Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Param pūjya param gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace on this auspicious occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā.
Param gurudeva! While reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, especially cantos 3, 4, 5, and 11, where there are a lot of philosophical explanations, sometimes I find it difficult to understand. But when I offer prayers to guru and the guru-paramparā, it becomes understandable. Reading your purports again and again helps me understand the philosophy. Reading your purports to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā, I feel I am hearing only from you.
The scriptures also say that one must hear from the spiritual master about the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 5 (chapter 25, text 8), describing the glories of Lord Anantadeva, Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa says that hearing the glories of the Lord from the spiritual master helps one to get liberated:
Śrīla Śukadeva Goswāmi says: “If persons who are very serious about being liberated from material life hear the glories of Anantadeva from the mouth of a spiritual master in the chain of disciplic succession, and if they always meditate upon Saṅkarṣaṇa, the Lord enters the cores of their hearts, vanquishes all the dirty contamination of the material modes of nature, and cuts to pieces the hard knot within the heart, which has been tied tightly since time immemorial by the desire to dominate material nature through fruitive activities. Nārada Muni, the son of Lord Brahmā, always glorifies Anantadeva in his father’s assembly.”
It is further stated, “Even if he be distressed or degraded, any person who chants the holy name of the Lord, having heard it from a bona fide spiritual master, is immediately purified. Even if he chants the Lord’s name jokingly or by chance, he and anyone who hears him are freed from all sins. Therefore how can anyone seeking disentanglement from the material clutches avoid chanting the name of Lord Śeṣa? Of whom else should one take shelter?” (Bhāgavatam 5.25.11)
Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is one of the quadruple expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, is also ādi-guru. With the mercy of Your Divine Grace, the ādi-guru of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, representative of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, we can also be situated in real ego and engaged in loving devotional service to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. It is my conviction that such a miracle can happen only by understanding your purports in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā and then practicing accordingly.
Param gurudeva! You said in your purport to Bhāgavatam 7.9.18, “As soon as a devotee can chant the holy name and glories of the Supreme Lord, he certainly comes to the liberated position. Attachment for glorifying the Lord by hearing and chanting the holy name and activities of the Lord (śravanam kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ) certainly brings one to the position where material contamination is absent. One should chant the bona fide songs received from the disciplic succession. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the chanting is powerful when one follows the disciplic succession (evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ).”
Param gurudeva! Your Divine Grace has given us all the wonderful facilities for hearing the pastimes of the Supreme Lord, chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, serving the Vaiṣṇavas, and serving the Deities, Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Gaura-Nitāi. No other spiritual organization other than your ISKCON provides such opportunities.
Please bless me to continue to engage in the service of your preaching mission, following your instructions above. As I am advancing in age, I am facing some difficulties with my body, but with your blessings, which I am sure of, I wish to continue to travel and serve your lotus feet.
In the service of Śrī guru-paramparā and Gaurāṅga,
Your servant of the servants,
Rāma Govinda Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
O most worshipable founder-ācārya, my eternal master and ever well-wisher, Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet, again and again.
On this most auspicious day of your appearance, I stand before you with a heart that is both grateful and inadequate – grateful, because whatever little connection I have with Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga is only due to your causeless mercy; inadequate, because words fail to truly express the depth of that gratitude.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you crossed oceans not just of water but of impossibility. At an age when most withdraw from the world, you entered it with divine determination, carrying the order of your spiritual master as your very life and soul. You did not see barriers of language, culture, or geography – you saw only souls suffering in forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. And out of compassion, you gave everything.
Today, as a second-generation sannyāsī in your mission, initiated in the line descending from your dear disciple His Holiness Lokanath Swami, I can only marvel at how your mercy continues to flow. I am simply a tiny recipient of that current, carried forward through your sincere followers.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, in whatever little service I attempt in traveling and preaching, I constantly feel your presence. On the roads, in the villages, in cities and distant lands, I see how your books speak, how your instructions guide, and how your desire to uplift humanity still vibrates strongly. I realize that I am not the doer; I am merely trying to be an instrument in your hands.
You taught us that preaching is the highest compassion. Yet when I try, I see how much purity, surrender, and faith it requires. Often, I find myself lacking, yet your example pushes me forward. When challenges arise, I remember your struggles alone in a foreign land, without support, yet full of unshakable faith in the holy name.
Your life is my compass. Your words are my shelter.
You did not only establish temples; you established hope. You did not only translate scriptures, you revealed Kṛṣṇa to the world. You did not only create an institution; you built a spiritual family where conditioned souls like me could find purpose.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, please bless me that I may never forget that I am your servant. Let me never seek comfort over service, recognition over sincerity, or convenience over commitment. Kindly give me the strength to carry forward your mission with humility and determination, even in the face of my own shortcomings.
Let my travels not be for prestige but for your pleasure. Let my words not be my own but reflections of your teachings. Let my life become, in some small way, an offering at your lotus feet.
I pray that I may always remain under the shelter of your devotees, especially those who are sincerely carrying your mission forward. And I pray that I may develop a fraction of their dedication, their simplicity, and their love for you.
On this sacred Vyāsa-pūjā day, I offer myself again, imperfect, struggling, but hopeful at your lotus feet.
Your insignificant servant,
Rādhe Śyāmānanda Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace and our guru-varga.
You write in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā, chapter 17, text 1, purport), “Everywhere people express this astonishment, and we take great pride in the transcendental behavior of our students. Such wonders are possible, however, only by the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They are not ordinary or mundane.”
I humbly pray that I can continue to serve you under your guidance and the guidance of the disciplic succession. Please allow me to always remember you in your sādhaka form, and one day, if I am so fortunate, in your siddha form. I place my head millions of times at the lotus feet of your disciples, granddisciples, and followers.
jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha
I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi and even lower than the worms in the stool. (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, chapter 5, text 205)
The goal is vraja–bhakti, and you are distributing this. Please allow me to assist you in this endeavor.
I remain your servant,
Pārtha Sārathi dāsa Goswami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
In the Ganges River one sees big and small waves. When one first sees this great river, one tends to think all the waves are, metaphorically speaking, all great holy men, past and present. However, on mature reflection, one sees that you are the truly big wave, the unassailable, faultless big wave, the all-perfect sādhu, resident of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s house, the worldwide influencer to accept the essence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy. Many, including Bhakti-bhūṣaṇa Mahārāja and myself, have reached this conclusion.
All glories to you who deserve this position, the biggest of the big waves.
Your servant eternally,
Mukunda Goswami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, my eternal father,
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 try and excuse me for not writing my Vyāsa-pūjā offerings the last few years. It is no real excuse, but as my body and mind began to creak more and more in old age (now my body is 81 years old), I couldn’t keep up whilst traveling enthusiastically with our version of your World Samkirtan Party, your “long-cherished idea” you wished to see fulfilled (as per your letter to Tamal Krishna 18 October 1969).
In your Bhāgavatam purport to 6.5.43, you said that the angry parents of your disciples had cursed you to not stay in one place to do your service of writing books. You said you wanted your sannyāsīs to relieve you of that curse by traveling worldwide. I have been blessed with that curse, and since 2016 have been traveling around the world annually with the multinational, multiguru, and multigenerational Harināma Ruci party led by His Grace Viṣṇujana Prabhu from Slovakia.
Whichever nation and city we are welcomed into, we stay for a few days, go out with the local devotees into the city centers, and perform harināma, trying to actively engage the public in blissfully chanting the holy names and taking your books.
To please you, I have over the years since your departure, also become responsible to help develop the expansion of ISKCON in Nepal, DR Congo, and parts of East Africa.
You closed your own vapuḥ pastimes when your body was 81. Mine is now also 81. By Kṛṣṇa’s grace, if it pleases you, I may be able to squeeze some more useful years out of this mortal British dress.
Now I want to improve the quality of my slipshod service and somehow please you more. Please give your glance of mercy to this struggling soul who is arriving at the scrap heap of this body. Please bless me to make the best use of my dwindling bad bargain.
How can I – or anyone – find the words to express what incomparable glorious service you have done and are still doing for Lord Caitanya’s mission and all spirit souls on this polluted Kali-yuga planet? Let us all therefore cooperate with one another to fulfill your desires as ISKCON’s founder-ācārya and the jagat-guru.
Trailing clouds of Kṛṣṇa’s glories – the holy names and your transcendental words and example – you and your beloved messengers came from afar to drag me and countless others, past, present, and future, from the darkness of animal-like ignorance to the light of eternal Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Thank you!
I am always unable to repay your divine gift of a new life when you revealed to me in your introduction to Bhagavad-gītā As It Is that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this regard, as you wrote to praise your own Guru Mahārāja, so I praise you: “Absolute is sentient thou hast proved / impersonal calamity thou hast moved.” (Vyāsa-pūjā offering to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī)
Please kindly cast a special glance on me to keep me, till my dying breath, always enthusiastic to find nectarean new ways to engage people in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
In this regard, I again use the words you used to praise your own Guru Mahārāja:
Wonder thy ways
To turn our face,
Adore thy feet
Your Divine Grace.
Śrī kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam kī jaya!
Your fallen, struggling, sannyāsī servant,
Mahāviṣṇu Swami
Homages Non-GBC Sannyasis, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to you on the occasion of your divine appearance.
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
On this wonderful day, the entire ISKCON community around the world remembers you with gratitude and love, for it is thanks to you that we have received a new life – one that is about true reality. Through your person and teachings, so many people awaken from a confused nightmare – the materialistic life woven with ignorance.
In our age, the entire human society has fallen victim to this diseased condition. Moreover, the suffering masses are further misled by many cheating teachers and pseudospiritualists. As you write in your purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.26.6, “Currently, in this Kali-yuga, the entire human society has become a society of cheaters and cheated.”
The Lord advises Arjuna to approach a bona fide spiritual master who has seen the truth if one wishes to be freed from the confusion born of ignorance. The position of the spiritual master is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.17.27):
ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta sarva-devamayo guruḥ
“One should understand the spiritual master to be as good as Myself,” said the blessed Lord. “No one should be envious of the spiritual master or consider him an ordinary man, for he represents all the demigods.”
You, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, are in this position, yet you consider yourself only the humble servant of your beloved spiritual master, and you see all your achievements as the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa.
Unfortunately, I could not meet you personally, but your disciples, books, and teachings all testify to your presence – that is, you are still giving your blessings. You are the founder-ācārya, not just one teacher among many. You carry the special empowerment of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Rūpa Gosvāmī, and Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī.
With their message in your heart, you set out to help the fallen souls of this dark age. What you accomplished is truly a miracle, was it not? As a perfect instrument, the Lord was able to use you in His divine plan, and He is all-powerful.
Thank you for this inconceivable mercy, and I pray for your causeless blessings so that I too may become a suitable instrument in your hands and in the hands of your devotees.
Your insignificant servant,
Mahāprabhu Swami
