Asia-Eurasia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to your lotus feet.
This year we celebrated the fifty-first anniversary of the grand opening of the Śrī Śrī Krishna-Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan. You struggled tirelessly to establish this temple while you were also creating ISKCON temples worldwide. We are so grateful that Śrī Śrī Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa told you to open a temple in India that would be a hundred times better than any other temple you had established. We want to thank you for encouraging us by your enthusiastic determination to glorify Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the saṅkīrtana of the holy names at Krishna-Balaram Mandir, and also for allowing us to render some service to you and the guru-paramparā and to be part of Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana mission.
The Krishna-Balaram Mandir Live high-definition broadcasting is followed by devotees all over the world. We invite everyone to participate and connect through our website, which shows darshans, kirtans, and festivals loved by everyone. Krishna-Balaram Mandir is one of the most popular temples in the entire world, and daily thousands of pilgrims take darshan of the beautiful Deities, dance in the twenty-four-hour kirtans, take prasādam, and purchase many books.
The upcoming Krishna-Balaram Cultural Center is beautifully designed, with arches, columns, guest rooms, a Govinda’s restaurant, a gift shop, and other facilities that will enhance and complement the temple, samādhi and museum. In the museum, we’ve developed unique diorama exhibits that give a glimpse of how you were empowered to spread Vedic knowledge all over the world. The new project will be ready by next year and will have more preaching facilities, cultural halls, more than 110 guest rooms, a new Govinda’s restaurant and bakery, and a very large book and gift shop.
For your pleasure, we are also building a senior care building with thirty nice rooms for your elderly disciples and devotees who wish to retire in Vrindavan. There is a new brahmacārī ashram, and many new bhaktas are joining. They are eagerly studying, being trained for book distribution, and serving in all the temple departments. Your Bhaktivedanta Swami International Gurukula has grown and is now developing a university on campus.
Fortunately, the Honourable President of India, Srimati Droupadi Murmu, along with the Governor of U.P. and a number of other top government officials, recently visited the Krishna-Balaram Mandir. She offered flowers to you at your samādhi and then at your vyāsāsana in the temple. While taking darshan of Their Lordships, she offered lamps to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Śyāmasundara. Our cultural department presented a wonderful Odissi dance, performed by international devotees, and the gurukula boys chanted auspicious mantras.
With extreme gratitude we pray to you for the strength to carry on keeping the temple neat and clean, distributing many of your books, distributing free prasādam to everyone, and continuing the dynamic, twenty-four-hour kirtan, which inspires everyone to sing, dance, and appreciate your Kṛṣṇa consciousness saṅkīrtana movement. We feel your presence very much in your samādhi as well as in the Krishna-Balaram temple. You are our most worshipable, beloved representative of the Supreme Lord. You are the best servant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Please bless us. Jaya Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma!
Your humble servants,
(written by Pañcagauḍa Dāsa, temple president)
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Dearly respected Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet, which traversed the earth
to uplift innumerable fallen souls in this Age of Kali. Had you not left Vrindavan to broadcast the
message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, there was no chance that we could have heard about Śrī
Kṛṣṇa, His abode Śrī Vrindavan Dhāma, and His transcendental devotional service.
This year, 2025, commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of the Śrī Śrī
Krishna-Balaram Mandir on the auspicious day of Śrī Rāma-navamī in 1975. It was a day of
jubilation, the culmination of a lifetime of struggles you endured to establish a divine temple
in Vrindavan. You wanted a place where devotees from around the world would be welcomed, a
place specifically for your disciples, life members, and international guests. You also particularly
aspired to establish a temple for the worship of Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, along with Śrī Śrī
Gaura-Nitāi and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Śyāmasundara. Since the area of Raman-reti is the eternal līlā-
sthana of Kṛṣṇa’s and Balarāma’s cowherd pastimes, They now reside here permanently in the
magnificent temple you constructed.
Vrindavan is your eternal home; it was also the first place that your disciples built a house for
you to live in. Eventually you chose to enter the nitya-līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa at this place, surrounded
by your loving disciples. You encouraged all the residents of the temple to dedicate their lives to
serving here, and described that the entire spiritual world is contained within the four walls of the
temple compound. We have tried to mold our lives according to the multitude of instructions you
gave for Vrindavan. You wanted this temple to be “heaven on earth” and a center for education.
After establishing the temple in 1975, you then proceeded to establish the Bhaktivedanta Swami
Goshala and Bhaktivedanta Swami International Gurukula. You also sent devotees far and wide
for saṅkīrtana by bullock cart and buses. Your vision for this temple was glorious, and to this day
we strive to fulfill all the plans you gave us to expand the preaching efforts here.
You instructed that anyone who resides in Vrindavan should be on the level of a gosvāmī, fully
dedicated to serving the Lord with body, mind, and words. You envisioned the temple to be a
sanctuary for renounced brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs, with gṛhasthas and vānaprasthas residing near
the temple to render service. During the fifty years since the grand opening, many devotees have
served together to carry out your vision for Vrindavan, and there has been ever-increasing expan-
sion of the project. Now there is a hundred-and-twenty-acre gurukula and ecofarm, and a number
of preaching centers and temples established both within the Vraja area and throughout the
nearby cities.
Truly, Vrindavan is your eternal home, and as our father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, as
dīkṣā-guru or preeminent śikṣā-guru, we have inherited this treasure of the Śrī Śrī Krishna-Balaram
Mandir to maintain for many generations into the future. As we gather together each morning to
glorify you at your divine samādhi, we pray, “By the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the
benediction of Kṛṣṇa. Without the grace of the spiritual master one cannot make any advance-
ment.” And then joining together for guru-pūjā we pray, “Make the teachings from the lotus
mouth of the spiritual master one with our heart and do not desire anything else.” That is our life
and soul, to carry out your instructions throughout our life.
In honor of the Golden Jubilee festival this year, we have invited devotees to attend a grand
festival with twelve days of parikrama to the twelve forests of Vrindavan, and then six days of hear-
ing and chanting about the grand opening from senior Vaiṣṇavas. As you did in 1975, we will also
distribute prasādam to thousands of people throughout the day with the same menu you chose
in 1975. There will be cultural programs and dramas, just as you wanted, and twenty-four-hour
kīrtana, which you personally inaugurated at the opening. Mahā-abhiṣeka, a Jhulan-yātrā, Śobha-
yātrā, and nāgara-saṅkīrtana will grace the festival in glorification of Their Lordships.
We pray that you will be satisfied with our humble endeavors to please you, and that you
will always keep us under the shelter of your lotus feet so that we may continue to serve you at
ISKCON Vrindavan eternally.
Your servants in the dust of your lotus feet,
The residents of ISKCON Vrindavan
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace on the day of your Vyāsa-Pūjā.
To reflect on the activities of ISKCON Wales in the light of your glories is a profound experience. However, it is not a taxing or difficult task, because, for more than thirty years now, the devotees of this community have made the mission of your glorification their life and soul. Under the direct guidance of your disciples, taking nourishment from your vāṇī, with the building blocks of your sincere and selfless service, they have laid strong foundations for a Kṛṣṇa conscious community. Growing a garden of bhakti from seed, the Welsh devotees have acted only to honor your instructions and to please you.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your example is the greatest source of inspiration possible for us, and for any devotee endeavoring to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. Whenever we undergo hardships, we are reminded of what greater austerities you undertook to establish your movement. When we feel that our preaching is impotent to turn the minds of the people we meet, we remember your mood of absolute dependency at Boston harbor – that Kr̥ṣṇa could empower your words if He wanted. And if we are ever bewildered about how to push on and expand, we recall how you never thought small; you boldly set out to achieve so much more than anyone else would have ever suggested, and you were successful.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes that the essence of all religious principles is twofold: to show compassion to the conditioned souls and to relish the Lord’s holy name (jīve dayā, kṛṣṇa-nāma-sarva-dharma-sāra). And so, over and above our attempts to preach in your wake, we at ISKCON Wales have long striven for absorption in hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. Understanding that all endeavors are “only useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the messages of Vāsudeva,” we attempt to make śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam our business, keeping the mahā-mantra and the reading of your transcendental books on the central pedestal of our focus. We can only offer you a lifetime of gratitude for sharing these secrets of success and empowering us to apply them in our previously misdirected lives.
Our Tŷ Krishna Cymru project, whose inception took place around the time of ISKCON’s fiftieth anniversary, is nearing completion in conjunction with ISKCON’s sixtieth. It will be a preaching facility whose every aspect is intended to make you proud through its innovation, dynamism, and fidelity to your teachings. And, meanwhile, the still-small Welsh yātrā has so many more projects to develop and maintain, such as gargantuan efforts to increase book distribution year upon year, prolific prāsadam distribution programs, and an organized network of loving devotee care.
Surely, that a group of people with less-than-scanty spiritual heritage could become inspired to take on such sacred responsibilities is nothing but a testament to your potency, Śrīla Prabhupāda. The current of Lord Caitanya’s mercy empowered the Six Gosvāmīs of Vrindavan, and later Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, to live such superhuman spiritual lives that their statuses as eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa seems quite obvious. But such an unprecedented example as set by all these great ācāryas is no less present in your life and times, our Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And so, as our community diversifies and grows more and more into the picture of a spiritual society that you would want to see, we remain dependent on, and so much in need of, your blessings. We pray that you continue to guide us always, and empower us to overcome whatever obstacles may hinder our humble execution of your will. As a community of your faithful followers, please keep us ever in the cooling shade of your lotus feet.
Your servants at ISKCON Wales
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Our dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our prostrated obeisance at the dust of your lotus feet on this most auspicious
occasion of your appearance for the benefit of all the fallen souls of this world. All glories to Your
Divine Grace.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for engaging us in the service of your dear Lordships Śrī Śrī
Jagannātha-Baladeva-Subhadrā, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Nīlamādhava, and the most merciful Śrī Śrī Gaura-
Nitai, and thereby making our lives truly successful.
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is urgent and can’t wait for anything external – this was the first teaching
your Guru Mahārāja gave you, and you made your entire life a living testimony to this order. As
you started your preaching endeavors in India, you were always carrying a sense of urgency to
spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness quickly all over the world, whether by writing a letter to Mahatma
Gandhiji, explaining to him the real meaning of the term “Mahatma” along with the real occupa-
tion of the “Harijanas”; explaining to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then president of India, your for-
mula for taking everybody back to Godhead; making your plans for worldwide outreach through
the League of Devotees, based in Jhansi; or frequently forgoing meals so you could purchase
more paper to print Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. All these and many more instances in your life show your
overwhelming compassion for the conditioned souls and a great sense of urgency to spread Krsna
consciousness in the world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you descended to this world to fulfill the prediction of Lord Caitanya, as He
proclaimed it five hundred years ago:
ebe nāma-saṅkīrtana tīkṣṇa khaḍga laiyā
antara asura jīvera phelibe kāṭiyā
yadi pāpi chāḍi dharma dūre deśe yāya
mora senāpati-bhakta yāibe tathāya
Taking the sharp sword of the congregational chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra,
I will root out and destroy the demoniac mentality in the hearts of all conditioned
souls. If some sinful people escape, going to far-off countries, then my senāpati-bhakta
[general of the devotees] will come at that time to give them Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
(Caitanya-maṅgala, Sūtra-khaṇḍa 564–65)
I don’t think any sane man would dare to doubt the fact that you are the same senāpati-bhakta, the
empowered commander in chief of Lord Caitanya.
We, your humble servants at ISKCON Warangal, are very fortunate to receive this golden
chance to engage in the mission of Lord Caitanya through your teachings. In the last year, these
are some of our humble offerings at your lotus feet:
• A total of thirty-five devotees in our community have been initiated.
• We have started a Bhakta Prahlad school to engage and train children in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.
• 27,000 people attended our Janmāṣṭamī celebrations in 2024.
• Part of the 1.1 acre of land at Manikonda, which was illegally annexed by a local estate
holder, has now been cleared, and recently we have taken possession of the property.
• We have undertaken major renovations in the existing ashram. The ashram was renovated to
cater to brahmacārīs and the local college students taking up Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
• The existing temple hall is being extended from 1,000 to 2,000 square feet to facilitate an
increasing number of activities at the temple.
• We have opened four new student centers near reputed colleges to give students the oppor-
tunity to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
• We have been regularly doing Food-for-Life prasādam distribution near the temple as well
as within the city a minimum of twice a month. Hundreds of people come and receive
kṛṣṇa-prasādam.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, we sincerely seek your mercy to continue our services and increase our
outreach through book distribution, harināma, and various preaching programs. We also want to
complete the renovation work as early as possible so that hundreds of thousands of people can
visit and benefit from the glorious opportunity to practice devotional service which you provided.
In a letter to Kṛṣṇā Devī, dated January 26, 1968, you so beautifully, succinctly, and poetically
pointed out the real purpose of life in this material world: “This life of material existence is just
like hard wood, and if we can carve Krishna out of it, that is the success of our life.” Please bless
us so that we can perfect our existence by becoming your servants and truly surrendering our-
selves to your lotus feet, thereby utilizing the hard wood of material existence to carve the Deity
of Kṛṣṇa out of it.
Your servant,
Sītārāma Dāsa,
on behalf of the ISKCON Warangal devotees
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
My dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our obeisances at your most exalted feet. All glories unto you.
Thank you for founding ISKCON and giving shelter to thousands of conditioned souls all
around the globe. Thank you for your wonderful books. Thank you for exposing us to the holy
name, prasādam, and other diverse forms of sevā. Please kindly pardon us for not building on the
esteem of the indelible marks you left on the ground, and please bless us to be better and more
improved servants of your servants and functionally contribute to the expansion of ISKCON
globally.
Your lowly servants from Warri temple, Nigeria, West Africa
Canada & USA, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to you!
This year in DC
we celebrate your visit
of 50 years ago, in 1976
to the property at Potomac
13 acres of good land
with a hill to remind us
of Govardhana
a small stream that
becomes the Yamunā
and a flood plain
to remember the mercy
you carried, to inundate
the world with beauty and truth
Because you gave us the eyes to see
you gave us the language to understand
and gave us wisdom to dig beneath the surface
of an ordinary life, an ordinary piece of land,
we find Kṛṣṇa here and our identity in relationship to Him
Tucked into every nook and corner
are the seeds of bhakti that you planted
the seeds of golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana
Take advantage, you would say, and make your life perfect.
We thank you for planting this place of pilgrimage.
“In Vrindavan there is a place where there was no temple, but a devotee desired, ‘Let there be a temple and sevā, devotional service.’ Therefore, what was once an empty corner has now become a place of pilgrimage. Such are the desires of a devotee.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.13.50)
Your servant,
Ananda Vrindavaneswari Devī Dāsī, temple president
