Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
choṭa baḍa bhakta-gaṇa, vandoṅ sabāra śrī-caraṇa,
sabe more karaha santoṣa
I worship herewith the lotus feet of all kinds of devotees, both advanced and neophyte. I
request all of them to be satisfied with me. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 2.93)
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your dear first generation of dīkṣā disciples is gradually fading away, like stars
being covered by a cloud. You are like the brilliant Pole Star shining next to the moon of Śrī Cai-
tanya Mahāprabhu and our guru-varga. I believe these early followers were directly sent by Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu to assist you in establishing your personal preaching mission, the Inter-
national Society for Krishna Consciousness. This mission is your personal contribution to our
Gauḍīya sampradāya.
Everything is going on by the inconceivable śakti of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That which was
impossible has now become possible by the aghaṭa-ghaṭana-patīyasī sakti of the Lord (Caitanya-
caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 17.304). How else could we, your followers, continue to cooperate in this dark
age of confusion, misinformation, and mistrust? An important part of our bhakti includes the
ability to cooperate with one another. In other words, it is a yoga of cooperation.
After Śriīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura departed from this world, the preaching contin-
ued but some potency had been lost. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you write, “Amongst Vaiṣṇavas there may
be some difference of opinion due to everyone’s personal identity, but despite all personal differ-
ences, the cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness must go on.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.28.31, purport)
Fifty-years ago, on October 5, 1975, you placed your divine lotus feet on the land of South
Africa. Arriving from Mauritius, you came with your secretary, Harikeśa Prabhu, and our own
GBC representative, Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. Apartheid South Africa immediately became blessed
by your presence. This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.10:
bhavad-vidhā bhāgavatās
tīrtha-bhūtāḥ svayaṁ vibho
tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni
svāntaḥ-sthena gadābhṛtā
My lord, devotees like your good self are verily holy places personified. Because you
carry the Personality of Godhead within your heart, you turn all places into places of
pilgrimage.
This year, the South African yātrā is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of your visit here. Your
Divine Grace stayed in South Africa for nineteen days and was the esteemed guest at seven large
hall programs in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, and Johannesburg. At that time, we (about ten dis-
ciples) had a rented house in Yeoville, which was a “Jewish suburb” in Johannesburg. I was des-
ignated the pūjārī, gardener, handyman, and book distributor – a jack of all trades but master of
none. Though I saw myself as a fool, my godbrothers kindly tolerated me.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said, “Why do I always forget that I am the most
insignificant and meanest of all living beings?” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu states in the Caitanya-
caritāmṛta (Ādi 7.77), “My Guru Mahārāja said I am a fool, therefore, I should just chant Hare
Kṛṣṇa.”
Now, fifty years later, even though I am a sannyāsī and dīksā-guru, I still feel foolish.
ISKCON South Africa now has twenty temples and preaching centers, with over two thou-
sand initiated granddisciples. The yātrā hosts eleven Ratha-yātrās, has twenty-eight Food-for-Life
branches, and five Govinda’s restaurants. Most importantly, we are distributing fifty to sixty thou-
sand of your transcendental books annually.
The obvious question is, how is this happening in the Age of Kali? The answer is: by your
desire. You have invoked the aghaṭa-ghaṭana-patīyasī sakti, which means that special śakti of Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu that allows the impossible to become possible. Since your divine departure,
we have not only maintained your mission but increased it. Your beloved first generation of direct
disciples are gradually fading, and our original South African congregational members from the
1970s and 1980s are also gradually leaving their bodies.
Many of your senior disciples have already “shuffled off their mortal coil.” (Hamlet, William
Shakespeare). You referred to this old age when you visited Jagannātha Purī with your disciples:
“I came to Jagannātha Purī after appearing for my BA exam. And because I was jubilant, I was
jumping. When the waves came, I was jumping, but now I am walking with a stick. The body
changes but I remain the same.” (Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, volume 6, p. 240)
Forty-eight years after Your Divine Grace’s departure, we, as an institution, are still cooperating.
This spiritual cooperation is preparing us for birth in prakaṭa GolokaVrindavan. The Lord’s eternal
pastimes are going on in some brahmāṇḍa at this very moment. In Lord Kṛṣṇa’s prakaṭa-līlā and
aprakaṭa-līlā, all the residents of Vrindavan are serving one another in a mood of anugatya-bhava. I
pray that someday I can also become one of those followers.
It is stated in the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (4.1), “Rādhā and Candrāvalī are the best among the leaders.
Their groups contain ten million gopīs each. The scriptures say that the rāsa dance took place on
the bank of the Yamunā River with one billion gopīs.”
My dear spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are kindly giving your sincere followers
entrance into this sublime līlā. I hope that one day in the future, walking behind Your Divine
Grace and behind my godbrothers, godsisters, and our guru-varga, I can also be counted as one of
those ten million.
I would like to offer my humble obeisances, koṭi koṭi times, to all the Vaiṣṇavas throughout the
world, whether advanced or neophyte.
I remain,
Your servant eternally,
Pārtha Sārathi Dāsa Goswami

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