Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet.
It was an open secret that your greatest priority was to write, print, and distribute your Kṛṣṇa
conscious books. You were so intent on blessing the world with the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other
books that you would write tirelessly throughout the night, every night, regardless of what time
you arrived at a temple or rested.
In 1965, you came to the United States with nothing but some trunks filled with three-volume
sets of the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When planning your upcoming mission to preach
in the West, you were uncertain, due to the frailties of old age, if you could successfully complete
your Bhaktivedanta purports for the entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Consequently, you included all of
the essential philosophy in those first three volumes.
Once established in the United States, and in the same mood as with the first printing of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you wrote, Kṛṣṇa, The Supreme Personality of Godhead (the Kṛṣṇa book), a sum-
mary study of the Tenth Canto and a collection of the Lord’s most intimate loving Vrindavan
pastimes. Normally, we are recommended to study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from its beginning and
only gradually make our way to the Tenth Canto, but in the same mood of urgency that prompted
you to concentrate on the essential philosophy in the First Canto, you summarized the Tenth
Canto to give us an opportunity to become attracted to the Lord’s intimate Vrindavan pastimes.
We did not understand until years later, when you also gave us the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that in
fact one of Lord Caitanya’s confidential reasons for appearing in this world was to give us fortu-
nate human beings of Kali-yuga a chance to associate with Him (Lord Kṛṣṇa) in a pure, intimate
way, without any sentiment of awe and veneration. As Lord Caitanya’s representative, you gave us
that same opportunity through your teachings.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is described that after ending His earthly pastimes, Lord Kṛṣṇa,
contemplating appearing as Lord Caitanya, considered as follows:
If one regards Me as the Supreme Lord and himself as a subordinate, I do not become
subservient to his love, nor can it control Me. In whatever transcendental mellow My
devotee worships Me, I reciprocate with him. That is My natural behavior. In whatever
way My devotees surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. “Everyone follows
My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.” If one cherishes pure loving devotion to
Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great
and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him. (Caitanya-
caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 4.17–22)
Lord Caitanya only appears in this world once in a day of Lord Brahmā, or once every one thou-
sand Kali-yugas. Considering the duration of both the day and night of Lord Brahmā, this would
be a total of 8,640,000,000 years. We are so fortunate that Lord Caitanya’s divine appearance
took place only about five hundred years ago. You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, have made us even more
fortunate by delivering His message to the world. And your message was not restricted or con-
fined to only a few, but rather has become accessible to everyone through the internet, mass print-
ing, your lectures, and the tireless work of many of your disciples and granddisciples who have
been inspired and empowered by you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please help us at ISKCON Miami to increase our study, hearing, and teach-
ing of Lord Caitanya and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Throughout the world there are many devotees
who have developed proven methods of selling your books, inspiring new people to advance on
this path, and methods to care for and enliven devotees who have already come. These success-
ful devotees have not created anything new in principle; they have simply applied the principles
given to us by yourself and the previous ācāryas. One of those principles for success is to be
enthusiastic, and enthusiasm means “To make some endeavor, using your intelligence in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.”
We pray that at ISKCON Miami we may also enthusiastically endeavor to do our part in this
glorious mission of propagating the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world.
Your humble servants at ISKCON Miami