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 obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.
It is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.21) that if we wish to seriously achieve real happiness, we must approach a bona fide spiritual master:
tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
Therefore, any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.
You mentioned in your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.12.3: “The student must approach a spiritual master and surrender unto him fully (praṇipātena).” So, that surrender process is not very easy. It takes great effort and a deep desire for attaining the perfection of surrender. Actually, it must be based on love. Once, a devotee was typing for you and it became mechanical. One day, you told him, “If you love me, I will love you.” So it is a matter of love that we are trying to develop for you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. If we serve you for some other purpose, the time will come when we will be diverted by some material thing. We are not meant to come to you for any material benefit, but to learn from you how to love Kṛṣṇa by serving Him. However, to do that, we need to learn how to love you first.
You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are fully situated in transcendental knowledge, and unless we approach you, we will remain in ignorance. There is no question of your ability to deliver us from material existence through your instructions, which are clear and lead us step by step to Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda, we have this rare human form of life, and we need your loving guidance to make it successful. In so many lives, we failed to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. But this time, we are holding tightly to your lotus feet, with the great hope that we will pass the test at the time of death, when all our devotional activities will be tested.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we submit ourselves to you and hope that you will accept us with all our imperfections, for it is only by your special causeless mercy that we can hope to understand the science of bhakti and thus raise ourselves to being accepted by Lord Kṛṣṇa.
On this very special day of your appearance, when we worship you as the representative of Śrīla Vyāsadeva, we ask you to continue showering your blessings on us so that we may serve you and please you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!
Your servants at ISKCON Juhu
(written by Bhīma Dāsa)