Bombay

Dear Srila Prabhupada:

Please accept our eternal prostrated obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace. On the auspicious occasion of Sri Vyasa-Pūja we meditate on your unlimited transcendental qualities and glorious pastimes in reclaiming the fallen conditioned souls, and we find that you are the personification of the transcendental love described by Sri Prahlada Maharaja.

naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaranyas
tvad-virya-gayana-mahamrta-magna-cittaḥ
soce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyartha-
maya-sukhaya bharam udvahato vimūḍhan
SB 7.9.43

You were living alone in Vrndavana, absorbed in thoughts of the lotus feet of Krsna. From your sacred rooms at Radha Damodara, looking over the bhajana-kutira of Srila Rūpa Gosvami, you were feeling transcendental bliss. Merged in that ocean of bhakti-rasa, what need was there for you to leave that holy place? What need was there for you to leave the sanctified atmosphere of Vrndavana, so pure and peaceful, to come to the hellish cities of the West?

prayena deva munayaḥ sva-vimukti-kama
maunam caranti vijane na parartha-nisthaḥ
naitan vihaya krpanan vimumuksa eko
nanyam tvad asya saranam bhramato 'nupasye
SB 7.9.44

You remembered the divine instructions of your beloved spiritual master, Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara-sata Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, and you left your idyllic existence in Vrndavana in order to deliver us poor fools and rascals rotting amidst the horrible noises and smells of our big cities.

The people in the West are completely devoid of God-consciousness, completely deluded by the modes of passion and ignorance. Only you could properly appreciate our abominable position. Intoxicated by sinful life, we considered ourselves very advanced. What could we learn from you? Fat and complacent, we already had so many big leaders and teachers. How could we learn anything from You?

sri-prahrada uvaca
matir na krsne parataḥ svato va
mitho 'bhipadyeta grha-vratanam
adanta-gobhir visatam tamisram
punaḥ punas carvita-carvananam
SB 7.5.30

You had come to the West out of compassion for us rascals, but how to save us?

na te viduḥ svartha-gatim hi visnum
durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninaḥ
andha yathandhair upaniyamanas
te 'pisa-tantryam uru-damni baddhaḥ
SB 7.5.31

We are so fallen and godless, how could we ever understand your sublime message?

naisam matis tavad urukramahghrim
sprsaty anarthapagamo yad-arthaḥ
mahiyasam pada-rajo-'bhisekam
niskincananam na vrnita yavat
SB 7.5.32

We think that only by your causeless mercy could such wretched souls be engaged in the loving service of the Lord-only by your transcendental tricks and by the dust of your lotus feet. You sat under a tree in Thompkins Square Park and began chanting "Hare Krsna." And, when we thought, "Who is this fellow? What is he doing?" You began to explain the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. You gave us a new life, and you taught us how to live. Some people have hearts like stone, some have hearts like gold, and some have hearts like butter. But your heart is like nectar, always melting in love of God. Therefore you were pleased by our simple efforts to dance and chant "Hare Krsna," and to honor the krsna-prasada you prepared for us. Only by your causeless mercy could we get any idea of Krsna consciousness, and only through your transcendental love could our attachment for Sri Krsna develop. You gave us life and you taught us how to live. You taught us how to eat, how to sleep, how to wash, how to dress, how to worship, how to sit, how to speak, how to think, and how to serve. You gave us the "Hare Krsna" mantra and the transcendental seed of krsna-bhakti. The sunshine of your purity and the rainfall of your mercy created auspicious conditions in which the seed could grow, and you tendered the young creeper, cutting the weeds with your sharp criticism, and supporting the sapling with your loving guidance.

What could we offer to Krsna? Krsna is atmarama. Furthermore, He resides in a limitless kingdom of spiritual gems, where He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune. What could we ever do to please Him? Your heart is so soft that you were pleased even by the awkward attempts of His child trying to walk. And somehow or other, because you were pleased, we think that Lord Krsna, out of His great love for you, may also have been pleased. Thus by your mercy only He granted us devotional service.

Although from one point of view we are still helpless children and can only cry for you, from another point of view you have trained us so nicely and expertly that we now feel we want to do something for you. You have given us life, but you are so kind that you want to bring everyone to their real understanding of life. Your mission is so great and we are so insignificant, but still you have engaged us in preaching-in the same spirit expressed by Sri Prahlada Maharaja and in the same spirit demonstrated by your guru-maharaja when he sent you to the West.

tam syena-vegam sata-candra-vartmabhis
carantam acchidram upary-adho hariḥ
krtvatta-hasam kharam utsvanolbanam
nimilitaksam jagrhe maha-javaḥ
SB 7.9.28

We pray to remain eternally engaged in your transcendental loving service and to help give others the same life that you have given us.

Your eternal servants,

Surabhir Abhipalayanta dasa Svami / Raghava Caitanya dasa brahmacari / Vijeta dasa adhikari / Giriraja dasa brahmacari / Raghupati Raghava dasa / Bali Mardana dasa adhikari / Amoghalila dasa brahmacari / Aditya-devi dasi / Abhayasraya dasa brahmacari / Rama Ranjana dasa brahmacari / Arya-devi dasi / Aksaya dasa brahmacari / Rama Tulasi dasa brahmacari / Ganḍiva-devi dasi / Arjuna dasa brahmacari / Siddhartha dasa brahmacari / Ekayani-devi dasi / Chitrakara dasa brahmacari / Subala dasa brahmacari / Kanta-devi dasi / Ekanatha dasa brahmacari / Vijaya dasa brahmacari / Krsna kanta-devi dasi / Gaurasundara dasa brahmacari / Bhakta Hasamukha / Palika-devi dasi / Haridasa dasa brahmacari / Bhakta Lau / Radha Rasavihari devi dasi / Pippalai dasa brahmacari / Bhakta Manohara / Rama-devi dasi / Prasannatma dasa brahmacari / Bhakta Sunila / Syamasundari-devi dasi / Punḍarika dasa brahmacari / Bhakta Vibhūti / Taittreya-devi dasi / Puri dasa brahmacari / Bhakta Visnu brahmacari / Visva-devi dasi / Pūrna Brahma dasa brahmacari / Nistraigunya dasa adhikari / Vrndavani-devi dasi / Rama Sraddha dasa brahmacari / Raja Rama dasa adhikari

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