Śrīla Prabhupāda: Messenger of Beauty

Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.239): “My dear friend, if you are indeed
attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as He stands
on the bank of the Yamunā at Keśī-ghāṭa. Casting sidelong glances, He places His flute to His
lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places,
appears very bright in the moonlight.”
With His incomparable beauty Kṛṣṇa conquers the hearts of all living entities. His beauty is the
most outstanding among the six magnificent qualities that characterize Him, and His pure devo-
tee, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is the messenger of such beauty.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have beautified our dull, dry lives by adorning them with a great
variety of precious gems, whose value we cannot even imagine.
First, you gave us yourself, a unique personality, full of countless exceptional qualities. You
gave us the vision of your beautiful, timeless face, a face simultaneously old and young . You
gifted us your oceanic smile and your seriousness, your humor and your gravity.
Among your innumerable qualities stands out, unchallenged, your power, which you received
directly from Kṛṣṇa, Himself the Almighty. This power enabled you, thanks to your total surren-
der to your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, to perform real wonders.
Let us not forget that from a humble little shop, Matchless Gifts, located on a small street
in New York City, you came to build some of the greatest temples in India – the Vedic Plan-
etarium temple in Mayapur, the Śrī Śrī Krishna-Balaram temple in Vrindavan, the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Rāsabihārī temple in Mumbai, and more – and in many large cities around the world there
are now magnificent temples, where the gorgeous Deities of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Gaura-Nitāi, and
Jagannātha-Subhadrā-Baladeva are served with exquisite devotion.
By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa for four hours each day, you filled Tompkins Square Park in New York
with the sound of the mahā-mantra, and from there you reached every corner of the planet and
revolutionized the consciousness of millions. By your sublime chanting of the names of Rādhā-
Kṛṣṇa, you permeated the lives of us all, illuminating them with the conclusive understanding
that the Divine Couple is the Absolute Truth.
You gave us the precious jewel of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. In other words, you gave us Kṛṣṇa as
He was in the past, as He is now, and as He will always be. You explained every word meticu-
lously, so that everything is very clear to us.
Then, by accepting the onerous task of translating and commentating other sacred texts, such
as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which you worked on at night, you gave
us the sound incarnation of the great avatāras who descended to Earth, connecting us to the most
recent and most magnanimous of all, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
You shared with us the immense wisdom of the paramparā, starting from the magnificent
Six Gosvāmīs and on to the incredible personalities, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his son
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who taught us to erase the ugliness of atheism, impersonal-
ism, sahajiyism, and superficial religiosity, which leads nowhere.
You showed us how to recognize the false beauty of māyā and replace it with the real beauty of
Kṛṣṇa, how to free the mind from illusory thoughts and desires and replace them with spiritual
ones, how to laugh and cry for the soul and not the body, and how to remember transcendence
even in our dreams.
Another beautiful gift you gave us is our names. You gave each of us new names to call one
another so that we could remember our true origin and the bond that unites us.
You enhanced our talents. Everyone is talented, and you told us, “Whatever you can do, do it
for Kṛṣṇa.” In this way you enriched our lives. If we had not employed our talents in the service of
Kṛṣṇa we would have employed them in the service of unworthy masters and remained mediocre
individuals, as we were before we met you.
You made us look beautiful even if we weren’t. You made the girls look elegant by dressing
them in colorful saris, and you made the boys shine, with clean-shaven heads and faces, and
dressed in clean, bright clothes.
You promoted the Vedic arts, like dance and drama, gave us the musical Sanskrit language,
with its transcendental poems and melodies, showed us Vedic architecture, and many other artis-
tic aspects of life.
You made us understand that one must water the tree at its root – that is, if we want to serve
humanity, we must serve the Supreme Person.
By giving us prasāda, delicious food offered to Kṛṣṇa, which sustains us without violence, you
taught us to respect animals, to love cows in particular, and to feel responsible for preserving our
planet and taking care of it.
Until the very end, leaving your worn-out body, you taught us by your personal example how
not to fear death, focusing instead on the service of Kṛṣṇa and giving up false attachments.
You were an example of great power because even when you were physically incapacitated,
not only were you alert, but you were still productive. You continued giving gifts that would last
throughout time. That is power!
You went beyond the boundless to leave us a priceless legacy. Isn’t that the true meaning of a
friend and well-wisher? Is there anyone else who could have given us such an incredible array of
beautiful things? Are there any words to express gratitude for such an ocean of beauty? This and
so much more is Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Now it is up to us to maintain all this beauty and try to expand it.
Our most humble and respectful obeisances, dear teacher, father, friend, and benefactor.
Your servant,
Ali Krishna Devī Dāsī

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