ISKCON—Austin

Dearest Srila Prabhupada,

By your unfathomable mercy, Your Divine Grace offers to deliver the fallen conditioned souls from subjugation to the whims of a mind caught in the endless turns of ignorant and passionate sense attachment. By your love of KRSNA, the Absolute Truth, and your transparent transmission of His instructions, Your Divine Grace has vanquished the esoteric mysteries shrouding God.

My eyes are still stunned from the darkness of material life, so, Your Divine Grace, I cannot appreciate your transcendental beauty and wisdom; KRSNA's opulences find reflection in you by dint of your unending and uncontaminated devotion to KRSNA. My lips have spoken too many lies, so nothing I say can worthily praise Your Divine Grace, or your message.

My mind has imagined and concocted too much maya, so I cannot conceive the vastness of your strength and kindness. But, you, O merciful Jagad-guru, present Lord KRSNA in His threefold bending form to these blinded eyes, and to these poisoned lips Your Divine Grace delivers the nectar of Sri Mahamantra, and to this polluted deluded mind, Your Divine Grace presents the ever fresh purity of KRSNA-Lila.

O Eternal Father, you reveal to us our spiritual mother, Veda, and I offer to your lotus feet 10,000 obeisances and my worthless soul. You are the most merciful spiritual master giving the ignorant the highest honor there is in this life, love of KRSNA, making them mad for KRSNA consciousness. The profit of my heart resides in fruits mundane; please render this my doggish heart to heel your lotus feet. The hunger that my spiritual nature had been feeling so intensely was satisfied with the nectar of the teachings which Your Divine Grace has so kindly brought to the Western world. I understand what my relationship to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is. I am surrendering to KRSNA and will know what He wants me to do only through your guidance and Divine Grace.

We all lined up in front of the temple to greet His Divine Grace with flowers, to actually hand His Divine Grace a flower. Even now I can hardly believe it. Sometimes I think I'm dreaming. I know that I'm not, but it seems that way, it's so wonderful. Lost in the web of misery for eons of years. An ocean of nescience that brought nothing but fear. Out of total darkness there shines a light-His Divine Grace shines so bright. The center of the universe we thought was our minds, but now we bow down at your lotus feet a million times. So please be with me in spirit always, so that I can cook for you and sing for you and help to spread this merciful movement in full consciousness. Please fill my empty heart with your glorious nature.

The intelligent people ask Your Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, "What is your magic? How have you made these wretched hippies into pure Vaisnavas?" Your Divine Grace replies, "My magic is that I don't tell lies. I don't give a bluff. Here is the real thing, Krsna is God, not a rascal that claims to be God. Real God is Krsna, with all opulences." That is your magic, Srila Prabhupada. Thank you for not cheating me.

I hope to be your surrendered servant,

ISKCON-Austin