koro
nija māne spṛhā hīna
“Gurudeva, give to this servant just one drop of mercy. I am lower
than a blade of grass. Give me all the help. Give me strength. Let me
be as you are, without desires or aspirations.”
Your worthless humble servant,

Guruprasad Dasa
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Tamra Dasi

Your fearless lotus feet can shelter the whole universe. By their
sight, the mind and heart are satisfied beyond the range of intellect.
Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Re!
By their gentle dancing, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra appeared
on a multitude of tongues.
Though your two beautiful feet walked the Earth, they’re
actually a giant umbrella overhead. Without blocking the sun and
moon rays, they rather surpass them.
Though the sun and moon give shelter, warmth, and
nourishment to all living beings, they support existence in a world
surrounded by death.
Your divine feet, being satellites of the original Gaura -
Nityānanda sun and moon, shine in the sky at once nourishing all
living beings. By their grace, anyone may be lifted out of birth and
death and taken home where every step is a dance.
Your two soft feet cool the universe with the confidential message
of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Caitanya-caritāmṛta just like the moon that
shines cooling rays on all regardless of past deeds. At the same time,
with every step, your feet spread the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā with
authority like the sun!
As parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa, we are eternally pleasure-seeking
but blind to where true happiness is. With perfect accuracy, your feet
point the way to the nectar for which we are always anxious!
The dust of your feet spread the happiness of devotional service
to Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa all over the world for the benefit of all.
My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please keep me ever under your
lotus feet shade and accept my childlike attempts to serve you.
Knowing that I have no qualification at all, you lovingly accepted
me. Please ever engage me in service at your lotus feet! Abhaya
Caraṇāravinda Re!

Tamra Dasi
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Kilimba Dasi
Offering of heartfelt flower-like words in gratitude and

prayer to Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
My eternal spiritual father, I offer prostrated obeisances at
your lotus feet.
Remembering important reasons we are grateful to Śrī Gurudeva
I first pour the emotions of gratitude from my heart into the perfect
mold set by one among the glorious Six Gosvamis of Vṛndāvana you
introduced us to, Śrīla Raghunāth dāsa Gosvāmī:
Nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ: You have given us the sound-vibration,
the method and ecstatic worship and goal of purely
serving the holy names, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa
Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare;
non-different from the Lord Himself, and also a form of
personal loving guru to bring us closer to the Lord.
Manum api śacī-putram atra svarūpaṁ; Rūpaṁ

tasyāgrajam: You’ve connected us with Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya
Mahāprabhu, the son of Mother Śacī Devī, described best
in the treasure you’ve given us known as Śrī Caitanya-
caritāmṛta, as well as the association therein of His closest
associates, like Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara and Śrīla Rūpa
Gosvāmī-pada, and his elder brother Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī.
Uru-purīṁ Māthurīṁ: You introduced and filled

us with wonder through your revelatory narrations
about the Lord’s own abode on Earth, introducing and
bringing us to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s own neighborhood of Śrī
Vraja-maṇḍala Bhūmi Vṛndāvana, which is entered
through Śrī Mathurā Purī where the Lord first appears.
Goṣṭhavātim: You have pointed us towards the

association of the genuine devotees of the Lord to
keep us firm in our resolve on this sublime, moon-
lit path of loving devotional service to Śrī Hari.
Rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ, Giri-varam: Within the soft-heart
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of Śrī Vṛndāvana, you have brought us to Śrī Rādhā-
Kuṇḍa, Śyāma-Kuṇḍa and to Śrī Girirāja Govardhana,
the most intimate pastime places of the Lord that
are brimming with sweetness and remembrance.
Aho! Rādhikā-Mādhavāśāṁ: Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda,

through the merciful grace of your sublime teachings in the
purports you have ecstatically given in Bhagavad gītā As It Is,
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa Book, and Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta to
us all over the world and now in every language. You have
taught us of the Divine Love of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa; how
the Lord is one, but He is also two! And that He is most
irresistibly drawn towards bhakti, which She personifies.
Prāpto yasya pratitha-kṛpayā, Śrī Guruṁ taṁ ’nato

’smi: I simply offer my unlimited obeisances at your
lotus feet, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, and pray that birth
after birth you keep me in the fold of your divine
company and engage me in pure devotional service.
I pray for realization of the import of what you have graciously
given for posterity in your purports, and to render pure service to
the pure holy names, free from offence. Kindly increase my faith!
May we always live in the rays of Your Divine Grace, contributing
meaningfully towards the smile on your lotus face.
Jaya, Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda! All glories to Your Divine Grace and
the teachings you have given, to the disciplic succession of spiritual
masters you have connected us with, who are richly described in the
songs and books you distributed to every town and village for the
spiritual benefit of the entire world!

Kilimba Dasi
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Śyāmasundara Dāsa


Please accept my most humble obeisance, again and yet again.
Since you are the love of my life, to glorify and appreciate you
in less than 1500 words is a real challenge. I love everything about
you − your wit, humor, intelligence, courage, charm, wisdom and
your presentation of transcendental knowledge. Just as Rukmiṇī fell
in love with Kṛṣṇa without ever meeting Him but by hearing about
Him, the same has happened to me. Because like many of your śiṣyas
who came later, I had only the most fleeting association with you.
I still remember that when I first got your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is;
reading it was the last thing I did at night before putting it under my
pillow and the first when I awoke. I would carry it with me wherever
I went and read it while walking the sidewalks or crossing the street.
I was that absorbed in what you were telling me through your
writing. I still remember the exact spot where I was standing on Elm
Street on the railway tracks when I stopped, turned over the Gītā and
stared deeply into your photo and said to myself, “you are my real
father because you have given me this knowledge.” And over the
years the more I read your books the deeper that connection became.
But, even though I had read all your books several times it was
not until I started to regularly listen to your recordings that I really
began to appreciate all your adorable qualities. And, that is when
the real attachment for you took place. I could just hear in the sound
of your voice, turn of phrase and modulation, your deep love of
Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes you are very grave about the terrible nature of
material life, at others you are explaining intricate Vedic topics and
at other times telling humorous stories about Kṛṣṇa with a certain
mischievous lilt in your voice that is so captivating. I fell in love
with you. And, if you are so captivating what then of your master
Lord Kṛṣṇa? Through your character and devotion I can get a tiny
glimpse of how truly lovable Kṛṣṇa is because you, His devotee,
are so lovable.
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We are all now (May 2020) living in unprecedented times of the
Wuhan virus pandemic, and I can see that many people are in serious
anxiety for their health, livelihood, political stability and general
uncertain future. It is unnerving to see everything suddenly turned
upside down everywhere so quickly. People are afraid for their lives.
And, while I am writing this offering my own mother suddenly
died. Since I am still on the bodily concept of life this also affects me
to some extent. But as soon as I immerse myself in chanting, reading
your books, hearing you sing and listening to you speak, that fear
and anxiety goes to a distant place. This transcendental knowledge
that you have given me, which drives away that terrible fear and
instead brings peace, and joy − is the greatest possible gift.
My only sadness is that being an insignificant person of little
means or intelligence that I do not know how to repay you for what
you have given me. The great pains that you endured to come to
the West. How will I repay that? The struggles you went through
in the early days. How will I repay that? The nights you stayed up
translating your books. How will I repay that?
In a small attempt to pay off some of the debt I owed you, over
the years I have sponsored the distribution of your books. One time
I sponsored the distribution of 2200 books. Navina Nirada Prabhu
reported that after distributing a book to one young woman he
later observed her intently reading the book and regularly kissing
it out of her appreciation for the knowledge that you gave. Just
hearing of that women’s gesture of appreciation was worth the total
cost of the books.
When I examine my life and character I see many faults. But,
I also see that after my association with you through your books,
recordings and sincere followers, that there have also been some
improvements. Your mercy is all that I am made from. Any good
qualities that I may possess are to your credit. The faults are my own.
My words fail to express how much you mean to me. As Lord
Kṛṣṇa’s ambassador, you are the be-all and end-all of my life. My
only prayer is that somehow in some way I am able to please you.
My only desire is to see you smile broadly when I come into your
presence. When will I see you again?
Your insignificant and eternal servant,

Śyāmasundara Dāsa
(Jyotish sastri)
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Ankottha Dasa


With each passing year, I see how the truths you have spoken and
written, about the living entities’ state of existence in this material
realm, are spot on. I have witnessed many dear and near godsiblings
and family relatives leaving this mortal world to continue their
respective paths of endeavor in situations invisible to my eyes. But
the unfortunate thing is that even though I intellectually appreciate
the analysis, I am still struggling to come to a solid realization of
it. I am seeing how vast the gap is between my jñāna and vijñāna –
but without collapsing this gap the fruit of spiritual life will remain
elusive.
You have given immensely of yourself to present the transcendental
knowledge to all peoples of the world for their eternal benefit,
exemplifying what your Guru Mahārāja used to say that he was
willing to expend gallons of blood to help turn one soul towards
Kṛṣṇa. At an advanced age, you forcefully entered the international
stage and manifested your “aggressive grace” to make us all
fortunate souls. You showed us by your crystal-clear example what
it means to be fully surrendered to the will of guru and Kṛṣṇa and
how to live a life of pure devotional service.
But because I am so thick-headed and mired in ignorance, my
spiritual progress is embarrassingly slow. So today, on your glorious
appearance day, I beg that you show some special mercy to this fallen
soul. I so much want to please you and become a useful instrument in
your hands but without your merciful glance, I am unable to see my
way forward. I am your weak but willing servant so please bestow
upon me the courage to continue in my devotional practices holding
high above me your sterling instructions and swan-like example.
I beg to remain your eternal servant,

Ankottha Dasa
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Jiva Pavana Dasa

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda who personally saved me from
the hellish conditions created by me by the misuse of my minute
independence through the sojourn of my pathetic material existence
throughout countless births and deaths.
I also offer countless daṇḍavat praṇāms unto all the Vaiṣṇava
devotees of the Lord who have helped me in my spiritual life and
who are selfless oceans of compassion towards all jīvas.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, thanks.
• Thank you for your direct physical association. I will always
treasure those moments as the most important in my life.
• Thank you for your books and recorded words. They
will always remain my reference point to distinguish
reality from illusion.
• Thank you for the general association of devotees. I will
always remember the ecstatic service rendered with them.
• Thank you for the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. It is now the
constant vibration of my life and the heartbeat of my soul.
• Thank you for your guidance from within. By it I
never feel alone.
• Thank you for sending really advanced devotees to hear
from. I will always see them as your representatives.
• Thank you for saving me and guiding me to the ultimate
goal of life. When I think of this I cry.
“If one gets a bona fide spiritual master and acts according
to his direction, then his perfection of life in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness is guaranteed.” (Bg. 18.57, purport)
All glories to Gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Rādhe! Rādhe!
Dasanudas,
Jiva Pavana Dasa
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Mahendrani Devi Dasi

your Divine Grace.
I am forever in your debt for pulling me out of materialistic life
and giving me the opportunity to practice the path of bhakti. I am
grateful for so many things that you have given me to support my
bhakti journey.
This year I want to thank you for your inspiring example of
noticing and caring for every smallest living entity. I love the stories
that your disciples tell of your kindness and mercy to insects.
Srutakirti Prabhu relates an incident that took place in Los
Angeles April 29, 1973:
Śrīla Prabhupāda was in New Dwaraka in the
spring of 1973. Hearing His Divine Grace ring his
bell, I immediately went to his room and offered my
obeisances. Pointing to the floor near my legs, he
looked at me with wide eyes and great concern.
“Do you see that bug?” he asked. Looking around for a

few moments, I finally spotted a small insect. I nodded.
In a serious voice Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “I have

been watching that bug for some time now and
he has not moved. I think he is hungry. Get a
prasādam flower and take him outside. Put him
on a plant so he can get some nourishment.”
It was another wonderful occasion in which he revealed

the indiscriminate mercy of a pure devotee. His Divine
Grace didn’t feel it was a waste of time to mitigate the
suffering of even the smallest of living entities. Now,
just seeing a small insect, I am forced to think of my
beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda. However insignificant we
may be, if we are fortunate to get the glance of the
nitya-siddha, our life will be immensely benefited.
Srutakirti tells another story in which you are demonstrating Kṛṣṇa’s
teachings in Bhagavad-gītā 4.35. ‘When you have obtained real
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knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will know that all living
beings are but part of me, that they are in me, and are mine.’
In Māyāpur, Śrīla Prabhupāda lived in two rooms. One
room was his sitting room where he translated and received
guests. Next door was his bedroom. He also used it to
honor prasādam, so there was a small marble prasādam table
(choki) set against the wall to the right of his bed. June was
generally very hot, so when Śrīla Prabhupāda took lunch
prasādam, I sometimes fanned him with a peacock fan. It not
only created a breeze, but also kept the flies away. However,
when Śrīla Prabhupāda took his lunch, it immediately
alerted the resident ant population. They always had
scouts running along the walls and within minutes of
putting his plate on the table, they called in the battalion.
In Los Angeles, Śrīla Prabhupāda told me to put turmeric

where they entered. It had worked in Los Angeles. I
suppose those ants were more materialistic. The ants
in Māyāpur, however, could not be stopped. Obviously,
they were spiritual entities who could not be discouraged
from taking mahā-prasādam remnants from the plate of the
pure devotee. I watched as hundreds of ants ascended
the leg of the choki, circled his plate and finally descended
upon his prasādam. They seemed to know when they
were allowed on a certain preparation. Śrīla Prabhupāda
ate in stages. First, he ate the vegetables and chapatis,
then he added the rice, and finally he ate the sweets. The
ants initially congregated around the plate. Gradually
they worked their way onto the preparations that Śrīla
Prabhupāda had finished. It seemed like the ants were
a little courteous. Finally, Śrīla Prabhupāda ended his
meal with a few sweets. He then got up to wash.
For the ants, the moment they had been waiting for had
arrived. They now knew it was time to dive into the sweets.
Incredibly, Śrīla Prabhupāda never said one word about
them during this daily attack on his lunch. This was not an
isolated incident. It happened with great regularity. There
seemed to be an arrangement between the pure devotee
and these tiny insects. He was free to take as much time
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as he wanted and they were allowed to eat whatever he
did not finish. I tried to take away the plates as quickly as
possible so there was something left to distribute to his
disciples. Referring to ants in Calcutta, Śrīla Prabhupāda
once said, “It’s all right, they don’t eat very much.”
Another devotee tells how he carefully cleaned your room in
Vṛndāvana. He removed all the spiders and spider webs that were
in a corner of the ceiling. When you returned you were not happy.
You considered that these spiders were residents of the dhāma who
had been there for generations and should not have been removed.
There are so many more stories of your consideration, kindness
and mercy to living entities that are considered insignificant. I am
grateful for these lessons. I remember them when I encounter insects
and other living beings in small bodies. It also keeps my hope alive
that you will be kind and merciful to me as well.
Thank you Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your servant,
Mahendrani Devi Dasi
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Naresvara Dasa
I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has
opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance,
with the torchlight of knowledge.
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Your Divine
Grace who has mercifully delivered tens of thousands of fallen
souls like myself.
It seems like a miraculous feat to have achieved what you did in
a few short years, but based on your purity it makes complete sense.
When the coverings of the material being are put aside the original
qualities of the soul shine bright. Nothing is impossible for the pure
devotees of the Lord since they have the same qualities of the Lord.
mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
śrī-gurum dīna-tāraṇam
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, the
deliverer of the fallen souls. His mercy turns the dumb into eloquent
speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains.”
So by your mercy and compassion, unqualified as we are, we are
able to engage in the topmost levels of devotional life. Many have
engaged in these elevated levels of bhakti, and are able to render
wonderful services in assisting you to push on your mission for
Lord Caitanya. Others are offering more simple but very necessary
service in the temples around the world. In all cases this is offered to
our Lord through Your Divine Grace.
In the absence of your physical presence we push on, albeit with
a multitude of missteps and faults. We need to deepen our focus on
the process that you gave us in order to purify our hearts and simply
become instruments of Your Divine Grace.
For that we are going to need your blessings and guidance
which, unless you come directly into our hearts, we will readily
find in your books.
Having full faith that you are, in fact, still with us I turn to you on
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a daily basis for guidance and direction. However, my mind is always
in the way, since it is wild and generally out of control. Your books
are therefore very important as you are without question present in
your words. So we can test everything on the basis of your books.
So here I am, a product of your mercy. Pushing forward and still
able, only by the mercy of your devotees, to do something in your
service. And that service is so multifaceted that there is no end to
what I can do on any level – be it a guard on a door or leading a
discussion between a group of your leaders.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please keep me on your team in spite of
all my shortcomings.

Naresvara Dasa
Māyāpur
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Nrisimha Dasa
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda, jagad-guru.

I grew up with the instructions and the words coming from his
lotus-like mouth. Since I was a young boy, growing up in a remote
corner of the world, I eagerly waited every week for the arrival
from the Bhaktivedanta Tape Ministry, and I would listen to it again
and again. When I finally was authorized by my family to join the
Movement, I only dreamed about the time I would receive initiation.
That moment arrived in March 1977, when I received my japa beads
and name...that was the best moment of my life. I tried to be a worthy
disciple, and still do today. Śrīla Prabhupāda was the beacon that
guided my life, and forever will be.
My eternal obeisances to your lotus feet. Please forgive this fallen
soul and keep me in your service.
Your servant,
Nrisimha Dasa
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Pancagauda Dasa


Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Śrī Śrī
Kṛṣṇa Balarāma!
By your blessings and kindness, we have this wonderful
opportunity to serve you and try in some small way to assist you
in spreading Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana mission of distributing the
sublime message of Godhead and giving the souls of this world
the beautiful darśana of Their Lordships, Śrī Śrī Gaura Nitāi, Śrī Śrī
Kṛṣṇa Balarāma, Śrī Śrī Rādhā Śyāmasundara.
There are many challenges and struggles living in this material
world. You have given us the ticket and visa to get out of this repeated
birth and death and have allured us to come home back to Goloka and
return to our life in the eternal kingdom. Seeing how you have made
tremendous sacrifices and tolerated all troubles and tribulations to
carry out the order of your spiritual master, it is totally inspiring and
a lesson that all of us should be full of gratitude, learn tolerance and
have the determination to be an instrument in your service.
Everything that you have said in your lectures and written in
your books is coming to pass. The material world is collapsing all
around us, and there is great suffering and pain everywhere at
the present time. Now, more than ever, we have to seriously take
to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness with renewed determination, and as
Śrīla Prahlāda Mahārāja showed us, we have to take shelter of Lord
Nṛsiṁhadeva and beg for His mercy and guidance. Kṛṣṇa Balarāma
Mandir is situated in the spiritual world Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhām, the
Lord’s personal abode; we are blessed! We will continue to serve
with determination, enthusiasm and patience, begging for your
continued guidance, and empowerment that our words and deeds
will give you pleasure and help in the mission of freeing all the
suffering conditioned souls.
Jai Śrīla Prabhupāda! May your glories be sung all over the world,
may the singing of the mahā-mantra purify everyone. All the devotees
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are so happy that you gave us this topmost gift, the chanting of Hare
Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma,
Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. There is nothing in this world that will save
us other than the holy name of the Lord. You are our lord and savior!
Your servant,
Pancagauda Dasa
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Prahladanatha Dasa
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda! All glories to your service! To your love and
dedication!
We live with you every day! We like to live in the present, and
you are with us all the time and every day. We pray to thank you and
humbly request that our memory stays with you.
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet!
Your servant,
Prahladanatha Dasa
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Sudhir Krishna Dasa
om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā


My dear Gurudeva, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
On this most auspicious Vyāsa-pūjā day, I beg to glorify Your
Divine Grace, although I am most unqualified to do so.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have taught us that serving the instruction
of the spiritual master, his vāṇī, is more important than serving his
physical body, his vapuḥ. I never could serve you directly when you
were physically present, nor could I even speak to you personally.
Yet I remain fully confident and convinced that you are my eternal
spiritual father and that all your instructions are meant for my
gradual advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I simply pray on
this auspicious Vyāsa-pūjā day, please bless me to serve the Deities
wherever I am, and always be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout
my entire life.
Your servant,
Sudhir Krishna Dasa
Dallas
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Kosarupa Dasi

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. Thank
you for the opportunity to gather under your shelter on your Vyāsa-
pūjā day to express our love for you.
This year I come before you exceedingly grateful. Because of you,
and your love for us, our lives have become fortunate in every way.
You have made our good fortune, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and request us
to do the same for others.
After a lifetime in preparation, and a most difficult sea voyage to
America, you wrote a heartfelt poem, “Prayer unto the Lotus Feet of
Kṛṣṇa,” that encapsulates your mission and glorifies your spiritual
master (excerpt follows):
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura,
who is very dear to Lord Gaurāṅga, the son of
mother Śacī, is unparalleled in his service to the
Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is that great saintly
spiritual master who bestows intense devotion to
Kṛṣṇa at different places throughout the world.
By his strong desire, the holy name of Lord Gaurāṅga

will spread throughout all the countries of the Western
world. In all the cities, towns, and villages on the
earth, from all the oceans, seas, rivers, and streams,
everyone will chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.
As the vast mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu conquers all

directions, a flood of transcendental ecstasy will certainly
cover the land. When all the sinful, miserable living entities
become happy, the Vaiṣṇavas’ desire is then fulfilled.
Although my Guru Mahārāja ordered me to accomplish

this mission, I am not worthy or fit to do it. I am very
fallen and insignificant. Therefore, O Lord, now I am
begging for Your mercy so that I may become worthy,
for You are the wisest and most experienced of all.
If You bestow Your power, by serving the spiritual master

one attains the Absolute Truth—one’s life becomes
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successful. If that service is obtained, then one becomes
happy and gets Your association due to good fortune.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, this beautiful poem of yours is my life’s anthem.
It re-inspires me day after day, year after year, to push on against all
obstacles on the path of sādhana-bhakti, and continue to serve you
and Lord Gaurāṅga.
Please smile your oceanic smile at each of us today and offer
your kind, fatherly words of encouragement. Assure us this lifetime
of separation will be over soon, and you are waiting for us to dance
with you in Lord Caitanya’s eternal saṅkīrtana-līlā.
Your faithful servant,

Kosarupa Dasi
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Matsya Avatar Dasa

Please accept my most respectful obeisances at your lotus feet.

In Delhi, 44 years ago, that most blessed day on which I met you for
the first time and, by the grace of God, you provided me with your
first darśana; the first conversation you had with me and that I still
vividly recall. You said:
“People are unhappy. They suffer because
they have waged a war on Nature.”
After a short pause, with a serious gaze, you

asked me: “do you believe in God?”
Absorbed in reflection following that statement you had just made, I
was startled by your question and responded with a nod.
You proceeded and, with a solemn expression, you calmly
explained that this cruel attack on nature would give way to a global
catastrophe, one whose consequences would mainly impact the
human race that had provoked it.
Your facial expression, your voice and your gaze were full
of intense compassion. I welcomed your teachings as a unique,
immeasurable gift. I cherished and cultivated them within my
memory and they have illuminated my life in every way.
I am writing to you as the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic
unfolds and people, confined to their homes since a month now, live
in anguish and fear for themselves and their loved ones. After more
than 70 years, Italy, a country that thought it had achieved solid levels
of development and well-being in a permanent way, is unexpectedly
forced to face the precarious state of its achievements in various
areas, even in fundamental ones such as civil rights, healthcare,
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social services and independence in regard to food security. It only
took a virus to shake this fragile socio-economic foundation built
upon a distorted vision of reality. This distortion is essentially due to
having adopted an egotistical way of being, one that is materialistic
and nihilistic towards life: a vision similar to a predator in relation to
its prey. Modern man, in the name of science and economic progress,
treats nature and all of its beings with predatory violence.
In the name of science, for the purpose of scientism, he has
created a greedy economic system with no consideration for life and
all of its beings, acting with the arrogance of a mad demiurge (asura),
placing himself in the position of God with a sense of superiority
towards everyone and everything. He is dragging humanity towards
its most disastrous demise: its dehumanization and the progressive
destruction of biodiversity on the planet.
All that you spoke to me about that day, did indeed happen, and
now the human race is suffering the terrible consequences.
You also said and wrote more than once: without religion,
science becomes inhumane; without science, religion becomes
sentimentalism.
You then continued discoursing and asked me to be part of
the solution. You asked me to become a Kṛṣṇa devotee, to chant
His sacred name, to study the Bhagavad-gītā and to serve Him by
speaking of Him to everyone I would meet.
Within my power and with enthusiasm and faith, I accepted
your invitation. From that blessed day on which I met you, through
yours and Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, I was able to transform my life thanks to
your teachings.
Miraculously and with immense gratitude, until today, I hold in
my heart the immeasurable spiritual gift you’ve given me and strive
to share it with as many people as possible even amidst the tragic
circumstances in which we all find ourselves now.
Deeply aware of how much I am in your debt and wanting to
demonstrate my immense gratitude, I ask you to please continue to
illuminate me, inspire me and always grant me new opportunities to
serve you, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the world and all of its beings.
Without your blessings, I could but only cry without any hope
of truly living.
With my heart, with increasing devotion, your grateful servant,

Matsya Avatar Dasa
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Raghunatha Anudasa

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your lotus feet.
I was eight when they asked me to stand before you, your
entourage and the entire school to offer the Sanskrit, English and a
few words commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā verse: 5:29. Then some
gurukulis chanted verses – an entire chapter from the Gītā. Others
offered the Sanskrit to English word for word. I was chosen to offer
the ‘lecture’ summary. You looked at me. Everyone else disappeared
from my mind and eyes. ‘This is real education,” you began. I don’t
remember the exact reason you gave, but it has stayed with me as the
premise of all that I hold as my paradigm in life:
bhoktāraṁ (you enjoy) yajña (sacrifice) tapasāṁ (austerity)
sarva (all) loka (planets) maheśvaran (supreme controller of)
suhṛdaṁ (friend of) sarva (all) bhūtānāṁ (living beings)
jñātvā (knowing this) māṁ (about me)
śāntim (peaceful) ṛcchati (achieves)
To defer to the faith that Kṛṣṇa is controlling everything is a refuge
in our darkest hour. To hold that the Lord is in fact our friend is to
look for the reason behind hardships and recognize blessings as His
reward. To present our hardships as a sacrifice for his pleasure is to
find value in horrific losses. Hence, you called it the Peace Formula.
One of many of such formulas from you I hope to share with loved
ones and the world at large.
Your servant,
Raghunatha Anudasa
(Raghu Giuffre)
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Gopimata Devi Dasi

Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Thank you for allowing me to try to be your disciple. Each year of
this life, my amazement of how fortunate you have made us increases.
Each time a universe is born from Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu, it remains
manifest for one lifetime of Lord Brahmā. Each lifetime of Lord
Brahmā consists of 100 years. Each of his years consists of 360 days.
Within each of his days, there are 1000 Mahā yugas, each consisting
of 4,320,000 of our years. Lord Kṛṣṇa visits us once in a day of Lord
Brahmā. So, only 5000 years after Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, and only
500 years after Lord Caitanya’s appearance, out of the millions of
people inhabiting this planet at that time, a few of us had the good
fortune of hearing from His pure devotee. Because of your purity
and strong intention, this message continues to spread around the
planet, even in unfavorable circumstances.
Because you are Kṛṣṇa’s friend, there is a real possibility that I
can also become his friend, even though it may take some time to
become free from the modes of material nature.
I read in your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.51 that, “If a
disciple is very serious to execute the mission of the spiritual master,
he immediately associates with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
by vāṇī or vapuḥ. This is the only secret of success in seeing the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Instead of being eager to see the
Lord in some bush of Vṛndāvana while at the same time engaging in
sense gratification, if one instead sticks to the principle of following
the words of the spiritual master, he will see the Supreme Lord
without difficulty.”
So somehow or other, we must become profoundly serious to
execute your mission. Sometimes people ask, “We are so small, and
God is so great, so how will it be possible that He would notice me,
or that I could ever be qualified to reach Him?” You have explained
that Kṛṣṇa is omnipotent and unlimitedly compassionate. He is
completely capable of solving our problems. Yet, He wants to see
that we are qualified, that we have the humility to listen to and the
enthusiasm to try to apply the teachings of His pure devotee.
It is easy to get side-tracked by our independent nature, thinking
that perhaps I can figure this out on my own. I may make so many
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plans to move forward, but here you clarify that the method for
success is simply to make our desire one with yours. Then, by making
an honest effort to please you, it is a spiritual success whether we
appear to have succeeded or not.
So, each one of us disciples are trying and stumbling, trying, and
stumbling. By making mistakes we learn, and through the process,
our appreciation for you grows more and more.
Now that we see the suffering of humanity intensifying, our
appreciation for what we have learned is deepening more than ever.
Your heart cries for the world’s suffering, and you have asked us to
join your inspired effort to help them to also become fortunate. We
are seeing how the gullible people of Kali-yuga are ready to accept
any nonsense propaganda that they hear on the media. There is so
much conflicting propaganda now, that it is driving people crazy
and filling them with paranoia and setting them apart even more.
May we take the opportunity to spread propaganda of Kṛṣṇa’s
plan to come back to a consciousness that fully satisfies the hungry
soul. May we take shelter of your divine instructions to solve our big
problem – separation from the Lord of our heart.

Gopimata Devi Dasi
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Saṅkīrtana Dāsī


Please accept my humblest of obeisances. All glories to you on
this most auspicious day of your appearance.
Your appearance is such mercy to all the conditioned souls, as
you came to fulfill the great mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
to spread the holy names to every town and village. You accepted
as your guru Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and
followed his direct instruction to spread the mission of Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu in the West.
How could one septuagenarian gentleman from India possibly
travel to America with seven dollars to his name, establish
a worldwide movement, an International Society for Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, in a few short years? May I be so bold as to answer
that question? You were able to do this because you are completely,
cent-percent faithful and surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and the orders of
your guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Mahārāja. You told us,
you showed us, that surrendering to the will and taking the mercy
of guru and Kṛṣṇa can make the impossible possible. You were
empowered to transform hippies into Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord,
teaching them to chant the mahā-mantra. You translated into English,
and published through your BBT, dozens of transcendental volumes
of historic Vaiṣṇava literature, which were also then translated
into many languages and distributed extensively throughout the
world. You were given the strength, despite your advanced age and
deteriorating physical health, to circle the globe multiple times,
preaching in cities, towns, and villages to fulfill your guru’s request.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is your words, your instructions, and your
unalloyed devotion that are responsible for the ever-increasing
spreading of the holy names. You are responsible for engaging
people of all races, languages, colors, and creeds in the chanting
of the mahā-mantra as their personal japa, and together as harināma
saṅkīrtana. In these ways, you also engaged your disciples, through
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your perfect example and instructions, in spreading Vaisnavism
throughout the world.
On this day, the celebration of your most important appearance,
I have a humble request. May your works of devotion not be
hampered or hindered by our material addiction to “change.” You
instructed that it is the disciples’ duty to repeat what you have given
us, unchanged, in order to successfully help the conditioned souls
to escape the clutches of māyā. In this way, may we all be able to
become guru too, by simply repeating your words and teachings
unchanged to everyone we meet. May we hear, and repeat, without
deviation or alteration, what you have taught. I believe that will be
our greatest service to you.
I beg for your mercy and your help in my endeavor to follow
your instructions, unadulterated by my own mental speculation.
Praying to be in your service for eternity,

Saṅkīrtana Dāsī
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Antariksa Dasa
The Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement

The Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement is based on the ancient Vedic scriptures
of India. There is much scholarly difference of opinion upon the
history of when these blessed writings manifested. However, there is
little disagreement upon the history of the language in which these
ancient texts are written. Sanskrit is acknowledged to be one of the
oldest, if not the oldest, written language on our planet.
Just like there is no Jewish tradition without Moses, Christian
tradition without Jesus or Islamic tradition without Muhammad,
there is no Vedic tradition without Kṛṣṇa. And, as the aforementioned
personalities are historical individuals, we who participate in the
Hare Kṛṣṇa tradition, accept Kṛṣṇa as a historical individual. The
most unique and important point of our faith tradition, is that Kṛṣṇa
Himself is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or more succinctly,
God. This faith is based upon the Vedic literatures mentioned above.
The Bhagavad-gītā is part of the great spiritual epic known as
the Mahābhārata, which a most important Vedic literature. The
name Bhagavad-gītā, translates as Bhagavad: God, and Gītā: song. It is
known all over the world as The Song of God. For example, the great
American transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David
Thoreau and Walt Whitman, of the 19th century AD, were all avid
readers of this song, this poem, this sacred conversation between
two persons: Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. I would like to make an important
statement about our faith tradition, by pointing out that the Gītā has
been translated into most of the languages extant on this Earth. And
along with translation, comes some kind of interpretation. It is this
aspect of interpretation that I would like to focus on a little, to make
a very important distinction about our faith tradition.
My dear teacher (guru), His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda, has informed me, that there are basically
two most prominent traditions of interpretation of the Gītā: the
personal and the impersonal. My guru is the 10th teacher down from
a great spiritual teacher named Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
who appeared in Bengal, India, in 1486. In contrast to the great
teacher Śaṅkarācārya, who re-established the authority of the Vedic
literatures in India, beginning in the 7th century AD (it had fallen due
to the great influence of the Buddha), Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya established
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the personal interpretation, as the essence of the Vedic literatures
and hence of the Gītā. Prabhupāda named his translation of the great
Song of God, “Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.” He did this to emphasize that
our faith tradition, coming down from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
accepts the personalist translation of the Gītā, as the most accurate.
Śrī Caitanya taught the chanting the great chant for deliverance,
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare /
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare, as a simple and sublime
process for achieving self-realization in this Age of Kali, the Age
of Iron, the Age of Fear, Hypocrisy and Quarrel. Our tradition is
non-sectarian in that, for example, Lord Caitanya had discussions
with a Muhammadan leader of His times, in which he said one
can chant the name of God, Allah, if chanted with faith, to achieve
the goal of life: to discover oneself as an eternal servant and lover
of the one Supreme Being Who has, naturally, unlimited holy and
all-powerful names.
In conclusion, Jesus teaches that the goal of life is to love God
with all one’s heart and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. Bhakti-
yoga, the technical name of the yoga we practice in our faith tradition,
is living the lifestyle based on, very precisely the same thing. I call
myself a Methodist Hare Kṛṣṇa, often.
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. The
above essay entitled, “The Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement,” was written by my
lowly self as a description of our faith tradition which I read at a
meeting of the Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network a few years ago.
By Your Divine Grace, I have been able to participate in the above
organization since its inception in 2012. Thousands of souls have
heard the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra through our humble efforts, all made
possible by you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. One year a program was held
at very large synagogue in the Detroit Metro area. As a member of
DION I was allowed to speak to over a thousand souls, from many
different faiths, about Lord Caitanya and His teaching, to chant
names of God for self-realization in this Age of Kali. I put my arms
up and asked the audience to do the same. in the name of glorifying
our common Supreme Lord. Then I chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra
once. Then I asked the people in the audience to chant the mantra
with me. Hundreds did.
Today Śrīla Prabhupāda, the world needs Your Divine Grace
more than ever. Kṛṣṇa is directing the material nature to confuse this
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planet’s population like never before. We appear to have entered a
part of history here in the earlier part of the 21st century in which only
the message of Lord Caitanya can save us from utter chaos. Please O
great Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura Śrīla Prabhupāda, help us work together to
help you spread the eternal salve of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to heal the
broken hearts of countless of souls, suffering the pangs of material
existence, especially now, here on the planet Earth. Help us realize
just how fortunate we are, your disciples, to be able to try to please
you, by our humble efforts, to fall in love with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and
to help as many other souls as we can to do the same. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
With as much appreciation as I can muster,

Antariksa Dasa
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Prahlada Bhakta Dasa
Because I did not have the good fortune to experience Śrīla

Prabhupāda’s vapuḥ before he left us, my offering to him is by way of
the opportunity he gave me to associate with those early saṅkīrtana
devotees. Those who went out day-after-day to towns and villages
distributing his books and liberating laxmi in order to expand his
movement, despite constant harassment from the media, the public,
and the police.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would have been familiar with the works of
Shakespeare as part of his liberal education at Scottish Churches
College; perhaps he would have been familiar with the oft quoted
speech of King Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt. I have
adapted it as an offering to him.
Scene: Sankirtan Van, Winter 1977. (A time of
public disapproval and police harassment)
Bhakta Chad: (Mumbling to himself): “Oh if

only there were a few more devotees here today
prepared to go out on saṅkīrtana with us.”
Saṅkīrtana Leader: “Who wishes that? No Prabhuji.

If we few here are to go out on the streets every day
for the next 10 years, then so be it. Moreover if it is
an offence to be greedy for the honor of serving Śrīla
Prabhupāda in this way, then I am prepared to be the
greatest offender. There may be others who do not seek
that mercy, but I do not wish to be counted amongst
them. Instead let us celebrate that today we have this
unique opportunity to be able to serve his mission.”
“And for those of us who are still alive in years to come,

we will gather together each year on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s
Vyāsa-pūjā day and get a chance to compare the interesting
effects of old age. Yes, we may become senile and
forget most things from the past, but ever fresh in our
memories will be the names of those book distributor
mahārathīs, whose association we were privileged to
have: Tripurari Mahārāja from Chicago, Pragosha
from New York, Rohini Suta from Zurich, Gopinatha
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Acharya from Melbourne. Names and deeds that will
be recorded in the annals of ISKCON’s history”.
“And we, in this Saṅkīrtana Van today, who

are privileged in some small way, to share their
association will be remembered by Śrīla Prabhupāda
till the end of time. We few, we fortunate few, we
band of godbrothers and godsisters who have
had this honor to serve him in this way.”
“So once more into the van prabhus, and on to victory

for Śrīla Prabhupāda and his mission, kī jaya!”
Prahlada Bhakta Dasa
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Jivananda Dasa Vanacari


In this year of 2020, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am writing my Vyāsa-pūjā
homage to you while the entire world is in the midst of the crisis
brought on by the Covid-19 virus. The threat of the spread of this
disease has caused practically the entire world to adapt to a new
way of living under a strict lockdown. Most non-essential businesses
have either closed or drastically changed the way they do business.
Many people are living in fear. Fear of contagion, fear of shortages
of food supply, fear of loss of income, fear of the uncertainty of what
life will be like going forward, and fear of death. Whereas these
dangers have always been and always will be present in this material
world, it has taken a crisis in the form of this worldwide pandemic to
make people more aware of them. Aware to such a degree that many
people are feeling helpless and hopeless.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is times such as these that help us to realize
the extent to which we depend on your mercy and your guidance.
Serious situations, such as this one that we now face, require us to
take shelter of your instructions. You have given us everything we
need to push on your Movement. All we really need do is to more
seriously analyze the volumes of mercy that you have left us in your
books, your classes, your discussions, and your letters.
On 27 March 1972, you wrote the following in a letter to your
disciple Jagadisa Dasa:
If we simply repeat this philosophy exactly as it is,
without any misrepresentation or adulteration, then
this movement will never be checked, and we will
conquer the world. So please train up all these boys
and girls in the philosophy and brahminical culture
and they will become useful tools in the hands of Lord
Kṛṣṇa for saving all the fallen souls in this Age.
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You have made it clear, again and again, that your mission for us
is to “conquer the world” by spreading this Krishna Consciousness
Movement to the fallen, conditioned souls who are trapped here in
the grip of māyā. This grip of of māyā is manifest in the conception that
one can derive some happiness, security, and shelter while attempting
to enjoy this temporary, material world, separate from Kṛṣṇa.
In order for us to be successful in your mission and “never be
checked” we must always follow these two instructions. Give to
the world the philosophy that you have given to us “exactly as it
is, without any misrepresentation or adulteration”, and train up
an army of preachers in this philosophy so that “they will become
useful tools in the hands of Lord Kṛṣṇa for saving all the fallen
souls in this Age.”
At this time in history, the true nature of this material world is
being revealed. It is easier for people to see this world as a place
of suffering though repeated birth, disease, old age and eventually
death. We now have a grand opportunity to educate society at large
to the fact that this world is not the place to find safety, security, and
happiness. Now, while the people of this world are in such a state
of fear and uncertainty, is a very good time to deploy your army of
preachers to deliver this philosophy, as it is, and conquer the illusion
of the fallen souls.
When times appear to be good, people seem to have little reason
to turn to God except to request Him to supply them with resources
for sense gratification. It is in times like these that some people will
actually turn to God to save them from peril. At present, many people
seem to be concerned more and more with safety and security. Now
is an excellent time to give the world what you have so mercifully
given to us; safety and security in the consciousness of our eternal,
loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa as His beloved servants.
The confidence in the material world as a safe and secure place
has come into question. Personal association and isolation have
become prominent and even mandated by many world governments.
To take advantage of this situation many of your army of preachers
are attempting to spread your merciful message through preaching
online to those who seem to be concerned their destiny in this world.
We are finding that many of those who are taking advantage of this
“virtual” association with your preachers are taking your message
very seriously. We are attempting to repeat your message exactly as
you gave it to us through the resource of this internet technology. We
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therefore request that you continue to empower us to spread your
mercy. If we do not depend completely on your empowerment and
somehow misrepresent or adulterate your preaching, we will fail to
serve your mission.
This world crisis is surely a test, but also a great opportunity,
as well, for all of us to preach more effectively. Kṛṣṇa seems to be
testing our faith, our resolve, and our surrender. It has been said that
the true strength of a thing is established when it is placed under
stress. Without exposure to stress, the true strength of a community,
a relationship, or a mission cannot be truly demonstrated. Therefore,
we should embrace this stress and utilize it to strengthen our resolve,
as well as our faith, and ultimately come closer to you.
I am grateful to you Śrīla Prabhupāda. Grateful that you have
allowed me to play some small part in your mission. I see the need
to constantly increase the number of spiritual soldiers in your army
of preachers. On your instruction, I have finally made this my life’s
work and full-time engagement. I beg you to please eternally keep
me engaged in your service in this way. Please continue to empower
me with whatever resources I may need to serve you in whatever
capacity you may desire. Please continue to empower us all to
save the world.

Jivananda Dasa Vanacari
Tucson, Arizona, USA
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Guru Carana Padma Dasi


Please accept my humble obeisances on this most auspicious day.
Recently I was watching a live broadcast of one of my dear friends
cooking for her Deities. It is a young lady, Rādhā, who has grown
up in the Movement from the very early days of Dallas gurukula
– she is a second generation devotee. It was most inspiring to not
only see her expertise in the art of preparing prasādam but also to
hear the entertaining and inspiring dialogue of her journey in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, her realisations and all the mentors who have inspired
and natured her on the path. As I looked over her shoulder I saw
that most famous photo of you cooking on the three-tiered cooker
that you brought with you to America. I commented on the photo to
Rādhā, and she said that she is able to do what she does because you
are always there with her looking over her, protecting and uplifting
her. I remember her telling me that whatever difficult challenges she
went through as a child and growing up in ISKCON (and there were
many!) didn’t compare to what she has been given by you – the path
of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – and that moved me very much.
Reading Yamuna’s account of preparing the wedding feast with
you for her sister Janaki and soon to be husband Mukunda struck
me with great amazement and wonder!
I soon found out that my cooking duty for the entire day was to
make something called “aloo kachori” a fried potato pastry which
is a staple of festive occasions and as anyone who has made them
knows one of the more difficult savouries to master. Swamiji then
showed me how to shape and stuff the kachoris, and from 11 am to 5
pm I sat in the room making this one preparation. During that time
Swāmījī routinely and effortless swept into the room with about 13
cooked preparations for at least 100 persons that he single-handedly
made in his narrow, sauna-like apartment kitchen.
When I read this I was completely dumbfounded – not only that a
sannyāsī renunciate who has dedicated his life to his family, work,
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studying, translating and commenting on Śāstra was able to produce
such an incredibly grand feast single handedly, but that it was done
in the simplest of facilities! Śrīla Prabhupāda also took great care
to serve the feast and Yamuna even commented that she thought
he must be superhuman. Beginning from your instructions and
chastisements of Mother Yamuna on that wedding day you have
inspired legendary ISKCON cooks and preachers throughout the
world in prasādam sevā – through Food for All, restaurants, catering
businesses, award winning recipe books and legendary Sunday
feasts!
You are not only the most expert cook but you have imparted in
us the pure joy and bliss of the art of preparing prasādam, honouring
it, relishing it and of course in distributing it!! You have instilled in
us an understanding that this is a sacred act a part of our meditation,
purification and redemption.
The spiritual master is always offering Kṛṣṇa four kinds of
delicious food (analysed as that which is licked, chewed, drunk
and sucked). When the spiritual master sees that the devotees are
satisfied by eating bhagavat-prasādam, he is satisfied. I offer my
respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master.
– Śrī Gurvaṣṭakam
So a massive thank you for nourishing us in
so many diverse and wonderful ways – but
especially for prasādam which is a lifeline!
Speaking to Rādhā also gave me some appreciation for the
incredible way in which your Movement has grown over the last 50+
years. There are now second, third and even some fourth generation
devotees. With each generation that emerges we would hope to see a
greater purity and commitment to the spiritual path. It is happening
slowly but surely. My generation of your disciples here to assist you
in your mission is declining with old age, but you will be pleased
to hear that there are many of your grand disciples and great
grand disciples who are showing so much leadership, strength,
inspiration, innovation, creativity in distributing and sharing the
message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness far and wide. It’s all because of
you as the root of our ISKCON tree! So many wonderful flowers
and fruits are blossoming and this gives great hope for the future
of our society and indeed the world as we face greater and greater
challenges in these unsettled times. The Movement that you began
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under that single elm tree in Tompkins Square Park…will continue
to grow and touch hearts, and with it so much kinship, fellowship,
healthy dialogue, expertise, practical support and relevance to the
society at large.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for continuing to radiate and
empower us in our attempts to support your mission.
Your still aspiring servant,
Guru Carana Padma Dasi
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Kratu Dasa

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet on
your appearance day.
All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!!
Your unlimited glories cannot be measured even if one keeps
glorifying for thousands of years. Among all your glories, by your
blessings I am trying to glorify you on this special occasion.
You are the real saviour for all humankind all over the world.
Through your books, you are entering every devotee’s life as their
pre-eminent śikṣā guru. Your books are so authentic that even if by any
means one comes into contact with them, his life becomes blissful. To
write these books, you sacrificed your sleep, sacrificed your health
and invested lots of time. This is your causeless mercy to us.
You are the dearmost representative of Lord Śrī Caitanya. As
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, Lord Chaitanya’s commander has
taken birth. You took birth to deliver all fallen souls. You made it
happen, “pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma, sarvatra pracāra haibe
mora nāma.” Now we can see in every village and town, Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra is chanted. Many yogis and big famous gurus went to
the Western countries, but could not find success. But you became
totally successful. When you founded your International Society for
Krishna Consciousness, you coined the word, ‘Kṛṣṇa consciousness’
even though you were asked by many yogis and gurus in the West to
say as ‘God consciousness’. But you were very clear about spreading
Kṛṣṇa bhakti all over the world.
You are very humble and give all credit to your guru and your
disciples. You say that your guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī
Ṭhākur Prabhupāda has sent these disciples to help you. Your firm
faith in your guru’s words is exemplary. You have mentioned in many
conversations that this is the key to your success. In many lectures,
you mentioned that one must consider his guru as his worshipable
deity and his very life and soul (Guru Devatā Ātmā). Your lectures
and letters are full of instructions to the coming generations. By
following those we can become successful.
You constantly worked day and night to distribute harināma all
over the world. You are capable to do all works perfectly: Preaching,
writing books, managing more than 100 temples, cooking prasādam
and distributing, replying to each letter from your disciples in your
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busy schedule. So, today I beg at your lotus feet that somehow or
other please make me a tool in your hands so that I can preach on
your behalf the way you were desiring. My wife Amrita Keli is
also tirelessly travelling with me to spread your message. This is
your causeless mercy that you instructed me to become a preacher
and preach to Indians in Toronto. So, I am trying to follow your
instruction as much as possible.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are the real ambassador of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness and by establishing ISKCON you facilitated many
souls to perform bhakti-yoga. You said that how much we love you
will be proved after your departure as to how we cooperate with
each other and help in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So, I
am submitting myself to you for this cause that somehow or other
I can follow your instructions for loving, trusting and cooperating
with my godbrothers and devotees in ISKCON at large. Even if they
would put me on a bed of arrows still I would not abandon. Please
grant me the boon that I would never leave your ISKCON, your GBC
and keep serving as a humble menial servant in ISKCON.
You had established eternal spiritual principles, that we are spirit
souls and our primary duty is to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in this way
we can awaken our love for Lord Kṛṣṇa. So please make me as an
instrument to preach this message – love of Godhead, love of Kṛṣṇa.
You built 108 different temples, farm communities, Gurukulas,
restaurants, conducted huge festivals etc., and in so many ways you
had established your ISKCON to save the world. So please grant me
that without any expectation I can serve your mission throughout
my life. Please grant me a boon that I can become your best disciple
by jumping into your sevā without your asking me or expecting me.
A good disciple is what I want to become. Please grant me this boon
that I can causelessly serve you life after life.
Thank you very much, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hare Kṛṣṇa! All glories
to Prabhupāda. Haribol.
Your servant,
Kratu Dasa
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Krishna Namananda Dasa
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my humble obeisances. All

glories to Your Divine Grace!
Let me try to glorify Your Divine Grace on the day of
your Vyāsa-pūjā.
Your deeds are extraordinary. You became the one who fulfilled
the desire of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Your compassion for all
conditioned souls has no limits!
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have accepted the order of your
spiritual master to spread the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu
throughout the world, and you have created ISKCON. You made
ISKCON continue to develop after you left this planet. ISKCON
attracts people like a magnet because of the purity that you put into it.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, now your dreams are becoming reality:
the Vedic Planetarium Temple will be built soon. Devotees from
all over the world live in Māyāpur, and many people come to visit.
Jayapātaka Mahārāja is developing a Nāma Haṭṭa program all over
the world, and particularly in Bengal thousands of people have
become devotees.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, by your mercy, I am in Māyāpur Dhām.
I pray for Your blessing to always be in the dhāma in the dust of
your lotus feet. I want to develop my Kṛṣṇa consciousness by your
mercy in this life.
Your humble disciple,

Krishna Namananda Dasa
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Dayalu Dulal Dasa


Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. Let that
be my permanent position.
When I first saw Your Divine Grace I was 18 years old and
immediately the holy name of Kṛṣṇa began to arise in my heart.
Because of a tiny drop of your merciful association I cannot give up
this chanting, and I have no other shelter nor do I care for any other
process. And because of Your Divine Grace, I know how to recognize
a Vaiṣṇava and how to properly serve. Such a rare opportunity I
found in serving your many disciples in your manifest pastimes, and
even in your absence I served your well-wishing godbrother Śrīla
B.R. Śrīdhara Mahārāja and his disciple Govinda Mahārāja as my
fortune allowed. These two things; chanting always hari-nāma and
vaiṣṇava-sevā, these alone can satisfy the heart and I consider these
the essence of your vast instruction. My heart burns and yearns for
your mercy. I am in no way qualified for the transcendental service
you offer, in fact I am disqualified, yet I can aspire for nothing else
but your kindness to allow me to always go on with this faith which
you have implanted in my heart. You are always transcendentally
beautiful, decorated with all the highest qualities and thus you are
the personification of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.
akṣṇoḥ phalaṁ tvādṛśa-darśanaṁ hi
tanoḥ phalaṁ tvādṛśa-gātra-saṅgaḥ
jihvā-phalaṁ tvādṛśa-kīrtanam hi
sudurlabhā bhāgavatā hi loke
“My dear Vaiṣṇava, seeing a person like you is the perfection of
one’s eyesight. Touching your lotus feet is the perfection of the sense
of touch. Glorifying your good qualities is the tongue’s real activity,
for in the material world it is very difficult to find a pure devotee of
the Lord.”
You are even more than a Vaiṣṇava. You are easily seen as an
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āveśa of direct empowerment of Kṛṣṇa, specifically as an agent of
Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu to distribute the holy name and the mercy
of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya all over the world. How else could you do
what you have done?
Though you now manifest in a suitable spiritual body to serve
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda in Gokula Vṛndāvana, may I always recognize
you and serve eternally under your direction in our real home with
Kṛṣṇa as the center of all our activities.

Dayalu Dulal Dasa
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Sarnga Thakura Dasa

“We had no position, no power, no use,
until Śrīla Prabhupāda joined us to him”
Rasananda Dasa. Disc 1, Following Śrīla Prabhupāda
Every Day in Every Way
Kṛṣṇa’s ambassador has come!

He continues to spread the cure
for māyā’s fever of illusion
all over the world.
He is here and accessible,

now, and into the future.
I can continue to deepen my relationship
with him on a daily basis.
I listen to his voice every day,

trying to imbibe his instructions,
and feel the magic of his personality
and sweetness of his character.
He fortifies me with sublime knowledge,

that gives me the foundation and vision,
to live the spiritual life of a disciple.
He inspires me to stretch
beyond my comfort zone,
and empowers me to venture
past self-imposed limits.
He welcomes me into his darśana,

as I bow down, and offer
my humble obeisances at his lotus feet.
I am thrilled to be with devotees in his presence.
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I see him on morning walks, and gather
in the glow of his smile, with other devotees.
I relish his quick replies, and perfect answers
to age-old questions.
He sweetens the message as he delivers it,

in ways that we can understand.
He is our divine Bhaktivedanta,
expressing realizations from his heart,
directly given by Kṛṣṇa,
He represents the absolute authority

and disciplic succession
from Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya,
knowledge that frees the soul from saṁsāra.
We are eternally indebted and enthused,

to share his glories with others,
introducing them to the swan-like paramahaṁsa,
who still travels the globe,
to deliver the fallen
from the present infection of Kali-yuga.
All glories to our beloved

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
the Founder-Ācārya of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Praying to continue serving the followers of Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Sarnga Thakura Dasa
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Shivaradhya Dasa
I came to know about Śrīla Prabhupāda after emigrating to America

from India. I was living in a hostel in the Upper West Side which had
a common kitchen for all the residents and met an Indian gentleman
who told me about a temple in Brooklyn. I grew up in a Vaiṣṇava
family and my father was a devotee of Lord Rāma. I didn’t know
of any temple in New York, so when this person told me about the
Henry Street Temple, I was excited.
That Saturday evening, I took the train and went there. Although
in a brownstone, the temple had a very peaceful and spiritual
atmosphere. I liked it very much. One of the devotees told me about
the Sunday Love Feast and asked me to attend. On Sunday, I went to
the program and met even more devotees. I purchased Teachings of
Lord Caitanya and started reading it. When I got back to my place, I
could not stop reading. It was just perfect and introduced me to Lord
Caitanya. The author, Śrīla Prabhupāda, explained everything very
clearly. His writing was genuine and straightforward. As a result, I
went every Sunday to the temple. On one occasion, I learned about
the Life Membership program which was recently started by Śrīla
Prabhupāda. Knowing he would be pleased, I immediately signed
up, giving $300. I was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa regularly, reading Śrīla
Prabhupāda’s books, and now a Life Member of ISKCON. What I
still desired, was to see him and meet him.
In 1975, the temple moved to 340 West 55th St. Because it was
now in Manhattan, and on my way to work, I would regularly go
to the temple in the morning and evening with the hope of seeing
Śrīla Prabhupāda. One day, I was fortunate to find out that Śrīla
Prabhupāda was coming to New York and will be giving Bhāgavatam
class. That next morning, I came to the temple around 6 am and saw
devotees lined up in the lobby waiting to greet Śrīla Prabhupāda
who was about return from his morning walk. I pushed my way
through and was able to get to the front just in time to see Śrīla
Prabhupāda walk into the building. We all showered flowers on him
and paid obeisances to him. He walked past us into the temple room
where he paid obeisances to the three altars of Gaura Nitāi, Rādhā
Govinda, and Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā. He then sat on
the vyāsāsana and was offered guru-pūjā. Everyone then had the
opportunity to offer flowers. When it was my turn, I went up to him,
offered my flowers, and paid my obeisances. I then reached to touch
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his lotus feet. Two devotees who were sitting by his side attempted to
stop me saying it was forbidden. However, it was too late. I touched
his feet, looking at Śrīla Prabhupāda and he smiled back at me.
Some days later, on a Sunday evening, Śrīla Prabhupāda called
for a meeting with all the life members in his room on the 11th floor.
This meeting lasted more than two hours with a lot of questions and
answers. We asked what the process was to take initiation from him.
He said we should ask one of his senior disciples who will guide us.
In 1976, Śrīla Prabhupāda achieved one of his desires to have
Rathayātrā down 5th Avenue. He joined the parade at 34th Street and
5th Avenue and took his seat on Śrīmatī Subhadrā Devī’s car. Luckily,
I was there to pull the chariot rope. Seeing his enthusiasm and joy
was incredible. He was encouraging everyone to sing and dance
with the kīrtana, even telling the sannyāsīs to jump. At the festival site
in Washington Square Park, he addressed the crowd, explaining the
origin of the Rathayātrā festival, the significance of Lord Jagannātha,
and the importance of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious.
If I had not met Śrīla Prabhupāda, then my life would not have
been the same today. In my advanced aged, these memories of Śrīla
Prabhupāda and the early days of ISKCON remain fresh in my mind,
and I am forever grateful.
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Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana Devī Dāsī

Kindly accept our humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.
Please forgive our offenses in the discharge of devotional service
in your ISKCON and allow us to express our gratitude for the
causeless mercy you bestow upon us despite all our faults.
We are grateful for the sacrifices you performed to give us Kṛṣṇa
consciousness on your guru’s order and for our benefit only. Even
though we are so disqualified as Westerners in a woman’s body,
you patiently engage us in assisting you serving the mission of the
whole paramparā.
You mercifully overcame all obstacles and difficulties to help us
move from ignorance and passion to pure goodness and reinstate
us in our original position as servitor Godhead in this very lifetime.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for setting such an edifying
example in your environment, among your family members,
friends, authorities, congregation members, leaders of the world
and personal disciples.
We never stop learning from your teachings, your senior disciples
and the Lord in the heart to improve our behavior and character
and follow in your footsteps for your pleasure and humanity’s
benefit at large.
We humbly beg to be empowered to, in turn, assist others coming
in contact with your lotus feet and relish your association through
your books, various recordings, testimonies and evidence.
We remain your humble servant in your international

association and under your protection.
Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana Devī Dāsī
France
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Mahapurana Dasa

Please accept my most respectful obeisances.
Calm and restrained, you refrain from hearing the appeals of
unbridled mind debris.
You are free from one who claims your friendship and yet
behaves like your enemy.
Calm and restrained, you refrain from hatred and rancor, as you
have dropped your anchor into the ocean of transcendence.
Calm and restrained, you refrain from the relish of fleeting
mundane joys and cast them off like broken nursery toys
from infanthood.
Your mood is ecstatic. You are neither gritting your teeth nor
struggling to fight off the fire of desire.
You are savoring the flavor of a higher taste, and no time is
wasted on anything outside of Kṛṣṇa sevā.
Please continue to give me shelter under the umbrella of
your lotus feet.
Your servant,
Mahapurana Dasa
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Haridāsa Ṭhākura Dāsa

I bow down at your lotus feet.
I only want to serve you birth after birth.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura Dāsa
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ALPHABETICAL
INDEX
TRIBUTES BY SANNYĀSĪ DISCIPLES...............5
A
Amala-bhakta Swami................................................................144
Anand Kishore das Babaji...........................................................71
Swami B. A. Āśrama................................................................... 39
B
Swami B. V. Bhagavat..................................................................37
Bhakti Caitanya Swami.............................................................108
Bhakti Chāru Swami..................................................................148
Bhakti Gauravani Goswami........................................................72
Bhakti Rāghava Swami..............................................................129
Bhakti Sundar Goswami...........................................................137
Bhaktimārga Swami................................................................... 110
Bhaktivaibhava Swami................................................................54
Bīr Kṛṣṇa dās Goswami.............................................................. 56
C
Candramauli Swami..................................................................105
Candraśekhara Swami...............................................................145
D
Bhakti Prabhupāda-vrata Dāmodara Swami...........................94
Dānavīr Goswami........................................................................31
Index 713
Devāmrita Swami.......................................................................122
Dhanurdhara Swami.................................................................131
Dhirasanta dasa Goswami..........................................................77
G
Gaṇapati dāsa Swami................................................................. 66
Giridhārī Swami.........................................................................142
Girirāj Swami............................................................................... 23
Gopal Krishna Goswami............................................................ 20
Guru Prasād Swami................................................................... 141
H
Hanumatpresaka Swami...........................................................134
Hridayānanda Dāsa Goswami.................................................. 30
J
Janānanda Goswami................................................................... 80
Jayadvaita Swami.........................................................................14
Jayapatāka Swami........................................................................15
K
Kavicandra Swami...................................................................... 33
Keśava Bhāratī Dāsa Goswami.................................................. 96
Krishna Kshetra Swami.............................................................. 84
L
Lokanāth Swami...........................................................................87
M
Mahādyuti Swami......................................................................124
Mahāvishnu Swami.................................................................... 43
Mukunda Goswami...................................................................... 7
N
Bhakti Vigna Vinasha Narasimha Swami................................ 52
Bhaktivedanta Nemi Swami.....................................................136
Nirañjana Swami........................................................................126
714 Index
P
Pārtha Sārathi Dās Goswami....................................................102
Prahlādānanda Swami................................................................17
R
Rādhānāth Swami....................................................................... 92
Rāmāi Swami..............................................................................112
Romapāda Swami....................................................................... 59
S
Sacinandana Swami.................................................................... 62
Satsvarupa das Goswami............................................................12
Smita Kṛṣṇa Swami..................................................................... 46
Subhāg Swami............................................................................. 48
T
Trivikrama Swami........................................................................18
U
Umapati Swami............................................................................. 9
V
Varṣāṇā Swami........................................................................... 115
TRIBUTES BY INITIATED DISCIPLES............151
A
Abhiram Dasa............................................................................ 222
Adhiyajna Dasa......................................................................... 284
Adideva Dasa............................................................................. 368
Adikarta Dasa............................................................................ 530
Aditi Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 230
Advaita Acharya Dasa.............................................................. 286
Aja Dasa.......................................................................................479
Ali Krishna Devi Dasi............................................................... 335
Ambarisa Dasa.......................................................................... 538
Index 715
Anadi Dasa..................................................................................243
Anandamaya Dasa..................................................................... 574
Anavadyangi Devi Dasi........................................................... 402
Aniha Dasa................................................................................. 595
Ankottha Dasa........................................................................... 668
Antariksa Dasa.......................................................................... 689
Anuttama Dāsa.......................................................................... 293
Arcita Dasa................................................................................. 490
Aristaha Dasa.............................................................................447
Arjuna Dasa (1973).....................................................................377
Arjuna Dasa (1976).................................................................... 599
Arundhati Devi Dasi.................................................................192
Ashalata Devi Dasi................................................................... 588
Asokamrita Dasa....................................................................... 299
Atitaguna Devi Dasi................................................................. 603
Atmananda Dasa........................................................................251
Atmatma Dasa........................................................................... 644
Avyaya Dasa................................................................................478
B
Bada Haridāsa........................................................................... 606
Badarayana Dasa....................................................................... 388
Balabhadra Bhattacarya Dasa.................................................. 468
Balabhadra Dasa.........................................................................194
Balai Devi Dasi...........................................................................204
Baraha Murti Dasa.................................................................... 382
Bedangi Devi Dasi..................................................................... 280
Bhagavat Ashraya Dasa............................................................ 582
Bhaja Govinda Devi Dasi......................................................... 629
Bhakta Dasa................................................................................ 214
Bhavatarini Devi Dasi............................................................... 328
Bhṛgupati Dāsa.......................................................................... 305
Bhumi Devi Dasi........................................................................375
Bhūrijana dāsa............................................................................179
Bhutiha Dasa.............................................................................. 580
Brahmatirtha Dasa.................................................................... 630
C
Cakri Dasa...................................................................................621
716 Index
Cathurbhuj Dasa....................................................................... 206
Chaitanya Chandra Dasa..........................................................545
Chaya Devi Dasi.........................................................................194
Chintamani Dasi........................................................................197
Citraka Dasa................................................................................412
D
Dāmodara Dāsa..........................................................................164
Dayalu Dulal Dasa.................................................................... 703
Dayānanda Dāsa........................................................................156
Dayanidhi Dasa......................................................................... 568
Deena Bandhu Dasa..................................................................212
Dhanesvara Dasa....................................................................... 444
Dīna-śaraṇa Devī Dāsī.............................................................. 632
Divyanga Dasa.......................................................................... 442
Draviḍa Dāsa............................................................................. 436
Drumila Dasa............................................................................. 623
Drutakarma Dasa.......................................................................587
Durgama Dasa............................................................................376
E
Edhaniyasvabhava Dasa.......................................................... 496
G
Garuda Vahana Dasa................................................................. 615
Gaura Dasa.................................................................................. 617
Gaura Keśava Dāsa................................................................... 643
Gauracandra Dasa...................................................................... 311
Gauragopala Dasa..................................................................... 336
Gauridasa Pandita Dasa............................................................543
Gokulananda Dasa.................................................................... 339
Gokularanjana Dasa..................................................................354
Gopimata Devi Dasi................................................................. 685
Gopisa Dasa............................................................................... 492
Gostavihari Dasa........................................................................304
Govardhana Dasi........................................................................394
Govinda Datta Dasa...................................................................210
Govinda Devi Dasi.....................................................................158
Govinda Mohini Devi Dasi.......................................................244
Index 717
Gunarnava Dasa.........................................................................271
Gunesvara Dasa......................................................................... 646
Guru Carana Padma Dasi.........................................................697
Guru Gaurāṅga Dāsa................................................................ 282
Guruprasad Dasa...................................................................... 659
H
Hari Chakra Dasa...................................................................... 628
Haridāsa Dāsa............................................................................597
Haridāsa Ṭhākura Dāsa............................................................711
Haripada Dasa........................................................................... 499
Hari-sauri Dasa..........................................................................312
Havi Dasa....................................................................................421
Hiranmayi Devi Dasi................................................................ 500
Hrsikesananda Dasa..................................................................175
I
Indriya Damana Dasa............................................................... 453
J
Jadurani Devi Dasi.....................................................................153
Jagaddhatri Devi Dasi (1973)................................................... 398
Jagaddhatri Devi Dasi (1975)....................................................517
Jagadvira Dasa........................................................................... 485
Jagajjanani Dasi..........................................................................651
Jagannathesvari Devi Dasi....................................................... 602
Jagattarini Dasi...........................................................................287
Janakaraja Dasa..........................................................................347
Janaki Devi Dasi.........................................................................647
Janardana Dasa...........................................................................301
Janmanalaya Dasa......................................................................341
Jaya Bhadra Devi Dasi.............................................................. 423
Jaya Gouranga Dasa...................................................................501
Jaya Jagadisa Dasa......................................................................241
Jaya Madhava Dasa................................................................... 635
JayaGauri Devi Dasi.................................................................. 642
Jayagurudeva Dasa................................................................... 640
Jitamitra Devi Dasi.................................................................... 369
Jiva Pavana Dasa....................................................................... 669
718 Index
Jivananda Dasa Vanacari...........................................................694
K
Kalakantha Dasa........................................................................424
Kanchanbala Dasi......................................................................173
Karanodakasayi Visnu Dasa Adhikari....................................201
Karlapati Devi Dasi....................................................................357
Kilimba Dasi.............................................................................. 664
Kishor Dasa.................................................................................276
Kosarupa Dasi........................................................................... 680
Kratu Dasa.................................................................................. 700
Kripanidhi Dasa........................................................................ 329
Krishna Gopala Dasa.................................................................518
Krishna Namananda Dasa....................................................... 702
Krishnarupa Devi Dasi..............................................................476
Krsnadasa Kaviraja Dasa......................................................... 464
Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana Devī Dāsī........................................................... 709
Krsnaloka Devi Dasi................................................................. 234
Krsnanandini Devi Dasi........................................................... 356
Krsnasravana Dasa.....................................................................401
Kusha Devi Dasi.........................................................................231
L
Laksmivan Dasa.........................................................................373
Lalita Devi Dasi..........................................................................487
Langaganesa Dasa..................................................................... 469
Lelihana Devi Dasi.....................................................................519
Locanananda Dasa.................................................................... 228
M
Madana Mohana Dasa............................................................. 348
MadanMohanMohini Dasi...................................................... 343
Madhavi-Devi Dasi................................................................... 608
Madhukanta Dasa..................................................................... 226
Madhusevita Dāsa.................................................................... 440
Madhusūdana Dāsa...................................................................163
Maha Punya Devi Dasi............................................................. 506
Mahabuddhi Dasa......................................................................416
Mahacandra Dasa..................................................................... 400
Index 719
Mahadevi Dasi............................................................................504
Mahakarta Dasa........................................................................ 480
Mahamana Dasa.........................................................................475
Mahapurana Dasa......................................................................710
Mahashakti Dasa........................................................................319
Mahasini Devi Dasi....................................................................246
Mahatma Dasa............................................................................215
Mahavisnupriya Devi Dasi.......................................................577
Mahendrani Devi Dasi..............................................................670
Makhanacora Dasa....................................................................624
Makhana-taskara Dasa............................................................. 366
Mandalesvara Dasa....................................................................249
Mandapa Dasa........................................................................... 609
Manonatha Dasa....................................................................... 483
Matsya Avatar Dasa.................................................................. 682
Mayesa Dasa.............................................................................. 489
Medhavi Dasa............................................................................ 522
MokshaLaksmi Devi Dasi........................................................ 525
Mrgaksi Devi Dasi.................................................................... 385
Mrtyuhara Dasa........................................................................ 509
N
Nagapatni Devi Dasi................................................................. 232
Naikatma Dasa.......................................................................... 426
Nandanandana Dāsa................................................................. 610
Narakantaka Dasa..................................................................... 584
Narayani Dasi.............................................................................247
Naresvara Dasa...........................................................................673
Nartaka Gopala Dasi................................................................. 511
Nidra Devi Dasi..........................................................................657
Nirākulā Dāsī............................................................................. 380
Nirantara Dasa.......................................................................... 450
Nrhari Dasa................................................................................ 408
Nrisimha Dasa............................................................................675
Nrsimhananda Dasa.................................................................. 316
P
Pancagauda Dasa.......................................................................676
Pancharatna Dasa...................................................................... 256
720 Index
Paramesvari Dasa................................................................................ 258
Parividha Dasa.................................................................................... 430
Patita Pavana dasa Adhikary..............................................................188
Paurusa Dasa....................................................................................... 652
Pavani Devi Dasi................................................................................. 553
Phalini Devi Dasi................................................................................. 482
Praghosa Dasa..................................................................................... 403
Prahlada Bhakta Dasa........................................................................ 692
Prahladanatha Dasa.............................................................................678
Pranesvara Dasa.................................................................................. 438
Prassannatma Dasa............................................................................. 529
Prithu Dāsa.......................................................................................... 321
Prthusrava Das.................................................................................... 404
Purnamasi Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 464
R
Radhapriya Devi Dasi........................................................................ 497
Raga-Bhumi Devi Dasi....................................................................... 536
Raghunatha Anudasa......................................................................... 684
Rajendranandana Dasa...................................................................... 433
Ramananda Dasa.................................................................................616
Ramanatha sukha Dasa...................................................................... 451
Ramanya Dasa..................................................................................... 409
Ramya Devi Dasi................................................................................. 387
Ranadhir Dasa......................................................................................187
Ranchor Dasa....................................................................................... 238
Rasaliladevi Devi Dasi....................................................................... 466
Rathayātrā Dāsa...................................................................................514
Ravīndra Svarūpa Dāsa...................................................................... 262
Rukmini Devi Dasi...............................................................................183
Rukmini Priya Devi Dasi................................................................... 397
Rupa Manjari Devi Dasi..................................................................... 320
Rūpa-vilāsa Dāsa................................................................................. 326
S
Sakshi Gopal Dasa.............................................................................. 349
Samapriya Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 554
Sandamini Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 532
Sangita Devi Dasi.................................................................................410
Sankarshan Dasa................................................................................. 267
Saṅkīrtana Dāsa....................................................................................419
Saṅkīrtana Dāsī................................................................................... 687
Sarnga Thakura Dasa......................................................................... 705
Sarvamangala Dasi............................................................................. 235
Sarvani Devi Dasi................................................................................ 406
Satadhanya Dasa................................................................................. 239
Satyarāja Dāsa...................................................................................... 556
Saumyarupa Devi Dasi....................................................................... 581
Sevananda Dasa...................................................................................361
Shivaradhya Dasa................................................................................ 707
Shyamasundar Dasa............................................................................171
Sikhi Mahiti Dasa................................................................................ 559
Sravaniya Devi Dasi............................................................................ 268
Śrī Padāmbuja Dāsa............................................................................ 570
Sridham Dasa...................................................................................... 364
Srikanta Dasa........................................................................................278
Sripati Dasa...........................................................................................199
Subhangi Devi Dasi............................................................................ 572
Subhavilasa Dasa................................................................................ 590
Sudhir Krishna Dasa........................................................................... 679
Sukhada Dasi....................................................................................... 563
Sukhavaha Devi Dasi.......................................................................... 534
Surabhi Dasi......................................................................................... 277
Suresvara Dasa.................................................................................... 248
Svavasa Dasa........................................................................................ 428
Swarup Dasa........................................................................................ 209
Śyāmasundara Dāsa........................................................................... 666
T
Tamra Dasi........................................................................................... 663
Taraka Dasa.......................................................................................... 494
Tattvavit Dasa.......................................................................................461
Tejaprakash Dasa................................................................................. 548
Tejiyas Dasa...........................................................................................218
Tilaka Devi Dasi.................................................................................. 264
Toṣan-Kṛṣṇa Dāsa.................................................................................185
Trai Dasa............................................................................................... 234
U
Ugresa Dasa......................................................................................... 593
Ujjala Devi Dasi....................................................................................431
V
Vaibhava Dasa Adhikari..................................................................... 637
Vaikunthadeva Dasa........................................................................... 638
Vaisnavananda Dasa........................................................................... 332
Vaiyasaki Dasa Adhikari.................................................................... 566
Vamanadev Dasa..................................................................................178
Vaninatha dasa Brahmachary........................................................... 367
Vegavati-Devi Dasi.............................................................................. 627
Vidyananda Dasa................................................................................ 541
Visakha Devi Dasi............................................................................... 281
Vishalini Devi Dasi............................................................................. 290
Vishvadevi Dasi....................................................................................331
Visnugada Dasa................................................................................... 265
Y
Yadavendra Dasa................................................................................. 454
Yadubara Dasa..................................................................................... 281
Yogindra Dasa..................................................................................... 649

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ŚRĪLA

To find out more about this publication, please visit:

Quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, lectures, letters and conversations, as

Design and layout by Jagannath Sharan Dasa (Janak Rajani)

THE TRIBUTES TEAM.......................................4

TRIBUTES BY SANNYĀSĪ DISCIPLES*..............5

TRIBUTES BY INITIATED DISCIPLES*........... 151

ALPHABETICAL INDEX................................. 713

* All tributes appear in order of the author’s

Welcome to this year’s Śrīla Prabhupāda Tributes, a collection of

For ten years we have printed Śrīla Prabhupāda Tributes and

This book has been produced by the following volunteers:

Editorial and production advisor: Jayadvaita Swami

Production manager: Pradyumna Dasa

English editor: Nimai Devi Dasi

Sanskrit editor: Radheya Fournier

Designer: Jagannath Sharan Dasa

Proofreader: Krishna Kripa Dasa

Organizers: Harsharani Devi Dasi, Devaki Devi Dasi, Rosie

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

You wrote Kali’d relent

You gave us hope

Where varṇāśrama would rule

Like summer in winter

You gave us hope

To watch the oddity

The “peace formula”

Our first day out

But it was lovely

T’was a clear day,

The Plague and the Voice

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

Part 1. The Plague

Part 2. The Voice

Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

I offer my obeisances to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Your eternal servant,

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

My dear spiritual father, His Divine Grace Abhaya Caraṇāravinda

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

Haṁsadūta: So Prabhupāda, is there something we should

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

Your insignificant servant,

Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

I beg to offer my most respectful obeisances at your lotus feet. This

I had the great fortune of meeting you in Montreal in June 1968.

[I have brought the medicine to eradicate

“Just like if you take vaccine, the infectious disease

“We should always bear in mind that we are in the

“So our preachers, our devotees should always

Your fallen servant,

Śrīla Prabhupāda and Lord Nityānanda’s Mercy

Your aspiring, eternal, hopeful servant,