Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Messenger of Beauty
Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.239): “My dear friend, if you are indeed
attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as He stands
on the bank of the Yamunā at Keśī-ghāṭa. Casting sidelong glances, He places His flute to His
lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places,
appears very bright in the moonlight.”
With His incomparable beauty Kṛṣṇa conquers the hearts of all living entities. His beauty is the
most outstanding among the six magnificent qualities that characterize Him, and His pure devo-
tee, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is the messenger of such beauty.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have beautified our dull, dry lives by adorning them with a great
variety of precious gems, whose value we cannot even imagine.
First, you gave us yourself, a unique personality, full of countless exceptional qualities. You
gave us the vision of your beautiful, timeless face, a face simultaneously old and young . You
gifted us your oceanic smile and your seriousness, your humor and your gravity.
Among your innumerable qualities stands out, unchallenged, your power, which you received
directly from Kṛṣṇa, Himself the Almighty. This power enabled you, thanks to your total surren-
der to your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, to perform real wonders.
Let us not forget that from a humble little shop, Matchless Gifts, located on a small street
in New York City, you came to build some of the greatest temples in India – the Vedic Plan-
etarium temple in Mayapur, the Śrī Śrī Krishna-Balaram temple in Vrindavan, the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Rāsabihārī temple in Mumbai, and more – and in many large cities around the world there
are now magnificent temples, where the gorgeous Deities of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Gaura-Nitāi, and
Jagannātha-Subhadrā-Baladeva are served with exquisite devotion.
By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa for four hours each day, you filled Tompkins Square Park in New York
with the sound of the mahā-mantra, and from there you reached every corner of the planet and
revolutionized the consciousness of millions. By your sublime chanting of the names of Rādhā-
Kṛṣṇa, you permeated the lives of us all, illuminating them with the conclusive understanding
that the Divine Couple is the Absolute Truth.
You gave us the precious jewel of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. In other words, you gave us Kṛṣṇa as
He was in the past, as He is now, and as He will always be. You explained every word meticu-
lously, so that everything is very clear to us.
Then, by accepting the onerous task of translating and commentating other sacred texts, such
as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which you worked on at night, you gave
us the sound incarnation of the great avatāras who descended to Earth, connecting us to the most
recent and most magnanimous of all, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
You shared with us the immense wisdom of the paramparā, starting from the magnificent
Six Gosvāmīs and on to the incredible personalities, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his son
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who taught us to erase the ugliness of atheism, impersonal-
ism, sahajiyism, and superficial religiosity, which leads nowhere.
You showed us how to recognize the false beauty of māyā and replace it with the real beauty of
Kṛṣṇa, how to free the mind from illusory thoughts and desires and replace them with spiritual
ones, how to laugh and cry for the soul and not the body, and how to remember transcendence
even in our dreams.
Another beautiful gift you gave us is our names. You gave each of us new names to call one
another so that we could remember our true origin and the bond that unites us.
You enhanced our talents. Everyone is talented, and you told us, “Whatever you can do, do it
for Kṛṣṇa.” In this way you enriched our lives. If we had not employed our talents in the service of
Kṛṣṇa we would have employed them in the service of unworthy masters and remained mediocre
individuals, as we were before we met you.
You made us look beautiful even if we weren’t. You made the girls look elegant by dressing
them in colorful saris, and you made the boys shine, with clean-shaven heads and faces, and
dressed in clean, bright clothes.
You promoted the Vedic arts, like dance and drama, gave us the musical Sanskrit language,
with its transcendental poems and melodies, showed us Vedic architecture, and many other artis-
tic aspects of life.
You made us understand that one must water the tree at its root – that is, if we want to serve
humanity, we must serve the Supreme Person.
By giving us prasāda, delicious food offered to Kṛṣṇa, which sustains us without violence, you
taught us to respect animals, to love cows in particular, and to feel responsible for preserving our
planet and taking care of it.
Until the very end, leaving your worn-out body, you taught us by your personal example how
not to fear death, focusing instead on the service of Kṛṣṇa and giving up false attachments.
You were an example of great power because even when you were physically incapacitated,
not only were you alert, but you were still productive. You continued giving gifts that would last
throughout time. That is power!
You went beyond the boundless to leave us a priceless legacy. Isn’t that the true meaning of a
friend and well-wisher? Is there anyone else who could have given us such an incredible array of
beautiful things? Are there any words to express gratitude for such an ocean of beauty? This and
so much more is Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Now it is up to us to maintain all this beauty and try to expand it.
Our most humble and respectful obeisances, dear teacher, father, friend, and benefactor.
Your servant,
Ali Krishna Devī Dāsī
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
I offer my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
In many wonderful ways you have worked to bestow the blessing of Kṛṣṇa consciousness upon the world, but perhaps your greatest contribution is the personal change you have brought about in the hearts of your disciples. Their joy and purity, their dedication and freedom from vices, are all evident in their lives, but the feeling of gratitude that each of them feels toward you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is practically inexpressible.
I therefore borrow the words of the great devotee Prahlāda, who prays thus: “My Lord, due to material desires I was falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the common people, but Your servant, Nārada Muni, my spiritual master, kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me on how to attain the transcendental position. Therefore my first duty is to serve him. How could I ever give up his service?” (Bhāgavatam 7.9.28)
You have actually saved your disciples from a cumbersome materialistic life, delivered them from the confusion of this world, and led them on the path to Kṛṣṇa. You have now left this world and returned to your original abode, but although you are no longer with us physically, you live eternally in your teachings, in the vast literature you have left us, in the movement you started, and in the memory of your personal example, an immaculate example of uninterrupted dedication to your master, to the masters who preceded him, and to the Supreme Lord in His various forms as you have taught us to worship Them.
I could compare your books to jewels, which you have given as a testimony of love to your disciples and followers in particular and to the whole world in general, and now that we have them in our hands, how could we not feel rich, poor wretches that we were? Now we can show these jewels to everyone; and we can also show how they have the power to change us: not partially, but they transform us radically in all kinds of habits. These are not hidden changes, but visible ones that everyone can observe.
From the pages of these books, in which you invested most of your life, working tirelessly for endless hours each day and night for months and years, one can perceive the full strength of your devotion to your spiritual master and your firm will to save this confused world, where people do not know where they come from or where they are going. I know that while reading your books, many people feel with every page the sense of heaviness that oppresses them vanishing and a feeling of light and cheerful hope taking over. I think they glimpse, at the end of the dark tunnel of material problems, the light of a new life filled with transcendental experiences.
You once said, “If I could make just one pure devotee, I could consider my mission a success!” But see how many pure devotees you have made! And see how many you are still making! We can’t even imagine how many more you will make in the future! As I look around, I see your disciples who have dedicated their lives to your mission, all now elderly, and I see so much devotion reflected in their services, all extraordinary, all wonderful. Then I see new faces – boys and girls who are putting all their youthful enthusiasm and vigor into continuing to expand your work to make this branch of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s tree, called ISKCON, even more luxuriant so it can bear unlimited quantities of good fruits in the form of good examples, beautiful preaching, excellent care of the temples and Deities, so dear to all of us, and so on, just to name a few.
I conclude by borrowing another phrase, this time from a very great devotee of Mahāprabhu and author of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, who at the end of his work expresses himself with great humility: “The sky is unlimited, and many birds fly higher and higher according to their own abilities.” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya 20.79)
One can speak or write only to the extent that one’s intelligence and spiritual realization allow. Kṛṣṇa’s personality is unlimited, as are His names, forms, qualities, and pastimes, but I am certainly not an eagle soaring above the Himalayan peaks at 30,000 feet; I am a mere sparrow who can only fly among the branches of trees. Thus I am not the most suitable person to glorify the unlimited qualities of Kṛṣṇa and His bona fide representative. There are many other devotees capable of soaring to such heights and composing hymns for your glory. However, in my own small way, I nurture a strong desire to look out at this infinite sky, praying that your benevolent gaze will fall upon me too and grant me the strength to always give my best, under any circumstances.
Your servant,
Ali Kṛṣṇa Devī Dāsī
On behalf of the devotees at ISKCON Bergamo
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear 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
We offer our 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.
Our respectful obeisances unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvati Goswami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
Please accept our humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace and your mission to save the world! On this most auspicious day, we want to offer our most heartfelt gratitude to you for creating this wonderful house we can all live in.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in order to carry out your spiritual master’s instructions and to introduce the fallen souls in the Western world to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, at the advanced age of 69 years you sailed for America aboard the steamship Jaladuta on Friday, August 13, 1965, leaving at 9:00 a.m. Despite experiencing seasickness, dizziness, vomiting, and suffering two heart attacks, you were determined to carry out the mission. You felt, “If a third comes, I will not survive!” That night in a dream, the Lord appeared to you in a boat full of many incarnations and assured you, the dedicated mendicant, that He would protect you.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa was very kind to Your Divine Grace. In your diary you wrote, “If the Atlantic would have shown its usual face, perhaps I would have died. But Lord Kṛṣṇa has taken charge of the ship.”
Starting with the most basic principle – how to become a civilized human being – you have laid out the clear path to happiness and fulfillment in this life, the next life, and ultimately, for eternity. All we have to do to succeed is take up your instructions.
To define what it means to be civilized, you told a story about how Gandhiji came to England for “round-table discussions.” To impress him, the hosts gave him a tour of London – Big Ben, the House of Commons, Buckingham Palace, and other places. At the end of it, they asked him, “So, Gandhiji, what do you think of Western civilization?” Gandhiji replied, “It will be a good idea.” In other words, it was not simply the ability to stack up stones that made one cultured, but rather a person’s character and a society’s ethos and aspirations that were a real measure of civilization.
We value how much you have emphasized character, integrity, and honesty. Of the many thousands of verses you translated and commented upon, Bhagavad-gītā 2.41 is a very special instruction to us:
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru–nandana
bahu–śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām
Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.
Bhaktivedanta Manor owes its entire existence and offering to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You had the vision of having a large temple in London, and you inspired Dhanañjaya Prabhu to look for the building, then George Harrison to buy the building, where you then mercifully installed and welcomed our most beautiful Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gokulānanda, the objects of our worship. By your blessings we have a come a long way to develop Bhaktivedanta Manor as a place of worship for the wider community. We have a vibrant, growing congregation.
We have a goshala, where our cows and oxen are cared for, loved, and in reciprocation, who serve Rādhā-Gokulānanda by giving their milk. One of the loveliest sights is when we let the cows out in the spring. The excitement on their faces has no parallel. We just had this event a week ago.
We now have a haveli building of 2,200 square meters onsite, which has become very useful for our programs and functions. Here we can accommodate much larger numbers of devotees than ever before. We also have weddings there, where couples can take Their Lordship’s blessings. The haveli has allowed us to make our offering to the community bigger, better, and brighter.
We have very special offerings of festivals. Janmāṣṭamī alone attracts in excess of 50,000 visitors over two days. These guests take darshan and celebrate the birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa with us.
We continue our primary focus on spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness as you taught us, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Our saṅkīrtana program is vibrant, strong, and effective in distributing your books.
Bhaktivedanta Manor has a thriving educational arm called School of Bhakti (SOB), which runs courses at different levels both online and in person. Thousands of participants take advantage of the spiritual knowledge being delivered through these courses. SOB also organizes spiritual retreats, which are very popular and educational.
We have a large army of volunteers who want to serve Their Lordships, and during Janmāṣṭamī alone, we have in excess of 1,500 volunteers serving the visitors to make their experience of coming to the Manor and experiencing the glorious birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa memorable.
We are embarking on producing a master plan for the next fifty years, including constructing a new temple, as you once mentioned. This is an extensive project which will comprise many smaller, subprojects, and with your blessings, it will become a reality.
During the 1950s, before you went to the USA, while translating the Bhagavad-gītā you were struck in a special way by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s commentary on verse 2.41. You later told your disciples that this commentary fixed you in your resolve to follow Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s order to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in English.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura writes: “Of all kinds of intelligence, the best is intelligence focused on bhakti-yoga. In bhakti-yoga, one’s intelligence becomes single-pointed or fixed in determination. One thinks, ‘The instructions of my spiritual master to worship the Personality of Godhead by chanting, remembering, serving His feet, and so on are my only sādhana, my only sādhya, my only livelihood. I am incapable of giving up these instructions either in the stage of practice or in the stage of perfection. They alone are my object of desire and my only responsibility. Besides them, I can desire no other responsibility, not even in my dreams. It is all the same whether I feel happy or unhappy or whether my material existence is eradicated or not.
In the same way that this commentary fixed your intelligence on following the instructions of your spiritual master, it should also inspire us to be fixed in following your instructions. We read and follow your instructions as you have left them in your letters, conversations, and books.
Once you were giving a talk in which you said that in order to go back home, back to Godhead, one must be cent percent pure, cent percent free of material desires and attachments. When you saw that the devotees were discouraged, you said “All right, 90 percent pure.” Still, they were dejected. Then you said, “All right, 80 percent. Still, they were crestfallen. Then you said “All right, 75 percent – but no less.” After the talk, you commented, “If you just hold on to my lotus feet, I will take you back to Godhead. I have the key to the back door.”
You are so merciful to us, and our only hope is to be able to hold on to your lotus feet in the form of your instructions and carry them out to the best of our ability. Once, you said, “Your qualification is that I give an instruction and you try to follow it.” And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that is our only hope, too.
We very fondly cherish your pastimes at the Manor and your love for Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gokulānanda, Rāma-Sītā-Lakṣmaṇa-Hanumān, and Gaura-Nitāi. One evening at Bhaktivedanta Manor, you were sitting in your room with your disciples and a few guests, including a woman reporter, who had come to interview Your Divine Grace. Despite the chilly English summer weather, the reporter was dressed in a scanty mini skirt. Her first few questions revealed her skeptical, almost cynical attitude, toward the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. As usual, you coolly and expertly answered her questions. Somewhat exasperated and in a challenging mood, she brought up the old question, “Why do you people have bald heads?” You immediately retorted, “Why do you have bare legs?” She was speechless. You then offered, “Better to have warm legs and a cool head.” Everyone, including the reporter, laughed with delight. You added, “You must have a cool head to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy.”
We, of course, in the execution of our service commit many mistakes. But we know that Kṛṣṇa’s and His devotees’ mercy are greater than His laws. You write in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 15.163, purport): “A Vaiṣṇava is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue the conditioned souls from material existence.” Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura demonstrates universal love for he was willing to sacrifice everything and fully engage in the service of the Supreme Lord.” We also know that Lord Kṛṣṇa forgave Pūtanā and in fact liberated her despite her intention to kill Him. Clearly, His mercy is greater than His law.
In your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.16 you state: “The expert devotees also can discover novel ways and means to convert the nondevotees in terms of particular time and circumstance. Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the materialistic population. Such transcendental activities of the devotees for the service of the Lord can bring a new order of life to the foolish society of materialistic men. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His subsequent followers exhibited expert dexterity in this connection. By following the same method, one can bring the materialistic men of this age of quarrel into order for peaceful life and transcendental realization.”
We have no qualifications to be in this position of being able to serve devotees. But due to His inconceivable humor of the Lord and your mercy, we have been placed in this position.
yogyatā-vicāre, kichu nāhi pāi,
tomāra karuṇā – sāra
karuṇā nā hoile, kāndiyā kāndiyā,
prāṇa nā rākhibo āra
If you examine me, you will find no good qualities. Your mercy is all that I am made up of. If you are not merciful unto me, I can only weep, and I will not be able to maintain my life.
All we have, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is Kṛṣṇa’s mercy and your mercy to allow us to serve.
We very much value your instructions to His Holiness Giriraj Swami about intelligence and organization as means to continue the mission. On 2 January 1973, in a letter to Haṁsadūta Dāsa, you wrote, “Occupational duty means to stick with one type of occupation which is just suitable for me, considering that it is my duty, therefore I am throughout my life obliged to perform it to the best of my ability. This is mature understanding of occupation. That means I must not leave it even for the so-called good cause, just like Arjuna wanted to stop his fighting activity just to avoid killing of so many of his kinsmen, cousin brothers and other friends. So we are preachers on behalf of Lord Krishna, that is our occupational duty, we haven’t got to search any further some new challenge or change our environment. No, that has already been set up. Now best thing will be to develop more and more what we have begun. I have built the skeleton of the building, but there is so much work remaining before us.… You needn’t look further to find some big challenge. The challenge is very near at hand.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you built the skeleton of the building and your disciples, granddisciples, and aspiring granddisciples are still working on finishing the outside and inside of this colossal structure.
We, the devotees at the Bhaktivedanta Manor, will continue to serve Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gokulānanda, Rāma-Sītā-Lakṣmaṇa-Hanumān, and Gaura-Nitāi by your blessings and under your instructions.
Your insignificant and aspiring servants,
The devotees at Bhaktivedanta Manor
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
Over half a century has now passed since, due to the desire of Your Divine Grace, His Grace
Śrīmān George Harrison Prabhu gave us Bhaktivedanta Manor.
The devotees moved into the Manor on Tuesday May 1, 1973. As soon as Your Divine Grace had
been informed that we now had proprietorship of the estate, you immediately wanted to travel to
your Bhaktivedanta Manor. Hence, on Wednesday, May 23, 1973, you appeared at the Manor most
majestically, your helicopter landing on the front lawn. You remained here for over four months.
And now after almost fifty-two years, there has been tremendous growth, expansion, and devel-
opment. As we come down Dharam Marg after entering through the grand main gates on the left,
we observe the horticultural fields, where we engage our WWOOFers. This initiative has, over
the years, made many devotees. Thereafter, we see our kalpa-vṛkṣa cows. We take darshan of them
as they happily graze upon the evergreen fresh grass fields. Dharam Marg itself is 802 metres
in length, servicing and welcoming all Vaiṣṇava devotees and pilgrims alike. Halfway down, we
begin to observe the New Gokula Goshala, which is our “Hilton for Gomata” with its substantial
barns. We then come to the japa garden on the right, which is perfect for encouraging devotees
to chant japa. From there we can see the children’s playground, the main feature being Aghāsura,
where the children are so very happily playing.
We then turn left and are now right in front of the Sri Krishna Haveli facility building, which
has a footprint of just over two thousand square metres. The two magnificent tulasī greenhouses
and the tulasī gardens are most beautifully prominent as we enter the north carpark. At the top of
the old driveway toward the right is our George Harrison Garden. Next to it is the elegant garden
dedicated to Your Divine Grace. This then takes us around the lake, with its boathouse – at which
point we can take full darshan of Bhaktivedanta Manor, home of Their Supreme Lordships. We
end by entering the south carpark.
All this and much more you have so kindly given us, Śrīla Prabhupāda. To have an estate
consisting of 80 acres within the London area is indeed remarkable. To my knowledge, no other
religious institution has such a thing.
On behalf of all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of Rādhā-Gokulānanda, we are indeed most very grate-
ful and indebted to Their Supreme Lordships and to Your Divine Grace for providing so much
facility.
However, we wish to increase and expand further and further, so within the next two years, by
the time of your fiftieth tirobhāva celebrations, we will have revealed our plans, and so we sincerely
pray to Your Divine Grace for more and more facility in order to expand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Your eternal servant,
Nīla Mādhava Dāsa, managing director of ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor
Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2025
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
You provided fallen conditioned souls the opportunity to go back to Godhead by giving the
holy names and the sublime process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You are the fountainhead for fulfill-
ing the prophecy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma, sarvatra pracāra
haibe mora nāma – “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.”
On this auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we express our heartfelt gratitude to you and
humbly report our performance over the past year, at your lotus feet.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you taught us the importance of building temples. Once, you were ques-
tioned about your desire to build new temples when so many already existing ones lay neglected,
abandoned, and in disrepair. Your response was illuminating: “Just as parents desire to have their
own offspring even while so many children are in need of adoption, we too long to have our own
temples.”
Your Divine Grace will be pleased to know that a new ISKCON temple project is underway
in Panvel, Navi Mumbai. It is a two-hour drive from your beloved Hare Krishna Land in Juhu.
This land has been registered in ISKCON’s name, and the construction of this new temple will
commence soon. Also, three plots of land adjacent to our ISKCON Bhiwandi temple have been
acquired, and we are working toward expanding the existing temple building along with the
preaching activities, which are so dear to you. Please bless these endeavors and empower us to
succeed.
You described festivals as “mothers of devotion.” In line with this mood, we are celebrating
all the major festivals in a grand manner, deepening visitors’ experience at the temple and thus
enhancing the community’s spirit. This has resulted in a significant increase in the number of visi-
tors to the temple. Visitors to ISKCON Bhiwandi have increased from two lakhs in 2023 to more
than 3.5 lakhs in 2024.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you told us that for the general masses, there should be harināma-saṅkīrtana
and prasādam distribution. Keeping your instructions in mind, we continue harināma-saṅkīrtana
and prasādam distribution daily. More than 1,000 plates of prasādam are distributed daily in the
Bhiwandi area. In 2024, a total of 1.18 lakhs of mahā-big books were distributed.
Compared to your magnanimous activities, our report is insignificantly tiny. You were asked
at various places during your travels around the world if you could perform miracles, to which
you replied that your true miracle was your devotees – referring to the miracle of transforming
people’s hearts. Those who were considered mlecchas became Vaiṣṇavas, and hippies turned into
happies. If that wasn’t a miracle, then what was! Your life is tangible proof of a spiritual miracle
that defied all odds to serve Kṛṣṇa without a tinge of selfishness.
Long before the modern concept of globalization became popular, you were already a global
ācārya, bringing the wisdom of the East to the hearts of the West, straightforward philosophical
discourses without any compromise, all for the glory of Kṛṣṇa. You circled the globe fourteen
times, established 108 temples as spiritual oases in the deserts of the material world, as you like
to call it, and overcame financial struggles, legal battles, and opposition from local authorities,
resistance from rigid communities of different faiths, and triumphed over Māyāvāda philosophers.
You launched an array of spiritual welfare projects, authored volumes of transcendental books,
and created a publishing empire. You made genuine spirituality practical and accessible to one
and all, without discrimination.
No amount of social commentary, historical analysis, or anthropological speculation can fully
explain the magnitude of your extraordinary achievements. Śrīla Prabhupāda, your message
transcends the limitations of time and space, speaking to us even today. Your life and teachings
remain the main pillar of strength, inspiration, and a guiding light for members of the Interna-
tional Society for Krishna Consciousness.
On this most auspicious occasion of your appearance day, we feel greatly indebted to you. We
humbly seek your blessings to continue serving your mission enthusiastically and fulfilling your
instructions to the best of our capacity. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your insignificant servant,
Narottama Priya Dāsa
On behalf of the devotees at ISKCON Bhiwandi
