Homages Other Sources, 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
Please accept our most humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
On July 11, 1966, after a meeting in your Matchless Gifts storefront temple at 26 Second Avenue in New York, the incorporation papers for your ISKCON were signed. You had given your society the name International Society for Krishna Consciousness and had personally coined the acronym ISKCON. You also presented seven purposes of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the last of which reads: “With a view towards achieving the aforementioned Purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.”
In a letter to Maṇḍali Bhadra Dāsa (dated 20 January 1972) you wrote: “My first concern is that my books be published and distributed profusely all over the world. Practically, books are the basis of our Movement. Without our books, our preaching will have no effect.”
By the time you left this world in November of 1977, your ISKCON had grown to include more than 108 temples, centers, farm communities, and schools. Now, on the eve of the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of its founding, your ISKCON operates over 850 temples, cultural centers, and schools worldwide. Undoubtedly this growth was fueled in large part by distribution of your books!
Your disciples, granddisciples, and followers serving at BBT North America pray that Your Divine Grace will continue to bless and guide us so that we may be successful in the important work of keeping your books in print and readily available for the many sincere devotees distributing them in this part of the world.
Your servants at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust offices in North America.
Homages Other Sources, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances at the dust of your merciful lotus feet.
You appeared to carry out a highly urgent and divine mission. Your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, inspired and instructed you to preach the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in English, and from your very birth there were predictions that you would cross the ocean, become a great preacher of religion, and establish temples around the world.
But predictions alone do not change the world. You did.
Leaving behind family and comfort, you accepted the life of a renunciant in Vrindavan. From 1959 to 1965, in your small rooms at the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple, you prepared yourself for the impossible task ahead through prayer, writing, translation, and deep absorption in the holy name. We have heard how you would cry out loudly while chanting through the night and beg the previous ācāryas, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, for the strength to fulfill your guru’s order.
From that surrender came a spiritual revolution.
What the Six Gosvāmīs established in Vrindavan, you carried to the entire world. Within only a few years, temples appeared across the globe, devotees learned Deity worship and saṅkīrtana, and millions of your books in a wide range of languages began changing people’s lives.
In September 1973, you visited Stockholm, and in one of your lectures you said: “We have got the method of Deity worship. Here we have not yet established, but we worship the picture of Lord Caitanya and guru … The Deity worship is done by guru himself … His disciples are engaged. He is always showing, ‘Do like that. Do like that.’ Or sometimes, if he cannot, the guru shows how to do it. That is the business of guru.”
In April 1977, your disciples had found a property just south of Stockholm. They sent you a letter in which they presented it to you, along with an aerial photograph. You wrote back in May 1977: “I am very pleased to know that our activities are going nicely in Scandinavia … The place as you have described it that they are thinking to get sounds very nice.”
That place was Korsnäs Gård, the estate you named “New Rādhā-kuṇḍa” because it already had a pond on the property. By your mercy, this quiet rural place became an integral part of your worldwide mission. Everything here is an extension of your meditation, your desire, your creativity, and your unparalleled preaching spirit.
Three years later, Śrī Śrī Gāndharvikā-Giridhārī were installed here with great joy and celebration. Their names connect this place directly to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s own Gāndharvikā-Giridhārī Deities in Calcutta, where They greeted each sheet of transcendental literature that rolled off the letterpress your Guru Mahārāja had established.
Today, before Śrī Śrī Gāndharvikā-Giridhārī and beside Their kuṇḍa, your servants are gratefully engaged in your publishing service, Deity worship, and preaching. From this old estate, now a wonderful temple, a vibrant dhāma, a center of intense study of your works and teachings, print-ready files of your books are sent to printers around the world. From New Rādhā-kuṇḍa, with love.
Translators, proofreaders, designers, programmers, researchers, layout artists, audiobook narrators, logistics experts, all devotees and volunteers, across the globe, are taking part in this ecstatic book production program.
And once the books are printed, your amazing book distributors, highly committed and courageous, carry those books into towns, cities, and villages, placing them into the hands of people whose spiritual lives are just about to begin.
May New Rādhā-kuṇḍa always remain your home and office. On your behalf, we invite everyone to come and assist in spreading your teachings all over the world. More and more titles. More and more languages. We need helpers to keep up with your ever-expanding success.
Your slightly sleep-deprived and happy servants at
The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and ISKCON New Rādhā-kuṇḍa
Homages Other Sources, 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
Please accept our humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet on this auspicious occasion of your
Vyāsa-pūjā.
As the world accelerates into a future marked by technological advancement and digital
saturation, we find ourselves at a unique and urgent juncture. Artificial intelligence has become
mainstream, human attention is fragmented, and spiritual inquiry is often replaced by algorithmic
distraction. Society today is experiencing a crisis not just of meaning but of memory. We have
forgotten who we are, why we are here, and what the ultimate goal of life is.
The Bhagavad-gītā describes Kali-yuga as an age of quarrel and hypocrisy. We see this playing
out daily where truth is diluted, values are compromised, and dharma is increasingly obscured
by competing narratives. Externally, it may seem that the world is more connected. Yet internally,
people feel more lost than ever before.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is in this environment of confusion, uncertainty, and instability that your
books become essential. They are not simply religious texts or philosophical treatises – they are
lifeboats. They offer a return to clarity, a reorientation to what is real, what is eternal, and what is
worth pursuing.
You did not wait for ideal conditions before acting. You saw the urgency. You saw the suffering.
And you responded. You translated and published these books as a dedicated servant carrying out
the order of your spiritual master. That same spirit of urgency and mood of compassionate disrup-
tion is what built the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and The Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust. And it is what continues to sustain BBT Africa today.
As your servants, we strive to carry that mission forward with the same conviction. In a conti-
nent as diverse and rich as Africa, access is everything. When someone reads the Bhagavad-gītā in
their native language, they are not just reading words; they are encountering Kṛṣṇa speaking to
them, in their voice, through your mercy.
This commitment to access and inclusion guided our publication of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in
Kreole Morisyen (Mauritian Creole) for the people of Mauritius. This was a significant milestone,
as it was an extension of your mission. In the same spirit, your Back to Godhead magazine is now
transitioning into digital format, aligning with how people engage with information today, with-
out compromising the depth of spiritual substance.
The African saṅkīrtana team distributed an impressive 157,977 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publi-
cations, including both books and magazines. Book distributors across the continent continue to
innovate, finding new and creative ways to expand the reach of your books.
All around us people are beginning to ask deeper questions. There is a growing recognition
that material progress alone cannot satisfy the heart. They are searching for answers that go
beyond surface-level solutions. There is a quiet but rising need for truth that is rooted in some-
thing greater than themselves. And the answers that they are searching for are present in your
books.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, your life was the embodiment of selfless service. On this sacred day of your
Vyasa-puja, we recognize more than ever how urgently the world needs your books. We offer our
renewed commitment at your lotus feet: to continue translating and publishing them with dedica-
tion and care. Please bless us so that we may carry on this sacred mission.
Your servants,
The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Africa
Homages Other Sources, VP2025
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our respectful obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet, which traveled this planet
many times to give the nectarean teachings of Lord Caitanya through your example, your vāṇī,
and through your books.
All glories to Your Divine Grace for giving us the service of producing your books and distrib-
uting them to our hearts’ content into the hands of conditioned souls. You said you will never die
but will remain eternally in your books!
We see you in your books and feel a sacred kindred nearness that is so sweet and inspiring.
Your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda, have so much valuable information in them for the well-being of
all humanity for all time to come. We have increasing realizations about your statement, “Every-
thing is in my books!” as people read these books and become devotees.
These are not just ordinary books, Śrīla Prabhupāda – they are a living, conscious, breathing
manifestation of the Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa. Again, thank you for allowing us to serve you by
producing these books in the Malayalam language for the people of Kerala, who also live in all
corners of the world.
Recently we had the opportunity to meet the new governor of Kerala state in South India, and
he was very appreciative of your contribution through your books. He commented that the intel-
lectual elite will benefit from them.
You said you feel like an “‘emperor who has conquered” every time you get one of your newly
published books in any language. Every time a new book is published in Malayalam, we blow
our trumpet of victory over Māyā’s world by calling a “book-release program,” and we let highly
literate and interested people know about the new publication while calling upon a dignitary to
receive the first copy. It gives us at the BBT immense pleasure to be playing a very small part in
helping you conquer, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and know that you will be pleased with the publication
of your books.
At the BBT in Kerala we have been able to complete almost all the titles and more. The Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam was released at a grand function commemorating the fiftieth year of your visit to
Cochin (Kochi), Kerala, in August 2015. We chose the dates August 21–22, when the Jaladuta
docked at Kochi’s port, and you received the consignment of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets, sent from
Bombay. The devotees at the BBT were highly emotional while making this offering to you on this
most memorable fiftieth anniversary of your visit to Kerala!
We also released the Caitanya-caritāmṛta at a grand function in Guruvayur, where union minis-
ters were present with state leaders to receive the copies, along with the chief priest of the Guru-
vayur temple. We have also released a special deluxe edition of the Bhagavad-gītā – a collector’s
item – that is twice the size of the regular book, with an opulent finish and a wooden case. People
love it.
Our team at the BBT, consisting of translators, proofreaders, production assistants, and man-
agers, needs your very special blessings, Śrīla Prabhupāda, as they have been sincerely working to
produce your books for many, many years. Kerala is the most literate state in India. It’s also the
state that ranks highest in India in suicides and the consumption of alcohol and meat! How odd!
This strange anomaly can best be explained and solved only through your books. Being the home-
land of Śaṅkarācārya, Māyāvādīs and other impersonalists as well as communists abound in this
state and have free voice in the intellectual arena. Your books are these people’s only hope.
Śrīla Prabhupāda our existence in spiritual life is based on your books. It’s by this new govern-
ment “of your books, for your books, and by your books” that we can survive in Kṛṣṇa conscious-
ness and share the teachings far and wide.
We at the BBT seek your blessings while thanking you immensely from the core of our hearts
for engaging us in this most relishing service of producing your books in the local Malayalam
language.
Your servants,
BBT Kerala, South India
(Sanātana Dharma Dāsa, Kuñjamohinī Devī Dāsī, Gopāl Gaura Guru Dāsa, Śaraṇamukhi Devī
Dāsī, Mañjari Devī Dāsī, Śyāmalikā Devī Dāsī, Manorañjan Dāsa, Ūrmilā Sevinī Devī Dāsī,
Śrīnivāsa Hari Dāsa, Giri Govardhana Dāsa, Prabhavi Gopī Devī Dāsī, Bhaktin Sudha Balachan-
dran, Sheela Nair, and Bhakta Ratheesh)
Homages Other Sources, VP2025
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances.
At the Latin BBT, our motto is Śāstra Sevā, the art of serving your books by translating them,
compiling them, editing them, designing and laying them out, printing them, and also reading
and studying them, distributing them, encouraging others to read and distribute them, put-
ting them into practice in our lives, and serving in so many other ways. Thus, by focusing our
lives on your words (guru-mukha-padma-vākya), we try to always remain fixed at your lotus feet
(śrī-guru-caraṇa-padma).
In this way, enlivened by the divine influx of your presence in your books, we go out of our
comfort zone and try to help you in this mission of spreading your books all over the region. We
innovate in the methods of distribution, trying to inspire our large congregations and encour-
age them in Śāstra Sevā; we communicate with the saṅkīrtana devotees and try to serve them and
facilitate their distribution with campaigns and promotions; we ourselves go out onto the streets
to present these luminous books to the conditioned souls; and above all, we apply ourselves to
practicing what’s in your books – reading them and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa with the fervent desire
that one day the darkness of false ego will leave our hearts and we will have the qualification to be
lifted by your loving hands into the presence of Kṛṣṇa.
Always praying for your blessing, and with all love and gratitude,
Your humble servant,
Nṛsiṁha-kṛpa Dāsa
On behalf of your servants at the Latin Division of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Homages Other Sources, 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
Please accept our most humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet.
In a 1974 letter to Hridayananda dāsa Goswami you wrote: “Please print as many books as pos-
sible, this is my real pleasure. By printing these books of our Krishna Conscious philosophy in so
many different languages we can actually inject our movement into the masses of persons all over
the world, especially there in the western countries, and we can literally turn whole nations into
Krishna Conscious nations.”
In another letter in 1974 you wrote: “Actually these books are the foundation stone of our
movement. Whatever we are is resting on these books. Read them and distribute them. This
should be our motto.”
By your insistence, in your manifest presence hundreds of thousands of books were printed
and distributed. In the form of those books, your incalculable mercy on the masses of people all
over the world continues to have an indelible impact.
Despite your obvious personal effort to translate and publish these transcendental books, you
gave all credit to your spiritual master. In the purport to Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 12.8 you wrote:
We took up the mission of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Bhaktivinoda
Ṭhākura to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world, under the
protection of all the predecessor ācāryas, and we find that our humble attempt has
been successful. We followed the principles especially explained by Śrīla Viśvanātha
Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā verse beginning
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. According to this instruction of Viśvanātha
Cakravartī Ṭhākura, it is the duty of a disciple to follow strictly the orders of his spiri-
tual master. The secret of success in advancement in spiritual life is the firm faith of the
disciple in the orders of his spiritual master.
In the same purport you wrote: “Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura wanted to print as
many books as possible and distribute them all over the world. We have tried our best in this
connection, and we are getting results beyond our expectations.”
On this occasion we pray that you bless us so that our efforts to keep your book distributors
in North America amply supplied with your books may be successful and pleasing to Your Divine
Grace.
Your servants at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust offices in North America
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