My most revered spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most fallen obeisances. All glories to you, who kindly demonstrated unflinch-
ing faith in the words and order of your spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī
Prabhupāda. Subsequently, you also desired from your disciples to demonstrate to your grand-
disciples, and thus the flow of pure devotional service to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa will continue without
hesitation and confusion.
Spiritual success can include material success, but material success cannot be counted as spiri-
tual success. Yet, if the subject matter comes from your explicitly expressed desire, that can be
inspiring to a dull sādhaka like myself. I believe it will be pure devotional service I can be render-
ing. What to speak of when my godbrothers are encouraging and blessing me to such an endeavor
in Thailand, I feel that many times your divine hands are sheltering me and showering your mercy.
I have vowed for your pleasure to remain enthusiastic, determined, and to inspire your granddis-
ciples and acquaintances to fulfill your desires in Thailand.
There is a significant surge in preaching activities. Harināma and book distribution in recent
years after the COVID epidemic, and I am happy to say that a significant breakthrough has come
in Indian preaching. It is your mercy on crows like me that I am engaged in preaching to the
“locally domiciled crows.”
Please bestow your merciful blessings upon this insignificant disciple of Your Divine Grace that
I can meditate only on your desires yet to be fulfilled at New Vrindaban as well after the comple-
tion of this present project and offering at your lotus feet.
Your insignificant servant who is but a speck of dust clinging to your lotus feet,
Vedavyāsapriya Swami
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your lotus feet.
To properly glorify you poses a unique challenge, given our conditioned limitations. Yet, with-
out this attempt, our inadequacy would simply remain. Though our understanding and praise
may fall short, we trust in your boundless love to shine through our shortcomings.
This humble offering, therefore, awakens hope that our devotion will foster a deeper reliance
on your guidance. Only through cultivating such guru-bhakti can we truly please Kṛṣṇa and
thereby comprehend and share His divine grace.
*
Prior to meeting you, my arduous journey of empiric theology had reached an impasse due to a
fundamental contradiction: the very act of seeking Truth through intellectual ascent is inherently
flawed. Academically analyzing God’s attributes mistakenly separates knowing from serving – a
distinction that simply does not exist.
This misconception further suggests that we might understand God without the essential com-
ponent of serving His representative. As we overcome such impersonal paradigms and develop a
relationship with Kṛṣṇa through guru-sevā, we catch a glimpse of the profound, intimate depths of
the Lord’s own mysterious heart.
Safeguarding the inner sanctum of His loving abode and the selfless purity of relationships
found there, the Lord establishes servitude as the means and goal of spiritual perfection. He
emphasizes devotion to Śrī Guru as the invocation for His personal grace and involvement in
our lives. When Kṛṣṇa smiles upon us with pleasure, we become eligible to experience an inner
sunrise.
My first introduction and interaction with you was through your books, which revealed to me
the nature of spiritual relationships. Your analogy of seeking the sun with a candle – the inade-
quacy of empirical understanding – resonated profoundly. It mirrored my own life’s journey, cap-
turing the essence of my inner struggle: yearning for a vision of Kṛṣṇa, a luminary forever shining
beyond the grasp of independent striving. The candle’s feeble light, representing my own efforts,
could never illuminate the sun. Kṛṣṇa’s darshan is revealed only by His own radiant glance and
grace.
Contrary to conventional knowledge, the sun’s brilliance – Kṛṣṇa’s light and love – is per-
ceived not with open eyes, but through the inner ear, when it is attuned to the divine message
transmitted by the unbroken lineage of paramparā. Enlightenment dawns upon us as the Lord’s
internal energy expands, illuminating our souls when our hearts are submissive and directed
toward Him in service attitude.
Kṛṣṇa then awakens our sleeping spirits, inviting them into the radiant warmth of His love,
heralding a dawning within the heart. Gazing beyond the limitations of our earthly understand-
ing, we glimpse our utter dependence on Śrī Guru’s grace. This dynamic is honored as Śrī Vyāsa-
pūjā, so prominently portrayed during our first experience of the occasion in 1972, setting a
precedent to follow for all time.
That year, here at New Vrindaban, the Janmāṣṭamī festival abounded with providential grace.
Your personal invitation for Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Vṛndāvanacandra to accept Their new temple as a
birthday gift, followed by your leading the celebration of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, surcharged the
atmosphere, heightening the devotees’ expectations for the following day. Nandotsava marked
the perfect occasion for your appearance.
After the morning program concluded in the rustic valley – where Their Lordships reigned in
pastoral splendor – all eyes turned eastward, to the hilltop pavilion. There, final preparations for
your celebration were well underway.
Campfire smoke and the fragrant haze of morning cooking drifted through the meadow below,
while the first crimson blush of the new day revealed the pandal. Its silhouette emerged against
the brightening sky.
All paths converged on the trail leading to the hilltop, creating a confluence of many individu-
als’ journeys. Each was unique, yet all arrived in this exact place, at this precise moment, as if
guided by a collective destiny. Before us was a most vibrant landscape of colorful arrangements
and festively decorated cows. It was as though everything was conspiring to joyfully express eager
anticipation of our big Lord Jagannātha’s arrival. The visiting Rādhā-Dāmodara Deities, too, took
Their places on the altar, eager to preside over the day’s events.
Engulfed in the expanding ambiance, we felt the touch of your homeland’s blessed groves, as
if they too had descended to rejoice. As we ascended the hill, the pavilion emerged like a radiant
portal, catalyzing a vibrant spiritual awakening. Bathed in the glow and gentle current, we felt a
profound opening, a deeper attunement to absolute wisdom. It connected us to the fundamental
Truth – in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we are held, protected, and loved by Kṛṣṇa’s internal potency.
How perfect was this scene, falling most appropriately in the midst of your Bhāgavata Dharma
Discourse lecture series – the first of its kind in the Western world? That clear August morning we
experienced a hint of the inner meaning of Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā as you both explained and personified
the significance of the occasion.
*
The light, life, and love emanating from the śāstra became so vibrantly real, so palpably present,
that everything felt utterly fresh, as if we were experiencing it for the very first time. Hearing
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very embodiment of the bhāgavata, we found ourselves face to face
with the outer manifestation of Paramātmā. We finally saw, seated before us in your mortal form,
the eternal guide who had always accompanied us. It was you who had constantly watched over
us, walked beside us, and held us fast, even when the shadows of past conditioning tempted us
back into illusion.
A deeper unfolding began within us, a shift that was reflected through our surroundings. The
assemblage of wonderful events, elements, setting, and devotees was most heartwarming. It was
like a scene lifted from the pages of the Kṛṣṇa book, granting us privileged entry into the scrip-
ture’s inner essence. You were the source of that potency. You channeled the full influence of Śrīla
Vyāsadeva to illuminate new vistas of existence. In doing so, you became more intimately present
to us than we were even to ourselves.
Kṛṣṇa’s love, like a joyous current, began to cleanse and reshape us. Deep within, immortal
impressions of His Divine Grace took hold. The elusive dynamics of God realization became self-
evident in your association, a radiant testament to the truth that only through loving Kṛṣṇa can
we truly know Him.
Remembering you, we find ourselves ever increasingly inspired by your teachings. Through
them, we experience a genuine connection with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, forged in the resonant vibration of the
mahā-mantra. This sacred hymn is the innermost heart of all inspired scriptures.
With this sambandha – connection – we receive a lifeline to sustain us through long decades
of seeming separation. It overcomes the misconception that in your departure from this earthly
sphere we have lost ourselves yet again. The truth is you were never lost to us.
The paradoxical truth – that the deepest separation holds the highest communion within it – is
reconciled in your teachings. You live in them forever alongside your devoted followers, who
remain always with you. Therein your legacy endures and expands.
As we cling to this lifeline by assimilating your instructions, your presence prevails within the
sacred, eternal realm of transcendental sound. Your enduring influence carries us into ever deeper
intimacy with you.
Following your guidance, trusting implicitly in your words, our faith deepens. We know you as
the founder-ācārya because your presentation of the eternal truth is comprehensible to all human-
kind, even when people speak, hear, and act under the influence of diverse conditionings. In your
collective body of ISKCON, we have the ongoing privilege of displaying our love and loyalty by
cooperating among ourselves.
Today, we fondly recall the golden opportunity to host you here at New Vrindaban, where your
explanation of Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā breathed new life into our understanding of the book Bhāgavatam.
Serving you then, a mahā-bhāgavata – the very personification of śāstra – allows us to relive that
experience even today. Indeed, your mission affirms the truth expressed in that cherished bene-
dictory verse: “This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the
departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons
who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the Age of Kali shall get light
from this Purāṇa.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.43)
That Vyāsa-pūjā, nestled within your Bhāgavata Dharma Discourses, became the very crux of
our spiritual journey. The morning ceremony, though externally brief, ushered in a pivotal and
extended epiphany in our spiritual lives. A revelation that blossoms anew each year with every
approaching Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā.
Your words, a torch of knowledge, anointed by the salve of your love, reveal a glimpse of the
world’s true source and goal. Listening to you, we discern a deeper harmony within the diverse
melodies of devotion sung across cultures and epics by gurus, sādhus, and śāstras alike.
Exemplifying the ideal disciple, taking your guru’s teachings to heart, even at your first meet-
ing, you are the perfect master. You are the culmination of all who came before, their contribu-
tions paving the way for your teachings and actions, your pastimes and precepts, to unveil the
summum bonum. What a vibrant reality it is, a landscape of touchstones where all movement is
dance and every word blends with the most sacred, enchanting song!
By descending from that supreme abode and coming before us, you planted a seed in the heart
of my former empiric self. Sprouting, it grows into the understanding that our unconditional
commitment to your perfect guidance offers the only means to realize scripture’s true import.
Now, at last, we understand the proper application of the ascending process. As our prayers
rise up to you, Kṛṣṇa consciousness descends in response. This reciprocal exchange, the very
quintessence of spiritual striving, is perfected in devotion to Śrī Guru and culminates on the
blessed occasion of Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā.
As the empowered representative of Lord Nityānanda, you expand the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and
the love of Vrindavan to the farthest corners of the world, supplying the most munificent welfare
service to all souls.
Today, as dawn breaks over that same eastern hill where we celebrated our first Vyāsa-pūjā, the
stillness of night transitions into a chorus of birdsong, setting the scene for echoes of the mahā-
mantra to perpetuate the spiritual life you breathed into this community.
In quiet reflection, I dwell upon your presence within the instructions you imparted to us here.
This practice anchors my soul even during life’s darkest storms. It ensures that your love shines
forth in all we say and do, to the extent we surrender unconditionally to serving your mission.
I see the ārati lamp of guru-pūjā on this most blessed day with more significance than my
empirical self could ever have conceived. Now, the gentle flicker of the flame has expanded into
a metaphor, representing the warmth of devotion in our hearts, a humble gesture to offer you a
welcoming reception.
For those of us striving to follow in your footsteps, the same imagery brightens our path, allow-
ing us to see our shadows and shortcomings anew, in the light of awareness and compassion,
kindled in the spiritual realm of vāṇī-sevā.
Your eternal servant,
Varṣāṇa Swami
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Thank you for being aware of me and taking the trouble to guide me. You once wrote to me,
“A Vaiṣṇava is never alone, just like I was apparently alone for one year when I first came to your
country, but I was never alone, as I was always feeling the presence of my Spiritual Master.”
In your last days in Vrindavan, you gave us three important instructions: (1) Keep the ācārya
[meaning you] in the center; (2) Cooperate together for pushing on this movement; (3) Strictly
follow [the regulative principles].
Seems simple enough, but this is Māyā’s kingdom. Please help me to withstand her onslaught.
Without your help, I will not be able to remain Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is a fact! Please therefore
continue to cast your loving glance in my direction so that in my old age, I don’t do something
foolish.
Aspiring to remain securely at your lotus feet,
Yours sincerely, with awe and reverence and a little love,
Trivikrama Swami
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
My most prostrated obeisances at your transcendental lotus feet.
The more we continue to practice devotional service, the more we try to preach to others the
path of devotional service, the more we are becoming realized about our real identity, our real
purpose, our real fulfilment. We see from your personal life how if one is really happy and fearless,
compassion for others is the natural outcome. Like Your Divine Grace, we start thinking how to
bring anyone or everyone into devotional service – devotion for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the footsteps
of Guru and Gaurāṅga.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you haven’t stopped us from anything going on in our lives or whatever is
going on in the world. You taught us and showed us practically how and why to do everything for
the pleasure and satisfaction of Guru and Gaurāṅga.
I am lost in material existence. I have forgotten my identity, my relations, and my activity.
Caught up in material sense gratification and temporary body-based relationships, I have made
my life more miserable and complicated. All levels of leaders, starting from parents, teachers,
elders, bureaucrats, and lawmakers, are all in total darkness and are clueless as to how to tackle
the myriad problems of life that are inevitable and integral to worldly existence.
You didn’t tell us to improve our material situation. You have taught us how to improve our
consciousness from the material modes to soul consciousness and Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You
taught us how to dovetail our activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you lifted our consciousness to our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and this
is simply and exactly the only business of the human form of life. The way you have given us the
highest perfection in a simple practical way is possible only for a pure devotee, an empowered
devotee like Your Divine Grace. Your glories are unfathomable and uncountable. You have shown
us how to go over the problems by seeing things in their real perspective, seeing things from a
total perspective, and seeing things from a transcendental perspective: be Kṛṣṇa conscious and be
in one’s natural blissful state.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were the perfect instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring about the
spiritual explosion, the Hare Kṛṣṇa explosion. You showed us how valuable is the association
of devotees, how essential is reading your books, how determined one has to be in chanting the
Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, how one should pray to Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu to develop the qualities
of a devotee, being humble, simple, kind, grateful, and prayerful.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is you who made human beings live like human beings by practicing
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have drilled into us how everything is there in the chanting of the Hare
Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. We cannot repay you for what you gave us in life: eternal, blissful devotional
service unto Lord Kṛṣṇa. I fall at your divine lotus feet and beg, bless us to not forget you, your
glories, your stories, your teachings, your mission, and our eternal indebtedness to you.
Your aspiring servant of your servants,
Śukadeva Swami
ISKCON, Nellore, AP, India.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace on this
most sacred occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā!
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
As I write this offering, I am reminded of the countless ways your teachings have touched my life
and the lives of so many others. Your compassion and wisdom are like a gentle river, nourishing
the hearts of those who seek shelter in your words.
This past year has been a journey of growth and learning. As I traveled from the sacred lands of
Vrindavan to the bustling streets of Mumbai, I was constantly reminded of your vision to spread
Kṛṣṇa consciousness far and wide. Each step I took on the padayātrā, each kīrtana I led, and each
class I gave was a humble attempt to follow in your footsteps.
In the sanctum of devotion, where the lotus blooms,
A soul finds respite amidst the existential glooms.
With each sacred incantation, the heart’s burdens lift,
In the ocean of bhakti, the soul is no longer adrift.
Guided by the master’s benevolent hand,
We traverse the path to the transcendental land.
In the effulgence of his wisdom, we find our way,
To the eternal abode, where the soul shall stay.
I recently received a heartfelt message from Stephen Niland, a devotee in the UK, who shared
how your books and teachings have transformed his life. He wrote: “Dear Swami, I’ve not long
discovered ISKCON, and I’m so happy. I’m reading A. C. Bhaktivedanta’s books, and I chant
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra between my lorry drops. I’ve turned vegetarian and stopped drinking
alcohol. Your videos have really helped me. Whenever I need inspiration, I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and
be happy. The change in me is really shocking in a few weeks. Thank you.”
Stephen’s journey is a testament to the power of your teachings and their transformative impact
on individuals worldwide. His gratitude and newfound joy remind me of our profound responsi-
bility to share your message with sincerity and humility.
As I look to the future, I am committed to furthering your mission through new projects,
including developing the ISKCON Pandharpur Bhūvaikuṇṭha Temple Project, ISKCON Austra-
lia Bhaktifest Youth Festival, and promoting “Kirtan Guidelines.” Your life and teachings remain
a beacon of hope and inspiration, empowering me to carry forward your mission with unwavering
dedication.
On this auspicious day, I recommit myself to your mission. May I always remain an instrument
of your compassion, spreading the nectar of the holy name and your teachings to every corner of
the world. I pray for your continued blessings that I may serve with increasing dedication and
purity.
śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale
svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material
world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus
feet?
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have given us the greatest gift – the opportunity to serve Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu’s mission. May your glories be sung in every town and village, and may your com-
passion continue transforming hearts for eternity.
With eternal gratitude,
Your humble servant of your servants,
Tridaṇḍi-bhikṣu Sri Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya Swami
ISKCON Kirtan and Padayātrā Minister
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
Today we celebrate your appearance. The Bhagavad-gītā manifested Himself for me at that
time –1971 – when I first met your disciples in Hamburg, Germany. As Arjuna confirmed, the
Bhagavad-gītā dispelled his illusion and convinced him to be firm and prepared to act according to
Kṛṣṇa’s direction. Thanks to Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, I was delivered from illusion. Thank you.
When at age 17 I read a 1910 Swedish translation of the Bhagavad-gītā, I felt I had intelligently
worshiped the Lord by reading that conversation with Arjuna. Your Bhagavad-gītā As It Is gave me
a much deeper understanding. Thank you.
There is now a wave of illusion upon me coming from a Parkinsons disorder, I am sorry to say.
I am not sure how I can serve you. Please have compassion upon me. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Your servant,
Smita Krishna Swami
Almviks Gård, Sweden
