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 our humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to you and to your transcendental books.
We are so fortunate to have been showered by your causeless mercy through this great ISKCON movement. It is so wonderful that anyone irrespective of background can be uplifted to the highest platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
You made the instruction your Guru Mahārāja your one-pointed focus in life. Following this instruction, you tirelessly spent sleepless nights to translate these books and distribute them widely. And as a result you not only triggered a global revolution but also developed it further through your wit, love, affection, and expert guidance.
As we read from a letter you wrote to Rūpānuga Prabhu on 27 April 1970, “I used to say to my Godbrothers that when I would begin preaching I shall take two trucks, one for sankirtana party and one for carrying requisites, and I would go from village to village throughout the whole world preaching Lord Caitanya’s message. So the time has come as per my dream, by the grace of Krishna you are carrying on this program.” Kṛṣṇa fulfills His pure devotees’ desires without fail. In your manifest pastimes, there were many such parties that distributed your transcendental books. We are fortunate to be instruments in one such traveling saṅkīrtana party for distributing your transcendental books.
We are limitlessly grateful to Your Divine Grace for giving us such a project. Being involved in this project, we feel not only filled with joy, but also get so many realizations. Our appreciation for Your Divine Grace and your great ISKCON movement increases as we travel to remote corners of Bharata.
We confront many dry scholars, yet see they lack the joy of devotion you gave us, and we are reminded of your merciful distribution of the essence of the śāstras.
We see yogis at Kumbha Melā who are busy performing weird austere practices, and we are reminded of the fortune you gave us by giving us the joyful yuga-dharma: harināma-saṅkīrtana. These yogis perform their practices yet are far away from the essence of the scripture, and here are we, recipients of your mercy who haven’t practiced such austerities, yet have been bestowed with the goal of such practices.
We visit many spiritual organizations – some may be richer or better organized, but they are devoid of the concrete substance and philosophy. Most are not connected to any paramparā. There again we are reminded of your uncompromising preaching completely in line with the bona fide disciplic succession, carrying solid philosophy and the science of devotional service.
We meet speculators and word jugglers lacking any śāstric evidence and are reminded of the fortune you gave us by teaching everything from the śāstra. You taught us to stick to śāstra and to not concoct anything. You also taught us to be philosophical and not sentimental.
When will all such people receive your mercy? Please bless and empower us to convince all these people to take up this joyful path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
We go to remote places, where we see the decades-old photo of your dear Rādhā-Rāsabihārījī, or your decades-old books somewhere in that remote place, a sign that your followers distributed your mercy long ago. Our appreciation for Your Divine Grace increases when we see that no one in the past has made Kṛṣṇa famous as much as you have done.
You gave us this project, which enables us to get quick realization of the philosophy. By immersing ourselves in it, almost every day we see that we are not the doers. Our false pride crushed, we feel more dependent on Kṛṣṇa. No other ācārya has ever given the practice of devotional service so easily and practically as you have done. The potency of your mercy is so great that we have seen even brand-new persons on the street start distributing your books, on the spot, without even any prior background in spiritual life – such persons can serve as preachers by distributing your books.
While traveling and distributing books, we feel almost untouched by māyā when we act on your behalf. Days, weeks, months, and years pass, each day bringing a new realization and thrill.
It is just because of our foolishness and ignorance that we cannot foresee the effects of your transcendental books. Somehow, the same spirit we read of in the Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta is not seen these days, especially the street saṅkīrtana and book distribution. As day by day your direct disciples are leaving this planet to assist you wherever you are, our current generation is in need of imbibing that ’70s mood from your disciples. Please inspire and bless us with the right mood to associate with your direct disciples more and more, and with a sense of urgency, so we can loyally carry your mood and legacy of saṅkīrtana, book distribution, and prasādam distribution forward. As your dear son His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami Mahārāja once told us that doing street saṅkīrtana along with book distribution increases the book score. We are seeing that happening practically.
Recently, we traveled to parts of North India, concluding the preaching tour in Haridwar and Badrinath, where we went to Vyas Gufa and showed your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is to Śrīla Vyāsadeva. We are certain that Śrīla Vyāsadeva was happy and blessed us for increasing our saṅkīrtana. We also traveled to parts of Maharashtra, covering Nasik and Pandharpur. We traveled to parts of Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, where many are waiting for your books. The main concern is of rubber-stamp religious conversion by Christians.
You sent us many young boys, who have quickly dedicated their lives to book distribution and are very enthusiastic. What started out as a small handful of devotees has grown larger now. As the number of book distributors grows, we got one more saṅkīrtana bus with larger book-carrying capacity. We need your causeless mercy to walk every step on the bhakti path. Please bless us to be always loyal to you and to your great ISKCON movement. Please bless us with your mercy that we never deviate from your instructions and thus one day become completely purified in this life, as you urged us to do time and again.
Please bless and empower us that, for your pleasure, we replicate these buses hundreds of times and, if you feel it pleases you, then let there be such traveling saṅkīrtana parties worldwide.
Your toddler servants in the Traveling Saṅkīrtana Party from Bhiwandi and Attapur