oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge.
śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale
svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfil the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
My respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanya and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
oṁ Surabhyai namaḥ!
My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet on this, your 130th anniversary appearance day in this world.
The year 2026 marks a significant date for your ISKCON society as we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of your ISKCON being incorporated in 1966. The year 2026 is significant for me personally as I commemorate my fiftieth anniversary of my arrival in your Śrīdhāma Mayapur on March 10, 1976. I was 29 years old, having served two years at your ISKCON Ottawa temple in Canada. And this year, as you did in 1976, I will soon reach 80 years of age. How time has passed so quickly.
I count my blessings for having taken shelter at your lotus feet. Every time I listen to your lectures, I marvel at your clarity of thought and your conviction in presenting so brilliantly the science and philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is continues to attract the minds and attention of more and more conditioned souls. Just yesterday here in Phnom Penh, in the Kingdom of Cambodia, as a small group of devotees were gathered by the Mekong riverside, a young man from the Congo by the name Dave happened to notice your Bhagavad-gītā on our book table. He was so happy and so spontaneous that without any urging on our part, he began glorifying over our microphone the Bhagavad-gītā, which he had only discovered the previous year while visiting India for the first time.
I can only express my gratitude for your causeless mercy bestowed upon me and upon so many other conditioned souls who would have otherwise continued to loiter and suffer in this forsaken material world. Thank you for showing so much compassion and love to the whole of humanity by bringing Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the Western world. Your universal message of peace and love will resonate more and more in the hearts of a people who continue to experience ever increasing despair and anxiety as the world continues on its spiral dive of surging calamities and destruction. Your teachings and the Vedic knowledge are the only solace and remedy for a troubled humanity.
To help establish universal love and brotherhood, you formulated so simply and clearly three illuminating thoughts in your essay on Gītā Nāgarī: (1) the Fatherhood of Godhead, 2) the Motherhood of Nature, and 3) the Childhood of all living entities. Who cannot but fail to accept and endorse these simple, basic truths and concepts?
This year, by your blessings, I will step into a new venture by helping to introduce a global awareness to both devotees and nondevotees, introducing a theme that is dear to you and that is central to reestablishing our forgotten Vedic culture of daiva varṇāśrama-dharma. Exactly eleven years ago, in 2015, while I was serving as Minister for the IDVM-India Varnasrama Mission, we inaugurated a twelve-year marathon we called the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign. Since that campaign will end when we will celebrate the last of golden jubilees, your fiftieth disappearance day, in November 2027, which will also mark the shifting of the Deities in Śrīdham Mayapur to the TOVP, in the same spirit, we will launch a global initiative to educate devotees and the general public on the three gifts of nature to humankind: (1) cows, (2) land, and (3) knowledge. The theme will be “Make Vrindavan Villages.” You have on occasion commended Gandhi for his teachings on “Village Organization.” In that context, on May 7, 2026, a group of devotees will inaugurate a new website called mvv.global, as well as a new app called Divine Shelter.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are my divine shelter. I would be totally lost without that shelter. Please kindly allow me to serve you in whatever humble way I can. My days in this body are limited. Since your Vyāsa-pūjā last year, already so many of your early disciples, my godbrothers and godsisters, have left this material world to join you in your continued pastimes. I pray that I also get that opportunity whenever you call me to join you and my godbrothers in serving your mission, wherever that may be.
I cannot sufficiently nor adequately express my gratitude at this gift of devotional service you have given me. Please kindly forgive my many shortcomings and whatever offenses I may be committing while serving you. Kindly help me to develop meekness and humility in serving your mission. I am ever grateful and obliged to Your Divine Grace for your kindness upon me.
Please keep me sheltered at the dust of your lotus feet. May you continue to allow me to serve in your glorious mission life after life.
Your eternal servant,
Bhakti Rāghava Swami