Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
We offer our respectful obeisances to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken refuge at His lotus feet.
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
We offer our respectful obeisances to you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī! You are kindly preaching the message of Śrī Caitanyadeva and liberating the Western countries, which are full of impersonalism and nihilism.
With great enthusiasm and gratitude, I wish to offer you, dear master Śrīla Prabhupāda, a few words on the auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, and I wish to express what your auspicious appearance in this material world and in this weighty age of Kali-yuga means to me – an age where humankind is most unfortunate, filled with negative qualities that cause constant disturbance, anxiety, and a profound ignorance. The śāstras describe this condition as the darkness in which the soul finds itself under the complete control of the modes of material nature, becoming increasingly entangled like a spider’s web by its fruitive activities, thus remaining in the repeated cycle of birth and death.
I found myself in such a sad and lamentable condition without realizing it. At certain times in my life, questions arose in my mind: Is there anything better in life than simply existing, eating, sleeping, reproducing, defending oneself, then dying? Having no satisfactory answers, I came to believe that this was simply “life.”
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. To him I offer my humble and respectful obeisances.
When the first books, Elevation to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, arrived at my house, brought by my brother, thanks to the saṅkīrtana of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, the answers to my questions began to appear. And thanks to the books you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, wrote with such effort and compassion for suffering souls, four of us brothers have transformed our lives; thanks to the books and the devotees you, like a touchstone, turned to gold, preaching the message of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your appearance in this material world is the mercy of Lord Caitanya to redeem the fallen souls of this Kali-yuga. Śrīla Prabhupāda, in my attempt to offer you my gratitude, please grant me your blessings so that I may always be engaged in the preaching service of the yātrā of the savior, Lord Caitanya.
From Śrī Guru-vandanā:
Our spiritual master is an ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor, the lord and master of devotees. O master, be merciful to us and grant us the shade of your lotus feet! Your fame spreads throughout all three worlds!
Always striving to be ready to serve you,
Nidrā Śilā Devī Dāsī
And the devotees of ISKCON El Salvador