Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

Recently, I have been reflecting deeply on your sojourn to America in your beginning days. It was actually a lifetime in preparation. You received the instruction from your spiritual master the very first time you met him at Ultadanga Junction Road.

“You are young Indian gentlemen. Why don’t you preach the message of Lord Caitanya in the English language in the West?”

How seriously you took that instruction!

When we meet someone for the first time, we may not usually take their words so deeply. But you recognized the urgency and gravity with which Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura spoke. And you recognized him as your spiritual master. Again, in December 1935, just 15 days before his departure from this world, you asked if he had any last instructions. He reiterated the same — preach in the West.

That instruction never left your heart. Even though circumstances did not allow its immediate execution, you never neglected it. When you were in your gṛhastha āśrama, you carried it within you, trying to preach in whatever way possible.

Even in your intense solitary bhajana at Vṛndāvana, that desire never died. In your Vṛndāvane Bhajana written in 1960, you speak about the illusion of this world, and the only reality being Śrī Hari. And the maximum part of your bhajana describes the need, necessity, and the importance to preach the message of Śrī Hari.

Your bhajana, sitting in Vṛndāvana, was your absorption in the mission.

You state,
“Māyā’s is all these newspapers

Preach that throughout the whole world.

Sitting alone in your room shouting, you may increase your bile’s secretion

But in ten million births Śrī Hari won’t be pleased.

Śrī Hari is no one’s father’s property

Come out of your cage, stop making objection

Everything belongs to Śrī Hari and Śrī Hari belongs to everyone.

Chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra loudly

By the performance of such saṅkīrtana there will come remembrance automatically

Then there will be nirjana bhajana manifested in the heart spontaneously.”

It is said that a sādhu’s words are meant to cut. Your words propagate the vāṇī of a true saint, whose only business was to cut the layers of illusion of a conditioned soul, that make him averse to Hari-bhajana and Hari-sevā.

Your Viraha-Aṣṭaka, written in those days itself, again is a revelation of how your only absorption was in your guru’s mission. You chanted intensely at the samādhis of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Advaita Ācārya, not to fulfill your own plans, not for purification, but for the strength to seek their mercy to execute the impossible task given to you.

When the time finally came, Sumati Morarji initially hesitated to give you free passage to America, fearing the extreme cold and your advanced age. But you didn’t budge. You repeatedly requested her. And finally, you boarded the Jaladuta and reached Boston on September 17, 1965, at age 69, with practically nothing.

I can’t imagine what that small suitcase of yours contained. Certainly not a warm woolen jacket to battle the chill of New York, nor the typical items one would pack for an outdoor journey. What we hear of is — rice, dāl and your three-tiered cooker amongst the other items. Also, you got with yourself 200 sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and above all, faith in the holy name, and faith in the instruction of your Guru Mahārāja.

While alone on the Jaladuta, you remembered your beloved Lords Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govindajī, Rādhā-Madana-Mohana, and Rādhā-Dāmodara. Still, you endured separation from Them, just for our sake.

When you arrived in America, no one took notice. You struggled in adversity. Later, Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja once told you, “I wish I could have been there with you in those early days in New York.”

And what was your response? “I was never alone. Kṛṣṇa was always there with me.” What a profound revelation that was!

Śrīla Prabhupāda, Kṛṣṇa tested you in every single way, but you never gave up. You would go once in a while to check for the return ship of Jaladuta. But even the man-in-charge of the dockyard was sure. You had not come to go back. In one letter, after facing many failures, you wrote, “I am not a person to give up so easily.”

So many obstacles came your way. But your conviction never wavered. And because of that, we are here today. You made available to us the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu so freely.

Historically, we see how rare this mercy was. Kṛṣṇa came, performed His pastimes, and went back. Kṛṣṇa didn’t bestow kṛṣṇa-prema easily.

Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura had received love of God from Mahāprabhu. But he had to wait to receive initiation from Lokanātha Gosvāmī. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura approached his guru Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja seventeen times before being accepted.

Nārada Muni, the great ācārya of our line, delivered countless souls. Most of them were pious, barring a few. What if Nārada Muni would have seen the hippies? He saw hippie-like behavior in Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, and he cursed them to become trees, only to be delivered thousands of years later.

But Prabhupāda, when you or your representatives saw us absorbed in the ditch of sense gratification like the hippies, you didn’t curse. You gave mercy freely.

And therefore, when it is said that you transformed hippies into happies, such mercy had not been exhibited before. Mahāprabhu and the Paṣca Tattva broke open the seal of love of God, but until your representatives gave us, we weren’t knowing anything even about who Kṛṣṇa was. Nityānanda Prabhu delivered one Jagāi-Mādhāi, you delivered countless Jagāis and Mādhāis.

Only you could do that. Only you could so freely give us the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Only you could empower your disciples to spread this message across every continent. Only you could bear the karma of countless conditioned souls. Only you could uplift the disheartened. Only you could give the supreme gift of love of Godhead to us, who had done nothing to deserve it.

So, on this auspicious day of your appearance, I seek your grace. I beg for empowerment in my service to my Guru Mahārāja. It is going to be a challenging task. I don’t know what to expect in my service. I know I cannot follow in your footsteps. I cannot even follow the footsteps of your glorious disciples, who offered everything for your mission. But I can try to give my best.

Please bless me so that whatever way life leads me, and wherever it leads me, I serve the instructions of my superiors and my spiritual master, thereby pleasing you.

Your servant,

Hari Bhakti Das