Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Our dear Founder-Ācārya,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept our humble and prostrated obeisances at the dust of your divine lotus feet on the
auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā. We fallen souls in this part of the universe will try to glorify
you, O ambassador of the spiritual realm of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu predicted: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora
nāma. You are the gratifier of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s desires. Your Divine Grace, by your grace
and your vigorous harināma-saṅkīrtana movement here in Dhenkanal, Odisha State, we have
recently opened an ISKCON center. By doing nāgara-saṅkīrtana we want to satisfy you. Your
Divine Grace, your words in your lectures are potent and important for us as we grow rapidly in
this movement.
To fulfill your desire for Food-for-Life, we are distributing food to the needy in rural areas each
month, and also distributing your divine books in a grand number. Śrīla Prabhupāda, by your
mercy we were recently gifted land to construct Kṛṣṇa’s temple in the town of Dhenkanal. We
wish to fulfill the construction task by your mercy, Your Divine Grace.
We are continuing our efforts toward perfection in our regular preaching activities of the
center. These activities include book distribution at a melā in a grand way, one of which we did
last November and December. Every week we have programs for the children and youths, as well
as bhakti-vriksha programs. The Sunday feast is held in the town hall (in the central part of Dhenk-
anal city). There is also regular harināma-saṅkīrtana accompanied by a preaching vehicle through-
out the city.
Your struggles to plant this ISKCON movement worldwide, although you were one person,
was ideal. That’s why we will soon make a public drama of your life history in the local language
of Odisha.
In this material world, the maze of māyā is very strong, so at last we beg to remain faithful
servants of ISKCON. All glories to you on your appearance day, our dear founder-ācārya Śrīla
Prabhupāda.
Your insignificant servants at ISKCON Dhenkanal
Asia-Eurasia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept my most humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
On this most auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, I am filled with gratitude, realizing that it is by your mercy – and your mercy alone – that we are attempting to lead our lives in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way. We can never truly imagine the darkness we would be in had you not brought the light of the holy name to the world.
I am immensely blessed by the association of my spiritual father, His Holiness Jayapatāka Swami Mahārāja, who is a living testament to your empowered mission. He is constantly meditating on your instructions to him and the GBC, showing us how to fulfill your vision despite all odds. Through his mercy, and the mercy of the wonderful devotees of ISKCON, I find the strength to serve.
You painstakingly created ISKCON and headed it for twelve years, setting a perfect example for an organization that continues to grow sixty years after its incorporation. Your disciples followed the instructions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.7.30–31 to the letter, giving 100 percent of themselves to you and your mission. Specifically, I am moved by the principle of sarva-labdhārpaṇena ca – offering everything one has acquired to the spiritual master. They have shown us that through guru-śuśrūṣayā (service to the spiritual master) and saṅgena sādhu-bhaktānām (association of devotees), all success is achieved. Following in their footsteps, we strive to emulate that dedication, supporting ISKCON’s growth while trying to grow in our own Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Currently, I am serving in the GCC area (Damodar Desh). As you know, the circumstances here are tough for open preaching, and we mainly reach out to the expat community. We continue to seek your special blessings so that we can improve our outreach and, by your grace, one day establish a beautiful temple in this region.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, handling even a small yātrā is so intense and all-consuming that it makes me realize your true position. You are undoubtedly a śaktyāveṣa-avatāra; only a soul directly empowered by Kṛṣṇa could have managed such a massive global empire at your age, winning the lifelong dedication of those fifty years your junior.
I beg for your continued blessings to serve Your Divine Grace, the institution of ISKCON, and the current leadership with sincerity and steadiness.
Your spiritual grandson and servant,
Śrī Vallabha Dāsa and the devotees of Damodar Desh
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
On this auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, our thoughts turn toward how we can assist you in your plan to please your spiritual master and to how we can assist your servants in this endeavor. You spoke to us extensively about what that service is, but because this service is very confidential, we need to constantly turn to you to ensure we are on the right track.
You were once asked what service pleases you the most. You replied that what pleases you the most is that we become conscious of Kṛṣṇa. That way we will know what Kṛṣṇa wants and we will therefore know how to act and what to do in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
We may not be sufficiently pure to be conscious of Kṛṣṇa, but we always have you in your multimanifested powerful form as in your books, your mūrti, your dedicated devotees, your Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. He reasons ill who says that Vaiṣṇavas die.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please continue to be with us in our endeavors here in Dublin. Please give us the intelligence to carry out your will. Please give us the strength to do so. May we continue to cooperate to become Kṛṣṇa conscious and to share that Kṛṣṇa consciousness with others, in your service.
On behalf of your servants in Dublin, Ireland,
Manu Dāsa
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Our dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our respectful obeisances. All glories to you on this most auspicious day of your
Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā. On behalf of the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple and our congregation, we take
this opportunity to glorify you, our lord and master.
Fifty years have passed since you physically walked the South African land. So much has
changed since then, but what remains firm and growing exponentially is the faith of your follow-
ers, your glory, and with it, your mercy!
Your vision for South Africa was to build a temple in Chatsworth and preach to the intelligent
class at the universities. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you will be pleased to know that the message of Lord
Caitanya is still going strong here in Durban, Chatsworth. In fact, our yātrā celebrates two signifi-
cant milestones this year.
The first is the fortieth anniversary of the installation of Their Lordships, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Rādhānātha. The second is the fiftieth anniversary of Your Divine Grace visiting Durban, South
Africa.
We are having grand celebrations to commemorate these most auspicious events, which
changed the face of the South African yātrā forever! As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of
your arrival in South Africa, we remember the countless lives you touched and transformed
through your compassion and selflessness.
We are actually having programs throughout the year to celebrate your fiftieth anniversary of
visiting South Africa, and scores of devotees are engaged in preaching events and awareness cam-
paigns to commemorate this most glorious event, which changed our lives.
Secondly, we are increasing our outreach activities, for your pleasure. More particularly, we are
most honored to report that now, fifty years after your vision was communicated, we have finally
made substantial inroads in preaching to the university students, with our first module in bhakti-
yoga accepted into the curriculum and recognized at one of the biggest universities in South
Africa.
We are begging for your blessings so that we continue to uphold the standards of Deity wor-
ship for Their Lordships, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha, as we have for the past forty years. By your
mercy, the various Vaiṣṇava festivals are being observed, we are also doing book distribution,
nāmahaṭṭa preaching, Food-for-Life, and the Sunday Love Feasts – all are going on from the Śrī
Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple.
We feel your constant presence now, even fifty years later, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and Your Divine
Grace remains our beacon of hope, guiding us on our spiritual journey and in endeavoring to
bring you pleasure.
We beg for your mercy so that our temple management and congregation remain enthusiastic
in their services to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha, and we pray for your glories to spread to every
heart in South Africa.
Your humble servants,
Management team on behalf of the devotees
of the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple
Africa, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Our dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances at your lotus feet on this most auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, everything we possess, everything we are, and everything we hope to become is solely by your causeless mercy. At the age of seventy, you crossed the ocean with nothing but unflinching faith in the order of your spiritual master and an unshakeable desire to fulfill his instructions. From that single, heroic act of surrender, you gave the world your ISKCON, you revived and expanded Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana movement, and you bestowed upon us the priceless shelter of the holy names.
Here in Durban, we are simply trying, in our small and imperfect ways, to uphold the standards you set and to serve your mission as you envisioned it.
Toward the latter part of last year, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we had the great fortune of celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple. The festival was observed with as much opulence, devotion, and care as we could offer at your lotus feet. Many devotees, especially those who have been part of this temple’s history for decades, felt that it was perhaps the most splendid celebration since the temple’s opening. What touched our hearts the most, however, was seeing several devotees who had been estranged and away for many years return to your temple and to the association of devotees. Through personal outreach, loving exchanges, and your merciful atmosphere, they felt welcomed, valued, and reconnected. In this, we clearly saw your ongoing mercy, still drawing your spiritual children and grandchildren back home.
We also had the honor of observing the fiftieth anniversary of your coming to South Africa. Throughout the year, your devotees here in Durban worked tirelessly in your service, trying to glorify you and increase people’s awareness of your life, teachings, and immeasurable contributions. As an offering to you, we organized fifty different programs around Durban, held in halls, parks, homes, and public spaces, each dedicated to narrating your glories and sharing your message. Wherever we went, we spoke of your journey, your books, your compassionate vision, and your untiring efforts to uplift humanity through Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
In a very special endeavor, we carefully relived the steps connected to your time in Durban and took the devotees on a guided tour of the various locations in this city where you once walked, spoke, or stayed. Outwardly, they may appear as ordinary places, but by your divine presence, we understand them to be holy tīrthas, thereby eternally sanctified. Through kirtan, remembrance, and glorification of you at each site, we tried to help the devotees deeply appreciate how you have spiritually transformed this land.
By your mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we were also able to host what was practically the largest and possibly the most successful Durban Festival of the Chariots since its inception thirty-eight years ago. Aware of the changing social climate and the needs of modern people, we tried to be innovative and thoughtful in our approach, while carefully striving to remain faithful to your mood and instructions. All the while, we tried to remember your guidance: “We should always try to utilize our intelligence in Krishna’s service. Intelligence means to understand Krishna and to serve Him nicely.” (Letter to Satsvarupa, 22 February 1968)
Following this instruction to the best of our ability, we were able to bring tens of thousands of people before Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā Devī. Through kirtan, prasādam, book distribution, dramas, cultural presentations, and personal interactions, we tried to introduce them to you and your mission, praying that some lasting saṁskāra of Kṛṣṇa consciousness would enter their hearts.
At the same time, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we find ourselves navigating some of the most challenging and unprecedented times in the history of ISKCON South Africa. There are social, economic, and institutional pressures, and in this age of rapid communication, we sometimes face sharp criticism from “keyboard warriors” who scrutinize and judge our efforts from afar. We know we have many imperfections, and we accept that we must be held accountable to your standards for bona fide reasons. Yet in the midst of these difficulties, we also strongly feel the love and encouragement of hundreds, if not thousands, of your followers, both within South Africa and abroad, who act as our well-wishers, just as you are the ever well-wisher of all living beings.
Your personal example of enduring obstacles, opposition, and discomfort for Kṛṣṇa’s sake gives us courage. Simply by remembering how you tolerated everything, illness, misunderstanding, and endless struggles, simply to give us Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we find renewed strength to continue your work here, however small our contribution may be. As a temple community, we are deeply aware of our shortcomings and limitations. Whatever service we offer is tiny and imperfect when compared with your vast vision and spotless standards.
Still, we are convinced that by your deliberate arrangement, the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple occupies a significant place in your mission for South Africa. Therefore, we beg you to kindly allow us to become worthy instruments in your hands.
On this Vyāsa-pūjā day, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we place the following prayers at your lotus feet:
- Please allow this temple to become an ever more transparent via medium for your instructions, your mood, and your compassion.
- Please empower the leaders and devotees here to protect, encourage, and inspire all who seek shelter at your temple or come in contact with your movement in Durban.
- Please help us remain steady in upholding your standards of sādhana, philosophy, and Vaiṣṇava culture, even as the world around us changes.
- Please let our service bring tangible and lasting spiritual benefit to the devotees and congregation of Durban, to the broader South African yātrā, and to all who come in touch with your mission through this temple.
- And above all, please never allow us to lose sight of your vision and mission as our sole goal and guiding purpose in life.
We offer this today not to showcase achievements, but as an offering of our ongoing attempts to serve your desires in this corner of the world. Whatever value or success is found in these efforts belongs entirely to you and your causeless mercy; whatever faults or shortcomings are present are ours alone.
On this sacred day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we again bow our heads and beg for your continued blessings that we may remain fixed in humility, sincerity, and unwavering determination to serve your divine mission at the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple now and for generations to come.
Your servants at the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha temple
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept my most humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine
Grace!
On this most sacred occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we, the devotees of ISKCON Durham, offer
our deepest gratitude and reverence for the priceless gift you have given to the world – the sci-
ence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
By your boundless mercy, we find ourselves blessed to be engaged in the sacred mission of
spreading Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s teachings in Durham, Ontario. Your unwavering sacrifice,
compassion, and devotion have made bhakti-yoga accessible to every soul, transcending borders,
backgrounds, and barriers.
This past year, by your grace, ISKCON Durham has taken meaningful steps forward. On Janu-
ary 25, 2025, we hosted a Blissful Kirtan Evening in Durham, where devotees came together in
joyful kīrtana, glorifying the holy name. The event inspired us to launch, starting on February 1,
2025, weekly Saturday programs that are now nurturing and connecting devotees and newcomers
alike. With each gathering, families, children, and seekers are coming closer to Kṛṣṇa, drawn by
the warmth of devotee association, kīrtana, and prasādam.
Your divine vision continues to manifest as more souls are drawn to the path of bhakti. We
are grateful to receive the loving support and guidance of His Holiness Bhaktimārga Swami
Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Prabhu, and Indreśa Gaura Prabhu.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your mercy is boundless, and we pray for the strength to serve your move-
ment with purity and sincerity. May ISKCON Durham flourish into a beacon of Kṛṣṇa conscious-
ness, attracting thousands of sincere seekers to the shelter of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
On this auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we rededicate ourselves to your mission. May our
every thought, word, and action bring glory to your lotus feet and pleasure to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Your eternal servant,
Shyāma Mohinī Devī Dāsī
on behalf of the devotees at ISKCON Durham
