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
Beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda, you uplift countless souls in Kali-yuga, offering a direct path to Kṛṣṇa’s abode for sincere aspirants over the next ten thousand years. Your greatness was known since Kṛṣṇa’s departure from this world, though it remained hidden like the channa-avatāra, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is remarkable that Kṛṣṇa Himself appointed you and prepared the way for you to spread the holy names throughout the Western world.
Five thousand years ago, after Kṛṣṇa departed, Bhakti Devī grieved as her sons, Jñāna and Vairāgya, faded due to the declining interest in spiritual knowledge and renunciation during Kali-yuga. Nārada heard Bhakti’s distress, recognizing that as Kali-yuga worsens, Bhakti, along with her sons, will gradually vanish. Nārada Muni boldly took a vow: “If I do not preach your message of bhakti, I shall not be considered the servant of Lord Hari.”
Five hundred ago, as bhakta-vatsala and to uphold Nārada Muni’s vow, Kṛṣṇa personally appeared as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, embodying the compassionate heart and complexion of his greatest devotee, Śrī Rādhā, in order to showcase bhakti, the simplest means to attain perfection in Kali-yuga.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed lots of pastimes in India and provided lots of evidence for the glories of bhakti by spreading the chanting of the mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare / Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Nevertheless, He did not venture out of India. In the Caitanya-maṅgala He says: “Taking the sharp sword of the congregational chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, I will root out and destroy the demoniac mentality in the hearts of all conditioned souls. If some sinful people escape, going to far-off countries, then my senāpati-bhakta will come at that time to give them Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
This means Caitanya Mahāprabhu left the most important task in Kali-yuga to somebody else. Lord Nityānanda, His brother and companion, told Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī that after Mahāprabhu leaves, Gaṅgā will flood the whole area for a hundred years. Then for the next three hundred years, she will move around and all the pastime places will be washed away. After that, He said, again the task of revealing the dhāma will begin in earnest. So this corresponds to exactly the time when Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was present and rediscovered the birthplace of Lord Caitanya.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura made several predictions: (1) A personality would soon appear and travel all over the world to spread the teachings of Lord Caitanya; and (2) Very soon the chanting of hari-nāma saṅkīrtana would spread all over the world. Oh, when will that day come when people from America, England, France, Germany, and Russia will take up karatālas and mṛdaṅgas and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in their towns and villages? When will that day come when the fair-skinned foreigners will come to Śrī Māyāpur-dhāma and join with the Bengali Vaiṣṇavas to chant Jaya Śacīnandana! Jaya Śacīnandana! When will that day be?
Śrīla Prabhupāda noted the spiritual significance of his birth in 1896, coinciding with the year Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sent his book Sri Chaitanya – His Life and Precepts abroad. The will of Lord Caitanya, the aspiration of Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda, and the guidance of his spiritual master Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura enabled Śrīla Prabhupāda to disseminate Śrī Caitanya’s teachings and promote the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa globally.
Fifty years ago, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you successfully accomplished the three predictions made by Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you left this world with a legacy second to none, fulfilling the prediction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that the holy name of Kṛṣṇa would be chanted in every town and village. You arrived in the USA in 1965. You founded ISKCON – the International Society for Krishna Consciousness – in 1966 in New York City in a storefront. You circled the global fourteen times to preach the mission of Lord Caitanya. You established 108 temples and several farm communities. You published over sixty books, which are accepted by leading scholars and universities. You departed this world on 14 November 1977, returning to Kṛṣṇa, as you were before you came to this world.
We know that Kṛṣṇa personally visited you on Janmāṣṭamī 1954, as related by Acharya Prabhakara. Kṛṣṇa gave you His kadamba flower garland that went all the way to your feet. Kadamba flowers are rare in Jhansi, and when they are available, they are usually the size of golf balls, but the ones you were given, Śrīla Prabhupāda, were the size of tennis balls, and their aroma was from the heavenly planets.
To encourage you to go to the West, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī also personally visited you while you were living at the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple in Vrindavan.
Closing the circle of the vow Nārada Muni made to Bhakti Devī, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you traveled in our world in the mood of Nārada Muni, the eternally wandering devotee. Nārada also visited you several times while you were doing your preaching work in the West. Several times you asked your disciples to bring him a chair. You also said that your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, sent you devotees from Vaikuṇṭha to help you to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s mission.
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda, I, your grandchild Śārṅga Dāsa along with all the devotees from the Fort Lauderdale community fall in the dust of your lotus feet and thank you millions and millions of times for agreeing to take on the challenge of fulfilling Nārada Muni’s vow and serving as Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s senāpati-bhakta. If you had not, we would be nothing. Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. Jaya Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga.
Your servant,
Śārṅga Dāsa
On behalf of the devotees in Fort Lauderdale