Our dearest and most beloved spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet, the shelter of all fallen and conditioned souls. All glories to Your Divine Grace for beginning Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana movement and carrying it throughout the world. We are eternally grateful for your example of humility, tolerance, sacrifice, and unwavering determination in Kṛṣṇa’s service.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, without your mercy and blessings we would have no strength to continue our devotional services. Whatever we have been able to do in our temple activities is only by your kindness and the inspiration of your instructions. We pray to remain steady year after year and to assist, in our small way, in spreading the glories of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as you envisioned.
Forty-nine years ago, your dear disciples incorporated ISKCON of Houston and began the work of bringing spiritual life to this city. We are grateful to share a few glimpses of how your mercy continues to manifest here. Forty years ago, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Nīlamādhava made the Houston temple Their home, and this year we will celebrate Their anniversary along with Janmāṣṭamī and a kirtan festival that draws thousands of guests.
By the blessings of the Deities and your guidance, our Deity worship department strives to maintain and steadily improve standards, while training a new generation to serve. In recent years, many devotees have taken up this service, and we are encouraged to see their sincere growth in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
In keeping with your desire that Kṛṣṇa consciousness be shared with everyone regardless of background or qualification, the Bhakti Urban Farm program welcomes many new seekers each Sunday to hear hari-kathā and chant the holy names. Similarly, following your instruction to prepare future leaders, the Goswami Academy school has been serving for over a decade, with more than twenty full-time students and five full-time teachers dedicated to nurturing our children in devotional life and strong character. Our Sunday School is also vibrant, with over 180 students attending each week for age-appropriate classes on the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, japa and kirtan, arts and crafts, and interactive activities that help them learn Vaiṣṇava etiquette, prayers, and practical devotional habits. In line with your desire to establish higher education programs in devotional service, such as the Bhakti Śāstrī, Bhakti Vaibhava, and beyond, over the last twenty-five years more than 350 students have gone through our śāstric education.
Your book distribution and harināma-saṅkīrtana are especially dear to your heart. By your mercy, devotees go out daily to distribute your books throughout the city, and weekly harināma is held, along with prasādam distribution. You came to teach what we have forgotten – our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa – and imbibing that same mood, we are trying to remind the public of Kṛṣṇa through the holy name, prasādam distribution, and your transcendental books. By your causeless mercy, overall book distribution increased by 25 percent in 2025 over 2024. This year, by your grace, Lord Jagannātha’s mercy was carried widely through our participation in the Art Car Parade caravan – wholeheartedly welcomed by the citizens of Houston, just as a thirsty person feels satisfied after drinking water. We reached thousands in person and many more through media coverage. We pray that this receptive spirit may awaken many hearts to the chanting of the holy name, and that your books and Lord Jagannātha’s mercy may enter every home.
Because you emphasized the importance of prasādam distribution for purification of the heart, Govinda’s restaurant has been serving the Houston community for the past decade – offering prasādam and introducing many local residents to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In addition, many other services continue throughout the year, including bhakti-vṛkṣa programs, university and college preaching, and numerous festivals. Sunday feasts, which Your Divine Grace started in the early years of establishing the movement, are now attended by a mix of approximately 800 visitors and devotees – an encouraging sign of your movement’s continued growth and outreach to the locals. These efforts are carried out by devotees who try to serve sincerely under your shelter.
This year, ISKCON of Houston is observing the 60th anniversary of your movement by organizing a gala to reflect on your mercy and to highlight what has been accomplished – from small beginnings to a dedicated community and many ongoing service efforts – while keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center. We pray that the program will please you, and that whatever good comes from it may be offered at your feet.
“And if we take up the process sincerely, with love, then Lord within will give you dictation: ‘You come this way, come this way, come this way.’ Otherwise, not. The first condition is: teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām. Therefore, we are trying to engage all our disciples to be engaged twenty-four hours in devotional service. Then his life will be successful. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.” (Morning walk, April 20, 1973, Los Angeles)
As you expressed on that morning walk, we are trying according to our capacity to remain engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service throughout the year in various ways. We aspire to make your instructions our life and soul. Still, we know that without your blessings we cannot go very far. On your divine appearance day, we therefore beg for your causeless mercy so we may continue to serve your mission with sincerity and help carry it forward for the benefit of others.
“The temple management very nicely means to render service to Kṛṣṇa.” (Lecture on Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 20.395, given in Hyderabad on August 17, 1976)
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please bless us that we may always remember your instruction that temple management means to render service to Kṛṣṇa. Kindly grant us the intelligence to keep Kṛṣṇa in the center of all our services, and the humility to cooperate as your servants in unity. Please engage us in whatever way will most please Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Nīlamādhava and further the saṅkīrtana mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, so that your books, your instructions, and the holy name may be carried to every heart. We offer this report and all that we are at your lotus feet.
Your servants,
The devotees at ISKCON Houston