Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, 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
Śrīla Prabhupāda, this Vyāsa-pūjā is the most wonderful opportunity bestowed upon a living entity to glorify a dear devotee of the Lord like Your Divine Grace and so perfect his existence. What to speak of any conditioned soul, even Lord Kṛṣṇa loves to glorify His loving devotees. Recently, I came across excerpts from a letter by His Holiness Giriraj Swami to His Holiness Satsvarūpa Mahārāja, dated 20 August 1985:
I had the realization that Krishna is spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world just to glorify Srila Prabhupada. We are doing so little actually, but by Krishna’s grace, that little effort is producing such big results. Why? My realization is that it is only because Krishna wants to glorify Srila Prabhupada, His pure devotee. He is making everything so wonderful and so successful. Krishna is even making us wonderful, us mlecchas and yavanas, just to glorify Srila Prabhupada. And why is Krishna acting only to glorify Srila Prabhupada? Because Srila Prabhupada had no desire other than to glorify Krishna. Reciprocally, at least in terms of the Krishna consciousness movement in this material world (earth) Krishna has no desire other than to glorify Srila Prabhupada – and why? – because Srila Prabhupada had no desire other than to glorify Sri Krishna.
Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have no other desire than to glorify Kṛṣṇa. This you demonstrated to the whole world by your tireless dedicated efforts. You underwent so many difficulties and tribulations to establish this society single-handedly around the globe, a task unthinkable for any normal living entity. Surely you are an empowered associate of the Lord sent to this material world for fulfilling the mission of Kṛṣṇa.
In your purport to Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.14–15, you very aptly described the situation of a nitya-mukta jīva like Your Divine Grace:
Sometimes an ever-liberated personal associate of the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends into this universe just as the Lord descends. Although working for the liberation of conditioned souls, the messenger of the Supreme Lord remains untouched by the material energy. Generally ever-liberated personalities live in the spiritual world as associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and they are known as kṛṣṇa-pāriṣada, associates of the Lord. Their only business is enjoying Lord Kṛṣṇa’s company, and even though such eternally liberated persons come within this material world to serve the Lord’s purpose, they enjoy Lord Kṛṣṇa’s company without stoppage. The ever-liberated person who works on Kṛṣṇa’s behalf enjoys Lord Kṛṣṇa’s company through his engagement. [Emphasis added]
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are truly the eternal well wisher of conditioned souls. You are like a perfect physician treating the bhava-roga of all conditioned souls through your books, lectures, mūrtis, disciples, and granddisciples. Sometimes you cried to think how the living entities were suffering in this world. So many people daily visit your temples throughout the world, bow down before you, offer their obeisances to you, pray before you, and receive wonderful reciprocations from Your Divine Grace.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are so merciful, and I am so fortunate to be having the divine shelter of your lotus feet. Still, due to my impudence and false ego, I maintain all kinds of dirty desires to enjoy in this material world. I sincerely pray that as much attachment as I now have for worldly affairs, a similar degree of attachment may develop for your holy feet. I pray that my love for you may remain undisturbed both in misfortune and in prosperity, and that day after day it may increase by the power and influence of your holy name.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please bless me so that I can dive deeply into your purports. Kindly reveal these divine purports in my heart so that I can also preach vigorously, selflessly, without being concerned about my little, little comforts.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your very dear disciple, His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami, mercifully accepted me as his disciple. Two years ago, he departed from this world to join Your Divine Grace in the eternal preaching mission. In his absence, many responsibilities have come upon us. He desired that I accept sannyāsa and take on greater service in your mission. Although I am completely unqualified, I followed his instruction and applied. This year, on his second disappearance day, I was awarded the sannyāsa order by your dear disciple, His Holiness Guru Prasad Swami. He gave me the name Bhaktivedānta Rukmiṇī Kṛṣṇa Goswami. Śrīla Prabhupāda, I feel deeply fortunate to carry Your Divine Grace’s name, though I am entirely unworthy. I am fully dependent on your causeless mercy.
Please always keep me under the shelter of your lotus feet and never reject me. Kindly empower me so that I may boldly preach the mission of Lord Caitanya, strictly following the principles and teachings given by Your Divine Grace.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, kī jaya!
Your insignificant servant,
Bhaktivedānta Rukmiṇī Kṛṣṇa Goswami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2025
Dear 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
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
My dear king, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality
about this age: simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can become free
from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.
The chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, the mahā-mantra, is that bright light that dispels the all-
pervading ignorance (darkness) in this Age of Kali. Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have taken Kṛṣṇa’s
holy name around the globe.
After five thousand years My mantra-upāsaka [worshiper of the holy name] will appear in
this world and spread the chanting of My holy name everywhere. (Lord Kṛṣṇa to Gaṅgā
Devī, Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa 4.129.50–51)
Even if the sinners reject religion or flee to foreign countries, I will send mor senāpati-
bhakta [My military field commander] to go there and deliver them. (Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu to Nārada Muni, Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, Sūtra-khaṇḍa, song 12, texts 564–65)
A personality will soon appear in order to preach the teachings of Śrī Caitanya and move
unrestrictedly over the whole world with His message. (Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura,
Sajjana-toṣaṇī, circa 1885)
Taking the teachings of Lord Caitanya and focusing on the essence of bringing the chanting of
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, a spiritual revolution is continuing to engulf the lives of millions
of living entities worldwide. Regarding the holy name for your followers, you taught us what was
your most important instruction: “Out of all my instructions to my disciples, my most important
one is to every day chant sixteen rounds of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra on beads.”
We find innumerable śāstric statements on the supreme glories of the holy name.
nāma-yajño mahāyajñaḥ kalau kalmaṣa-nāśanam
kṛṣṇa-caitanya-prityarthe nāma-yajña-samarpaṇam
The sacrifice of the name is the highest yajña, which destroys the contamination of Kali-
yuga. In order to please Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, I offer this sacrifice of the
holy name.
There is no vow like chanting the holy name, no knowledge superior to it, no meditation which
comes anywhere near it, and it gives the highest result. No penance is equal to it, and nothing
is as potent or powerful as the holy name. Chanting is the greatest act of piety and the supreme
refuge. Even the words of the Vedas do not possess sufficient power to describe its magnitude.
Chanting is the highest path to liberation, peace, and eternal life. It’s the pinnacle of devotion,
the heart’s joyous proclivity and attraction, and the best form of remembrance of the Supreme
Lord. The holy name has appeared solely for the benefit of the living entities as their lord and
master, their supreme worshipful object, and their spiritual guide and mentor. Whoever continu-
ously chants Lord Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, even in his sleep, can easily realize that the name is a direct
manifestation of Kṛṣṇa Himself, in spite of the influences of Kali-yuga.
There is no knowledge as pure as the name; there is no vow as powerful as the name.
There is no meditation more effective than the name, nor is there any fruit greater than
that attained by the name. There is no greater renunciation than the name; there is no
greater peace than the name. In this world there is no greater pious activity than taking
the name, nor is there any quicker progress than in the name. The name is the highest
liberation, the highest freedom, the highest destination, the highest peace, the point of
no more searching. The name is the highest devotion, the name is the purest inclination
of the jīva, the name is the highest love, and direct remembrance of the Lord. The name
is the cause of all causes, the Supreme Lord, most worshipable, and is a form of guru to
bring one to the Lord. (Spoken by Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura, excerpted from Śrīla Bhakti-
vinoda Ṭhākura’s Harināma Cintāmaṇi)
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.33.7 states:
aho bata svapāco ’to gariyān
yaj-jihvāgre vartate nāma tubhyam
tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ sasnur āryā
brahmānūcur nāma gṛṇanti ye te
“Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the
families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your
Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good
manners of the Āryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at
holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas, and fulfilled everything required.”
In the Kali-sāntarana Upaniṣad Lord Brahmā says:
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
iti ṣoḍaśakam nāmnām kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanam
parataropāyah sarva-vedesu dṛśyate
“After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion more sub-
lime for this age than the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have ignited a spiritual revolution of devotion to the Supreme Lord,
and these holy names of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are driving that fire of devotion to all corners of the
globe. We are hearing that people everywhere are accepting this great chanting, becoming happy,
and are deriving freedom from material suffering.
enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi’
hari-nāma-mahā-mantra lao tumi magi’
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have brought that medicine of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name that is awakening all the
sleeping living entities who are asleep in the lap of ignorance of who they are and the actual goal
of life.
Falling at your lotus feet, begging to develop the strong desire to chant more and more and to
spread this mercy for the benefit of the suffering living entities.
Your happy servant,
Candramauli Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has opened my eyes, blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge.
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 Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.
A bright light within the dense darkness of chasing illusionary happiness became the cause of our ultimate good fortune. As the pure devotee representative of the compassionate Supreme Personality of Godhead, you brought hope for a better life along with a halt to our aimless wanderings, which were filled with despair and disappointment. You gave us what we unknowingly were looking for in life: the happiness of service to the Lord of all the Worlds, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Your words about the real purpose of human life carried hope for something better, something sublime, and came in the form of sacred books, spiritual discourses, and instructive lessons on the nature of the Absolute Truth and our eternal relationship with Him. It cut through our ignorance about life’s purpose, lifting our hearts up and as refreshing as a discovery of crystal-clear water is to a weary desert traveler. These words nourished our mind and gave life to our soul while cutting away the ignorance accumulated for countless births in a seemingly never ceasing cycle of birth and death.
Those who heard your words, filled with deep realizations of how to achieve the ultimate goal while simultaneously dismissing any idea for happiness and success other than devotional service to the Lord of our life, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, were most fortunate.
Contrarily were those who received your message, yet could not understand or take advantage of these immortal words. These persons are compared to children who, being immersed in play, were unable to take advantage of their loving mother who is calling them to enjoy a nourishing, tasty meal. Most unfortunate. For the doubting soul there is neither happiness in this life nor in the next.
Even more unfortunate are those who rejected your instructions, benevolent guidance, and words of transcendental knowledge and were eager to broadcast their ignorance openly. Like having come across a great treasure and seeing it as broken pieces of glass.
Yet those who continuously hear your words filled with realization of the Absolute Truth and adopt them as the guide in life and their ultimate treasure are most fortunate, for they will receive the full mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and qualify to again receive your divine association never ending.
I sincerely pray that every conditioned soul will have the opportunity to come in contact with your immortal teachings filled with love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa and make their lives perfect.
With your mercy what is the use of others’? And without your mercy what is the use of others’? For your mercy enclosed in your divine words is the means to achieve life’s ultimate goal, premā-pum-artho mahān – love of God.
We are eternally indebted – eager to try to repay the unrepayable gift of eternal life, knowledge, and bliss.
Your eternally grateful disciple,
Candramauli Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
Before you, I did not exist, Prabhupāda! And the more I searched for myself, the more I became lost. The longing to possess myself made me ill. It was necessary, therefore, to give myself up, to flee from myself, in order to find the true cure in you.
Whatever Kṛṣṇa consciousness exists in me is because you are Prabhupāda! In me, no Kṛṣṇa consciousness could exist if you were not Prabhupāda! I, the devotee, might not exist, but you, Prabhupāda, would never cease to be Prabhupāda!
You are an ocean of mercy, while I am only a microscopic island trying to emerge from the ocean of birth and death. From the deep waters of my ignorance, you lifted me, yet I remain afraid, for I am still in danger. If your potency were to cease holding me above the sinister waters of my own ego, then at that very moment I would fall again into the darkest abyss of existence.
Therefore, I think of you today and always, Prabhupāda.
And the more I do so, the more I forget this fictitious and ephemeral character that covers my soul. The closer I come to your immense fullness, the more I divorce myself from myself – from this fragile and petty emptiness that bears my name. For this reason, I think of you today and always, Prabhupāda. And in doing so, I come closer to my true self. To be with you, Prabhupāda, is the only way to glimpse the possibility of being with myself.
Therefore, I think of you today and always, Prabhupāda.
And the more I do so, the more your gigantic and immaculate reality rises before me. Then this microscopic speck that I mistakenly call “I,” which lives lost in the mists on the horizon of māyā, ceases to torment me.
Therefore, I think of you today and always, Prabhupāda.
And the more I do so, the more I am healed. I understand that revolving around myself – around my small and great grievances – makes me sick, petty, dissatisfied with myself, and therefore with all men. And so I pray to you, Prabhupāda. I pray that your tangential force may seize me ever more, and that, like a rapturous cyclone, it may hurl me into your world – the heroic world of your joyful tempests – where to live, to work, to suffer, to struggle, and to die is sweeter than honey.
Outside of you there is no salvation for me. Therefore I pray: sustain me, strengthen me with your power, illumine me with your light, warm me with your heat, overwhelm me with your infinite happiness, and place me in harmony with the sweet poetry of life. This ineffable poetry is you and your adorable Lord. You are the great dawn after the cold nights of my heart. You are the smiling rainbow above the deluges of my tears. You are the hymn of peace in the midst of the battlefields within me.
Your eternal servant,
Candramukha Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2025
Dear 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
For many years I tried to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. I knew that it was the main pillar of our purification.
I had heard many classes on improving the quality of chanting. I have even given many classes on
the importance of chanting and why perfection of chanting is so important. However, from the
very day of my joining the temple in Berkeley, and later being initiated, the process of chanting
with attention seemed beyond my grasp.
There is always so much service to do. A true Kṛṣṇa conscious day is at least thirty-six hours
long. Everything has to fit in there somewhere. There are devotees monitoring our progress and
accomplishments. “Did you make it to maṅgala-ārati?” “Are all the dishes washed?” “I didn’t see
you in Bhāgavatam class.” “What was your book score?” “How much lakṣmī did you bring in?” On
and on it goes. “We need volunteers for cut-up in the kitchen.”
We know that to follow the rules that you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, laid down is not easy, and there
seem to be something upward of ten thousand of them. After a while we learn which ones we are
measured by, at least by our authorities. Rarely do they ask, “How is your chanting?” Yes, once
every year or six, some leader may ask about our chanting, but all we have to do is mumble an
“OK” or “Pretty good” and that will be that. Luckily, there is no evidence. Heh, heh. No one can
check your chanting. We are safe there. So much rot underneath the floorboards.
The strange thing is that chanting is said to be an indicator of our spiritual health and to count
for 90 percent of our progress. That idea is always there, and that idea kept bumping around in
the back of my mind like a loose pop can in the back of a traveling van.
It is possible to just read Bhāgavatam and think, One day, I will magically develop an attrac-
tion. Or we can joke about how attraction will come in one million births, and actually, that is
pretty soon, when compared to eternity.
I always seemed to be “trying to get through my rounds.” Just trying to get through them. For
me, success was completing my allotted sixteen. The mind never stays still, never!
When I was a young devotee, I told myself that later, when I get some devotional service under
my belt, when I become advanced, I will surely, by that time, be able to chant better. Someday it
will improve. Someday never comes, as the song goes. When you get into your sixties, or worse
yet, your seventies, you start thinking, “When is this magic moment going to happen?” And then
it dawns on you: Unless you make some change in your life, unless you make it happen, it ain’t
gonna happen.
It is an interesting thing that the process of bringing the consciousness to focus on Kṛṣṇa in
His holy name can be so taxing, so laborious. Why should that be? Will it always be that way?
Here, I am speaking for myself. I have no way of knowing what is going on in other devotees’
minds and hearts. Sometimes it feels as if my head will break open with one more mantra. This is
proof positive that I don’t love Kṛṣṇa, not even a little bit. Yet I am engaged in devotional service
and have “to some percentage” been engaging in that service for more than forty years. There
must be some kind of attraction there.
If I increase the quality of my chanting, no one is going to know, no one is going to ask –
except maybe Ādi Puruṣa and Mithuna. Well, there are two on my team. Well, then how in the
blue blazes can japa be upgraded? How can I really chant with more focus?
Here is what I did. Your mileage may vary.
First, I prayed to the Deities that They would help me to chant better. I tried many small strate-
gies that were recommended by other devotees. I found that some of these strategies didn’t work,
at least for me. I believe that perfecting japa is a personal path. What works for one, might not
work for others. Personally, I never sit down while chanting; it never works for me – I am off to
dreamland in moments. My body is too MOI (mode of ignorance). Heck, I have even struggled
to stop nodding while walking at a good clip, what to speak of being a “Lotus Podder.”
I try to find very, very boring places to chant so I won’t be distracted. Turning down the lights
helps me. I took to waking up early to chant, which seems to give me the spacious feeling that I
won’t be invaded by some imperative in the next second.
I tried to work at getting a good start. If the first few rounds are good, it sets the stage for the
entire sixteen. I have disabled all notifications on my cell phone. I heard a class by Ravīndra
Svarūpa Prabhu about how Śrīla Prabhupāda once said that you should just try to hear yourself
sincerely chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Somehow, that simple statement meant something to me. It spoke
to me.
Chanting is like riding an ocean wave. It is easy to fall off and, as surfers say, “Eat the bottom.”
Another statement that speaks to me is, “Imagine you are talking to Kṛṣṇa.” Kṛṣṇa is personally
present on your tongue. I am speaking to Him, asking Him to hear my mantras.
I came across the interesting realization that one of the reasons that my mind was so active and
preoccupied during japa is because I am planning some type of “service,” and I hope, then, that
that “service” will make me outstanding in the society of devotees. Like the Supersoul, my false
ego is also my constant companion.
It is fair to say that my japa is way, way better than it used to be. See? See? You can make your
japa better by just wanting, praying, and working at it. Forty wasted years – well, can’t do any-
thing about that now.
In case you are wondering, no tears come to my eyes, or any of that really Haridāsa Ṭhākura
type stuff, but hey, my japa is way, way better than it was. That means a lot to me. Maybe, even,
one day I will become a real devotee or something. I will love Kṛṣṇa even more than pizza.
Imagine!
Your servant,
Candraśekhara Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, 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
I am not much, but I am all that I’ve got.
So let me serve you
So let me work with that
As I am now, let me continue …
The more I go forward, the farther back I am revealed to be
The highest goal, is never close
What should anyone expect?
The heart is deep and restricted
Haunted by broken dreams of past images
All in a line they come to look at me
Like onlookers watch a baby monkey in a zoo
Hard to believe I really lived this life
Fleeting whack-a-doodle experiences hung on a wall
Like paintings in a gallery commissioned without an artistic theme
The heart is deep and restricted
It will not change soon
But I will not worry
This ad-hoc life will beat me on rocks
Like clothes slapped on the bank
Just one thing, let me focus on hearing Kṛṣṇa’s name
The heart is deep and restricted
Kṛṣṇa, I know now there is nowhere else to go
Even though I am nowhere right now
I have left all the familiar lighthouses
I have no regrets
Though Your lighthouse is dim
It is the only one in sight
The heart is deep and restricted
No use in wondering when it will dance
No use in wondering when it will dance
But dance it will, one fine day
I wanted to be great, but I am surely small
Take that, my dear ego
Just do my duty and walk forward one more day
Everything is scientifically arranged for me
The thorn and the rose
The heart is deep and restricted
I know it is in there somewhere
Though I have no real proof
Look, look, stupid mind!
See there are so many simply serving
Can’t you be like them?!
The heart is deep and restricted
If I could find it, I would surely give it to you
One day my heart will find me
And I will give it to you …
Your servant,
Candraśekhara Swami
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