Homages Other Sources, VP2025
Most dear and beloved 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 our respectful and humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace! We revel in
the dust of your lotus feet, finding our hearts’ true delight.
You once recounted how a priest, acting on his own accord, approached you and said,
“Swamiji, I see a brightness in the faces of your students. How have you created this brightness?”
(Room conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, Delhi, November 25, 1971).
We know precisely why: because you dwell in our minds. Indeed, you own our minds. That is
why your devotees now possess such “bright faces.” It is your brightness that shines through!
Through the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, you bound our hearts to your divine
self, enveloping us within your all-embracing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You reign supreme!
We cannot conceal our pride in having you as our lord and master. Through your transcenden-
tal bhāgavata books, saturated with pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you destroyed the lurking snares
of false rascal guides and ideas. You reversed our terrible and frightening descent into the darkest
regions of material existence, rescuing us from the most ruinous disaster.
When we hear your transcendental words – the only words we desire to hear – then we know
you are truly present. It is you speaking, not some mere imitation.
Your lotus feet are the sole shelter from all sorrows. By following in your footsteps, we become
free from Māyā’s torturous slavery.
We may desire to serve you, but we must ask ourselves: Do we deserve it? Are we truly sincere,
without ulterior motives, or are we merely pretending to be what we are not? The price to pay for
serving you is sincerity and the willingness to draw closer to Your Divine Grace, submitting to
your orders. Only then will your torch of enlightening knowledge dispel the darkness in which we
are sunk.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are truly divine and sublimely sweet. Please eradicate our deep illusion.
Merely being near Your Divine Grace and hearing your words ends our endless confusion. By
regularly serving Your Divine Grace and discarding any false conceptions of “I” and “mine” as
mere rubbish, we win the supreme prize: the realization that we are entirely your property, and
that without Your Divine Grace we are lost.
Most Beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda
Your mercy and grace brighten our face, since you dwell in our mind.
With Kṛṣṇa’s name, the sweet refrain, your love our hearts to bind.
We cannot hide that you’re our pride; you are our lord and master.
Cracking the crooks by your pure books, you saved us from disaster.
Your words profound, the only sound our ears desire to hear:
And then we know, not vainest show, our Prabhupāda is here.
Your lotus feet, Māyā’s defeat, sole shelter from all sorrow,
They grant us all freedom from thrall, if in their footprints we follow.
We long to serve. Do we deserve? This question we should ask.
Are we so real, with no conceal? Or do we wear a mask?
To be sincere and draw more near will be the price to pay.
Your torch of light, with knowledge bright, will chase the dark away.
You’re so divine, sweet, and sublime. Please smite our deep illusion.
To be near you, just hearing you, ends our endless confusion.
To serve with pace your Divine Grace, our all we count as dross,
And win the prize: just to realize that without you we are lost.
Beloved Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitāi, nothing occurs without Your supreme consent. Please allow us to
eternally remain inextricably absorbed in the remembrance of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Please shelter us
from Māyā’s forceful power of forgetfulness. Please, if that is also Your Lordships’ desire, let serv-
ing His Divine Grace’s lotus feet be the only reason for our existence and our sole aspiration life
after life.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are our life and soul! Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your menial and respectful servants at Radio Kṛṣṇa Centrale, Italy
(written by Narakantaka Dāsa)
Homages Other Sources, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
You have saved our lives.
You gave us festivals.
You gave us prasāda.
You gave us Gaura-Nitāi.
You gave us Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā.
You gave us the holy name.
You gave us harināma at the Plaza.
You gave us devotee association.
You gave us a perfect path.
You have saved our lives.
Please tell us, please guide us, please demand of us, please empower us to understand and execute Your order. What can we give to Your Divine Grace? What could we ever give to Your Divine Grace? How may we serve Your Divine Grace?
Your divine association is affording us the very rare opportunity to cross over the ocean of material existence.
We beg to smear the dust of your lotus feet upon ourselves. Please bless us with this opportunity again and again. Please never let us forget the unlimited ocean of mercy that is your soft heart of thunderous compassion. Please allow us to recruit and train more of your wayward associates. Please look kindly upon each and every one of us.
Your fledgling servants from the Rūpānuga Vedic College,
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Homages Other Sources, VP2025
Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
This 2025 is a very special year for us here in South Africa. It is this year that marks the fiftieth
anniversary of your arrival on our South African soil. The devotees are very excited, preparing
for grand events to honor your arrival in the month of October. Thus far, we have put together
themes for each month in order to glorify Your Divine Grace, honor your instructions, and create
awareness of your landmark visit to this country. The themes that have been selected are based on
our South African history, but they have been strategically placed to meet and reflect the teach-
ings of the Vedic scriptures. This in itself showcases the spirit of the ancient wisdom that you self-
lessly translated and traversed the globe to share.
The themes also show a significant part of our history that spotlights the injustices of apartheid,
segregation, and discrimination. It was during the heightened period of apartheid that you visited
South Africa – in 1975 – when the borders of our country were tightly locked to any affiliation
or collaboration between countries, especially those that scrutinized South Africa’s laws. The
country was governed by strict laws that enforced division between the people based on race, yet
your vision was bold enough to set the tone for the yātrā that developed in every province of such
a country. Today, we see that ISKCON has played some part in bringing harmony to the people
here. Your visit inspired celebration of the Festival of Chariots and the building of the magnificent
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhānātha Temple of Understanding in Durban, which celebrates forty years since
its grand opening this year.
As teams from across the nation unite with enthusiasm to celebrate this milestone year, we
humbly acknowledge that our plans will remain mere aspirations without your blessings to bring
them to life. Therefore we earnestly seek your guidance and mercy to empower the South Afri-
can devotees to generate the energy and momentum required to honor your legacy. May we be
inspired to commemorate your monumental contributions to this country and the global diaspora
in a manner befitting your divine mission.
This year, we are focusing on steady book distribution to disseminate your transcendental liter-
ature. We have active Monthly Saṅkīrtana Festivals in all the major temples in the country, where
devotees go out collectively on book distribution to different areas. There is still so much more
that can be done in this regard, and plans are underway to drive the book distribution scores up
even further. We have also taken to online platforms to make your books more easily available.
In the past year, South Africa distributed 3,787 copies of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is during the Live To
Give campaign, and 130 sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam during the Bhadra Pūrṇimā campaign.
Food-for-Life South Africa holds a firm place in the heart of the social development sector by
feeding people indiscriminately within our country. Plates of prasādam are distributed daily to
school children around the country. One of the key focus areas of Food-for-Life South Africa is
to establish kitchens across the country, and thus far, many areas have well-equipped facilities to
serve hundreds – in some cases, thousands – of plates of prasādam per day. Food-for-Life South
Africa has been consistently active during times of disaster, demonstrating remarkable dedication
by swiftly establishing teams to serve meals even in severe weather. Their ability to organize and
deliver meals within tight turnaround periods has been a vital part of their response to crises,
ensuring that those affected receive much-needed spiritual and physical nourishment in moments
of urgency. The teams go into both urban and rural areas with high-powered kīrtana to create a
warm and welcoming mood whilst prasādam is being served. Over the past year, Food-for-Life
South Africa has served 1.9 million plates of prasādam across the country.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you desired when you visited South Africa to celebrate Ratha-yātrā festivals.
Our Ratha-yātrā festivals are well established and take place in several provinces and in smaller
towns as well. These festivals are now a standing event on the calendar, and major cities have it
earmarked on their municipal calendar of events. Lord Jagannātha takes to the streets of many
cities and offers His darshan to the diverse population of South Africa. We aim to bring people
together under the umbrella of a social-cohesion fest. In this way we sing together, dance together,
feast together, and showcase the blissful life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The African Ratha-yātrā Alli-
ance assists in hosting fifteen Ratha-yātrā festivals across South Africa annually, and six in neigh-
boring African countries.
We are also pleased that many of our devotees are now serving the global yātrā in various
capacities. Just as you taught that training is essential, such training by senior ISKCON leaders
is underway, and South African devotees are now integrated into the global ISKCON space. This
brings a new dimension to the South African servant-leadership, as these devotees are not only
offering their service globally but also bringing back valuable knowledge and insights to South
Africa. Organized and demand-focused training is being established in South Africa, and we are
positive that it will lead to a better ISKCON home for everyone. This enhances continuous lead-
ership improvement within our preaching endeavors, always striving to do better in pleasing Your
Divine Grace.
South Africa will also have given the world two notable sannyāsīs by May of this year. They are
not only preaching in Africa but in the global space. This year, we welcome a homegrown sannyāsī.
This further enhances our preaching opportunities. Śrīla Prabhupāda, we offer our gratitude to
you for blessing us with such amazing devotees from this soil.
There is much more that can be done and still needs to be done to develop and enhance our
endeavors in spreading the holy names within the country. Although five decades have passed
since your visit, and inroads have been made to establish preaching centers and temples, there is
still so much groundwork to be navigated to honor you and spread the mission of Lord Caitanya
Mahāprabhu. It is in this mood that we pray at your lotus feet that you give us the intelligence,
strength, and guidance to take this mission to greater heights and to reach more of the people
of South Africa. A South Africa adage states, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: “A person is a person
through other people.” This denotes our interdependency. We indeed need kīrtana, meditation,
saṅga, and togetherness to heal from the division of our history and focus on unity, ultimately
remembering that we are all brothers and sisters in service to God, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. It is only through
your causeless mercy as the founder-ācārya of ISKCON. Therefore we again and again glorify you
so that we are able to make a positive difference and contribute meaningfully in our South Afri-
can landscape.
All glories, all glories, all glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda on his fiftieth landmark visit to South
Africa! We thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for giving us this opportunity to know Śrī Śrī Rādhā-
Kṛṣṇa and for setting the foundation for our ISKCON home, where the most wonderful devotees
of South Africa are found.
Your servants,
The devotees of South Africa
(written by Kṛśāṅgi Rādhe Devī Dāsī, Communications Minister for SA)
Homages Other Sources, VP2026
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our grateful obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
In 2018, the GBC’s Organizational Development Committee created SABHA (Spiritual Advisors Bhagavata Assembly) to strengthen unity among ISKCON’s spiritual leaders and provide checks and balances on the authority of the GBC. Your Divine Grace planted the seed for these purposes in March 1976, when you rejected several proposals the GBC had passed that greatly disturbed your Society’s temple presidents. Chastened by your action, on March 1, 1977, the GBC formally established a system of review for its decisions:
After the agenda has been completed, the Temple Presidents’ meeting will be held. If by a 2/3 majority the presidents vote any suggested amendments to the resolutions or make new resolutions, these will be referred back to the GBC, who will meet to vote on them, and that decision will be final. Śrīla Prabhupāda will then review these decisions for ultimate decision and/or approval.
As Your Divine Grace knew, your “ultimate decision and/or approval” would not be long for this world. Yet you liked the temple presidents’ review of the GBC’s resolutions and indicated that it could go on after your physical demise – which it did, until the number of ISKCON temples grew so large that it became impractical for all the presidents to meet and review the resolutions.
Inevitably, Your Divine Grace’s departure triggered many disagreements, which years before you had given the key to resolving: “If we keep Krishna in the center, then there will be agreement in varieties. This is called unity in diversity. I am therefore suggesting that all our men meet in Mayapur every year during the birth anniversary of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With all GBC and senior men present we should discuss how to make unity in diversity.” (Letter to Kirtanananda, 18 October 1973)
To achieve unity in diversity, SABHA offers the GBC an opportunity to hear from other qualified Vaiṣṇavas and tap their collective wisdom. SABHA can also suggest issues the GBC could consider for discussion or solution. Again, there is precedent for this during Your Divine Grace’s presence. A GBC resolution dated March 7, 1977, stated: “Concerning topics to be presented each year at the GBC meeting in Mayapur, the temple presidents should submit topics to their GBC representative 45 days prior to the meeting, and the GBC representatives will present those topics 30 days before the meeting to the three GBC officers” (today called the GBC Executive Committee).
Overall, SABHA collaboratively works with the GBC by reviewing and proposing legislation and by suggesting topics for discussion with the aim of improving the quality, legitimacy, and acceptance of GBC resolutions. SABHA adds value to ISKCON’s governance by offering sound śāstric advice and expressing the will of the constituencies they represent. Hence, the sacred duty of SABHA is to, together with the GBC, act as an instrument of Your Divine Grace’s transcendental will.
As an advisory body, SABHA cannot enact or implement any legislation independently. At the same time, we have the ear of the GBC, Śrīla Prabhupāda, ISKCON’s “ultimate managing authority,” who want to better understand the needs, interests, and concerns of your Society’s members. Indeed, it is only by communicating and cooperating – your final measure of our love for you – that we can give everyone the opportunity to know and love Kṛṣṇa.
As Your Divine Grace told the Rādhā-Dāmodara Saṅkīrtana Party in Mayapur: “It is simply by cooperation we can do very big thing. ‘United we stand; divided we fall’ … There is hope in our Society, combination. There are Hindus; there are Muslims; there are Christians; there are black, white. Combine them. That looks very beautiful, just like combination of many flowers … Each and every flower take alone, it is not beautiful, but when they are combined together, it looks very beautiful. It is attractive. And that is wanted.” (Room conversation, Mayapur, March 16, 1976)
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for guiding us and your sincere followers to find the cooperation we’ll need to please you and take Kṛṣṇa consciousness to every town and village.
Your grateful servants at SABHA
Homages Other Sources, VP2025
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to your worldwide
benevolence in spreading the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You are mercy personified, and
your kindness has been our guiding light for many years.
2024 has been another banner year for the TOVP under the able leadership of co-chairman
Braja Vilāsa Prabhu. In February, we witnessed the astonishing opening of the Narasiṁha wing of
the TOVP. Beautifully designed by Svāhā Devī Dāsī and Raṅgavatī Devī Dāsī, the gorgeous and
opulent new home for Narasiṁha and Prahlāda Mahārāja was opened amid great mystery and
grandeur. Many ISKCON leaders and global TOVP supporters joined in the festivities, which
were appropriate for welcoming the Lord to his new home.
Early in this year, 2025, the TOVP welcomed the opening of the Śrīla Prabhupāda Legacy
Museum. Many of your most intimate followers contributed memorabilia from your time spent
with you in the early days of ISKCON. Other displays show your most important contributions
to the world, such as your books and original Back to Godhead magazines, important historical
documents, and important memorabilia related to spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This will even-
tually become the largest museum for any single person in the history of mankind. Tours have
been going on continuously since the opening. Now whoever visits Māyāpur will see the story of
your deep love and commitment to the birthplace of Mahāprabhu.
Moving forward, construction is now focusing on the main wing and altar so that your
Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava and Pañca-tattva can be relocated into Their long-awaited new
home during a three-month-long grand opening celebration at the beginning of 2027. This will
be the climax of our endeavors to serve and fulfill your desire to “bring the people of the whole
world to Māyāpur,” although not the completion of the project, by any means.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and love to the many
TOVP supporters from around the world, and especially those who contributed treasured posses-
sions to the Legacy Museum. Without support from the worldwide devotee community, we could
not move this project forward for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pleasure. You are all making it happen! Śrīla
Prabhupāda is blessing you more and more.
With great affection, your servants,
Ambarīṣa Dāsa and the TOVP team
Homages Other Sources, VP2025
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
On this most auspicious day of Vyāsa-pūjā we celebrate your glories, personality, accomplish-
ments, and instructions (vāṇī). Through your mercy you have revealed to us your qualities that are
naturally inherent in an exalted spirit:
1. Kind to everyone, 2. Does not quarrel with anyone, 3. Fixed in the Absolute Truth, 4. Equal
to everyone, 5. Faultless, 6. Charitable, 7. Mild, 8. Clean, 9. Simple, 10. Benevolent, 11. Peace-
ful, 12. Completely attached to Kṛṣṇa, 13. Has no material hankerings, 14. Meek, 15. Steady, 16.
Self-controlled, 17. Does not eat more than required, 18. Sane, 19. Respectful, 20. Humble, 21.
Grave, 22. Compassionate, 23. Friendly, 24. Poetic, 25. Expert, 26. Silent.
Through your continued mercy, we are now able to release VedaBase 25. This update features
a significant amount of new, unique material, including 250 original Līlāmṛta interviews, which
highlight your personality and activities. This new VedaBase 25, for the first time, opens the
world to the English translations of your Hindi and Bengali instructions. 13,696 newly translated
records were added. We’d like to show some examples below of some enthralling new vāṇī:
Prabhupāda: That’s all. You simply become sorry and everything is finished. That’s all.
I do not know what to do. [break] … whatever you like. Whatever like, what can I do?
[Transl. Call that gentleman? Let me talk. You printed that in Bengali. Did you check
it with somebody, or you did it of your own?]
Bengali man: [Transl. I did of my own.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. It won’t be accepted if you do of your own.]
Bengali man: [Transl. Whatever I understood. Did I make a mistake?]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. You don’t understand anything. You don’t understand any-
thing – that is clear from your writing. You have written with your own motive. I
named it “Māyāpura Candrodaya,” and you have separated it by saying “Māyāpura-
sthita-Candrodaya.” Why?]
Bengali man: [Transl. What I can do? Whatever I understood I wrote.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. What right have you got to speak the way you understand?
Who has given you the right?]
Bengali man: [Transl. Please forgive my offense.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. Forgive my offense … but you don’t understand the harm you
have done. Why you have … We gave you, “Śrīmāyāpuracandrodaya,” and you have
written Śrīmāyāpura, and explained it also that “the moon is rising in Māyāpura.” We
named the Mandir “Māyāpuracandrodaya,” and you have changed the whole mean-
ing! You don’t understand anything, and he has written all these things against our
movement.]
Bengali man: [Transl. I didn’t say anything against! Did I say anything contrary?]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. This is contrary!]
Bengali man: [Transl. How is it contrary?]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. We said, Śrīmāyāpurcandrodaya, and you have changed it to
Śrī Māyāpur separate and Candrodaya separate, as if moon rising in Māyāpura. Who
gave you this idea? “Rām is not thief,” and you change it to “Rām is thief.” We named
it “Śrīmāyāpuracandrodaya,” and you changed it to Śrī Māyāpura [space] Candrodaya,
and he explained it like that. They all address me as “Prabhupāda,” which you didn’t.
You say “Viṣṇupāda.” Who told you? They all call me Prabhupāda.]
Bengali man: Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale –
Prabhupāda: [Transl. That’s all right. Whatever they say, whatever they call me in this
mandir you will also have to say that. Why do you say as you like? And why you write
like that about us, then? Nobody writes “Oṁ viṣṇupāda,” so why do you write?]
Bengali man: [Transl. I have some problem in my ears.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. So twist your ears strongly. This is not good. You are writing
about us, so until it is approved by us, how can you write? That’s all I am saying. You
have done it of your own, that’s good. But the path we are following, you set it aside
and you follow your own way. That is not good. Shouldn’t you print after checking
it with us? You printed so hurriedly without any permission! Here other bābājīs write
“Nitāi gaura rādhe śyāma hare kṛṣṇa hare rāma,” but we object it. This is also same like
that. Don’t we protest? But they say, we do what we think good. They may think it
as good, but we object it. In the same way, you may think it as good, but we have
objection.
What you have done is done, but don’t do such things in future. After writing you
must check it with us whether it is right or not. That is the proper way. Just like that
vipra from Bangladesh wrote something and wanted to show it to Mahāprabhu. But
Svarūpa Dāmodara said, “No, this is useless!” Never print anything whimsically.
When we print a book, we thoroughly check it so many times before we print.]
Bengali man: [Transl. I didn’t say anything against the organization.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. You are saying, but they are doing it. Why we don’t approve?
They are also chanting “Nitāi gaura rādhe śyāma” with devotion, but why we don’t
approve it? Don’t you know this?]
Bengali man: [Transl. I don’t have so much knowledge.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. Don’t have knowledge – then why do you write like an igno-
rant? This is the point. You don’t have knowledge, so you have to take it from some-
one who has it. If you know that you have no knowledge, then first you have to take
the knowledge. Isn’t that right? And this was done purposefully. We joined together
“Śrīmāyāpurcandrodaya,” and why have you separated them? Not only that you have
also explained the meaning! This means you were fully aware of this! What was the
need to separate?]
Bengali man: [Transl. That’s how I understood. Māyāpur Candrodaya… like Caitanya
Candrodaya …]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. Why did you understand like that? We said,
“Māyāpurcandrodaya,” and you wrote Śrīmāyāpura Candrodaya. And why have you
explained also?]
Bengali man: [Transl. Candrodaya means Caitanya Candrodaya I thought.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. Where is Caitanya Candrodaya?]
Bengali man: [Transl. Caitanyacandra is Caitanya Candrodaya I thought.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. That means anything whimsical you can think, that’s all! I
thought, I thought. That will not be allowed here. I thought! Who you are! Do you
know that? This will not be allowed if you want to stay here.]
Bengali man: [Transl. I will not do it again. I apologize.]
Prabhupāda: [Transl. I thought so! Who you are! I thought like that. Who cares what
you think? Everybody thinks what I am doing is best. But we have to judge by the
result!] So what are you going to do about this finishing? Everything … [Transl. peṭāya
namaḥ? Namaḥ peṭāya. Stomachāya. Namaḥ stomachāya. Whatever comes, devour it.]
We are forever grateful and eternally indebted to Your Divine Grace. We pray to remain your eter-
nal humble servants. Thank you very much.
Your servants at the Bhaktivedanta Archives
Page 6 of 8« First«...45678»
