Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
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.
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
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.
As Kali-yuga merrily sails its māyā-enchanted prisoners toward a seemingly inevitable abyss,
I visited an old friend of fifty years, an artist, surfer, and yogi. He has now retired, but for years
he worked as the international art director of a multibillion-dollar surf-wear company. But above
all else that he has done, he remains a disciple of Your Divine Grace. The beautiful name you
entrusted him with is Shyāmānanda Dāsa.
Although 75 plus, he is still strong of body and spirit despite currently suffering the nasty treat-
ment regimen of chemotherapy. Śrīla Prabhupāda, his remembrances of you remain firm, for he
has never forgotten you despite a full lifetime of both victories and defeats. He faces an unknown
but ultimately inevitable future, and your interactions with him and your instructions to him
personally and through your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is have been stored carefully within him as his
greatest wealth.
Shyāmānanda appeared awed and illumined when describing the breadth of your influ-
ence, from ubiquitous yoga-school chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra to the worldwide
acceptances of elements of Vaiṣṇava philosophy, dress, hairstyle, eating, science, and methods of
preaching. And he was struck how you left an indelible mark on many powerful souls who met
you just once but never formally accepted your shelter. And having a warrior’s nature himself, he
reveled in your stepping out alone, elderly and penniless, from Vrindavan to the United States, as
you began your worldwide movement armed only with your bravery of spirit, a trunk of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam books, and the order of your Guru Mahārāja.
But most of all he reveled in his personal interactions with you. He had observed you cook
with your three-tiered cooker, shirtless, just as you must have cooked for yourself in Vrindavan,
and how you salted and spiced deftly with your fingers, never measuring, but with the confident
flare of an experienced master chef. As he spoke of this, Shyāmānanda moved his arms with the
grace of a dancer in his attempt to duplicate your spicing technique.
He remembered you learning that he was an artist, although neither shaved-up nor in devo-
tee attire, calling him to sit next to you behind your low desk as you showed him one by one
photographs of the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple and described in detail the look you wanted for
your yet-to-be constructed Vrindavan Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Mandir. When Shyāmānanda, knowing
his art history, commented to you that the arches you suggested seemed Islamic in design, you
proceeded to explain the cultural assimilation that had occurred in Vraja as a result of the Mogul
occupancy of North India.
He also remembered two tense, unanswered challenges you forcefully shot at your devo-
tees. First, while viewing a proposed Third Canto Bhāgavatam painting as if seen from above
Lord Brahmā, a viewpoint which was philosophically incorrect, you challenged, “Who is above
Brahmā?” Nothing else was spoken and no one replied. Second, some tacks mysteriously
appeared on your bed. You were angry at the danger they presented and challenged, “Who has
done this?” Again, your few but sharp words received only silence in reply.
He remembered with joy your visit to the Cistercian Monastery in near-to-Melbourne Tarra-
warra, and your lecture, to his surprise, on demigods. But in Tarrawarra what moved him
most was your full relaxation among these serious Christian practitioners, for all were celibate,
vegetarian monks.
He somberly also remembered assisting Tamal Krishna Goswami and Upendra during the final
months of your sojourn on earth. He recollected that while he sat in your presence in the upper
rooms of your Vrindavan home, he witnessed a leading disciple consult you about a complicated
financial decision that had to be made. And he recalled your weighty words: “First complete your
sixteen rounds before speaking to me about these things.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you once even instructed Shyāmānanda’s father, who previously had been
an active military fighter, to go alone into the forest and chant oṁ tat sat! And astoundingly, his
father, after that one meeting, would regularly journey to the forest near his home and chant oṁ
tat sat.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, how many souls have you touched as you unfurled Śrī Caitanya Mahā-
prabhu’s mission to spread the chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s holy names throughout the world? In
how many hearts have you planted the seed of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? How many still unrecog-
nized souls will rise to prominence in time to fulfill your desire and the desire of Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu that Kṛṣṇa consciousness be spread throughout the universe?
As you credited your completion of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta to the “authorized order” of your
Guru Mahārāja, you referred to him as “His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura
Gosvāmī Mahārāja, my beloved eternal spiritual master, guide, and friend.”
A friend acts for our benefit and forever wishes us well. As your Guru Mahārāja was your
“friend,” and as Kṛṣṇa is the dearmost friend of every soul (Gītā 9.18), you are also the greatest
friend of the world, for you have planted the seed of meaning, bliss, and eternity in the hearts of
countless souls.
Although Shyāmānanda is my dear friend, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you will always remain his great-
est friend. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, as my own most beloved eternal spiritual master, guide, and
friend, please allow me to forever serve your two ever-moving lotus feet.
Your Bhūrijana Dāsa

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