Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
It is said the test of a man’s greatness is to measure the long-term impact of his life and teachings—to see if his legacy continues to inspire and guide others after his passing from the world.
It has been more than forty years since you physically left this world, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and fifty-plus years since you established ISKCON. But as time passes, your memory is not fading. Instead, time itself is revealing your place in history. Your impact has been momentous, and it continues to grow year by year.
In addition to establishing the ISKCON movement, writing your books, opening temples and rural communities, and traveling around the globe to teach and preach, you inspired a core of dedicated followers. Today those followers, and your own vāṇī, are inspiring others, and the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is having an impact on the global stage.
As my offering to you this year, I highlight a few of the many astounding things that continue to evolve because of your desire and vision. Specifically, how your legacy is expanding through the work of your dedicated followers. We can measure your greatness, in part, by the achievements of those who follow you.
Below are a few examples of the millions of Vaiṣṇavas who are carrying the Seven Purposes of your ISKCON Mission forward, proving that the life, teachings, and legacy of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda continue to bring positive changes in the world.
ISKCON’s First Purpose: To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
Inspired and guided by you, Śaunaka Ṛṣi Dāsa established the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS) twenty years ago in Oxford, England, one of the modern bastions of learning. Śaunaka Ṛṣi and his supporters have created an acclaimed academic center. OCHS has produced dozens of highly educated men and women, doctorates and professors, who teach in universities, publish scholarly books, and conduct in-depth research into the Vaiṣṇava tradition and other Vedic traditions. Inspired by your vision, OCHS is robustly “propagating spiritual knowledge to society at large” at the highest intellectual levels.
Purpose #2: To propagate a consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Through 6,000 annual festivals, 3,600 weekly home study groups, and Sunday Feasts and other programs at 650 ISKCON temples worldwide, your followers are systematically propagating “a consciousness of Kṛṣṇa” on a global scale. In India alone, 1.2 million schoolchildren are fed healthy, sanctified vegetarian prasādam lunches six days a week through ISKCON Food Relief programs, thus ensuring those children a healthier life, a better education, and a lifelong appreciation for the kindness of ISKCON and its founder- ācārya. These are just a few examples of how your desire to spread awareness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s glories continues to inspire Kṛṣṇa conscious activism throughout the world.
Purpose #3: To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Kṛṣṇa, the prime entity, and thus to develop the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Kṛṣṇa).
Many devotees have been inspired by this aspect of your mission. One example is the Grihastha Vision Team, led by your disciple Kṛṣṇanandinī Dāsī and her husband Tariq. The dedicated couples of the GVT strengthen devotee families by teaching seminars, training mentors, counseling couples, and sharing wisdom via their book, Heart and Soul Connection. By promoting understanding, honesty, respect, and loving relationships among family members, these disciples and granddisciples of yours have brought thousands of devotees closer “together with each other and nearer to Kṛṣṇa, the prime entity.”
Purpose #4: To teach and encourage the saṅkīrtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is a kīrtana revolution exploding among the younger generations of your followers. Many thousands of these young men and women have developed a deep love for chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names. They organize 24-hour kīrtanas. They stay up late at temples and congregate at homes to chant together. They record music. They perform at yoga studios and at colleges and parks. They love the Lord’s names, and they love you for giving them the gift of the Holy Name. And, that love is reverberating around the world as millions more, influenced by your pure desire and the enthusiasm of these young Vaiṣṇavas, are awakening their attraction to kīrtana.
Purpose #5: To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes, dedicated to the Personality of Kṛṣṇa.
Your beloved disciple Ambarīṣa Dāsa (Alfred Ford) and his staff of professional devotees are erecting a stunning Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Māyāpur. Year by year, brick by brick, the entire ISKCON society is contributing to build this beautiful and holy place. This year, as the golden cakras were raised above our heads and onto the temple domes, it was clear from the smiles and laughter of thousands of Vaiṣṇavas present that, as you envisioned, a world-class holy place “of transcendental pastimes, dedicated to the Personality of Kṛṣṇa” is rising on the banks of the sacred Ganges.
Purpose #6: To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life.
While the world cries out for an end to environmental degradation, but struggles to rein in the greed and lust that cause it, your granddisciple Gaurāṅga Dāsa and a troupe of dedicated supporters are showing the world how to live simply at the Govardhan Eco Village (GEV) in Maharashtra. The United Nations World Tourism Organization gave the community an award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations for its sustainable practices. Inspired by your teachings, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the GEV empowers local farmers, draws appreciation from famed environmentalists, and is having a global impact in teaching a “simpler, more natural way of life.”
Purpose #7: With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books, and other writings.
Under the leadership of Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, Vijaya Dāsa, and many others, your book distribution is gaining ever-new life. In our earliest days book distribution was successful but also costly; our enthusiasm was sometimes overzealous and damaged the reputation of ISKCON.
Today, however, devotees are taught the importance of book distribution balanced with the priority of making friends. The prime objective: “To leave everyone with a good impression.” The result? In North America alone over the last five years book distribution has tripled. And in 2016 and 2017, the North American BBT sold a total of more than $4 million worth of books. Internationally, in addition to selling millions of your books, new languages are added almost every year. Under your continued guidance, Śrīla Prabhupāda, “periodicals, magazines, books and other writings” are being published and distributed as never before.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, as scholar and historian Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins stated during the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON event at Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions, you were a “one man channel for an entire culture and religious tradition.” He added that there “is no clear parallel” to your achievements in the history of world religions. And he said, “ISKCON has done at least as well as Christianity and Islam in its first fifty years.”
Forty years after your departure, Śrīla Prabhupāda, your followers are increasingly inspired by your example, your mission, and your love for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Historians and scholars of religion, too, are noting more and more of your achievements.
While most people are forgotten within forty years of their passing, your name, your legacy, your mission, and your love are only beginning to bear fruit. You, Śrīla Prabhupāda, are a great man, a noble man, a world-changing man, and a transcendental man. You are our life. Our soul. Our guide. Our guru. Our founder-ācārya. We pledge our lives to helping the world understand you; and through you, themselves and the eternally youthful, unlimitedly beautiful Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Your disciple and eternal servant,
Anuttama Dāsa
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