Homages GBC, 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 my most humble and prostrated obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter 7, texts 18–19, we find a profound indication of your exalted identity as an internal devotee and eternal associate of the Lord:
yāṅ-sabā lañā prabhura nitya vihara
yāṅ-sabā lañā prabhura kīrtana-pracāra
yāṅ-sabā lañā karena prema āsvādana
yāṅ-sabā lañā dāna kare prema-dhana
“The internal devotees or potencies are all eternal associates in the pastimes of the Lord. Only in their company does the Lord descend to propagate the saṅkīrtana movement; only with them does He relish the mellows of divine love; and only with them does He freely distribute that same love of God to all living beings.”
The position of such exalted devotees is further illuminated in subsequent verses of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, where it is revealed that personalities like yourself assist the Pañca-tattva in breaking open the long-sealed storehouse of love of God. You did not pause to calculate who was qualified or unqualified; nor did you restrict the flow of mercy. Rather, you extended Lord Kṛṣṇa’s grace and Śrī Caitanya’s boundless compassion without discrimination, without hesitation, and without limit.
You firmly rejected those who sought to obstruct this divine outpouring, declaring: “These foolish arguments are sometimes raised by envious rascals, but Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees do not care about them. We strictly follow the principles set down by the Pañca-tattva.” (Ādi 7.23, purport)
Your divine ingenuity in devising ever-fresh strategies to distribute the contents of that storehouse of love of Godhead unmistakably establishes you as a great ācārya in the line of Lord Caitanya. This is affirmed in Ādi 7.31–32, wherein Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu reveals His compassionate resolve:
“Seeing that the Māyāvādīs and others were fleeing, Lord Caitanya thought, ‘I wanted everyone to be immersed in this inundation of love of Godhead, but some have escaped. Therefore, I shall devise a trick to drown them also.’”
In the word-for-word meanings to this verse, we perceive Śrī Caitanya’s solemn determination – that all living beings be submerged in divine love. Yet, perceiving the possibility that some might evade this mercy, He resolves to employ transcendental “tricks,” divine strategies, to fulfill His promise.
In your purport, you reveal that this dynamic adaptability is the very hallmark of a true ācārya: “This is the symptom of an ācārya. An ācārya who comes for the service of the Lord cannot be expected to conform to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means by which Kṛṣṇa consciousness may be spread.”
You further explain that your own presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – perfectly aligned with time, place, and circumstance – faithfully follows in the footsteps of the Pañca-tattva: “Therefore, what we are doing is perfect by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for it is He who proposed to invent a way to capture those who strayed from Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” (Ādi 7.31–32)
Fully cognizant of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s innermost intention, you remained undisturbed by the criticisms of those attached to rigid and stereotyped modes of presentation. Instead, you carried forward His mission with boldness, creativity, and unwavering fidelity.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, I beg for your causeless mercy – that life after life I may remain engaged as an instrument in your divine mission of delivering the conditioned souls. Kindly allow me to assist, in however small a way, in the ongoing work of opening that storehouse of love of Godhead for the benefit of all.
Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your eternal servant,
Bir Krishna dāsa Goswami
Homages GBC, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
Due to my serious health condition, this year I am being restricted in so many ways. This reminds me of what Śrīla Prabhupāda must have gone through when he arrived in America. But despite his severe health crisis, he performed his sādhana, gave classes, led kirtans, and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness far and wide with the utmost personal possible sacrifice. At the same time, he translated and published volumes of books with his invaluable Bhaktivedanta purports. The entire world is indebted to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
I pray that the generations of devotees in ISKCON will keep Śrīla Prabhupāda always strongly in the center. This will make the future of ISKCON bright and successful.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s humble servant,
Bhaktivaibhava Swami
Homages GBC, VP2026
My dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you, the savior of the whole world and of me.
I have been thinking a lot about your position as founder-ācārya of your International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. It is such a profound position, and as we know very well, one that you insisted on being recognized as.
A founder-ācārya is, among other things, someone who takes one or some important aspects of the functions and gifts of a sampradāya and gives them special emphasis, in this way having a particularly dynamic effect on the line and its place in the world at large. There is absolutely no doubt that you have done this, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in a number of ways.
In a sense, Lord Caitanya was also something like a founder-ācārya in that He took such an important activity of the sampradāya – the chanting of the holy names, and particularly, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra itself – and practiced it and emphasized it greatly. What an impact He had, particularly in India!
It is interesting that when Īśvara Purī initiated Lord Caitanya, he specifically emphasized to the Lord the chanting of the holy names as opposed to study of Vedānta philosophy, and after being instructed in this way, Lord Caitanya absorbed Himself in chanting and spreading the chanting, often to the exclusion of other Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. In this way, He had such an unprecedented impact on the world in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Similarly, you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for our preaching, emphasized chanting, but then, after some time, focused on the mass distribution of transcendental literature. I remember how, when I joined the temple in Bury Place, London, in January 1973, all we did every day was go on harināma up and down Oxford Street, the main street of the city. But then some time in the summer, we received an instruction from you to now focus on book distribution.
This is certainly one of your main contributions to the sampradāya, and it has had, and continues to have, such a massive impact on the whole world. How many millions of conditioned souls have now had contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness through the distribution of your books?
So on this basis alone, you are clearly a founder-ācārya and not simply another “regular” ācārya who was giving Kṛṣṇa consciousness to people.
And I was one of those many, many people who first got one of those books and had his life changed irrevocably by you. You saved me from a fate worse than death, and I owe you everything for that, eternally.
Please grant me a place at your lotus feet, forever.
Your ever grateful servant,
Bhakti Caitanya Swami
Homages GBC, 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
Among the many, many amazing things that you accomplished in your life, perhaps the most amazing for me is that you just got on that boat, the Jaladuta.
You were an elderly sādhu situated in Vrindavan, the most sacred place in the world for devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. You knew from śāstra how degraded this age was, especially in the West. You knew how difficult it would be to teach kṛṣṇa-bhakti to foreigners. You knew that Westerners were proud of their temporary opulence and thus disinclined to hear a message extolling them to surrender to God. You knew that others before you had gone west and failed. You knew that you too might fail.
Yet, you came. Despite the lack of finances, the lack of institutional backing, the lack of welcome, the lack of practically everything any reasonable person would require before undertaking such an arduous journey. Yet, you came.
It’s typical for disciples to glorify their gurus on Vyāsa-pūjā day, but today is not a typical Vyāsa-pūjā day. This is the Vyāsa-pūjā day of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the founder-ācārya of ISKCON. No other day of glorification of guru comes anywhere near to being this important.
Without you, there would be no Kṛṣṇa movement outside of India. There would be some Hindu temples; a few would have Kṛṣṇa Deities. Other sādhus would have come west; some would have written and sold their books. But there would be no movement. Only you had the expertise, the wisdom, the compassion, the tolerance, the vision, and the determination to bring the message of bhakti to the modern world. No one could have done what you have done. No one can compare to you and your achievements. No one.
And I, an aging servant who is dutybound to try to understand you, to glorify you, to appreciate you, and to try to amplify your message – I struggle to understand even why you got on that boat. How deep must be your love for the Lord! How much faith you must have in His holy name! How surrendered you must be to His will! How strong a desire you must have to fulfill His mission and deliver the souls lost in this material world!
Reflecting on your astounding success, I am struck by how you inspired millions to give up their materialistic ways and dedicate their lives to the Lord. And I am left wondering, still: How is it you got on that boat? Where would I be if you had not? How can I hope to repay the debt I owe you?
Your servant,
Anuttama Dāsa
Homages GBC, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
This is my small report on my service – my offering to you on the day of your appearance.
This year we are celebrating the fifty-fifth anniversary of your visit to Moscow. Your visit is an example of mercy and great compassion. You always think about the welfare of others.
śrī-devā ūcuḥ
kiṁ nu tad dustyajaṁ brahma puṁsāṁ bhūtānukampinām
bhavad-vidhānāṁ mahatāṁ puṇya-ślokeḍya-karmaṇām
The demigods replied: O exalted brāhmaṇa, pious persons like you, whose activities are praiseworthy, are very kind and affectionate to people in general. What can’t such pious souls give for the benefit of others? They can give everything, including their bodies. (Bhāgavatam 6.10.5)
After this trip to Moscow, you thought about how to make people in the USSR happy. People lacked spiritual knowledge. In 1976, you sent one of your disciples, Gopal Krishna Prabhu, to the USSR. By your mercy, he visited Moscow and Leningrad, where many prominent people ordered your books.
Active and mass book distribution began in the early ’90s. Many people, in need of spiritual life, eagerly absorbed streams of transcendental knowledge.
Last December, the Prime Minister of India presented your Bhagavad-gītā in Russian to the president of Russia. I am sure that such an event brought you deep satisfaction. You wanted the heads of state to read your books.
In your instructions, you taught leaders to develop strategic vision, identify goals, and make plans. This year, we want to focus on three goals:
- Education of leaders: We built the entire educational process on your instructions. The development of ISKCON depends on the leaders.
- Care for devotees: Once you said that the time had come to “boil the milk.” The nature of the material world is such that the spiritual goal – prema – always reduces. Devotees begin to dilute the milk of bhakti with water of karma, jñāna, and the desire to gain mystical experience. It is important that there are more mature devotees who are bearers of bhakti in their hearts. Therefore, it is important to create an atmosphere so that devotees enthusiastically want to practice bhakti-yoga. And here we rely on your instructions and letters.
- Competent management of the organization: You said that you write books, give lectures, but do not forget to check the bank accounts. Especially in modern times, it is important that all legal affairs of the organization are at the highest standard. Communication is also necessary here.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, I really appreciate the opportunity you gave me. Despite the difficulties, I continue to participate in the development of your movement, in the mission of Lord Caitanya.
Also, this year I began to communicate more closely with ISKCON leaders in India. I participate in the educational programs of the Mayapur Institute. Your books are always the basis for us. You created a movement that benefits all humanity.
An insignificant servant of your servants,
Acyutātma Dāsa
Homages GBC, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my most humble obeisances to your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
I want to share with you the feelings I and other devotees have of belonging to you. Most of your followers, including me, never saw you personally. I was born in the very degraded country in the USSR, behind the iron curtain. When I became a devotee in 1980, I had a very bitter feeling. I was suffering just because I missed the opportunity to meet you in person, because by that time you had already gone to the spiritual world. But even if I’d become your devotee earlier, I would not have been able to see you because Soviet people generally did not have the opportunity to travel abroad, and at the time you came to Moscow, I was too small a child to travel to Moscow.
Somehow, despite the feelings of separation, I never felt that you are not present on the planet. Maybe just on your tirobhāva festivals that acute feeling of great loss was haunting me. Otherwise, I felt that you are always present in your instructions, books, and ācāra. When I meditated on your photos, I felt that you are still really present, you are alive, and that warm feeling in the heart was more real to me than all other people in my life.
Not long ago I had a preaching opportunity at one nāma-haṭṭa gathering in Kyiv. Devotees present had never personally met you, but at that meeting they started sharing their personal relationships with you. Some of them were so moved by their feelings of gratitude to you that they started crying. All they have is your books, your biographies, your ISKCON, and your preaching mission to participate in. Due to that, they felt very much connected to you. You changed their lives, and you cared for them without ever seeing them. But they were included in your spiritual vision, and they felt that.
The world is becoming more and more crazy every year. Our foolish sentimental, utopian expectations from the material world are rapidly evaporating under the scorching heat of the fire of war in many corners of this world. You warned us about the uncertainty of the material world, and now we are practically realizing your prediction as scenarios unfold. What would we be, and where would we go without your clear instructions? Which shelter would we take?
Thank you for the guidance in these stormy waters of material existence.
I never saw you personally, but I pray I will become a speck of dust at your lotus feet eternally to assist you in your great mission of spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Your insignificant servant,
Acyuta Priya Dāsa
