Dear Shrila Prabhupada,

Please accept my most humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet.

The world today is in its darkest phase—ongoing wars in different parts of the world, immense loss of life, assets, and more; crime, racism, religious fanaticism and extremism, unquenchable thirst for money, insatiable lust, corrupt and exploitative leadership, etc. The list is endless.

And what else can we expect in Kali Yuga?

SB 12.2.1 states,
tataś cānu-dinaṁ dharmaḥ
satyaṁ śaucaṁ kṣamā dayā
kālena balinā rājan
naṅkṣyaty āyur balaṁ smṛtiḥ
O King, religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali.

Shrila Prabhupada, when you were trying to establish centers in different parts of America in the very beginning years, you had a heart attack. And it was intense. The devotees were very young in their spiritual life. You told them to offer a simple prayer to Krishna: “Our master has not finished his work.” The devotees chanted throughout the night. When you came out victorious from that situation, you later stated that Maya had noticed your successes in preaching, and she was putting up obstacles to impede your mission in this Kali Yuga.

Shrila Prabhupada, you were not deterred by failures. When you bought a big building in Manhattan, you said, “This is a slap on maya’s face.” In the age of Kali Yuga, you negated the effects of Kali and maya. Who else could have done that?

Your society was tried to be infiltrated by so many internal and external forces. But you protected it, just like Krishna protected all the residents of Vraja from the attack of demons. And you urged all the soldiers to relentlessly fight the war with maya, while co-operating with each other.

Shrila Prabhupada, now also, your words remain the guiding principles in our life. The world is facing dark times, but if your words were not there to give us solace, we don’t know which direction we would have taken in our life. Maybe we would have just remained busy with our own sense gratification.

With the divine light of your instructions illuminating our lives, we know what to pray for, we know where to take shelter, and we know what our goal is. Prahlada Maharaja, who embodied endless compassion says in SB 5.18.9, which I have been trying to recite often in these troubled times,

svasty astu viśvasya khalaḥ prasīdatāṁ
dhyāyantu bhūtāni śivaṁ mitho dhiyā
manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje
āveśyatāṁ no matir apy ahaitukī

“May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other’s welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him.”

Shrila Prabhupada, we earnestly pray to you that we don’t get sidetracked by the unlimited waves that are storming in the ocean of our consciousness through various agents of Kali and Maya. Rather, in these troubled times, we take shelter of Krishna and offer others the same shelter.

Another facet of Kali is the ongoing technological revolution which has led to development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The people developing AI themselves possess Adopted Intelligence (AI) which has been given by Krishna. For many of things in our life as well, we search for answers using this artificial intelligence.

Shrila Prabhupada, we pray to you that for all major or minor decisions in our life, we take the Acarya Intelligence (AI), your divine words and instructions in the forms of purports, letters, conversations etc. more seriously than we take the artificial intelligence.

Taking shelter of your AI (Acarya Intelligence) can help us S(AI)L through these stormy oceans of Kali Yuga, but taking shelter of the AI (Adopted Intelligence) of the people of this world will surely make us F(AI)L miserably and suffer endlessly in this whirlpool of the material world.

We pray to you, Shrila Prabhupada, to empower us to counteract the effects of Kali and Maya in our lives and in the lives of others, so that in the midst of these troubled times, we always remain connected to Your Divine Grace.

Your servant,
Hari Bhakti Das.