Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
By reading the books and letters you wrote, we are amazed at how you still had time to visit your different centers and deal with the local devotees wherever you happened to be in the world. You gave classes wherever you went, you helped manage each temple you visited, you answered numerous questions, and taught how to keep Kṛṣṇa in the center, how to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and how to depend on Kṛṣṇa for everything. You simultaneously managed the rest of the world centers by writing letters to devotees in managerial positions as well as to rank and file devotees who just had some personal questions. Many of your managers were inexperienced and made mistakes, some of which were serious mistakes that caused you anxiety, but you wrote to them and explained what they should do, while depending on Kṛṣṇa and never letting the problems discourage you from pushing on this movement. You had full faith and confidence in guru and Kṛṣṇa. You had the patience of a saint because you are a saint. You never gave up; you set the perfect example for your disciples and for future devotees as well.
There is no way any person, other than someone empowered directly by Kṛṣṇa, could do what you did day in and day out. In order to do it you had to sacrifice your sleep, and therefore you slept only a few hours a night, yet devotees who lived with you admitted that you never really slept; you were always conscious.
You would meet with dignitaries, the press, scholars, parents, religious leaders, and others at the many temples you traveled to. You also found time to do outside programs at universities, churches, pandals, or anywhere devotees made arrangements for you to speak.
With such a busy schedule, you also always found time to translate and write purports to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic literature. Even though you have physically departed, we can still have your association because you are present in your books. This helps us to keep you in our hearts and love and serve you with our body, mind, and words. As you said about your Guru Mahārāja, “He lives forever by his divine instructions, and the follower lives with him.” You were living in the present and simultaneously thinking of the future as you left behind a way for others to go back home, back to Godhead through your transcendental books. Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for all your sacrifices.
There aren’t enough words to glorify you sufficiently, but we are hoping to satisfy you in some small way.
Aspiring to follow in your divine footsteps,
Your servants at ISKCON East Hartford
(written by Pyāri Mohan Dāsa)