Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
As I write to you, we are in the middle of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of your
Krishna-Balaram temple in Vrindavan. Your disciples are now in their old age. Many have come
for the occasion, despite health challenges. Looking at their frail figures, we reflect even more
deeply on how you could possibly cross the ocean and travel extensively for eleven years in pursu-
ance of the tall order your Prabhupāda had given you.
Once again we are blessed to hear about you – endearing anecdotes filled with a wide range of
definite and precious instructions. Our consciousness is soaking in the healing tonic of remem-
brance of you as day after day we gather for the memories sessions. The more we hear, the more
you become vividly present in our minds and hearts and the more we miss you, your personal
association, your mercy and love, and your colorful nature. They say you had the softness of a
rose and the toughness of a thunderbolt. With the help of these two you nourished and enlivened,
and you protected and guided; you built the foundation of the movement we are in today. Many
among the new generations of ISKCON devotees barely know anything about you beyond your
name and position: you are ISKCON’s founder-ācārya. But when those who have lived with you
and served you speak, you become alive and so undeniably present. Hearing about you is not
an option for those who wish to be among your followers. It is a necessary sādhana that leads to
unflinching faith in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the perfection of feeling close to you.
These disciples of yours are not ordinary either. The kind of austerities, risks, and hardships
they took on to assist you in spreading Lord Caitanya’s mission are way beyond our imagination.
Just as we worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa along with His devotees, we worship you along with your dedicated
disciples. The main lessons we learn from them are guru-niṣṭhā – total, unflinching faith in the
words emanating from the mouth of the spiritual master – and the spirit of selfless service.
At the VIHE we have made the study of your biography by His Holiness Satsvarūpa dāsa
Goswami – the Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta – a compulsory step in the training of new devotees. By
this we wish to generate appreciation for your personality and accomplishments, and to help
devotees find a personal connection with you. You are the embodiment of the twenty-six qualities
of a devotee. We can see those qualities in action while reading about your life, from childhood
to your amazing international preaching and your daily dealings with all the fortunate souls with
whom you interacted. The knowledge of the great efforts it took to found and establish the first
temples and publish your books fills the heart with profound gratitude and saves us from taking
for granted the lavish facilities we have today. You and your disciples went on relentlessly despite
seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We want to instill that dedication and determination in the
heart of all future generations.
The study of the Līlāmṛta is complemented with images, audio tracks, and videos so intel-
ligently captured by those who were there with you, along with excerpts from books written by
other of your disciples. So many have published their memoirs by now! We have a wealth of
documentation from which to absorb your mood, understand your mission, and become inspired
within to align ourselves with your heart. You once said that whatever you did was meant to
increase your disciples’ love for you. That affection and love can be attained by hearing.
The great success of your disciples lies not solely in expanding the movement, but mainly in
their remaining united in spite of the challenges posed by diversity. This achievement is the fruit
of their love for you. We pray for your blessings today to become an effective instrument in awak-
ening attachment for you in the heart of more and more devotees now and in the future so that
they may remain inseparable brothers and sisters glued together by a strong sense of belonging.
May they work cooperatively – in the disciplic lines coming from you – with the initiative gener-
ated by the study of your books to show compassion, love, and affection to those with whom they
come in touch.
All glories to you, the leader of the great army of Lord Caitanya! We offer our heartfelt grati-
tude unto you.
Praśānta Devī Dāsī and your servants at the Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education

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