Asia-Eurasia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, our dearest, ever well-wisher, eternal father, and master,
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 19.151)
We begin with trembling hearts and folded palms, fully aware of our utter unworthiness. We are the lowest of the low – fallen souls in a far-flung corner of the world, and the least deserving recipients of the bhakti-latā-bīja. And yet, by your causeless mercy, that seed appears to be sprouting in this most unlikely of soils. It is only by your boundless compassion that we find ourselves at your lotus feet once again on this most auspicious day of your divine appearance.
Respected Śrīla Prabhupāda, as you mentioned, “A Vaiṣṇava is therefore described as being para-duḥkha-duḥkhī, very much aggrieved by the sufferings of others. As such, a Vaiṣṇava engages in activities for the real welfare of human society.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.21.12, purport)
This year in Brunei, your servants have attempted – however feebly and imperfectly – to embody this instruction. Witnessing the spiritual hunger of Indian and Bangladeshi expatriates in this distant land, and feeling genuine pain at their separation from Kṛṣṇa, your servants have endeavored to bring your books, your kirtan, and your prasādam to their doors.
This year it was heartening to partake in an indoor Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā in the palatial homes of some gracious devotee-friendly families. With great joy and enthusiasm, approximately eighty guests and devotees pulled the ratha, inviting Their Lordships Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā into their hearts. All of this was entirely possible by your mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for we have no ability or capability to arrange anything by our own efforts.
By the mercy of Lord Gaurāṅga, we were invited to sing kirtan and perform āratis in the homes of friends on a couple of evenings during the eleven-day Gaṇeśa-caturthī festival. By Your Divine Grace, the guests were absorbed in the kirtan, and many enthusiastically performed the āratis themselves – a quietly transformative moment for souls otherwise unacquainted with Vaiṣṇava devotion.
The auspicious Dāmodara month continues to be the most beloved season for outreach. This year, by your mercy, we were invited to conduct the very first dāmodara-ārati in the homes of several new friends and colleagues. Most movingly, the High Commissioner of India to Brunei himself graced one such program and offered a ghee lamp to Lord Dāmodara. In all, approximately 375 ghee lamps were offered across first-time home visits and regular congregation members’ houses during this sacred month – kindling devotion by your causeless grace.
Govardhana-pūjā remains the most eagerly awaited annual gathering in our home. This year, more than seventy devotees and friends – some with their young children – participated with great enthusiasm. The air was filled with energetic kirtan, and a sumptuous feast of prasādam was lovingly prepared and honored. It is entirely by your mercy that such an event is even possible in the context of this conservative Islamic country.
Festivals such as Narasiṁha-caturdaśī, Janmāṣṭamī, Rādhāṣṭamī, and Gaura-Pūrṇimā were all celebrated behind closed doors by performing abhiṣeka with deep devotion. Most notably, abhiṣeka for Gaura-Pūrṇimā was organized twice to accommodate the schedules of friends and colleagues. All invitees individually participated in the transcendental activity of bathing Gaura-Nitāi Deities with milk, honey, yogurt and other sacred ingredients, and in so doing received the causeless mercy of Their Lordships.
Gītā-jayantī was celebrated in a most memorable way this year, with the translations of all seven hundred verses of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is being read aloud in six different languages by friends, colleagues, and their families. What a sight it was, Śrīla Prabhupāda – your words in six tongues, all glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This was only possible because of the seeds of devotion you planted through your books.
Our weekly Bhagavad-gītā study sessions – the Saturday group and the Tuesday group for expat oil-industry colleagues and their families – had a few unforeseen interruptions this year, but by your mercy, we were able to resume them and continue our study, reflection, and discussion of verses, translations, and the nectarean purports penned by Your Divine Grace. These sessions remain a lifeline of spiritual nourishment for many ultra-neophyte friends who have no other regular access to Vaiṣṇava association.
Our Sunday evening gathering with the Bangladeshi expat community continues to be the spiritual heartbeat of the congregation. Tulasī-ārati, Gaura-ārati and Nṛsiṁha-ārati, followed by soul-stirring kirtan, a reflection on the Bhagavad-gītā, and a shared prasādam meal – this format, so lovingly given by you, continues to attract new members. It warms the heart to see some attendees now turning away from meat-eating, and others eagerly requesting japa beads to begin chanting at home.
On this most auspicious day of your divine appearance, we, the most unworthy and fallen of souls in this tiny corner of the world, bow our heads at your lotus feet in deepest humility. Whatever small service may have been rendered in Brunei is entirely and solely the fruit of your boundless, causeless mercy. We have no qualification whatsoever of our own. It is only the shade of your lotus feet that keeps us from drowning in this ocean of material existence.
We beg, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that you never withdraw your compassionate glance from us. May you kindly overlook our countless offenses and shortcomings. May we always remain, in life and death, the most insignificant dust particles at your divine lotus feet.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga!
Your insignificant servants of the servants of the servants,
Cakradhārī Kānāi Dāsa and the devotees of the Brunei yātrā
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī. You are kindly preaching the message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to you on this most divine day.
As we are living in Kali-yuga, we often face calamities, whether on our personal spiritual path or in our preaching center; we are not free from these obstacles.
By the mercy of your Guru Mahārāja, you came to the West to show us, by your own example, that when we take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness we should not fear the waves of happiness and distress. When we consider all the difficulties you went through, being driven by your sole desire to serve Guru and Kṛṣṇa, to bring us the teachings of Lord Caitanya and Lord Kṛṣṇa, we should have no other business than to follow in your footsteps, realizing that you are the only true guide who can bring us back to Godhead.
To take care of a preaching center is not always easy. Many struggles may be involved, but Your Divine Grace gave us the perfect formula for how to walk through these struggles. Bhagavad-gītā As It Is came to the West through the disciplic succession, with you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, as our mentor. When we listen to your lectures and conversations, we witness the patience you have with every person in order to help us understand the conversation between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. This Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is like a blueprint for our lives, a GPS showing us our destination and how to get there in the best possible way.
In your purport to Bhagavad-gītā 6.7, you write: “When the mind is misled by the external, illusory energy, one becomes entangled in material activities. Therefore, as soon as one’s mind is controlled through one of the yoga systems, one should be considered to have already reached the destination. One has to abide by superior dictation. When one’s mind is fixed on the superior nature, he has no alternative but to follow the dictation of the Supreme. The mind must accept some superior dictation and follow it.”
Throughout the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and your other books, you take us by the hand and show us the beauty of the Lord and His pastimes.
At Sunday programs, we speak with guests and often share how you came to the West, how you started the Sunday Love feast, and how they are now also taking part in it. People are eager to sing various bhajanas, learn their meanings, listen to lectures on various topics, cook prasādam, and partake in the feast. For many devotees living in a city and having a full-time job, the Sunday feast is the highlight of the week – a moment to recharge their spiritual energy.
In your purport to Bhagavad-gītā 10.10 you write: “The qualification is that a person always engages himself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and, with love and devotion, renders all kinds of service. He should perform some sort of work for Kṛṣṇa, and that work should be done with love.”
In one lecture, you explained that this human form of life is meant to stop illusion, or bodily identification, and by doing so, we begin to understand what real love is, what reciprocation of love is. Then we will finally understand what a healthy life is.
Even today, we witness through your direct disciples the love and care you have for them, teaching by example how to serve in every aspect of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – pūjā, cooking, painting, preaching – whatever we need to know, you gave us. We, as granddisciples, also receive this mercy, benefiting from the lessons of your disciples.
Our preaching center in Brussels is small, but we have a very nice congregation of devotees and friends of Kṛṣṇa who are always eager to help with any service needed. I often see this as your divine mercy – that you always send devotees who are enthusiastic and willing to take part in this beautiful sevā of serving and pleasing Lord Kṛṣṇa.
We pray, sitting at your lotus feet, that we may always remain encouraged and enthusiastic to serve you in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Vrindaranya Priya Dāsa
On behalf of your servants at Centre de Bhakti Yoga
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you!
Thank you for everything you did and are doing for us, your children. By your mercy we are
growing to understand the limitless good fortune you bestowed upon us simply by your sincere
endeavor to serve your beloved spiritual master. It is due to you that we have come to understand
the real meaning of causeless mercy. It is clear that we don’t deserve anything you gave us only
because we have done some pious or spiritual activities in the past. Now we bow down at your
lotus feet and pray that we shall be able to represent you and distribute, according to our limited
capabilities, this great ocean of bliss, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
You established yourself as an actual authority for everyone. Nobody is used to submitting to
others; they submit only to their own senses and concoctions. Most people have a sense that there
is more to this world than quarrel and hypocrisy, but there is no actual proof of this. Everyone
wants to believe there is, but when you were present, the world was getting more and more diffi-
cult. That’s still happening. In these times, voices rise to declare that reality bends to personal will,
and each soul claims the throne of divinity. The name of Kṛṣṇa, once exulted, is cast aside, while
fleeting pride takes its place upon the altar. Without the grace of your divine descent into this
world, such illusions would have ensnared us, leading hearts astray into shadows of falsehood and
despair. Without your divine presence in this world, the supreme treasure – Śrī Kṛṣṇa – would
have remained hidden from our hearts. The path to liberation from the shackles of the material
realm, the escape from all that binds us to death, would have remained a distant dream.
It is through your infinite grace that the truth of an eternal life of unending joy alongside our
most cherished friend and beloved Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been revealed. To your lotus feet, radiant with
boundless blessings, eternal gratitude and devotion flow, for they grant the highest benedictions
to all who seek shelter.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, as we strive to continue the mission you began, we are often struck
by the magnitude of your courage and brilliance. You ventured into uncharted territory, coming
to the West in 1965 with no support, no resources, and only a typewriter, some books, and a
firm conviction in Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. The audience you faced was unfamiliar and, in many ways,
indifferent or even resistant to spiritual ideas. Yet you fearlessly spoke the eternal truths of the
Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Against all odds, you ignited hearts, transformed lives, and
established a worldwide movement that still flourishes today.
For us, in an age when spirituality seems to have gained more mainstream interest, we find a
peculiar challenge. Though there are more seekers, it feels harder to connect with them, harder to
find our public. This paradox humbles us, reminding us of your divine vision and grace. You were
not a normal person; you possessed extraordinary strength, intelligence, and compassion.
When we look at examples from your life – such as how you began the first ISKCON temple
at a small storefront on New York City’s Second Avenue, or how you turned hippies into “hap-
pies” through your loving engagement, it becomes clear that your success was not simply a matter
of human endeavor. It was your unwavering faith, your deep love for Kṛṣṇa, and your boundless
mercy toward humanity.
You are not only our spiritual master and eternal guide, but in the depths of our hearts, you are
cherished as the loving father who gave the most precious gift: the gift of purpose and true direc-
tion in life. Your unwavering compassion and dedication shine as the ultimate example, a divine
wellspring of inspiration that fills our lives with meaning.
Without the treasure of your words, spoken through your books and lectures, our existence
would be adrift, lost in the vast ocean of material delusion. The nectar that flows from your
divine lips nourishes our souls, providing solace, strength, and clarity in this world clouded by
ignorance.
Please, Śrīla Prabhupāda, grant even the faintest glimmer of your unshakable courage and
boundless wisdom, so that we may become humble instruments in fulfilling your sacred desire –
to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness to every corner of the world. To your lotus feet, the ultimate refuge,
we offer our eternal gratitude and pray for your blessings.
By observing your life and conduct, we can so easily purify ourselves from the contamination
of the modes of material nature. Every breath you brought to this world was full of inspiration
to serve the Lord and strength to learn how to love Him. What can be said about your glorious
glance, which sends Māyā very far from our hearts? We yearn to see your glance more than we
yearn for another breath!
You transformed our conditioned life from being driven by our selfish desires to being driven
by the love of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. By your love, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are now standing
straight and tall, overcoming our material desires and transforming them into sincere spiritual
feeling. You made the impossible possible. You made our original, natural state of being natural
again. We pray only to get your association more and more, life after life, and become more inti-
mately connected with Your Divine Grace.
But beyond everything you have done for us, we really love you for your personality. We
do appreciate that you were never a person who thinks small, but we are also grateful for your
simplicity, great intelligence, sense of humor, ability to create remarkable relationships not only
with spiritual people but also with ordinary people. Independent of all your realizations, I am
very happy that I have come to know that a person like you has lived in this world. A person
who simply wanted to live for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord, without selfish desire does not
come from this world. In this world, everyone is motivated to do things with a desire to satisfy
themselves, but your very life is a great example of someone whose life-breath was for pleasing his
spiritual master. For this reason, we shall forever celebrate your presence in our lives.
I shall remain forever grateful and prostrate at your wish-fulfilling lotus feet, begging for your
mercy to first and foremost bless our community in Bucharest, Romania, and the entirety of
Romania, to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness far and wide and to establish your divine mission, dear
Śrīla Prabhupāda, so that every Romanian may come to know the grandeur of your movement.
Please keep us under your divine care and gaze and bestow upon us the strength to preach natu-
rally, lovingly, and with humility. On behalf of the Bucharest yātrā in Romania, I offer my most
humble and respectful obeisances at your lotus feet.
Your humble servant,
Śyāmasundara Dāsa
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
In your purport to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 25.20, it is written: “We have been spreading this saṅkīrtana movement in the Western countries, and in our recent tour of European cities like Rome, Geneva, Paris, and Frankfurt. Many learned Christian scholars, priests, philosophers, and yogīs came to see us, and by the grace of Kṛṣṇa they agreed that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the bhakti cult, offers the topmost conclusion. Following in the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we are trying to convince everyone that the devotional service of the Lord is enjoined in every scripture.… It is not a question of being Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. One should be purely religious and freed from all these material designations. In this way one can learn the art of devotional service. This argument appeals to all intelligent men, and consequently the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is gaining ground throughout the world. Due to our solid logic and scientific presentation, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s prediction that Kṛṣṇa consciousness will spread to every town and village throughout the world is gradually being realized.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you arrived in the West more than sixty years ago, entering an America that was blooming economically but dying morally. You came to a land of religious conflict, hypocrisy, and atheism – a place where people were cheated and even killed in the name of God. You personally explained to the people the difference between religion and atheism. Into this world of empty ritualism and impersonalism, you brought the purest gift: unconditional devotional service to the Lord. Many sincere souls embraced these teachings, finding them to be the only authentic truth in a world of materialistic superficiality.
Thanks to your sacrifice, countless people heard for the first time of the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu – the most compassionate incarnations of divine love, who opened the path of chanting the holy name to the entire world. Through you, we received the chance to touch a spiritual reality where love for God awakens and the true meaning of human life is revealed.
Your movement and teachings brought a peace that no political leader could ever achieve. A powerful symbol of this was the Durban Ratha-yātrā, one of the first events where black- and white-skinned citizens danced together in spiritual unity, proving that Kṛṣṇa consciousness breaks all racial barriers. Your personality brought together people who would otherwise never speak; under your loving guidance, even communists and capitalists cooperated in service.
Now, sixty years later, the material world has not improved. Wars continue, nations compete, and large corporations dominate to the point that even pure food and milk are becoming increasingly scarce, just as you foretold. In these times, your followers are the ones maintaining your mission, spreading the desperately needed knowledge of the soul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and our eternal relationship with Him.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in your commentary quoted at the beginning of this offering, you state that this universal message appeals to all intelligent men, so the movement gained traction and your words became reality. The potency and mercy you spread carry on as sincere souls continue to join your mission. In every town and village, “hippies” are being transformed into “happies,” and your divine books and legacy are more relevant than ever.
Your compassion has reached Bucharest, Romania, through your qualified and faithful disciples. Through their boundless dedication and your generous mercy, a living connection with the guru-paramparā has become possible for us as well.
Please accept our humble but sincere attempts to please Your Divine Grace and the guru-paramparā. Our humble results from this past year include:
- Public preaching: Over 50 programs conducted with more than 190 new guests.
- Prasādam distribution: Over 1,500 portions of premium-quality prasādam distributed.
- Book distribution: More than 1,000 of your transcendental books placed in the hands of the public.
- Festivals: Active participation in city festivals with kirtan and Vedic philosophy.
- Sādhu-saṅga: Hosted the annual Romanian Sādhu-saṅga festival, with over 100 international participants.
- Expansion: Established a new strategic presence in the city of Brasov.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, your mission of spreading the saṅkīrtana movement continues even today. It is our greatest fortune to be connected to this inexhaustible stream of blessings. Our hearts are filled with eternal gratitude for the rarest gift: a connection to the guru-paramparā and the opportunity to serve.
We beg at your lotus feet to be used as instruments in Lord Caitanya’s mission. Please let us inherit your solid logic and scientific presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Please make us dance, make us speak, and empower us to distribute this message fearlessly. We pray to please you and the guru-paramparā by expanding across Romania to bring the art of devotional service to others.
Your insignificant servants,
The devotees of ISKCON Bucharest
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you.
To write my offering this year, I began listening to your classes to better connect with you and help me meditate on you, which will inspire me to write the following lines. In 1977 you gave a class at the Bhaktivedanta Manor where you said: “This is the arrangement of Kṛṣṇa. If we strictly try to serve the spiritual master, his order, then Kṛṣṇa will give us all facilities. That is the secret. Although there was no possibility, I never thought, but I took it little seriously by studying a commentary by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura on the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā verse [2.41], vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru–nandana … In connection with that verse Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives his commentary, that we should take up the words from the spiritual master as our life and soul. We should try to carry out the instruction, the specific instruction of the spiritual master very rigidly, without caring for our personal benefit or loss.”
Listening to your impressive words, we can find in them everything that founded your success and helped you fulfill your mission. Humility, sincerity, loyalty, commitment, perseverance, and faith – for me, these are the main character traits, the virtues that I hear from your words, which have guaranteed your success in your loving service to your spiritual master.
The disciple receives instructions from the words of the spiritual master, but it is often not so easy to know what it means to fulfill those instructions. What will the full outcome of fulfilling those instructions be? The instructions you received were quite specific and quite narrow: “Write in English, publish books in English, you preach in English.”
But did this mean hundreds of beautiful temples, living farm communities, profitable restaurants, thousands of disciples, impressive Deity worship, world-renowned educational systems, and professionally organized Ratha-yātrā festivals?
These were all revealed by Kṛṣṇa over time to the extent to which your amazing service would develop. So much of these depended on your sincerity, whether you wanted “to make a mountain” out of something “seemingly very small.” You could have fulfilled the instructions you received by traveling to the West, distributing some books, and returning to India. But what you, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, made of this the instruction your received was something truly extraordinary. This shows that you took the instructions very seriously and turned them into something magnificent.
There is the disciple who takes exactly what he has learned and masters that. He was told to do this, and he does that. This is nice. There is another disciple who takes what he had learned and says, What is the full outcome? What is the full consequence of this instruction? How can this service be developed? How can I build upon this? And then that disciple turns his instruction into something extraordinary. You are definitely the disciple who took the instructions of your Gurudeva and turned them into something very, very special.
This is our greatest fortune, this is our planet Earth’s greatest fortune. Thank you very, very much! We have all the facilities to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness and go back to Godhead at the end of this lifetime.
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda, here at our Budapest yātrā we also already have a lot. We have an amazing temple building with lots of nice space in it for the people, beautiful Deities who charm everyone who sees Them, a profitable restaurant that distributes tasty prasādam, successful festivals at which devotees can celebrate various holy events, quite good book distribution, with the success of distributing full sets of your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on the streets, and last but not least, a few hundred enthusiastic and committed devotees.
These things are amazing, and we could reach them only by your mercy and by the sincere and loving services of many devotees. But please, Śrīla Prabhupāda, look at us with your empowering, loving gaze, and bless us to build an even more cohesive, seriously practicing, mutually helpful and respectful, mature-minded Kṛṣṇa conscious community of thousands more people! I wish we could be successful in this so that we can bring you some satisfaction as a token of our gratitude toward you! Thank you very much.
Your servant on behalf of the Budapest temple,
Gauramaṇi Dāsa
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Our dearest ever well-wisher, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
irviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept our prostrated obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to you on this
auspicious occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā, the 129th anniversary celebration of your appearance.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.22.35), spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa, beautifully describes the qualities of a
tree, especially patience, tolerance, and selflessness:
aho eṣāṁ varaṁ janma
sarva -prāṇy-upajīvanam
su-janasyeva yeṣāṁ vai
vimukhā yānti nārthinaḥ
Just see how these trees are maintaining every living entity! Their birth is successful.
Their behavior is just like that of great personalities, for anyone who asks anything
from a tree never goes away disappointed.
Your Divine Grace, on this most auspicious occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we submit this humble
offering in a mood of tolerance and surrender, exemplified by a tree: taror api sahiṣṇunā. The tree
is the perfect symbol of tolerance, as it provides shelter, fruit, and shade to everyone without dis-
tinction, despite being cut, pruned, or harmed. In a similar way, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you showed
the utmost tolerance in your service to Kṛṣṇa and surrendered yourself completely to His will.
The tree is a symbol of patience, tolerance, and mercy. Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the same way, you
tolerated so many hardships in spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness across the globe, never showing
any signs of anger or resentment, always focusing on the higher goal of pleasing Kṛṣṇa and guru.
You embodied the qualities of the tree in your life of service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, for ISKCON Burlington, we humbly submit three key challenges and
three opportunities over the course of last year:
Challenges:
1. Lack of active participation in temple activities: getting the congregation to be more involved
in planning/executing festivals, and to be more enthusiastic in giving their time, service, or
donations.
2 Not many initiated devotees, which puts more load on initiated devotees to do more frequent
āratis, classes, and kīrtanas.
3 Smaller congregation compared to most other centers – meaning more responsibility falls on
the temple council.
Opportunities:
1. New families visit each week: encourage them to become regulars.
2. Utilize social media to attract attention: a great opportunity to develop and connect through
social media.
3. Organize volunteer initiatives that involve serving the local community and attract the atten-
tion of potential devotees.
One often overlooked quality of a tree is that it always stands naked. Similarly, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
like the tree, in front of you we are “naked” – that is, we are devoid of any good qualities or quali-
fications to serve you as per your desires. As such, our main goal at ISKCON Burlington is to
imbibe the sublime mood of united cooperation in devotional service and unalloyed commitment
to your instructions.
By your grace, since writing last year’s Vyāsa-pūjā offering, ISKCON Burlington has pro-
gressed in its outreach efforts. Your center held a successful fourth Ratha-yātrā. Devotees go
out monthly on book distribution, and our book scores have increased over last year’s. Further
growth has occurred in terms of numbers of in-person and virtual Vedic classes, and in the chil-
dren’s Vedic fun school.
We humbly pray for your blessings so that we may assist you, with unwavering determination,
in fulfilling the mission of Lord Caitanya. Thank you very much for the greatest benediction: the
opportunity to serve ISKCON’s worldwide family. Hare Kṛṣṇa, our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda.
The insignificant servants of your servants,
The devotees at ISKCON Burlington
