Dear Guru Maharaja,
Please accept our respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and to Your Divine Grace.
We, at the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry, feel privileged and most fortunate to have the opportunity to serve under your kind guidance, the congregational mission of Srila Prabhupada and the previous Acaryas. It is practically inconceivable how connected you are with the divine desires of the Parampara, and how you know 'exactly' what is to be done to expand the Sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya.
From as early as 1979, you have been pioneering in reviving the congregational methods of preaching taken from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. After years of travelling far and wide, visiting remote villages in Bengal, Orissa, Assam and even in Bangladesh, sometimes going by car, bicycle or foot, you were able to re-establish the Namahatta program in villages of all these areas. For this, you learnt fluent Bengali and all the related practices in the Gaudiya line; you visited and helped to develop many holy places, that otherwise would have been forgotten.
As if this wouldn't be enough, you adapted the congregational program into an urban format and coined it, "the Bhakti Vriksha", or the "devotional branches" of the tree of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Up to date, between thousands of Namahatta and Bhakti Vriksha groups worldwide, millions of people have been outreached by ISKCON.
Recently, while rearranging some old boxes at our central office in Mayapur, I found some of your books of decades ago at a time when you were researching on congregational methods of expansion. I noticed how diligently you have made notes in many pages of such books and in your personal writing pad. Many of these notes had exclamations marks, underlines and some words were circled and others 'decorated' with stars!!! I could almost feel your excitement when reading these things and realizing that there were so many ways in which Srila Prabhupada's movement could benefit from an organized endeavour to reach out practically to everyone.
You said that you can always talk about three things: Lord Caitanya's pastimes, Sridham Mayapur and Congregational preaching. It would be impossible to properly glorify you since just these three thing are unlimited and transcendental. That is why you are truly like a monsoon cloud pouring down torrents of rain with ideas and realizations on not only how to expand this movement, but also how to train and care for the devotees.
It is a treat to see you relish with pleasure every time someone brings a positive report on congregational preaching. You often say that if Srila Prabhupada would be physically present with us, he will innovate; he would look for ways of growing further and further. This is exactly what you do; you like to listen to devotees' reports on preaching, and see how ISKCON can reach out in more and better ways.
One of the most amazing of your transcendental qualities is your natural way of appreciating everyone; doesn't matter if it is a very small success in services or a so-called "big" problem is someone's personal life. You are always endeavouring to encourage everyone; doesn't matter to what capacity the devotees had been able to succeed or not in their endeavour to please Guru and Krsna; you only focus on their intention to expand the glories of Gaura and Nitai.
On this auspicious day of your appearance, we humbly commit life after life to serve your preaching desires and
pray for forgiveness for our inabilities and limitations while being part of such a valuable service. You are truly a transparent representative of Krsna and the disciplic succession. At the same time, we openly express our gratitude to keep us all engaged in this wonderful opportunity to serve the devotees who are carrying the victory flag of Guru and Gauranga.
On behalf of ISKCON's Congregational Development Ministry (CDM)
Your servant,
Iksvaku Dasa