Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
Thank you again for allowing me to write a few words in glorification of you and in glorification of all that you have done, including, of course, for this undeserving soul.
When I sit to write your homage, I always feel nervous and even experience physical symptoms in support of that. I then try to analyze why that might be happening and can only conclude two things. The first is quite straightforward – I feel I have been promoted way beyond my station in simply being granted the opportunity to glorify you. You are such an extraordinary personality, so who am I to even have a connection with you? Of course, I understand you came in the mood of Lord Caitanya – as patita-pāvana – so no doubt I somewhat qualify in that respect. However, to have the privileged platform to express my appreciation to you directly makes me feel like an imposter, with many thousands, if not more, more deserving than I.
The second thing relates directly to your extraordinariness. Literally everything about you is out of this world. From all the prior predictions about you and what you would do, to the day you appeared on this planet, and then for each day you were physically present. Here is a flavour, a snapshot, of your glorious spiritual achievements:
You spoke daily on the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, delivering thousands of formal lectures. Over 2,200 of those were recorded and archived. You held hundreds of informal conversations on the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness with disciples, guests, and friends. Over 1,300 of those were recorded and archived.
You introduced the Sunday Love Feast and other prasādam distribution programs, which provided millions of free spiritual meals to the public.
You circled the globe fourteen times, visiting at least twenty-six countries. You recorded more than twenty albums of devotional music, and of course you produced and published the monthly magazine, Back to Godhead.
You established the Bhaktivedanta Institute to advance Kṛṣṇa consciousness within the scientific community, engaging serious academics in consideration of the science of self-realization.
In 1967, you started Spiritual Sky Incense to provide financial support for the temples. Within four years, Spiritual Sky was generating an annual revenue of 1 million dollars (equivalent to approximately $10 million in 2026).
You established the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust to unearth and renovate the holy places of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes.
You established FATE Museums, directing some of your followers to learn the art of “doll making” to present Vedic philosophy through dioramas.
You established over a hundred ISKCON centers worldwide.
You initiated many thousands of souls into the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava family.
You established many educational facilities and rural projects.
You established many Govinda’s/Hare Krishna Restaurants worldwide (indeed you are responsible for the world’s first chain of vegetarian restaurants)!
You also began mass prasādam distribution, and now well over 1 billion plates of prasādam have been distributed globally since 1966 via your ISKCON. At present, we are distributing over 50 million plates a year.
Last, but not least, everything that happens in ISKCON today is 100 percent due to you. Without your boarding the Jaladuta in 1965 and taking that perilous six-week journey across the oceans, ISKCON would never have come into being, and the transformation of millions of lives would never have come to pass.
Now, as my seventieth year is no longer far in the distance but rather rapidly approaching, I find my appreciation of the journey you embarked on in 1965 ever more astounding. As my joints ache a little bit more each day and I take longer to get going each morning, and as my energy reserves seem to dwindle unchecked, I simply think, “Bloody hell! How did you do it, Śrīla Prabhupāda? How did you do it?”
So yes, when in the proximity of such greatness, I feel a certain nervousness. But it is, of course, a nervousness I cherish, because without it, I would probably not know you at all. Perish the thought.
Hoping to be your eternal servant,
Praghoṣa Dāsa