A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He is always accompanied by his associate servitors, his internal nature is just like the sweetest nectar and externally he appears like fearlessness personified. I continually offer my full prostrate obeisances unto the dust of his lotus feet which are the all auspicious shelter and goal of my life.

The blissful service of the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada is glorified by the topmost saints and devotees. To obtain the unalloyed service of his lotus feet is the only cherishable goal of my life. That eternal desire is always being fulfilled by the nectar of His Divine Grace and therefore the beauty of his unlimited transcendental qualities continually charms my heart. Now my dear devotees please hear with great care and attention the narration of Srila Prabhupada-Lila-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram, the transcendental qualities and pastimes of His Divine Grace, the topmost servant of Srimati Radharani .

On the day when the grand festival of Sri Nanda Maharaja, celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna was being held, Srimati Radharani accompanied by Her sakhis, who were all deeply absorbed in the bliss of krsna-prema, called for one of Her dearmost servants. Srimati Radharani , the Absolute Queen of Vrindavana, spoke thus revealing Her happy thoughts, "You must fulfill one desire of mine."

On this auspicious day you must incarnate on the earth along with my blessings and spread Krishna consciousness in every town and village of the world . My very dear Sri Kamala (another name of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura) has already announced your coming and she has also predicted your devotional service unto My Lord Gauranga.

That unalloyed servant of Sri Krishna (later to be known as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada), who's heart was filled with the most inconcievable love of Godhead, paying obeisances and offering countless prayers at the lotus feet of the Supremely Worshipable Goddess of Fortune then appeared on the earth in the renowned Vaishnava family, headed by Sri Gaura Mahan.

Invoking the blessings of the Vaishnava sadhus upon his son, Gaura Mohan prayed to all of them with great sincerity, "O sadhus, O Vaishnavas please bestow your blessings upon this dear son of mine, who is my life and soul, so that he can become the servant of Srimati Radharani eternally serving Her, the Supreme wealth of life. Please bless him so that he can preach and sing Her qualities and glories in a most grand way, inundating the whole world."

Afterwards, at an auspicious moment arranged by the grace of Srimati Radharani, Srila Prabhupada met his spiritual master (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura). He saw the divine grace of Srimati Radharani in his gurudeva and understood him to be an effulgent Ray of Vishnu, His Divine Grace personified.

That great divine master Sri Varsabhanavi Devi Dayita Dasa (another name of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, meaning the servant of the lover of Sri Radha) who is expert at practicing pure devotional principles and who is a fearless preacher of the Divine Message of Godhead now conferred upon Srila Prabhupada the name Abhaya Caranaravinda according to his own firm self-confident character. The meaning of that name is that he is the servitor of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead which are the abode of all fearlessness and hopes for the pure devotees.

In the most intimate place of the madhurya pastimes, namely Sri Radhakunda, His Divine Grace experienced the full ecstacy of Krsna-Prema. Whole heartedly surrendering unto Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura with intense love His Divine Grace received upon his head the most holy order of his Gurudeva, "If you ever get money print and distribute books."

By singing and preaching with great loving devotion that sublime message of his Gurudeva, which is pure devotional knowledge of the Rupa-Saraswati (Rupanuga ) stream, His Divine Grace has shown to the world that all good fortune manifests from adherent devotional service unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru.

In the temple of Sri Jiva Goswami, namely Sri Sri Radha Damodara Mandir and Sri Rupa Samadhi, in his rooms given by his divine masters, His Divine Grace performed his bhajan in the loving devotional mood of the Vraja-gopis.

His Divine Grace lives eternally in his place of bhajan as the precious gem among the pure devotees where the loving devotional service of Srimati Radharani constantly blooms personifying the beauty of divine ecstatic mellows.

Leaving behind the sacred land of Vrindavan and taking a great risk in his old age, His Divine Grace came to the western world as our Ever Well Wisher carrying with him the message of Gaura-prema, love of Lord Gauranga. Upon his arrival he earnestly prayed to Lord Krishna addressing Him as "bhai " (O Brother) in an intense loving way.

"O dear brother, my dear and intimate friend! I tell You this in a most definite way. You can achieve some invaluable merits by pleasing Srimati Radharani. You (Lord Krishna) can really attain even more fortune if You can now please Her, the Supreme Goddess of all good fortunes.

Srimati Radharani Herself in the form of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura ordered me to preach Her message. Therefore please take my word and advice and fulfill Her desire; then only can I attain success and serve my Guru fully.

The mine of incomparable good fortune is the message of His Divine Grace:"If someone takes shelter of Krishna-nama, and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the son of mother Saci, along with their dear associates, Sri Swarupa Damodara, Sanatana Goswami, and Sri Rupa Goswami:They being greatly pleased with such a person bestow upon him entrance into the embrace of the dear associate servitors of Srimati Radharani at Govardhana, Vrindavana, and sometimes at Sri Radhakunda; blessing them with the supreme fulfillment of the ultimate goal of Krsna-prema.

Completing his missionary activities in the western world Srila Prabhupada returned to Vrindavana. Accepting the month of Kartikka, which is nondifferent from Srimati Radharani, bearing Giriraja Govardhana in mind and embracing the lotus feet of his most worshipfull Lord in the core of his heart he made his disappearance from this world and entered the nitya-lila, the eternal loving pastimes of Goloka where Lord Govinda is always effulgently present with His Dearmost Srimati Radharani.

By showing us his disappearance from this world in the month of Kartikka and by revealing his desire to go to Govardhana Hill he has thus shown us the path which leads to the fulfillment of the ultimate aim and object of life, that is to obtain supreme shelter in the camp of Srimati Radharani's associate-servants with humble self surrender, residing always at Sri Govardhana.

When will that day be mine, in some distant lifetime, when the beauty of His Divine Grace's transcendental life, possessed by the qualities of pure love for Sri Sri Radha Krishna actually become my only wealth giving me a taste of the highest happiness ? O when will that day be mine?

Let us always pray to remain the humble and obedient servants of s Divine Grace. With a burning heart, filled with an intense longing for his association, this poor and lowly insignificant begger humbly prays for that fortunate day when the life of his servant will be empowered by His Divine Grace with firm determination so that I may with one pointedness, not caring for anything else, constantly sing with my body and mind the sweetest glories of Srila Prabhupadas unlimited transcendental qualities and pastimes.

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