Tribute to Shrila Prabhupada

Dear Shrila Prabhupada, please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to your Divine Grace!

Namo om vishnu padaya krishna preshtaya bhu-tale
Shrimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin iti namine

Om ajnana timirandhasya
jnananjana shalakaya
cakshur unmilitan yena
tasmai shri gurave namah

With a touch of bitterness mixed with so much joy I write to celebrate the holy day of your Vyasapuja, your holy and salvific appearance in this world. This world otherwise horrible host of incarnations marked by joy and pain that obsessively would end each time with the tragedy of death, harbinger of the next rebirth in the infinite cycle of samsara.
You came and you have given us the opportunity and the means to redeem ourselves, save ourselves and fall in love with God.
Glory and infinite gratitude to You for bringing the divine light of hope and faith in the darkness of our existence!
My mother, Anandavrindavana Devi Dasi, a fervent devotee of yours, your admirer and servant, recently left her old and exhausted body, and her physical presence has disappeared from the sight of our eyes, thus exiting at the same time from our relationships, and this has left a large void, yet filled by an infinite and poignant feeling of Love at a distance.
I’m telling You this, not to sadden You, but to offer my experience of how this event made me realize, once again, the infinite luck we received to have known You, immediately welcomed You into our heart, and later served You, by shaping my life, both of my parents life and the life of my whole biological and spiritual family in accordance with Your divine teachings.
The writing of this letter implies every year - at least once a year- a honest and deep look into the mirror of our consciousness, and every time, it is for me both arduous and highly beneficial because, by seeing the good and the bad in me allows me to adhere strongly to the first one and even more decisively take distance from the second one. So I offer You the conclusions I have drawn from this immersion by seeking what unites me to You.
When I think of whom, in the course of this incarnation has had the greatest influence on the human and spiritual forming of my character, no doubt it's You.
When I think of whom, who over the last forty years I have turned to, every time I found myself faced with crucial choices, no doubt it's You.
When I think of whom my heart bestows the utmost gratitude on, no doubt it's You.
You are the source of my inspiration. You are my model of active and contemplative Bhakti.
You are the one whom I dedicate my every initiative to, because I know that the success of my offer to God depends on obtaining Your Divine Grace under the form of intercession.
You, with Your behavior, teaching and works, are the most divine thing that I could see in this life.
You are to me more than a father and a mother, whom I love dearly, because I was born from You into Knowledge and Love.
I honor You and give You all my gratitude for what I have accomplished.
I ask You for forgiveness for any lack in my behavior and the blessing of being able to serve You with ever increasing commitment, purity and spiritual strength.
With infinite gratitude and devoted affection I offer the remaining years of my life, waiting, when it will be, to come to You, by Krishna, among the blessed people!
Your servant,
Matsyavatara dasa