Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you.
Please allow me to glorify you on your appearance day in two ways: (1) in a general way, and (2) in a personal way.
Your Unexcelled Glories
You are actually the fulfiller of the ancient prophecy made by Nārada Muni. After he had recited the Bhāgavatam to the two sons of Bhakti Devī, Jñāna and Vairāgya, and revived them from their life-threatening coma, he encouraged Bhakti Devī herself by making a solemn promise:
kālīnā sadṛśaḥ ko’pi yugo nāsti varānane
tasmins tvaṁ sthāpayiṣyāmi gehe gehe jane jane
O charming Bhakti Devī! There is no other age that can compare to Kali-yuga. In this age I will personally establish you in each and every home and within each and every heart.
anya dharmāns tiraskṛtya puraskṛtya mahotsavān
tadā nāhaṁ harer dāso loke tvaṁ na pravartaye
O Bhakti Devī! Neglecting all other paths of religiosity, if I do not propagate you all around the world in Kali-yuga by organizing various devotional festivals, then I shall no longer be known as a servant of Lord Hari. – Śrīmad-bhāgavata-māhātmyam 2.13–14
Śrīla Prabhupāda, if you would not have taken this vow to heart and would not have preached far and wide and so vigorously, then Bhakti Devī would not have been established in “gehe gehe jane jane,” every home and heart. Clearly it is you who fulfilled Nārada’s vow. It is you who took Bhakti out of India and brought her to the most remote places on the planet.
Clearly, the tenets of devotion, including the yuga-dharma (kīrtana of the holy names), are made widely known by you and your followers, who derive all their strength and knowledge from you. This is what is in plain sight of everyone who is willing to investigate impartially, without envy.
But there is something more I wish to say.
Your Ongoing Mercy in My Life
Were it not for you and your most merciful and continuous investment in our relationship, I would be lost.
In July 1969 you expressed your 100 percent acceptance of all your disciples from the time of initiation to eternity – a relationship that can never be broken. This letter reveals what you feel for each single one of us.
So far as I am concerned, I have accepted you as my disciple and you have accepted me as your spiritual father. This relationship cannot be ended anymore. It is eternal. So it will be my duty always to pray to Krishna for your further and further improvement in Krishna Consciousness, so you should go on serving this movement to your best capacity. (Letter to Rayarama, Los Angeles, 8 July 1969)
In this world we often hear of relationships that are terminated. Friends become estranged and go their own ways; married people divorce; teachers and students abolish their relationship … A firm, lifelong commitment to a relationship is rarely seen.
You, however, take it as your personal responsibility to help your disciples and get all of them back to Kṛṣṇa. For all time. You do not give up on any of us.
In a very moving letter to Umāpati Prabhu, written on November 3, 1967), you spoke of your firm commitment to this transcendental connection. (By the way, I think your commitment is there for all those who seriously take your shelter – not just your initiated disciples).
Any good soul who approaches me once for spiritual enlightenment is supposed to be depending on my responsibility to get him back to Krishna, back to home. The disciple may misunderstand a bona fide spiritual master being obliged to do so under pressure of Maya’s influence. But a bona fide spiritual master never lets go a devotee once accepted. When a disciple misunderstands a bona fide spiritual master, the master regrets for his inability to protect the disciple and sometimes he cries with tears in the eyes.
Statements such as the above two are greatly inspiring me to keep endeavoring with all I have because I know you will always be with me and will never “let me go.” These are not empty words; I can actually feel your presence and how you watch over me as a lioness watches over her young and sometimes foolish cub.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I never want to take your kindness for granted – to see it as a free pass for becoming careless and forgetting my responsibility in our relationship. To sincerely give my best to follow and serve you always is the life breath that helps me to continue living.
On this day of your divine appearance, I fall at your lotus feet in great gratitude. Again and again, please accept my prostrated obeisances.
Your humble servant,
Śacīnandana Swami