Hare Kṛṣṇa, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances from all the devotees of the Kirov yātrā!
In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīla Rūpa Goswami describes sixty-four aṅgas of devotional service. Among these aṅgas, five are the most potent: sādhu-saṅga (association with devotees), nāma-kīrtana (chanting the holy name), bhāgavata-śravaṇa (hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam), mathurā-vāsa (residing at a holy place), and śrī-mūrtira-śraddhāya-sevana (worship of the Deities with faith). Each of these five aṅgas gives one a chance to achieve spiritual perfection. Out of great concern for your disciples and granddisciples you gave us the opportunity to achieve this perfection.
You gave us the practice of chanting the holy names on beads and the practice of kirtan. You translated the most valuable knowledge of the holy scriptures and made it accessible to all the people of the world. You taught us how to worship the Deities and see Kṛṣṇa in them. You gave us the society of devotees – the best of the people, with whom we can deepen our relationship with God. You built temples on the holy land of Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur. You created an entire spiritual city so that devotees from all over the world could come and increase their taste for spiritual life.
Your books, lectures, conversations and letters are as deep as Vaiṣṇava philosophy. They can never be fully studied because they are constantly unfolding and revealing new instructions, new facets of devotion and service to God.
In the material world, leaders lose their influence almost immediately after their departure. Your power, however, only grows with each passing year. We see this in the large number of devotees who continue to follow your instructions. Wherever a devotee goes in the world, he is sure to find a temple – a part of the spiritual world, where he will feel like family even hundreds of kilometers from home; you gave us this feeling of eternal spiritual happiness. Thanks to your faith and devotion, the holy name has reached every town and village, according to Mahāprabhu’s will.
We are happy to be your family, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We are happy to raise our children in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are happy to bring people knowledge that frees them from material distress. We are happy to build our relationship with God.
We offer our humble obeisances to your devotion to guru and Kṛṣṇa, and to your unlimited compassion.
Your servants,
The devotees at ISKCON Kirov