By Atma Tattva Das,
This weekend, September 12–14, 2025, ISKCON Boston is hosting a three-day festival marking the 60th anniversary of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s arrival in the United States, the historic event that began the Hare Krishna movement’s worldwide mission.
As ISKCON marks sixty years since Srila Prabhupada first set foot in America, Bhakti Gauravani Goswami has given the community a fitting offering. His new book, Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma: Make Me Dance, is a devotional edition of ISKCON Founder Acharya – His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s Boston Harbor poem, accompanied by translation, commentary, and evocative illustrations. At just under 80 pages, it is a compact work, but one that carries a profound devotional weight.
A Poem Born of Prayer
In the introduction, Bhakti Gauravani Goswami explains the ground from which this poem grew. Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma was Srila Prabhupada’s second Bengali poem composed upon his arrival in America in 1965, following Prayer unto the Lotus Feet of Krishna, written during the last days of his journey across the Atlantic. Both are preserved in the Jaladuta diary and were not written for publication. They were private outpourings of a heart in complete surrender.
“Make me dance, O Lord, make me dance.”
– Srila Prabhupada, Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma
In this poem, Srila Prabhupada voices the bewilderment of a lone sadhu arriving in a foreign land. He wonders why Krishna has brought him to “a terrible place,” where people are absorbed in passion and ignorance. Yet, he ends with the plea that has become iconic: “make me dance, O Lord, make me dance.”
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/a-poem-of-surrender-marks-60-years-in-america/
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