Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to you on this most divine day.
As we are living in Kali-yuga, we often face calamities, whether on our personal spiritual path or in our preaching center; we are not free from these obstacles.
By the mercy of your Guru Mahārāja, you came to the West to show us, by your own example, that when we take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness we should not fear the waves of happiness and distress. When we consider all the difficulties you went through, being driven by your sole desire to serve Guru and Kṛṣṇa, to bring us the teachings of Lord Caitanya and Lord Kṛṣṇa, we should have no other business than to follow in your footsteps, realizing that you are the only true guide who can bring us back to Godhead.
To take care of a preaching center is not always easy. Many struggles may be involved, but Your Divine Grace gave us the perfect formula for how to walk through these struggles. Bhagavad-gītā As It Is came to the West through the disciplic succession, with you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, as our mentor. When we listen to your lectures and conversations, we witness the patience you have with every person in order to help us understand the conversation between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. This Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is like a blueprint for our lives, a GPS showing us our destination and how to get there in the best possible way.
In your purport to Bhagavad-gītā 6.7, you write: “When the mind is misled by the external, illusory energy, one becomes entangled in material activities. Therefore, as soon as one’s mind is controlled through one of the yoga systems, one should be considered to have already reached the destination. One has to abide by superior dictation. When one’s mind is fixed on the superior nature, he has no alternative but to follow the dictation of the Supreme. The mind must accept some superior dictation and follow it.”
Throughout the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and your other books, you take us by the hand and show us the beauty of the Lord and His pastimes.
At Sunday programs, we speak with guests and often share how you came to the West, how you started the Sunday Love feast, and how they are now also taking part in it. People are eager to sing various bhajanas, learn their meanings, listen to lectures on various topics, cook prasādam, and partake in the feast. For many devotees living in a city and having a full-time job, the Sunday feast is the highlight of the week – a moment to recharge their spiritual energy.
In your purport to Bhagavad-gītā 10.10 you write: “The qualification is that a person always engages himself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and, with love and devotion, renders all kinds of service. He should perform some sort of work for Kṛṣṇa, and that work should be done with love.”
In one lecture, you explained that this human form of life is meant to stop illusion, or bodily identification, and by doing so, we begin to understand what real love is, what reciprocation of love is. Then we will finally understand what a healthy life is.
Even today, we witness through your direct disciples the love and care you have for them, teaching by example how to serve in every aspect of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – pūjā, cooking, painting, preaching – whatever we need to know, you gave us. We, as granddisciples, also receive this mercy, benefiting from the lessons of your disciples.
Our preaching center in Brussels is small, but we have a very nice congregation of devotees and friends of Kṛṣṇa who are always eager to help with any service needed. I often see this as your divine mercy – that you always send devotees who are enthusiastic and willing to take part in this beautiful sevā of serving and pleasing Lord Kṛṣṇa.
We pray, sitting at your lotus feet, that we may always remain encouraged and enthusiastic to serve you in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Vrindaranya Priya Dāsa
On behalf of your servants at Centre de Bhakti Yoga