Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble and respectful obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet.
On this glorious and auspicious day of your appearance, we would like to offer you a report on the Radhadesh community in Belgium. For the past forty-six years, this community has been trying to serve you and your mission. Radhadesh strives to be a spiritual and devotional embassy – offering shelter and solace to residents and visitors alike and providing an alternative to all-exposing materialistic society, strongly influenced by the forces of Kali.
It is through your divine inspiration and personal example that we can make even small contributions to your mission. When things are difficult, we remember how you also struggled in your efforts to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout the world. When things go smoothly, we attribute that success to your mercy, and we pray that you will continue to bless us with the ability to move forward in this mission in a way that is aligned with your vision and mood.
Although it is already challenging to keep the community running smoothly day by day – ensuring that the hundreds of weekly services are covered, and that Their presiding Lordships, the community members, the guests, and the properties are all cared for – we also see it as our duty to actively work on the mission and vision of Radhadesh.
Fortunately, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have already given us a clear mission and vision. We simply need to apply it locally.
To ensure that we continue walking on the right path, as an important spiritual embassy in Europe, we are increasing our focus on the seven purposes of ISKCON that you clearly established in New York in 1966. By regularly reflecting and meditating on these seven purposes, we feel your presence strongly, and the roadmap for our service becomes clear.
Today we would like to share a brief report on how Radhadesh tries to get and remain connected to each of these seven purposes.
- To spread spiritual knowledge and educate society in techniques that help people achieve a deeper understanding of their true spiritual nature: Every year, Radhadesh welcomes thousands of guests – mainly tourists – who take part in guided tours. During these visits, they hear basic philosophy, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, receive darshan of Their Lordships, taste prasādam, and have the opportunity to associate with a devotee. This remains one of the unique strengths of our community.
- To promote consciousness of Kṛṣṇa as revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: In addition to our well-known tour programs, we facilitate weekly Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam classes and monthly Bhagavad-gītā sessions online. A stable group of devotees takes turns covering one chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam each week. This program has been ongoing for many years and is currently focused on the Tenth Canto, after having already completed the first nine Cantos. The monthly Bhagavad-gītā sessions also continue with a dedicated group of participants.
- To bring devotees together for the purpose of uplifting one another in a spiritual lifestyle based on Kṛṣṇa consciousness: We are grateful to report that Radhadesh maintains a steady morning and evening program. Although participation is sometimes modest, the programs continue daily without interruption. Occasionally there may be no one attending Gaura-ārati, yet the rest of the daily schedule continues, including evening Kṛṣṇa book readings and bhajanas during the final darshan.
We know how pleased you are when devotees come together to hear and chant about Kṛṣṇa’s glories before the Deities. In addition, Bhakti Śāstrī, Bhakti Vaibhava, śloka classes, and youth courses are regularly held, allowing dedicated devotees to deepen their understanding of the path of bhakti together.
- To teach and encourage saṅkīrtana – the congregational chanting of the holy names of God – as the primary means of spiritual realization: Radhadesh is internationally known for the Radhadesh Mellows, during which approximately 1,200 devotees and guests come together for four full days to chant continuously for twelve hours a day. Not only do the participants benefit directly, but recordings of these kirtans are streamed millions of times each year across the world, inspiring countless listeners.
In addition, Radhadesh, in cooperation with other preaching centers and nāma-haṭṭas in the Benelux region, regularly organizes harināmas and mahā-harināmas, both in the vicinity of Radhadesh and in more distant towns and cities.
- To establish holy places dedicated to Kṛṣṇa where devotees can engage in spiritual life together: Radhadesh offers visitors the opportunity to experience life in a holy place, with Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gopīnātha at the center of the community. Throughout the castle, there are many paintings – what you once described as “windows to the spiritual world.”
At present, we are working to establish a complete parikramā path around the entire estate, as a holy dhāma is not complete without parikramā. Visitors can walk through the surrounding forest while learning key teachings from the Bhagavad-gītā and afterward visit the Govinda restaurant to honor prasādam. In this way, Radhadesh functions as a true tīrtha – a bridge between the material and spiritual worlds.
- To support simpler, more natural ways of living, aligned with spiritual values and beneficial for personal wellbeing and harmony with nature: In recent years, awareness within the Radhadesh community of the importance of simpler and more natural living has grown steadily. We are making efforts to become less dependent on external systems for water, energy, and food. Radhadesh has installed many solar panels and is currently adding batteries to better store and use solar energy across the property.
We have our own water supply through an underground river, and we use wood from our forest for heating. The Premaculture project continues to expand, aiming to apply holistic and sustainable agricultural principles. Recently, an educational yurt was built to facilitate the community members and guests in these principles.
Our cow protection program is also developing steadily. Most of the milk used for the Deities is our own ahimsa milk. We now have two bull calves in training, with the hope that they will eventually contribute through bull work at Radhadesh.
- To publish and distribute spiritual literature, helping ensure that transcendental wisdom is accessible to everyone: Some dedicated devotees at Radhadesh are focused on the mission of book distribution and book publication. In the past years, we reprinted your Bhagavad-gītā in Dutch twice, for a total of 25,000 copies. The Nectar of Instruction, your transcendental biography, and the life and precepts of Lord Caitanya were translated into Dutch, and 10,000 copies of each title were printed. Currently, the devotees are translating Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Śrī Īśopaniṣad, and Easy Journey to Other Planets. Devotees are selling your books in different languages, both to the Radhadesh visitors and outside Radhadesh as well. We know how dear book production and distribution are to your heart.
We also know from historical records that you would always listen attentively to the reports on different yātrās from around the world, so we thought this offering would be pleasing to you.
We beg for your continuous inspiration so that this wonderful community can continue to inspire all those who live here and those who visit us.
Your aspiring servants from the Radhadesh community
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Hare Kṛṣṇa, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept the humble obeisances of the devotees at the Stuttgart yātrā. All glories to Your lotus feet.
You glorify your spiritual master by your example and deep devotion, and in doing so, show us the greatest example. Your instructions and the legacy you left for the devotees are for us oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya, and the torch of knowledge burns, showing the way, purifying with its light our ignorance and selfishness.
By your blessing on our living, strong, and friendly local community, we are happy to inform you of the welcoming of more and more local followers. Regular, stable programs are held at the yātrā, delicacies are prepared for the Deities, devotees are trained in practical etiquette, and Vaiṣṇava education is applied with eager desire. Thematic lectures are held where the speakers generously share knowledge from heart to heart – and this is experienced when we see their shining eyes, deepening questions, and curiosity.
Thanks to your enthusiasm for glorifying and chanting the holy name, we continue to carry it forward, offering lessons on musical instruments. For the inquisitive and insatiable, we conduct Sanskrit lessons and readings from the Bhāgavatam.
During the harināma held on April 11, 2026, we distributed 340 plates of prasādam and 46 books. Lakṣmī, fruit, a bottle of milk, and a stuffed toy for the Deities were donated to the temple. A new person joined the program from the harināma, hearing about the holy name for the first time. He sat and listened attentively to the kirtan with tears in his eyes, and his consciousness was transformed.
Our prayer to you is that you please allow our Stuttgart mini-temple to eternally serve your lotus feet. May we always be among our brothers and sisters – all sincere followers. Allow that which you spoke to continue to resound, and allow us to act as you acted so that the holy name, as foretold by Lord Caitanya, “may be heard in every town and village.” May the people we meet take shelter in your association, and may the devotees become more and more numerous. Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept these humble offerings and efforts so that we may become just as you wish to see us.
Your servants,
The devotees of ISKCON Stuttgart
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most humble obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
This blessed day of your Vyāsa-pūjā is yet another wonderful opportunity to immerse myself in meditation on your lotus feet. They are the only shelter for all of us – the conditioned souls. In the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 19.151) it is said:
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going to the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.
On our journey, we have met many teachers, yet we have never become truly happy. For how can anyone find happiness without being connected to the source of all bliss?
Kṛṣ indicates “the all-attractive existence,” and ṇa indicates “spiritual pleasure.” Thus, only Kṛṣṇa can bestow true happiness upon us. How, then, can we establish a connection with Him? He answers this Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.34): tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā – “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master …”
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you taught us devotional service and, by doing so, have given us real life, for can service to one’s own material senses truly be called life? Serving dead matter makes the consciousness increasingly material and condemns the living entity to descend into lower forms of existence. This is nothing other than spiritual death.
All of humanity today is following this false path. However, the Lord is most merciful to the fallen souls. He appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and gave the world His saṅkīrtana movement – the congregational chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. This is the only method capable of dissipating the darkness of ignorance in this age.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, it was the Lord’s desire that you, specifically, should lead His movement in this world, and therefore you are our only hope. Since the moment your lotus feet stepped onto Western soil, the entire world has been given the chance to join the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya. Everyone can now, in one way or another, serve this movement and chant the names of Kṛṣṇa.
The mercy of Kṛṣṇa flows through your lotus feet. Anyone can find shelter at those feet and thus be delivered from the fear and suffering of material existence. Those feet are the only means to attain pure devotion and love for Kṛṣṇa. The only thing required for this is faith.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please be kind to this fallen soul and grant me deep and unshakable faith in your lotus feet and in the mercy of the holy name so that life after life, I may serve you with pure love.
Your unworthy servant of your servants,
Vāmana Dāsa, temple president
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, 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 humble obeisances at your lotus feet on this holy day, the anniversary of your appearance. On this day, which is the most important day for us, we gather as a community united by your mercy to offer you our hearts filled with gratitude.
Looking at our lives, we are overcome by a profound and stirring realization: had we not had the opportunity to encounter this unique spiritual movement initiated by your unconditional grace, we would still be lost today in the utter darkness of ignorance. Without your divine intervention, we would have remained prisoners in the pursuit of fleeting pleasures, strangers to the concept of true spiritual happiness, and without any real chance of liberation from the merciless clutches of Māyā.
It was Your Divine Grace who shattered the walls of illusion in which we lived. Through your example you gave us the vision necessary to understand that we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, transforming a purposeless existence into a life dedicated to the Absolute. Through your kindness, that which was once completely unknown to us – love of God – has now become the ideal of each of us, an ideal we strive to place at the center of our community’s life.
Thank you for not leaving us prey to the despair of this Kali-yuga. Every moment we gather for harināma, every page we read from your books, and every portion of prasādam shared within our community is a testament to your victory over the ignorance that once held us captive.
We desperately beg for your mercy and blessing that we may be able to fulfill your desire to cooperate and succeed in the only mission for which it is worth living and dying in this world: the spreading of the chanting of the holy name to every village and city. We ask for your blessings to remain forever in the shelter of your lotus feet, the only place where Māyā cannot touch us.
Your servants,
The devotees of ISKCON Timişoara
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble and respectful obeisances at your divine lotus feet on the sacred day when your transcendental appearance is celebrated.
On this holy occasion, we first wish to glorify your inconceivable mercy and the extraordinary power of your devotional service. Your life is the living demonstration of how a pure devotee of the Lord can become a perfect instrument in the hands of Śrī Kṛṣṇa to transform the spiritual destiny of the world. With unshakable faith in the order of your spiritual master and complete dependence on Kṛṣṇa, you crossed oceans and continents to bring the holy name and the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to people who had never before heard of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Contemplating your activities, we are especially struck by how your mercy works in subtle ways, often invisible to our limited vision, yet capable of producing the deepest effects in the hearts of conditioned souls. There is a very significant incident that illustrates this truth.
During a flight to America, while you were taking some prasādam – puffed rice – a stewardess on the plane, attracted by its fragrance, put her hand into your plate and took some of it. Your servant became disturbed, thinking that the prasādam had been contaminated, but you immediately stopped him with great simplicity and compassion, saying, “That is all right. She is taking prasādam. Very good.”
Years later, some devotees engaged in saṅkīrtana arrived in a small village in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Knocking on the door of a house, they were greeted by a woman who was wearing a sari, with tilaka on her forehead. When they entered her home, they noticed a tape of your voice playing and an altar dedicated to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Surprised to meet a devotee in such a remote place, they asked her how it was possible that she had come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness while living in the middle of the jungle. She then explained that many years earlier she had been working as an airline stewardess and that one day she had taken some prasādam from the plate of Śrīla Prabhupāda. That simple contact with mahā-prasādam had transformed her life and led her to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Through incidents like this we begin to understand how deep and mysterious the mercy of a pure devotee truly is. Even an apparently small contact – a crumb of mahā-prasādam, a book, or a recording of your voice – can become the beginning of a complete spiritual transformation. In this way you have planted the seed of devotion in the hearts of countless souls, a seed that, in time, can sprout and lead them to devotional service.
In this way we can glimpse how the principle of ajñāta-sukṛti, spiritual merit obtained unknowingly, acts in subtle and mysterious ways. Even a small service rendered to a pure devotee can, in time, lead to a meaningful connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Meditating on such incidents, we increasingly understand how immense your compassion is for the conditioned souls. You did not simply preach a philosophy; you opened a doorway of mercy through which even the smallest contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness can transform a person’s life.
For this reason, today we offer you our deepest gratitude. Without your mercy we would have no possibility of understanding the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Without you we would not have received Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, nor the living example of how to serve the Lord with complete dedication.
Through your teachings we also understand our duty toward the conditioned souls. In your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.8.5 it is explained that the devotee appears in this world precisely to help the souls who are imprisoned in material illusion. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that the word durvinīta, used by Hiraṇyakaśipu to insult Prahlāda Mahārāja, can be understood in a spiritual way: duḥ refers to this material world, which is full of suffering (duḥkhālayam), vi means “specifically,” and nīta means “brought.” Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja was specifically brought into this world to teach people how to become free from the material condition. When Kṛṣṇa is not personally present, His devotee is present, but the mission is the same: to free the poor conditioned souls from the clutches of māyā.
By your mercy, we have understood that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a divine gift that must be shared with others. Just as that stewardess was transformed through a simple contact with mahā-prasādam, in the same way countless souls can benefit by coming into contact with the holy name, your books, and kṛṣṇa-prasādam.
Therefore, on the day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we wish to renew our determination to serve your mission. We want to continue participating in your work by distributing your books, spreading your teachings, and offering people the opportunity to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We desire to engage more and more in saṅkīrtana so that more and more souls may receive even a small spark of your mercy.
We also wish to inspire those who approach Kṛṣṇa consciousness to understand the greatness of your mission and to take part in it. If even a small contact with mahā-prasādam or with one of your books can change the course of a person’s life, then we want to do everything possible so that more and more people may receive this spiritual opportunity.
We therefore pray that you grant us the strength, humility, and determination to continue this service in the sincerest way possible, becoming ever more useful instruments in your mission to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout the world.
Your aspiring humble servant,
Hari-kīrtana Dāsa
On behalf of the devotees at ISKCON Rome
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Please accept our obeisances and immense gratitude for the opportunity to experience the teachings of Lord Caitanya that you brought to the most remote corners of the Western countries!
Because of you, in Ryazan, people were given the opportunity not only to hear the holy name but also to serve the Lord and rejoice in that service with all their hearts. The spiritual revolution you brought to the hearts of your followers not only brought no harm, unlike revolutions in the material world, but, on the contrary, enabled them to experience true happiness and realize their spiritual nature!
Through your mercy and followers, who became spiritual teachers, we were able to join this movement, join the disciplic succession, and receive the opportunity and hope of returning home, back to Godhead. Yes, we are full of faults, our minds are restless, and our hearts are torn by material desires, but the practices you gave us, the books you wrote for us and which your sincere followers distribute throughout the world – all of these purify us and prepare our hearts for the seed of bhakti to grow within.
By your mercy, a temple has been built in our city, Deities have come to us, preachers have come, including your disciples, and people come to serve and receive your mercy.
Your servants at ISKCON Ryazan
