Homages from ISKCON Centers

Homages from ISKCON Centers
Pietermaritzburg
Dearest Çréla Prabhupäda,
Please accept our most respectful obeisances at the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your
Divine Grace on this most auspicious occasion of your appearance celebration.
When Lord Caitanya broke open the storehouse of love of Godhead, He freely distributed that love
to all conditioned living entities, regardless of their caste or material designation. Following His example,
you so generously brought that very same love to the Western world and freely distributed it to all of us,
who would have otherwise been swimming in this world of saàsära, oblivious to this great heritage. In
so doing, you mercifully chose to personally visit Pietermaritzburg, out of so many towns in South Africa,
to give your personal mercy and guidance. We would have chosen nescience if we had not surrendered
fully to the mercy you gave us in Pietermaritzburg when you placed your lotus feet on this city’s soil on 12
October 1975. It is said in the scriptures that wherever a great sädhu walks becomes a tértha, a holy dhäma.
Through your selfless endeavor to spread Kåñëa consciousness to every town and village, you created
your most aristocratic family of devotees, ISKCON, and it is now our most important responsibility to
serve and maintain your ISKCON with determination and sincerity.
Two devotees, His Grace Lokabandhu Däsa and Her Grace Sunéti Devé Däsé, have made a tremendous
contribution to our Pietermaritzburg yäträ. Just by a fleeting moment of association with Your Divine
Grace, and through their commitment to you, they have inspired so many devotees. On many occasions
they have been named pioneering devotees of Pietermaritzburg.
We devotees here in the Pietermaritzburg yäträ need to reflect on all the jewels you have so generously
given us in the form of the holy name, your books, the Deities, prasädam, your disciples and granddisciples,
and ISKCON in general. You have personally given us the back-door key to the kingdom of God, and
only fools would not take maximum advantage of something so rare and precious. In our devotional
practice humility and tolerance are always the key ingredients for success, so please bless us all with
these qualities in abundance. If by your mercy we can become soldiers in the missionary army of Lord
Caitanya Mahäprabhu by following in your footsteps, then all the people of Pietermaritzburg will chant
the mahä-mantra and awaken to their true identity.
Çréla Prabhupäda, may we reveal our hearts to you now that we have been afforded this opportunity?
The devotees in Pietermaritzburg have been trying to build a temple for the last fifteen years. By the
mercy of some of your sincere sons, we have made good progress in this undertaking over the last few
years. But there is still a lot to be done. We know that your mercy and blessings are forever with us, so
under your merciful guidance we hope to overcome the challenges we face and move into our temple
later this year, 2012. We are happy to inform you that many of the members of our yäträ are committed
to performing daily äratis (maìgala-ärati and sandhyä-ärati) in preparation for our temple opening. Çréla
Prabhupäda, you have given us the vision of how to please the Lord through festivals, preaching programs,
and prasädam distribution, and following your instructions we have celebrated many successful festivals
on the Vaiñëava calendar.
We would like to take this opportunity to express how grateful we are for the wonderful good fortune
you have so compassionately created for us. We thank you, Çréla Prabhupäda, for keeping us safe under
the shelter of your most aristocratic family—ISKCON. We would also like to request your blessings so
that Kåñëa consciousness in Pietermaritzburg may grow from strength to strength and prosper as part
of your timeless legacy.
Praying to be firmly fixed in the service of Your Divine Grace eternally, we remain
Your eternal servants in the ISKCON temple in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
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