Cleveland

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept our most humble obeisances at your lotus feet. We pray that on this auspicious day of your appearance in this world, we may be blessed by you and Lord Krsna to have your causeless devotional service in our lives, now and always, without interruption by the force of maya.

We have learned from the prayers of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. "By the grace of the spiritual master one receives the mercy of Krsna, without the mercy of the spiritual master no one can make any advancement." So it is understood that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is approachable only by the causeless mercy of His pure Devotee. Actually, even ordinary persons in this material world are sometimes difficult to approach, so what to speak of God Himself! No ordinary man, for instance, can go to see the president of the United States. He is surrounded by a security network, which effectively prevents inimical or unqualified men from approaching him. Of course, that is the prerogative of a powerful person. He keeps company only with his intimate associates, not with indifferent, curious or inimical men. So, the Supreme Lord also protects the inner sanctum of His loving affairs from the prying eyes of envious persons. In the Gita the Lord says: "I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency (yogamaya); and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible." (Bg. 7.25)

Of course, we have read in your books about the powerful devotees and acaryas in our line of disciplic succession. Such personalities as Narada Muni, Lord Brahma, Dhruva Maharaja, Prahlada Maharaja, Maharaja Pariksit, etc. all performed so wonderfully the discharge of their respective devotional services that they were able to see the Personality of Godhead face to face. They attracted Lord Krsna by their unflinching determination, austerity, constant remembrance of Him, knowledge of the Vedas, and so forth, all culminating in unalloyed devotion at His lotus feet. Actually, that is the real qualification for approaching the Supreme Lord, as it is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita: "My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can I be understood as I am, standing before you, and can thus be seen directly. Only in this way can you enter in the mysteries of My understanding." (Bg.11.54) The conclusion is that the devotional service of the Supreme Lord is only very rarely achieved, and even then it is not available to common men, but only to those who possess extraordinary qualifications. The materialists think that devotional service is "poor man's business" but that is clearly not the fact. The Gosvamis, for instance, were so qualified by material standards as wealthy, successful and educated men, but even those qualifications were insufficient to award them the devotional service of the Lord. Only by the mercy of Lord Caitanya were they accepted for His service. And after achieving the Lord's service, they felt most satisfied to live just like impoverished men, taking the most humble position at His lotus feet.

The point of this discussion is that you have created our qualifications. Ordinarily, common and atrocious men like ourselves have no business rendering devotional service. Persons who are envious, unclean, devoid of pious acts and completely lacking in knowledge of the self, as we once were, are not actually meant for devotional service of Krsna. They are meant to suffer eternally in maya! Such persons can never take up the regulative principles of devotional service, and you have also told us of your misgivings at first, as to whether or not we would be able to accept this life of Krsna consciousness. Those misgivings were just and correct, for it was actually impossible for us to become devotees of the Lord. We could not become devotees, but you were so determined that you prayed to Lord Krsna, and thus, by your desire only, we have been permitted to enter this movement of Krsna consciousness.

You are the acarya, Srila Prabhupada, the acarya who always wants to increase the number of devotees, and your determination has made our lives very "uncomfortable." We were quite satisfied to glide down to hell, but now we find ourselves checked by your order and instruction. It is very difficult to avoid your instruction, for it is eternal, unlike the temporary phenomena of this world. We become very unhappy on account of our stubborn reluctance to surrender to these orders, and that unhappiness and dissatisfaction weighs more and more heavily upon our hearts. Finally we must give in to you. I think that you are forcing us to become devotees. How lucky we are to have met you.

In Caitanya-caritamrta we have read that: "No one can escape the unique loving network of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to deliver all the fallen souls. Therefore He devised many methods to liberate them from the clutches of maya." (Adi 7.37) Srila Prabhupada, you are always absorbed in hearing and chanting the message of Lord Caitanya, and you are also to be understood as nondifferent from the Supreme Lord, on account of your being His most confidential servitor. In fact Caitanya-caritamrta says: "According to the deliberate opinion of all revealed scriptures, the spiritual master is nondifferent from Krsna. Lord Krsna in the form of the spiritual master delivers His devotees." (Adi 1.45) Thus we cannot escape your unique loving network, for you are the manifest representation of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has determined that it is now time for us all to return to His supreme abode. How foolish we are. How lucky we are that you have come to compel us to perfect our lives in this way.

Therefore on this all-important day of your divine appearance, we humbly fall at your lotus feet, with tears in our eyes, and beg to offer our repeated obeisances at your lotus feet, just in the manner in which you have so mercifully taught us:

All glories to you, Srila Prabhupada. Please keep us all at some small corner of your lotus feet.

Your servants at Cleveland ISKCON: