Śrī Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja:

Honored guests, devotees, and acaryas of Vrndavana: Whether he believes it or not, every living being is the eternal servant of God. But when the living being turns away from God and forgets God, he comes under the control of maya [illusion] and becomes entangled in the cycle of birth and death wandering through 8,400,000 forms of life. God and the devotees of God do not like to see the living beings suffer. So out of compassion for them, to bless them they incarnate within this material world.

Five hundred years ago the Lord appeared as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu for the deliverance of the fallen souls of Kali-yuga [the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy]. He spread the glory of Krsna and love of Krsna all over India. After Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's disappearance, His followers carried on His mission. But in the course of time, owing to the influence of Kali-yuga, people in general became degraded. They became mad after sensual enjoyment. Contending parties arose, and the true purport of Sri Caitanya's message was lost. The teachings and the love of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu were forgotten, and the succession was broken.

Then, in 1874, to reestablish the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu-to revive love of God for the welfare of the world-Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, an eternal servant of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, appeared on this earth. It was he who revived the work of Sri Caitanya. To assist him he had so many great disciples, but out of these disciples Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was the most prominent, for he actually spread the message of his gurudeva in the Western countries.

Srila Prabhupada was born in 1896 into a very aristocratic and religion family. His parents and his grandparents were all Vaisnavas. From his very child hood he was worshiping Sri Radha and Krsna, and he was observing all Vaisnava festivals by the age of twelve years. It can be seen from his life that he was attached to the name of God from his childhood. After he graduated from college in Calcutta, he became the manager of a chemical manufacturing firm. But Srila Prabhupada was not one to remain in worldly activities. He was a great saint, who appeared in this world to fulfill a specific mission. So when the time was ripe he left his worldly activities without hesitation. Later he lived for four years in Mathura, where, seeing his enthusiasm to preach Krsna consciousness, I advised him to enter the renounced order, sannyasa. I told him that it would be most beneficial to the world if he would take sannyasa, and he accepted my prayers. At the same time my own guru, Om Visnupada Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, came to Mathura, and Srila Prabhupada took sannyasa from him.

When Srila Prabhupada was twenty-five years old he left his studies and joined Gandhi's movement for independence. Shortly thereafter, he went with a friend to see Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami for the first time. Srila Prabhupada told me how fortunate he was that he went to see Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, who, after seeing Srila Prabhupada's English education and strong faith, spoke for two hours about God: "Human life is not meant for sensual enjoyment. The human form is very rare and should not be wasted in sensual enjoyment. If we simply engage in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, we have to take birth again and again. The only duty of human life is to practice devotion to Sri Krsna so that, at the time of death, we can return to His lotus feet."

Srila Prabhupada told me he was fascinated and deeply influenced by the lecture of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, who at that very first meeting asked him to spread the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world.

India can teach the world the eternal religion-that the real nature of all living beings is to be the eternal servant of God. It is the pride of India that she can give this teaching to foreign countries. So this great saint, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, has not done any ordinary thing. He acted as a humble servant of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and with full confidence he followed His order: "Preach the message of Sri Krsna in every corner of the world." When he went to America he didn't have any money-just a few rupees. With a trunk full of his Srimad-Bhagavatams, some chanting beads, and a pair of hand cymbals, he went to America. He didn't have any other belongings. In New York City he would sit in a park where people gathered for walking and enjoyment, and he would sing the maha-mantra and play his cymbals. He would explain the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to those who would come to sit with him and inquire. So he was a guru in the real sense-an empowered guru-because without being empowered by God, no one can distribute the name of God or teach devotion to God.

In the Vedic scriptures we find many similar examples of empowered (saktyavesa) incarnations: Srila Vyasadeva, Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, Sri Naradaji. Naradaji is a saktyavesa incarnation of devotion; God's energy works through this great soul to spread devotional service. In the course of time we will realize that Srila Prabhupada was also an incarnation of devotion. So this is a festival of separation from Srila Prabhupada, for by feeling the pain of separation from him our devotion to him will increase. If one does not feel the pain of separation from God or guru, one's devotion has not yet begun; one whose heart is filled with this pain of separation has already developed devotion to God. Actually, though, Srila Prabhupada has not died. He is still with us in our hearts-if we ask his mercy. Then, wherever we are, at any time, he will direct us and give us strength.

Today we no longer have Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja with us in his physical form, but in his words he is present without any doubt. So we should not think that because Parama-bhagavata Sri Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is not present here physically, there is no more work to be done. Instead, we should all take his mission seriously and work more to spread Krsna consciousness all over the world. That will be our real homage to Srila Prabhupada. We should all work together, ignoring the small differences among us. As Sri Visvambhara Gosvami has already said, we will help you in every respect. Please don't feel that you are alone. We are all behind you and will help you according to our strength.

We pray to Srila Prabhupada to please have mercy on us, that we can be successful in spreading his words and the words of Lord Caitanya. We pray that he may give us strength, and that he may give us the same faith in the guru and faith in the Lord that he had.