Montreal

On this most glorious day of his appearance we pray at the lotus feet of our spiritual master for continued service and we beg to have the benediction of offering eternal homages and obeisances to his divine person. With soul-searching and insufficient means we attempt an impossible task-proclaiming and glorifying the inestimable purity and magnificence of our most exalted gurudeva. By his unflinching example we are stirred to follow in his footsteps and offer ourselves at his lotus feet. They are the only shelter from the onslaught of material illusion and forgetfulness of our true position as insignificant servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krsna.

It is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam: " We think that we have met Your Grace by the will of providence, and thus we accept you as captain of this ship for those who desire to cross the dangerous ocean of Kali, which destroys all the good qualities of a human being." (Bhag. 1.1.22)

Srila Prabhupada has guided this transcendental ship, the saṅkirtana movement, through the whirlpools and storms of material existence. He has salvaged countless lives that were floating adrift in material sense-gratification or cast ashore on the barren rocks of mental speculation and the desire for self-annihilation. Our individual and collective debt to him remains eternally unpaid.

He alone has done the impossible, what no else would have even attempted. Carrying out wholeheartedly and enthusiastically the orders of his spiritual master, he came to teach us the highest truth of divine service and love of Godhead. By his purity, he attracted us to the glorious light of the Vedic truths and by his example the most fallen souls were able to give up addiction to intoxication and illicit sex, and accept regulative principles for purification under disciplinary vows.

By contact with a pure Vaisnava, or unalloyed devotee of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, the impure are made pure. Thus the uncontaminated truth of the Srimad-Bhagavatam is being broadcast worldwide, and propagated from numerous spiritual oases or training schools for a legion of Vaisnavas. Vaisnavism has been spread around the planet. In this age of quarrel, hypocracy and materialism, the highest perfection of spiritual life, or visva-dharma, the universal religion coming directly from the Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has been bestowed without discrimination to all. By his causeless mercy, he has manifested the torchlight of knowledge, Srimad-Bhagavad-gita, as well as the brilliant sun of Srimad-Bhagavatam to illuminate the dark night which covers all forgetful souls.

Dear Srila Prabhupada, your greatness can be seen in the blossoming of the divine lotus of bhakti in the hearts of your disciples. The seeds of divine love which you lovingly planted in these most barren souls are fructifying under the incessant showers of your magnificent mercy.

You are the personification of all scriptural injunctions and of pure devotional service to Sri Hari, Lord Sri Krsna, the final purport of the sastras. You are the perfect acarya, or "mahatma", whose only life purpose, as shown by your spotless example, is described in Bhagavad-gita:

We thus pray to the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya to give us eternal association with His most confidential servitor, Srila Prabhupada. May we with all the seriousness at our command fully carry out his instructions which we have taken as our life and soul.

Jayate, Jagat-guru, Srila Prabhupada.

ISKCON MONTREAL QUEBEC