Our most dear and worshipful A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, all glories to you.
From Shadow to Service: Our Lives Awakened by Your Mercy
From time without beginning, we wandering jīvas
turn upon the wheel of our own choosing,
misdirecting that fragment of freedom,
turning away from our natural harmony with the Divine.
Covered by the ever-changing conditions of material nature,
we pass from one body to another,
sometimes rising, sometimes falling,
yet always mistaking the temporary for the eternal,
the reflection for the substance.
Thus, in ignorance, we too have wandered,
chasing fleeting shadows of happiness
across the vast expanse of repeated birth and death,
embracing again and again
that which can never satisfy the soul.
Bound by action and reaction,
and influenced by the three modes of material nature,
we have remained forgetful of our eternal identity
and of our loving relationship
with the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa.
But you, O Śrīla Prabhupāda,
did not come into this world
under such conditions.
You did not arrive driven by karma,
nor compelled by the forces that bind the ordinary soul.
You were sent,
sent by the Supreme Lord Himself
as an instrument of His divine will
to awaken those who had forgotten Him.
An ever-liberated soul,
untouched by illusion,
you appeared among us as if one of us,
walking, speaking, acting within this world,
yet always established in transcendence.
An eternal servant of the Lord of Vraja,
a resident of Goloka Vṛndāvana,
you came to fulfill the deepest desire
of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
that the holy names of the Lord
be heard in every town and village,
and that the sleeping souls of this age
be awakened to their eternal life of devotion.
Carrying forward the current of divine grace
revealed by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura,
and powerfully established by
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura,
You crossed oceans, cultures, and boundaries,
planting the seed of devotion
in hearts that had never before heard the name of Kṛṣṇa.
O Śrīla Prabhupāda, all glories to you,
At a time when our hearts were awakening
from the barren landscape of misunderstanding,
we found ourselves suspended in a strange emptiness,
caught in the painful grip of illusion.
Having wandered without direction,
having acted in ignorance,
we remained deprived of our eternal relationship
with Him – the Absolute Truth,
the Supreme Beauty.
Ignorant of His form, His abode, and His pastimes,
we found no true happiness
in this chaotic and suffering world.
In that helpless condition,
with all our hearts, our entire being, we prayed,
that someone who truly knew Him,
who had seen Him,
who lived in devotion to Him,
might come and guide us.
And by your causeless mercy,
you came.
Without delay,
you revealed the Supreme Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa,
not as an abstract conception,
but as the all-attractive Lord of the heart.
You revealed Rādhā,
the highest embodiment of divine love,
and through your teachings,
you opened before us
the vision of an eternal spiritual family
we did not know we had lost.
You revealed the path of devotion,
not as sentiment,
but as the eternal function of the soul,
and by your mercy alone,
we came to take shelter
at your lotus feet.
Yet, O most merciful Śrīla Prabhupāda,
the shadows of illusion do not disappear at once,
and still, your compassion never diminishes.
Conditioned since time without beginning,
our hearts could not at once
cast off the coverings of forgetfulness,
yet you never abandon us.
For such is your mystic kindness:
that even through the movements of this world,
you guide, you arrange, you transform.
The experiences come,
sometimes gentle, sometimes severe,
yet never without purpose,
never beyond your care.
For you are always there,
not only as the instructing master,
but as the unseen guide of our lives,
quietly directing, carefully shaping,
leading us toward Kṛṣṇa step by step.
Even when we cannot understand,
your hand is ever present,
orchestrating each circumstance
with perfect wisdom,
knowing precisely what our souls require
to gently loosen the shackles
of material existence.
What we mistake for difficulty
is, in truth, your higher mercy.
What we perceive as loss
is your divine and compassionate arrangement
for our eternal gain
and the gentle dissolution of our false ego.
But more than freeing us
from the futility of this temporary world,
you have revealed to us
the reality of the spiritual world.
You have opened the path
of eternal devotion,
as illuminated by Rūpa Gosvāmī,
and granted us shelter
at the feet of our revered guru-varga.
Through your teachings,
you gently awaken within our hearts
a deep and sacred attraction
for the divine service
of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa,
the eternal Divine Couple,
the very essence and ultimate conclusion
of all Vedic revelation.
You unveiled not only philosophy,
but the inner current of devotion,
a glimpse of your own heart,
absorbed in loving service.
And by your causeless mercy,
our hearts have begun, however faintly,
to turn in that same direction.
Now, by your mercy,
Only service to Kṛṣṇa holds meaning.
Only the realm of divine love appears real.
All else slowly fades,
like a dream at dawn.
In this way, O Śrīla Prabhupāda,
you have given us everything –
purpose, direction, identity,
and the hope of one day rendering loving service
under your guidance
at the lotus feet of
Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Govinda.
And if there is any way
to bring even a moment of satisfaction
to your compassionate heart,
we pray, with complete submission,
under the shelter of your divine lotus feet
That, though without qualification,
by your mercy alone,
we may assist, even in the smallest way,
in carrying forward your mission,
the eternal mission of
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
that the holy names of Kṛṣṇa
will resound throughout this world,
awakening the wandering souls
to their eternal identity
as servants of the Absolute Truth.
You have given us everything –
knowledge, shelter, direction,
and the awakening
of a higher aspiration.
Still, we remain dependent,
at every step,
upon your continued grace.
We can only pray,
that we may never forget you,
that we may never turn away
from the path you have revealed,
and that we may remain always
under the shelter of your lotus feet.
Let our hearts be purified.
Let our intentions be made sincere.
Let our lives gradually become aligned
with the current of your mercy.
And if you so desire,
may the aspirations you have awakened,
one day mature
Into the genuine service
of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda,
in the line of your eternal service.
For in truth,
we have nothing else to ask.
You have already given everything.
Let us simply remember this,
and remain always
your eternal servants.
Barcelona ISKCON Temple and Bhakta Community
(written by Hlādinī Śakti Devī Dāsī [ACBSP])