On the Most Auspicious Occasion of the Appearance Day of His Holiness Śrīla Jayapatākā Swami, Guru Mahārāja 27th March, 2018.
Dear Guru Mahārāja,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda and to Your Divine Grace.
As our minister of ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry (CDM), it is always a happy occasion to glorify your extraordinary efforts in the area of congregational preaching. Since the beginning of your assisting Śrīla Prabhupāda in his mission, you had a strong inclination to expand Kṛṣṇa Consciousness beyond the limits of the temples’ premises. Your scope literally included “everyone”; you wanted gṛhasthas to preach; you wanted people preaching from their homes; you wanted a systematic outreach process that could firmly establish Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings in every home as much as possible. You have shown a unique way in pleasing the previous ācāryas by extending the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu practically without limits.
Under the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda you have truly been a pioneer in the inundation of the world with the process of Bhakti. We remember how so enthusiastically you will travel the globe delivering seminars on the “Cell Groups”; encouraging devotees to unite and support each other; practice, preach, grow and assist the temples and beyond, without limitations due to work, family and other responsibilities.
Since the late 70’s you personally started working on a “Master Plan” that will give the blueprint of the now successful ISKCON Nāmahaṭṭa in Eastern India. Your early assistants recall how you would walk, travel by bus, cycle and under very inconvenient circumstances to reach out to distant and remote villages in the depths of West Bengal, Orissa, North Bengal and neighboring Bangladesh.
By the special arrangement of Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were sent to the land of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīdhāma Māyāpur. Here you learnt Bengali and became totally acquainted with the traditional ways and means of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas; became a pillar of the development of the Māyāpur Candrodaya Mandir and expanded the preaching like it wasn’t seen before. With your amazing vigor and dynamic personality, villagers were swept by your enthusiasm taking to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness by the thousands. Today the Namahāṭṭa has outreached to millions after nearly 40 years of preaching. Similarly, in Bangladesh, despite the restrictions given by the Muslim government, ISKCON has supporters in the number of tens of thousands.
Most amazingly of all, you always tell us, “there is so much to do”. You want congregational training manuals translated in all languages; you want support programs for the Youth, for Children, for the unmarried, even for those who are in the last stages of life. In a recent meeting you said, “we need something for the ‘seniors’”. We replied, “Guru Mahārāja, we are working on the Youth and Children” to which you answered with a smile, “you better hurry up because some seniors don’t have much time left!”
You told us that you wanted to have in the ministry a large world map with all the different congregational programs represented by dots of different colors placed in every city or town. This is how we always have you present in our offices; knowing that you want more and better; all for the pleasure of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the ācāryas. You know better than us what they all want and how to please them.
Every year you are very fond on presenting awards to congregational preachers from around the world. You patiently take the time to select the awards’ names, work on the selection criteria and scores, hear the reports and create different ways of appreciating their service to ISKCON in the form of certificates, medallions and congratulatory letters.
It is known for your servants and secretaries that as soon as some of the officers of the CDM would enter your rooms, it will be very hard for you to stop talking. Guru Mahārāja, you have the fresh enthusiasm of an extremely playful child; preaching is like a beloved toy for you and the world is your playground. We, at the CDM not only deeply appreciate your guidance, your presence and your kindness toward all of us, but we love you for the way that you carry on this congregational mission. A mission inaugurated by your beloved Nityānanda Prabhu, continued by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his son, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and manifested all around the planet by Śrīla Prabhupāda. And now you have taken their emblem and in association with the vaiṣṇavas are marching triumphantly in the conquest of many yet un-preached jīvas in every corner of the world.
Guru Mahārāja, you are not only the “minister” of the Congregation but a true inspiration for our service in the expansion of this movement.
We beg to remain eternally in your service.
Your servants at the Congregational Development Ministry
Central Office - Śrīdhāma Māyāpur.