ISKCON, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi-110026
Om Visnupada Paramhamsa Parivrajakacharya Sri Srimad Bhaktisidhanta Sarasavati Thakur Prabhupada, Please accept our most humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. As we celebrate the most glorious 150th Vyaspuja ceremony of your divine grace, we are filled with immense gratitude and joy as well as separation. We never had an opportunity in this lifetime to meet you in person or your dear disciple Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami, and yet through the disciplic succession; we feel most fortunate to be connected in this parampara and be the recipient of your compassion. Your work, sacrifices, words, personal example and mission have altered the course of our lives on the path of pure devotion. You are the ray of Visnu who appeared in the response to the prayers of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur at Sri Ksetra Jagannath Puri Dham to propagate the mission of Lord Chaitanya.
You are the founder of Gaudiya Mission and the president acarya of Sri Visva Vaisnava Raja Sabha. Had you not dedicated your life to making society free from the clutches of smarta’s apasidhanta, millions today would not have had access to pure Krishna Consciousness. You appeared at the most challenging time when the pure philosophy of Lord Chaitanya was infested with various kinds of deviations and the parampara represented by dishonest practitioners, leading to utter chaos and confusion about the Absolute Truths. You risked everything, even your own life, in challenging the nexus of pseudo-spiritual practitioners and their deviated ideas and establishing the pure teachings of Srila Rupa Goswami.
At a time when the whole country was struggling to gain political independence from Britishers and adopting Nationalistic Ideas, your vision extended beyond the bodily concept of life to the transcendental platform. You revealed the light of Vedas and bestowed upon humanity the full-fledged freedom from the darkness of kali yuga. Your vision was not sectarian. You wanted the whole world, especially the Western world, to be delivered by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya.
When most Indians were enamoured by the materialistic advancement of the West, you impressed upon the real mission of the human form of life. You never wanted to put a brake on modern civilisation – but demonstrated the art of yukta vairagya, utilising everything in the service of the supreme proprietor, Lord Krishna. You adopted the most advanced technology and inventions of the time and utilised them to spread Hari Katha.
By your personal example of uncompromising integrity, unparalleled leadership, realised knowledge and compassion, you created a revolution in the impious lives of a society infected with sinful habits. You engaged and attracted people from all spheres of life, be it the political heads, intellectuals, businessmen, rich, poor, gents, ladies, children, Indians, westerners, religious leaders, spiritualists, etc., to Lord Chaitanya’s lotus feet.
It is only by your mercy that generations later, people of the present age can visit various transcendental holy places connected to Lord Chaitanya and His associates. People would never have had access to those places without your initiatives to preserve those places. You established Gaudiya Mathas, started worship and revealed the spiritual significance of hundreds of holy places. You developed Navadvipa Mandal Parikramas.
You established the printing presses in Gaudiya Math to broadcast Hari Katha. You wrote commentaries and books, published newspapers and magazines and distributed them worldwide. You would call the printing press ‘Brhad Mridanga’, whose sound can resonate worldwide with Krishna Kirtans.
Only because of you do we have the actual Vaisnava Smriti by Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami for various rituals of Gaudiya Sampradaya. You gave Gaudiya Sampradaya its rightful, respected place in society by your pure example, scholarship and divine instructions.
You were absolutely fearless in preaching, cutting through any idea that opposed the pure teaching of Srila Rupa Goswami. You delivered humanity from the evil clutches of Mayavada and Sunyavad philosophies. You delivered society from smarta ideas. You checked the onslaught of sahijya ideas by establishing proper sidhanta. On the instruction of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, you delivered the historic speech to establish Vaisnava’s rightful transcendental position.
You are a real servant of holy names by whose desire Lord Chaitanya’s mission is being spread worldwide.
You were a great visionary who always thought ahead of time. As a founder of Gaudiya Math, you introduced the institution as a vehicle to preach Lord Chaitanya’s Teachings and check the exploitative tendencies of the time. You always emphasised the importance of preaching while simultaneously cautioning about the necessary evils of organised religion.
You instructed your dear disciple, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami, to take the teachings of Lord Chaitanya in the Western world in the English language. At Radha Kunda, You instructed Him to print books. Your love, compassion and mercy have manifested to us in the divine form of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. We can glimpse your glories and grace through the unparalleled pure love and example of your loving disciple, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
As we celebrate your 150th Vyaspuja, we seek and depend upon your mercy to imbibe and follow the pure teachings of Lord Chaitanya in our lives and put every single speck of our energy into fulfilling your transcendental desires.
Following in the footsteps of Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, we seek to imbibe the same sentiments as expressed in His Vyaspuja offering to you in February 1936 in Bombay:
“Personally, I have no hope for any direct service for the coming crores of births of the sojourn of my life, but I am confident that some day or other I shall be delivered from this mire of delusion in which I am at present so deeply sunk. Therefore, let me with all my earnestness pray at the lotus feet of my divine master to allow me to suffer the lot for which I am destined due to my past misdoings, but to let me have this power of recollection: that I am nothing but a tiny servant of the almighty Absolute Godhead, realized through the unflinching mercy of my divine master. Let me, therefore, bow down at his lotus feet with all the humility at my command.”
Your Servant
Premanjana Das
ISKCON Punjabi Bagh
