The following offerings were written by Srila Acharyadeva on the Vyasa-puja celebration days of his spiritual master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 

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In 1971, I wrote to Srila Prabhupada asking if I could address him as my spiritual father. He wrote back saying that he was indeed my spiritual father, and that the Gayatri mantra was the spiritual mother. With the combination of father and mother, the disciple takes second birth. As we continue to receive the unstinting mercy of our eternal guide, Srila Prabhupada, we continue to grow spiritually, and indeed intellectually and emotionally, since all our faculties rest on the spirit. With our growth in Krishna consciousness, it is natural that we discover an ever more mature relationship with Srila Prabhupada, even as we learn to appreciate him with ever greater insight.

As Prabhupada progressively frees us from our blind attachment to our temporary bodies, and to this temporary world, we are able to increasingly appreciate his own spiritual purity and perfection. We can see with far greater clarity that Prabhupada's glory lies in his selfless devotion to Lord Krishna.

Once in a morning Bhagavatam class in New Dvaraka, Prabhupada said, "People give me credit for spreading this movement, but I take no credit. If, however, you insist on giving me some credit, then it is simply this: that I never tried to take Krishna's position." Srila Prabhupada is the only person I ever met about whom I can say with complete certainty, that everything he did, he did with no other desire than to please and glorify Sri Krishna. It is this pure Krishna consciousness that we worship and follow as we eternally serve Srila Prabhupada.

His servant,
Hridayananda das Goswami
August 17, 2009

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

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

My simple prayer is that Lord Krsna bless me to be an enthusiastic member of Srila Prabhupada's sankirtana party.  Srila Prabhupada's pure loving service to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu inspired the Lord to reveal Himself in the most powerful and enchanting way.  We can all participate in that unique revelation by enthusiastically assisting Srila Prabhupada in his unique service to the Lord.

Sincere service to Srila Prabhupada in his sankirtana activities quickly and easily elevates us beyond the predictable misery of selfishness.  Service to Srila Prabhupada is the best way to water the root of our existence, and thus achieve eternal peace and happiness.  Let us try to put his pleasure above our own, for only thus will we be happy in this world and the next.

Srila Prabhupada's pleasure is sublime and selfless; he seeks the eternal happiness of all living beings.  Trusting in his mercy and that of Lord Krishna, let us rededicate ourselves to his mission, which is identical to that of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai.

From one who aspires to serve him,
Hridayananda Dasa Goswami
September 5, 2007

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

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

At this time every year, we gather our thoughts and our communities to honor our spiritual leader, Srila Prabhupada.  Because our impurity blocks our vision of Krishna in the heart, Krishna sends his pure devotee as the external, visible form of the Supersoul, to guide us on the path back to Godhead.

As we mature and advance in Krishna consciousness, our appreciation for, and devotion to, Srila Prabhupada naturally grow in proportion.  Ultimately it is Srila Prabhupada's wish that we mature to the point of being able, as he was, to simultaneously preserve and adapt the great tradition that he so wisely and faithfully revealed to us.  We must preserve Krihsna consciousness as it is.  Otherwise, we betray the spiritual science.  Yet we must present it in a relevant way, so that it lives and breathes as humanity's yuga-dharma.

Only through Srila Prabhupada's great mercy will we successfully grasp and implement his deep will to his satisfaction.  On this day especially, let us pray for that specific mercy.

His servant,
Hridayananda Das Goswami
August 17, 2006

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

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

I offer my sincere obeisances at the lotus feet of my pure spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.  As we grow and mature in our knowledge of the material and spiritual worlds, one simple, central fact remains constant in our lives: it is by the great mercy, kindness, and wisdom of Srila Prabhupada that we will achieve real success and happiness in life.

His greatest gift is knowledge of himself, for to know even partially the exalted nature of the Lord's pure devotee is to know Krishna in the most sublime way.  Indeed, one cannot know Krishna without knowing His pure devotee.

To dedicate our lives wholeheartedly to Srila Prabhupada's mission is the natural, satisfying response to his glories.  Gratitude, prudence, bliss, and love all compel us to put aside our trivial pursuits and strive for his selfless, incomparable, contagious pleasure.

His eternal servant,
Hridayananda Das Goswami
August 28, 2005

I offer my respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara-sata Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Each year at this time, we search our hearts and minds to discover and articulate the special form and manner in which the perennial flow of Srila Prabhupada's mercy has manifest at this specific historical moment, both in the world and in our individual lives.

In devotional service, for all things there is a season.  There is a time to act and a time to wait, a time to speak and a time to keep silent, a time to pray and a time to obey the answers to our prayers.  In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna, speaking to this general topic, asks Krishna why, or in what circumstances, a realized soul will stay or go, or speak, and in what language.  The Lord answers that in all circumstances, the enlightened soul will act without selfish motive, that is, in pure Krishna consciousness.

It is Srila Prabhupada's special mercy, which  have to come to realize more and more recently, that as the transparent via media to Lord Krishna, he will show the sincere soul how to act, or refrain from acting, without selfish desire, soely for the pleasure of the Lord.  This is of course the ultimate gift of Srila Prabhupada; pure devotional service.

Thus we sing, sri-guru-carana-padma, kevala bhakati-sadma: "the lotus feet of Sril Guru are the abode of pure devotional service."  Thus it logically follows that by serving those feet we achieve Lord Krishna, free of the pain and foolishness of material existence.

On this most blessed day, the divine appearance day of Srila Prabhupada, I pray that he continue to teach me the ways of pure devotional service, for only in such purity can we truly be useful to Srila Prabhupada and thus to Lord Krishna.

His reluctant but persevering servant,
Hridayananda das Goswami
September 8, 2004

This is the miracle of your peerless preaching: that you have come as the empowered representative of the oldest of all teachers, Lord Krsna Himself, who first imparted Vedic knowledge to Brahma, yet you have dressed this primeval message in a language, style, and method that are appropriate to the contemporary world. You have revealed the adaptive power of eternal Vedic culture, that it is truly a universal spiritual science and not an ancient ethnic or sectarian tradition.

Now I pray to you that you bless us with this adaptive power, intrinsic to Vedic culture, which you manifested in such brilliant fashion. Because you are the founder-acharya of ISKCON, we who follow you must discover adaptations that both conform to the basic standards you set and remain within the boundaries you drew.

In the famous Vyasa-puja essay you wrote to your spiritual master, you cited the Vedic phrase phalena pariciyate, “[a thing] is measured by its fruit.” During your mission on earth, you often and ardently expressed your desire for a particular fruit: the wide distribution of love of Godhead, the broad expansion of the sankirtana movement. You clearly envisioned ISKCON as a movement that could and should provide mature spiritual leadership to the world. You specified that by achieving prominence in America, ISKCON would achieve great influence throughout the world. The challenge then before us is to bring you that fruit which you desired out of your own pure love for Krishna.

If we water down your movement to popularize it, or if we lack the mature realization to make it relevant—in either case—we will not fulfill your vision. Therefore I humbly pray to you on this day that you bless us with the power to
preserve intact and compromised your divine mission, while at the same time keeping it relevant, appealing, and successful.

Your servant,
Hridayananda das Goswami
August 21, 2003

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Dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my respectful obeisances at the dust of your feet.  As always, the annual call to write an offering to you awakens a deeper desire to fulfill your desires.  You wrote to me once, asking that I read your books and explain them in my own words.  You challenged us in your Los Angeles garden by saying, "What is the use of your being American devotees if you do not do something wonderful to spread Krishna consciousness?"

Your pure desire, which you so often fervently declared, is that America take Krishna consciousness seriously.  It was not your desire that ISKCON and its devotees be a laughing stock in America or in any other country.  You have given us a perfect philosophy with a perfect practice.  Now it is our sacred task to present this Krishna consciousness in an appropriate way that earns the respect of intelligent, reasonable people in America and throughout the world.  We beg you to make us your pure instruments as we proceed in this most important mission.

Your servant,
Hridayananda das Goswami
September 1, 2002

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