Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
We offer our respects and gratitude at your lotus feet on the occasion of your most auspicious 130th Vyāsa-pūjā festival. In hindsight, your appearance in this world is one of the most historic events for humanity in modern times. The majority of the 7 billion people on this planet had forgotten Kṛṣṇa or had no detailed conception of God. The depth of your love for Kṛṣṇa, manifesting as compassion for all living entities, reignited Kṛṣṇa consciousness in countless souls. As a tattva-darśi, a seer of the truth, you cut through the illusions of māyā that entangle conditioned souls in false conceptions of life.
“Life doesn’t come from matter. Life comes from life.” This single phrase dismantled the foundation of civilizational ignorance. In your role as guru you dispelled the darkness of ignorance with the torchlight of knowledge.
As the servant of your spiritual master, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, you made his instructions and desires the sole purpose of your life. The Bhagavad-gītā (2.41) states:
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām
Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of the irresolute is many-branched.
While reading Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s commentary on this verse, you became firmly resolved to fulfill your spiritual master’s instruction. In that service, you founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT). You traveled around the world fourteen times in just twelve years, even in your advanced age and failing health. You wrote more than fifty books, opened over a hundred temples, farm communities, and gurukulas, initiated thousands of disciples, organized Ratha-yātrās, delivered thousands of lectures, and wrote countless letters guiding your disciples and well-wishers – all with the singular purpose of helping living entities turn to Kṛṣṇa. You established the Governing Body Commission (GBC) as the ultimate managing authority of ISKCON, ensuring that the society would continue to expand even after your departure. You never allowed failures or setbacks to discourage you permanently; rather, you remained determined in the face of all challenges to push this movement forward.
The city of Delhi was of strategic importance to you, and by your efforts, Kṛṣṇa consciousness has steadily grown here. You established your first official office in Chippiwara. You published Back to Godhead magazine and the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (in three volumes) in Delhi. After leaving your family life, you stayed at the maṭhas of your godbrothers and struggled alone. There was a time when you did not even have a proper dhoti-kurta for preaching, no money, and no permanent place to stay, yet you constantly thought of how others could take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
After the setback with the League of Devotees in Jhansi, you moved to Delhi. In a letter to government officials written on 25 December 1955, you expressed your vision for establishing the movement here:
My associates were therefore disbursed & I came to Delhi to give it a new life. Delhi is the only center wherefrom this cultural movement could immediately be given effect because it is the center of international, political, social, educational, and cultural movements. What I want to do immediately is as follows:—
(1) To hold consecutive meetings at different Mohallus & houses of Delhi for impressing the ideas of the mission.
(2) To give training to at least 7 to 10 educated young men in the ‘parampara lessons of Bhagavad-gita’ and then to ‘Brahma Sutra,’ Bhagavata and Caitanya Caritamrta.
(3) To publish an English monthly paper to sell specially to the English knowing heads of the society and to get printed some relative literatures.
Similarly, in a letter to Tamal Krishna Goswami dated 20 August 1971, you wrote:
Delhi is the most important city in India because the capital is established there. Mostly the population is educated. Many foreigners are there also and embassies of different countries. So from the cultural point of view Delhi is the most important city. Many cultural centers are there also, many libraries, many schools, colleges, varieties of mercantile offices and different presses. So if you can influence them it will be a great propaganda center. I think in Delhi also you should hold one festival pandal meeting like in Calcutta and Bombay. There is a big ground open near Connaught place.
Because of your pure devotional service in Delhi, there are now more than twenty-two beautiful Kṛṣṇa temples in Delhi-NCR, with over seventy centers and thousands of devotees. Your disciples – such as Guru Dāsa, Yamunā Devī Dāsī, Bhānu Swami, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī – began expanding the movement in Delhi under your guidance. Your dear disciple Gopal Krishna Goswami, in the same spirit of service, led the preaching mission in Delhi for five decades, resulting in the opening of eighteen temples, the distribution of millions of books, the cultivation of leaders, the initiation of thousands into devotional service, and countless souls receiving Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.
The ISKCON Punjabi Bagh community, home of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhikāramaṇa and Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, is a recipient of the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu through you. Many centers have expanded from this base, especially after the installation of the Deities in 2007. Currently, temple expansion is progressing steadily, and Kṛṣṇa’s reciprocation is being experienced throughout the project. Recently, land was acquired in Rewari, and a bhūmi-pūjā scheduled for the new temple. The community ranked first globally in the book distribution marathon for 2025 (mid-size temple category). Four devotees joined the full-time Vaiṣṇava Training Program, and your servant Rukmiṇī Kṛṣṇa Dāsa accepted sannyāsa to expand the preaching mission. Programs for children, youth, and congregational members continue to grow through weekly engagements, yātrās to holy places, festivals, and Deity service.
The past year has been marked by global unrest, with conflicts arising over resources like petroleum. Waves of godlessness and sinful activities – animal slaughter, intoxication, gambling, and illicit relationships – are widespread. Modern leadership remains largely unaware of the laws of nature, and people suffer under the threefold miseries. In such times, the message of Lord Caitanya and your purports stand as the true hope for peace and happiness.
We stand in awe and reverence for the priceless gifts you gave the world – Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, His form, His philosophy, kirtan, temples, books, prasādam, communities, holy places, gurukulas, your letters, audio and video recordings, sacred art, culture – and above all, your legacy of love.
We offer our deepest respects and gratitude and pray for the strength and empowerment to share your gifts with others.
Your servants at ISKCON Punjabi Bagh