Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you and to the guru-paramparā on your
auspicious Vyāsa-pūjā day.
At a senior age of 69 years, you started to travel abroad, not because you were attracted by
some adventure trip to the US; on the contrary, you were well situated. You considered Vrindavan
your home, and you were very much satisfied with the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple facilities.
Although simple and sober, they were very much in line with your lifestyle of simple living and
high thinking.
The real reason you went abroad is because your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, requested you to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.
He made this request in 1922, when you were a young householder, age 26, with one child. Many
years later, in 1936, two weeks before leaving this planet, your spiritual master repeated his request
by responding to your letter: “I think you should try to push our movement in English. And that
will do good to you and to the people who will help you.”
You took the order of your Guru Mahārāja to heart, and after a lifetime of preparation, renun-
ciation, and a struggle to get your visa documents, you bravely stepped aboard the Jaladuta on
August 13, 1965, and embarked on an unknown chapter of your life with 100 percent confidence in
the protection of Lord Kṛṣṇa and the blessings of the guru-paramparā.
Nobody understands the spell of Māyā better than you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and by your great
compassion for the conditioned living entities, you desired they be saved from the trap of Māyā
through your transcendental weapons – the mahā-mantra, the Vedic scriptures, your association,
the association of the devotees, and your teachings.
After more than five hundred years, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s desire for the mahā-mantra
to be chanted all over the world is slowly coming to pass. The numbers of initiated devotees have
increased from about 5,000 in 1977 to an estimated 250,000 in 2025.
The philosophy of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is a science.
By sincerely following the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness with enthusiasm and determination in
the association of devotees, the conditioned soul makes spiritual advancement.
The Kṛṣṇa conscious roadmap given by you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is perfect. When something is
lacking, it’s on our side, caused by old bad habits, laziness, lack of enthusiasm or determination,
or lack of realization about basic things, such as “I am not this body.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you wrote:
When I first came to America I never imagined that this movement would spread so far
and wide. I thought that my Guru Maharaja has ordered me to try to spread his teach-
ings in the English language, so let me try. In a country where everyone is trained from
childhood to indulge in sinful activities who will accept these restrictions, no meat fish
and eggs, no intoxicants, no gambling, no illicit sex life. These things are the life and
soul of Western people, and I never imagined that even one person would accept. But
by the mercy of my spiritual master and Krishna the thing has taken shape. I am so
much indebted to you nice boys and girls who are helping me in this mission that I
always pray to Krishna for your advancement in “Going back to Godhead” more and
more. Thank you. (Letter to Śivarāma Prabhu, December 7, 1975)
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your following the instructions of your spiritual master sincerely, your making
the instructions of your spiritual master your life and soul, pleased Kṛṣṇa so much that He
empowered you to do what no human being can do. I pray to my spiritual master and to you,
Śrīla Prabhupāda, to remain in your service until the end of this temporary stay in this body.
Your servant,
Hṛdaya Caitanya Dāsa