Homages from ISKCON Centers

Homages from ISKCON Centers
character. As the äcärya, you are the ideal example, and we will never be interested in replacing you
with another model, no matter how great someone else may seem to be. You are our Guru Mahäräja and
your society’s äcärya. May we be an äcäryavän, one who knows the purpose of the äcäryas. We only beg
to continue to be given the chance to represent you as a pure messenger, bringing relief to all suffering
conditioned souls and motivation to your devotees.
Please pray to your Lords, Çré Çré Gaura-Nitäi and Çré Çré Rädhä-Kåñëa, to continue to purify us and
help us on the path of pure devotional service at your lotus feet.
Your servants at New Tälavana, ISKCON’s farming community in Mississippi, USA.
(written by Yogéndra Vandana Däsa)
New Vraja-dhäma
Dear Çréla Prabhupäda,
Please accept our respectful obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace!
First let me thank you for giving me the opportunity to write an offering for your Vyäsa-püjä book.
I feel deep purification and bliss when I’m thinking about your divine qualities.
Let us express our greatest gratitude for what you have given us! If I tried to list everything, I would
never reach the end. You personally trained your disciples how to cook for Kåñëa, how to distribute
prasädam, how to put on tilaka, how to dress and worship the Deities, how to play mådaìga, how to give
class on Çrémad-Bhägavatam, how to open a temple and a gurukula, how to start a farm community, how
to establish varëäçrama, and how to write books and then distribute them. Yes, you showed us how to
distribute books. In India you personally went out and sold Back to Godhead magazines, and in New York
when you first came to the West you personally sold your Çrémad-Bhägavatam volumes to bookstores.
But your greatest focus was on teaching us how to chant Hare Kåñëa without offense. You often
quoted this verse from the Padma Puräëa:
smartavyaù satataà viñëur vismartavyo na jätucit
sarve vidhi-niñedhäù syur etayor eva kiìkaräù
“Kåñëa is the origin of Lord Viñëu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time.
All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the çästras should be the servants of these two principles.”
In your purport to this verse, at Caitanya-caritämåta Madhya 22.113, you strongly recommend that your
disciples follow this principle. “Of all the regulative principles,” you write, “the spiritual master’s order to
chant at least sixteen rounds is most essential.” We can clearly understand that to remember Kåñëa we
have to chant Hare Kåñëa. You clearly explain it in your purports to those four verses in the Bhagavadgétä
(8.5–8) where Kåñëa speaks about remembrance of Him. In every purport you mention the Hare
Kåñëa mahä-mantra, and you reach the conclusion that in this age especially chanting Hare Kåñëa is the
best and easiest way to remember Kåñëa.
Dear Çréla Prabhupäda, let us express our deepest gratitude to you for giving us the holy name. We
pray we can continue to accept this matchless gift with all humility, and that our appreciation for this
gift will steadily grow. We are convinced that this will please you.
Your servants at New Vraja-dhäma, ISKCON’s rural community in Hungary.
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