My dearmost shiksha guru and spiritual grandfather, Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories unto you! All glories unto my diksha Guru Maharaja Jayapataka Swami!
O Vaisnava Thakur, one such as you is ever-glorious. Instead of only once a year, pages and pages could be written about you every day because those who have taken the dust of your lotus feet upon their heads feel ever- increasing pleasure from extolling your glories. Now, by the mercy of those servants of yours that you have so kindly led me to take shelter of, I shall attempt to produce an iota of what could easily become a limitless composition..
Today, thinking of you, the word "elixir" came to mind. I found this fitting, for in a dictionary it says that an elixir is 1.a hypothetical substance sought for by medieval alchemists to change base metals into gold or to prolong life indefinitely. 2. rare, the quintessence; underlying principle, and 3. a supposed remedy for all ailments; a panacea.
Materialists are very eager to prolong life, but they do not know that the body is always perishable. Only the soul lives forever. You, Srila Prabhupada, came to this world to remove that ignorance. Armed with the knowledge spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, you defeated their propaganda and freely distributed eternal life by feeding us the deathless nectar of the Lord's holy names and words, and by this process you have proven how bell metal, in other words, how fallen conditioned souls, can be refined from degraded sense enjoyers to genuine gold, first class loving servants of the Lord. Secondly, not only the pure love for Krishna that you possess, but you yourself, a perfect devotee of the Lord, are so rarely found in this world; you exquisitely carry within your heart He who is the underlying principle and all-pervading essence of all that be, the very source of this creation. And third, you have delivered the panacea, Krishna consciousness, to solve the problems of life and to bring peace to all living entities.
I left both the words "hypothetical" and "supposed" in the above definitions because they signify that only devotees can understand these glories; they remain hidden to the demoniac.
Your Divine Grace, the Lord appears very harsh, angry at the demons when he says in His Gita, "Those who are envious and mischievous ...I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence". I, too, come from a demoniac background; I have often battled the envious nature I was born with. Yet the Lord is also always very very kind. He comes in the form of Sri Guru to save us. Therefore, O Gurudeva, O Savior, my prayer is to never forget you, your instructions, your causeless mercy. I wish - with renewed enthusiasm on this special occasion of your appearance- to forever serve you and your servants with the deepest heartfelt gratitude and love.
From a most indebted soul,