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
Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
Though 1, Ultadanga Junction Road is the place where the institutionalized propagation of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness was begun by your beloved Guru Mahārāja, as a center, we are very new, and
this is our first offering to you as a center. On behalf of all the devotees I would like to express our
heartfelt gratitude to you for choosing us to serve here, though we are unqualified in every respect.
We inaugurated the center almost three years back, yet some of the detail work remained to
be done. Recently, we finished it completely. From all over the world many of your disciples and
many other senior devotees from ISKCON as well as the Gauḍīya Math are coming to this place
and spending time with us each day. We are trying to serve them to the best of our ability.
We are also worshiping Gāndharvikā-Giridhārī here with eight offerings and subsequent āratis
every day. So, though our center is very small, it is very dynamic. We have both congregation and
youth outreach from this place. Local people are taking interest in it, and some are responding
very quickly. Many are interested in its history. We are soon going to make a full-length documen-
tary film depicting the history of this place of pilgrimage.
As of now, we are celebrating two festivals very elaborately, the Vyāsa-pūjā of your Guru
Mahārāja and the Brahmotsava of the Deities.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we wish to tell you that we did not do anything on a big scale here because
the place is very small, the Deities are very small, and our manpower is also comparatively small.
Yet, we try to do every small thing with attention to detail and the best possible quality.
I, on behalf of all the devotees here, seek your empowerment and blessings so that we can
maintain the quality and increase the quantity of our service at this divine place in a spirit of love
and cooperation.
Your servant,
Parānanda Dāsa, manager
1, Ultadanga Junction Road
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
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
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble and most affectionate obeisances at your divine lotus feet.
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
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have changed the landscape of this material world by your wonderful
preaching based essentially on your books.
Before you began your noble mission, quite a good part of the population of this world was
sunk in total ignorance. In particular, the Western world and Africa were heading toward future
births in lower species. Now, many people come into contact with you through your wonderful
books and change the management of their lives toward the divine route.
You taught not only the ways and means of observing the four basic principles of spirituality,
but you also brought the pure understanding of sacred texts, such as Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, The Nectar of Devotion, The Nectar of Instruction, and other titles. In
addition to that, you also established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to help
train everyone in Vaiṣṇava standards and the way of spiritual life.
You left countless instructions for the application of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to any situation and
to anyone in any culture. This Kṛṣṇa awareness is developing more and more in Africa and, in par-
ticular, in Benin, where we have just opened an ISKCON AICK preaching center thanks to your
mercy and that of your sons and grandchildren on the spiritual path.
Our only desire is to see this movement for Kṛṣṇa consciousness developing in Benin to the
point where we can see our following future projects realized. These are:
• A large temple
• An agricultural farm
• A free bilingual school
• A goshala for breeding and protecting cows
• A medical center to offer free healthcare services
• A dairy and agricultural products processing plant
• A craft training center
And with all this, to properly conduct preaching activities through your books and to attract
people through the practical execution of these forementioned projects.
While we study the knowledge you gave, our faith is deepened and our conviction developing,
our determination to see that your desire for Kṛṣṇa consciousness to flood the world becomes
stronger. Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, bless our efforts, our good intentions, and our development
projects, and put us in a position of strength to attain success.
Hare Kṛṣṇa,
We are at your service and pray that you help us remain your humble servants,
The devotees in the Benin Republic
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most respectful obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to you and to the
saṅkīrtana mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, which you preached and expanded so perfectly
all over the world.
We are running a small temple, established in 2003, and serving you in a small village. Since
2003 we have accomplished some great achievements and reached milestones, especially in the
past year. We distributed about 4,000 Bhagavad-gītās and 20 sets of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for
your pleasure. Also, we have fourteen cows in our goshala serving Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda Dev.
And we conducted a Bhagavad-gītā contest in Kaij taluka, serving 900 students connected to the
Bhagavad-gītā competition.
We are conducting youth preaching on the temple campus, including training the youth to play
mṛdaṅga, harmonium, and karatālas. The brahmacārīs are also trained to do preaching in various
places in Beed and the Ahilyanagar District to assist in the Nagaradi Gram project.
Finally, by your grace, we are able to preach as well as manage the small temple. Please have
mercy on us so that we can serve you well.
Thank you very much!
Your servant,
Viṭṭhalānanda Dāsa, (temple president)
On behalf of the devotees of ISKCON Beed
