Homages from ISKCON Centers

Homages from ISKCON Centers
Actually, Krishna does not care for how much we give to Him, but He sees how much we are
keeping back for ourselves. There is the story of Kholaveca Sridhara, a devotee of Lord Caitanya,
who although he was a very poor man, gave half of his meager income for worshiping Mother
Ganges, and by so doing, he greatly pleased the Lord.
This instruction is so wonderful because it means that we all have the same opportunity to become
Kåñëa conscious. None of us are materially equal. However, no matter what abilities we have or do not
have, Lord Kåñëa is only concerned that we engage everything that we have in His devotional service.
Not only is Lord Kåñëa asking us to give the best that we can, but He is offering to help us all along the
way. Lord Kåñëa says in the Bhagavad-gétä (9.22), “But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on
My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.” The significance
of this statement is that if we give everything we can to the Lord, He will empower us to do wonderful
things if we so desire. In reality, your empowerment to render extraordinary devotional service and
spread this movement is the direct result of your love of and surrender to the Lord. Superficially, when
you came to America, you appeared to be an old man in poor health, without money, without friends
and supporters—in short, without any material means. In spite of these apparent shortcomings, you
engaged all your energy in the Lord’s service, and Lord Kåñëa personally carried what you lacked. The
result was that He empowered you to spread Kåñëa consciousness all over the world. The Lord’s promise
is also there for all of us, too.
We pray that we may become sincerely dedicated to serving your mission, leaving aside all personal
desires and envy of others. We have spent millions of lifetimes serving Mäyä. Please help us dedicate
this one lifetime to serving Lord Kåñëa. You gave us all the key to the spiritual world. All we have to do
is put it in the lock and turn it. Please empower us to do something wonderful for you. The debt to the
spiritual master can never be repaid, but still we must dedicate our life and our existence to attempting to
repay that debt. Lord Caitanya predicted that the holy names would be spread to every town and village
in the world. We aspire to make Miami a Kåñëa conscious city and to show our appreciation to you by
offering such a transcendental place back to you as a most wonderful gift. Please bless us that we can
show our love for you by working together cooperatively to spread this movement in a significant way.
Your humble servants at the ISKCON temple in Miami, Florida, USA.
Montreal
nama oà viñëu-pädäya kåñëa-preñöhäya bhü-tale
çrémate bhaktivedänta-sväminn iti nämine
I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda, who is
very dear to Lord Kåñëa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
namas te särasvate deve gaura-väëé-pracäriëe
nirviçeña-çünyavädi-päçcätya-deça-täriëe
Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvaté Goswami. You are kindly
preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with
impersonalism and voidism.
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