My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
Please bless me that I may be able to write some words of praise and appreciation to you on this blessed day of your appearance. How is it possible for someone like me to be able to praise a Vaiṣṇava? Despite the fact that through your mercy I have had some taste in devotional service, due to my great misfortune I am still attached to sense gratification and continue to wallow in the lap of māyā. I have heard it said that meeting a pure devotee of the Lord can be compared to a person drowning in the ocean, who, as he comes up for air, finds himself in a lifebuoy. Me, I have preferred to crawl back out all the while holding on with one hand.
Recently, I heard in a class that we should not count on causeless mercy to help us out of this material world because this is something extremely rare that is not visited on many. I couldn’t help but disagree. When I think of how, out of kindness for the conditioned soul, you gave up everything that a Vaiṣṇava hankers for – living in Vrindavan, staying in the company of sādhus, remaining surrounded by uddīpanas of the Divine Couple – to come to a world that was in complete contradiction with your own. Meditating on this, I can only disagree with the idea of not counting on causeless mercy because you are the embodiment of the causeless mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
And I am, along with countless others, the proof of the causeless mercy that you brought. Despite my lack of qualifications and my continued attachment to sense gratification, again and again I have been given the possibility to stay in the service of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. I have seen and heard stories of the most unexpected people who got to hear of the glories of the holy names and devotional service, people far removed from the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava line, but because they knew one person associated with this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement that you brought, were blessed to have been saved from the most dangerous kind of fear.
Seeing how the chanting of the holy names has become so widespread, and how not only the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava line but other sampradāyas are preaching worldwide, I can only hope that they realize that all this came to be through your mercy and the sacrifices you made.
Though this material world is not always an easy place, I have faith in your words that as long as we are acting in service to Kṛṣṇa and the Vaiṣṇavas we will be protected from all inauspiciousness.
Here at New Māyāpura, the devotees are working hard to follow those instructions despite so many hardships over the years. By the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, New Māyāpura has been able to take an ascending path. With the help of the local and international devotee community, a lot of effort has been put into renovation of the existing buildings and beautifying the land. We are working toward building a structure to accommodate aging devotees and building new houses and a school to allow families to settle here.
You will also be happy to know that weekly saṅkīrtana and daily book distribution is now again happening in France. Young devotees along with some of the older devotees go out to distribute your books. I have seen people from all walks of life coming together with the sole desire to help serve your project here in France. You are the binding factor in all of this.
I would like to end with this verse by Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and offer it at your feet, because every time I read it I think of you:
I am fully indebted to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, because you have given me so many things: the highest conception of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, the highest form of sound, which contains the highest form of thought, aspiration, ideal – everything. And you have given me the service of our great savior, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His dearest assistant, Svarūpa Dāmodara. You brought me in connection with Śrī Rūpa, who was ordered to distribute the heart’s innermost dealings, the highest devotional love, rāgānuga-bhakti. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have given me Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, who gives us sambandha-jñāna, a proper acquaintance with the environment, and you have given me Mathurā-maṇḍala, which will help me in my remembrance of Rādhā and Govinda wherever I cast my glance. By your grace, you have revealed the superexcellent position of Rādhā-kuṇḍa, the favorite place of Rādhā and Govinda for Their pastimes, and this great Govardhana. Lastly, you have given me the hope that one day I can attain the service of Śrī Śrī Rādhikā and Mādhava. I have been given all these assurances by you, so I bow my head with all my respects at your lotus feet.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I know I am not qualified to go anywhere near back to Godhead, but I pray that I may remain in your service however little that may be, because in this way my life will be sublime.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for all you have done. Thank you for coming to the West. Thank you for having mercy upon us conditioned souls. Thank you for being a rebel and going against all traditions so that we may all be engaged in devotional service. Thank you for being fearless, for your kindness, for your farsightedness, for prasādam, for Ratha-yatra. Thank you for all your translation work. Thank you for giving us Kṛṣṇa. And thank you for the holy names. May we all be blessed remembering you on this day.
Hoping for service,
Govinda Dāsa
On behalf of the devotees at New Māyāpura, France