My Dear Bhakti Rāghava Swami Mahārāja,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
On the auspicious occasion of your 80th Vyāsa-pūjā, I offer my heartfelt respects, gratitude, and appreciation for your extraordinary lifetime of dedicated service to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission.
While protecting and defending ISKCON Māyāpur, you sacrificed your foot in that service — a sacrifice that will always be remembered with honor and gratitude by the devotees.
I fondly remember your pioneering Nāma-haṭṭa days, traveling from village to village by bicycle, spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness with simplicity, determination, and deep compassion. Your love and protection for cows have always been exceptional. The cows are truly in your heart, and naturally, you are also in theirs.
You wholeheartedly embraced the cause of varṇāśrama-dharma and faithfully accepted the responsibility of serving as the Varṇāśrama Minister for India, continuing steadily in that service to this day.
You are also a pioneer of youth preaching in India. During the 1980s, you served as the coordinator of the ISKCON Youth Forum in India, and through your vision and efforts, youth preaching began taking strong shape and expanding throughout the country.
You also seem to be on a lifelong mission of transforming villages into true Vṛndāvana villages, and I sincerely wish you all success in this noble endeavor. A real Vṛndāvana village is a place where there is no envy, hatred, or hostility, but rather friendship, mutual respect, cooperation, and devotion to Kṛṣṇa.
When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu traveled through the Jhārkhaṇḍa forest, even the animals and birds forgot their animalistic tendencies. Animals embraced one another peacefully, and seeing this extraordinary harmony, Mahāprabhu exclaimed, “Vṛndāvana! Vṛndāvana!” This is the true Vṛndāvana spirit.
Those who establish such Vṛndāvana villages here on earth are certainly creating a pathway back to Goloka Vṛndāvana. In this way, Vṛndāvana villages become gateways to the eternal spiritual world.
I also have very sweet memories of your visit to my humble village, where both of us were taken around in a bullock cart. That unforgettable experience remains very dear to my heart.
There are so many similarities between us. We are truly birds of the same feather — walking, traveling, preaching, and serving together for decades. I am confident that through your dedicated service for more than five decades, you have greatly pleased our eternal spiritual master and Founder-Ācārya, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
I pray that you may continue to live a long, healthy, and active life and see a hundred autumn seasons. Now that you are eighty, a hundred no longer seems very far away.
I was very much looking forward to personally being with you on this special occasion. Unfortunately, due to my present health condition, I am unable to attend physically. Therefore, I have sent Hare Kṛṣṇa Prabhu, our Regional Secretary Assistant for the Nagpur region, to represent me and my disciples, along with a few humble gifts. Kindly accept them.
Still, my heart is with you and with all your assembled disciples, followers, friends, and well-wishers on this joyous occasion.
I would also like to appeal to all your disciples and followers to continue carrying forward your life’s mission and legacy projects into the future, so that your dedicated service and vision may continue to inspire generations to come.
Thank you for always being kind, friendly, and brotherly toward me. May our god brotherhood and friendship continue forever.
Your servant and godbrother,
Lokanath Swami
