ISKCON—Trinidad

Dearest Srila Prabhupada,

We offer our prostrated obeisances at the holy lotus feet of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada, is a great and pure saint. He is full of godly qualities. He is coming in the parampara from Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

It is our joy to know that Lord Krsna exists, and the unquestionable proof is to come in contact with Srila Prabhupada. His transcendental qualities are above anything to be experienced in this world. Our incapable words of praise are like trying to show someone the sun with a candle.

If only everyone could come in contact with Srila Prabhupada, that would be the greatest thing that could ever happen.

Before Srila Prabhupada bestowed His mercy upon us, we were simply frustrated, unable to fulfill our hearts' desire for happiness, eternity and knowledge. Now, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada has taken us, who were full of misery and ignorance and afraid of death, and has given us eternal life of bliss and knowledge. For such a gift, what can we say? It is simply mercy upon us. We beg You that we may be allowed to serve You eternally, and by so doing, help other living entities know of You.

Our only happiness is to remember that You are fully present with us always by Your instructions.

We are trying to carry out Your instructions by glorifying the parampara system, without which the Bhagavad-gita is not understandable. The people here, being Indian descendants, have been raised hearing Hare Krsna and the Bhagavad-gita, but because it was not from the lips of a pure devotee, it had no meaning.

They are astonished that American boys and girls are chanting and taking this message of Lord Krsna seriously. This is Your mercy, and this is what we tell and explain to them. You have left India to teach a godless civilization to love Krsna. The so-called Hindus and religionists have their own concocted philosophy and teachings; they cannot understand that without Your mercy and grace they cannot know God. Krsna says, "Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth." (Bg. 4.34)

There are many professional men here who call themselves gurus and accept disciples. They completely cover the real teachings of Bhagavad-gita. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent causes poisonous effects. To the public, it appears to be the same teaching, but actually it is all showbottle. In the end, they are all impersonalists and voidists.

Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.

We had no knowledge of God or Krsna-we were the biggest fools; but because we had the mercy of Krsna, we came to You and accepted Your words and Yourself as our Father. "By the mercy of Krsna one gets a spiritual master, and by the mercy of the spiritual master one gets Krsna."

So our knowledge is perfect, without defect or mistake, because we do not modify what You teach us-which in turn is what Lord Caitanya taught-prema, pure love of Krsna.

We appreciate You more than ever now since being in Trinidad. Here are all the demigod worshipers having Siva-kirtana and Kali-kirtana-but the only kirtana can be sahkirtana (glorification of Lord Krsna). Here they have fire sacrifices, but they are all void without Your Divine Grace to sanctify them. They chant Hare Krsna, too, with a mind to merge, and in between smoke and do all nonsense. Only if they hear from You will they be able to have real spiritual life.

We pray to always remember Your glories and instructions so that we can be humble instruments in Your great plan in serving Lord Caitanyadeva, to deliver these fallen souls drowning in the ocean of birth and death. This can happen only when we realize Your mercy and greatness as a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna.

Hare Krsna.!

Your loving children,

ISKCON-Trinidad