Your movement is growing in every direction
Spreading like sunshine with warm affection
Uniting hearts with a shared connection.
The devotees work hard without objection.
You guide us forward with hope and reflection
Building a community with love and protection
Their spirits align free from dejection
Creating a world filled with Divine perfection.
It all started with one great sage
Traveling abroad at an advanced age
With firm faith and books to set the stage
In a land of distressed youth to engage.
You empowered us with your merciful gaze
To reach conditioned souls in countless ways
Extinguishing effects of the material blaze
Extracting from Māyā’s bewildering maze.
You set the example for all to follow
Without your books, our lives would be hollow
In depths of ignorance we’d only wallow
Leaving your mission? that’s hard to swallow.
I’m in the sunset of my years
I feel no loss, I shed no tears
I’m happily serving amongst my peers
With only progress, and never fears.
You paved the clear path for our journey back,
Providing us everything; nothing we lack.
May we remain steady and never grow slack,
With hearts well-protected from every attack.
Soon the final test will come
As it does for everyone.
By your grace, this world is overcome,
And the prize to back home is finally won.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
We at ISKCON Tucson resolve to rededicate ourselves to your mission to sacrifice this one life to spread the teaching of Śrī Kṛṣṇa far and wide in the desert southwest. May you continue to bestow your mercy on us and allow us to continue in this great movement of yours.
Your surrendered servants at ISKCON of Arizona
(Written by Sandāminī Devī Dāsī