Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
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
Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
I first obtained Your Divine Grace’s association by reading The Science of Self-Realization in 1983. I was a 13-year-old, curious to understand the purpose of life and how to navigate the challenges of this material world. The moment I set eyes on the book cover, which features a regal photograph of you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, walking with stick in hand, my curiosity was piqued. I purchased the book and began reading it. The impact of your transcendental instructions through the book was deep and powerful as you introduced the Supreme Personality of Godhead into my life. The change in my consciousness was akin to what Dhruva Mahārāja describes in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.9.6:
dhruva uvāca
yo ’ntaḥ praviśya mama vācam imāṁ prasuptāṁ
sañjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ sva-dhāmnā
anyāṁś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn
prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam
Dhruva Mahārāja said: My dear Lord, You are all-powerful. After entering within me, You have enlivened all my sleeping senses – my hands, legs, ears, touch sensation, life force, and especially my power of speech. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
The purity of your instructions are encapsulated in your transcendental literature, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and they can even awaken the greatest of dullards like myself. All glories to your purity, your compassion, and your strict adherence to the guru-paramparā.
In reflecting on your unlimited mercy, I am reminded of the essential position of the spiritual master, as described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.17.27:
ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta sarva-deva-mayo guruḥ
One should know the ācārya to be My very self and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.
And again, the necessity of your mercy is so clearly expressed in the prayers of the Gurvaṣṭakam:
yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo
yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ’pi
By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the mercy of Kṛṣṇa; without the mercy of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, these teachings find their fullest meaning in your life and mission. Out of your causeless compassion, you traveled across the world to deliver the message of Kṛṣṇa, giving shelter to countless conditioned souls like myself who had little or no qualification.
Through your books, your instructions, and your personal example, you made the path of devotional service accessible, practical, and filled with hope – even for the most fallen.
In a purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.21.12, you describe the heart of a Vaiṣṇava through the prayer of Rantideva:
na kāmaye ’haṁ gatim īśvarāt parām
aṣṭarddhi-yuktām apunar-bhavaṁ vā
ārtiṁ prapadye ’khila-deha-bhājām
antaḥ-sthito yena bhavanty aduḥkhāḥ
I do not pray to the Supreme Personality of Godhead for the eight perfections of mystic yoga, nor for salvation from repeated birth and death. I want only to stay among all the living entities and suffer all distresses on their behalf, so that they may be freed from suffering.
This mood, so perfectly reflected in your life, stands as an eternal guide for all of us. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you could have merely resided in Vrindavan all your life and returned back home, back to Godhead. Yet as the emblem of deep compassion for the suffering masses afflicted by the onslaught of material energy, you took sannyāsa, crossed the oceans at an impossibly challenging time of your life – suffering from advancing age and ill-health – and carried Kṛṣṇa in your heart to the Western world. Then you freely distributed His name, fame, pastimes and activities to the struggling souls. You are para-duḥkha-duḥkhī, very much aggrieved by the suffering of others and engaged in activities for the real welfare of human society.
My humble prayer, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is to remain absorbed in your instructions and to follow them with sincerity and steadiness. Please guide me through your books, your teachings, and the association of your disciples and the devotees, so that one day I may develop even a fraction of that purity and devotion that you so perfectly embodied and continue to serve you and your mission.
I beg for your mercy that I may always remain engaged in your service, life after life.
Your insignificant servant,
Devakīnandana Dāsa (MVG)