nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhuitale
srimate bhaktivedant-svaminn iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

Srila Prabhupada left this world almost forty years ago. He left us a powerful, relevant, international movement and asked us to expand it, or at least maintain it.

In some ways, we did expand and maintain his mission. In other important ways, we did not. Prabhupada often explained that his strategy to make the world Krishna conscious depended on ISKCON’s success in the Western world, since the world follows the West.

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Dear Srila Prabhupada,

I bow at your lotus feet and offer you my eternal gratitude for your supreme, eternal gifts.

One morning as we walked with you through Rancho Park in Los Angeles, you stopped to make a crucial point. As we gathered round, you dramatically presented Bhagavad-gita 11.33, where Krishna tells Arjuna to “just be the instrument for actions that I have already performed.”

Dramatically playing the part of Krishna, you said, “Arjuna, do not think that any of these soldiers will go home to their families. I have already slain them. Now if you like, you be the instrument and I will give you the credit. Otherwise, someone else will get the credit, for it will be done by My arrangement.”

This is the subtle art of Krishna consciousness. As Lord Krishna, and you, warn us, we should not think that we are the doers. And, yet, you and Krishna encouraged us to “take the credit,” and in Krishna’s words “gain the glory,” by enthusiastically acting as Krishna’s instrument.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Tenth Canto, the glorious King Yudhisthira resolves this paradox when he tells Krishna, “I want to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice, which brings great power and opulence, so that the world can see the advantage and the glory of serving You.”

Please help me embrace your transcendental offer, following in Yudhisthira’s and your footsteps. You often proclaimed the success of our mission so that people would see the glory of Krishna and join Him. Please empower us now with preaching potency and humility so that in the right consciousness we may act as your empowered instruments to spread your mission.

Your servant,
Hridayananda das Goswami
September 6, 2015

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhutale
srimate bhaktivedant-svaminn iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

Dear Srila Prabhupada,
I bow at your feet.

One morning in December 1973, as a disciple drove you to Venice Beach to walk, I sat with you in the back seat. All the way down Venice Boulevard, you instructed me on the importance of our American mission. On many occasions, public and private, you declared the sovereign importance of your western mission. If America and Europe accepted Krishna consciousness, the world would follow.

Before leaving this world, you stated that you had completed the first half of your western mission: Krishna consciousness was spreading dramatically throughout the western world. ISKCON made its voice heard In the national conversations of many western countries. Transforming the western world was a living, present possibility, not a prophecy to be fulfilled “someday” after we are gone.

As I write this, I am three and a half years younger than you were when you boarded the Jaladuta and journeyed to America. Only Krishna knows how many years more He will give me in this world. Considering the entire situation, I have dedicated myself to this:

I want to again see your western mission growing dramatically. I want to again hear an influential ISKCON voice in the national conversations of western nations. I want to again dream a rational dream that Krishna will transform the world within my lifetime.

Prabhupada, you are an eternally liberated soul with nothing to gain or lose in this mad world. Still for your selfless pleasure, I pray that more than ever you empower all those eager to dedicate their lives to the second Hare Krishna explosion in the Western world.

With eternal gratitude,
Your servant,
Hridayananda das Goswami
August 18, 2014

Nama Om Visnu-padaya Krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta swamin iti namine

Namas te Sarasvate Deve Gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine.

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

I offer my sincere obeisances at your feet. You magnanimously bestowed on us Krishna consciousness with a ‘lifetime warranty.’ Just as during your manifest presence on earth, so now after your external disappearance, you continue to make Krishna consciousness work for a burgeoning global community of Vaishnavas.

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