Thoughts on “Oneness”
      
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your two lotus feet. By accepting that dust as my only sustenance, I may gain the nourishment to glorify you properly.

Generally we devotees are wary to speak favorably of “oneness” in any context, having learned (from your Divine Grace) to shudder at the thought of trying to “merge” with the Supreme Lord; by such foolish attempts at self-annihilation, impersonalists carelessly destroy that most precious opportunity to serve the Lord which we have learned by your causeless mercy to begin to appreciate. But you have also taught us that there is a proper understanding of “oneness,” wherein the desire of the devotee becomes one in unity with the desire of the Lord.

One who achieves such “oneness” of desire is the most glorious of devotees; he is not burdened by any inclination to serve other interests than those of Kṛṣṇa, nor is he bewildered by the Māyāvādīs’ sleight-of-hand way with words to convince him that he is himself God.

While considering how you embody this real purport of “oneness,” I have been led to think of other ways in which your glory is highlighted by the same word, even if sometimes used in different senses: For example, taking “one-ness” in the sense of “aloneness:”
     
Alone you established the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, single-handedly nurturing your fledgling society into a worldwide mission. You were alone in the conviction that Lord Caitanya’s prediction would be realized—that Kṛṣṇa consciousness would spread throughout the world. You alone had the patience to make Vaiṣṇavas out of mlecchas; in the western world of impersonalists and Māyāvādīs you alone taught surrender to Kṛṣṇa, and it was you alone who dared to challenge the bastions of modern science with pure spiritual knowledge.
     
You wrote, in December 1973, “When I was alone in your New York, I was thinking, ‘Who will listen to me in this horrible, sinful place? Alright, I shall stay a little longer, at least I can distribute a few of my books, that is something.’ But Kṛṣṇa was all along preparing something I could not see, and He brought you to me, one by one, sincere... boys and girls, to be trained up for doing the work of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Now I can see that it is a miracle. Otherwise, your city of New York, one single old man, with only a few books to sell for barely getting eatables, how he can survive, what to speak of introducing a God conscious movement for saving humankind. That is Kṛṣṇa’s miracle.”

Another sense of “oneness” is “singularity of conviction”: ekeha kuru-nandana, “those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched” (Bg. 2.41)

You have shown us the perfect example of resoluteness, which only a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa can possess. When preaching, you would always stick to one point until it was understood by your audience, clarifying, illustrating and insisting we understand that we are not the material body but eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa.
     
(June 27, 1975) “The only hope is that you distribute books, as much as possible—all of Europe, all America... it will come someday, they will realize what valuable books we have left for the study of the whole world—that will come!”
     
(December 20, 1976) “We are the only hope for the human society to receive real knowledge. And our books are the only real thing. So it may take some time, but one day all this rubbish literature, rubbish philosophy, rubbish culture will be replaced… This is my only ambition, that so many people can become enlightened. But they are being deprived of the chance. One day the whole world will appreciate how we have changed the face of the world from darkness to light.” 
     
And yet another sense of “oneness” is in the idea of “combination”. As the perfect acarya you combine all the best qualities of the demigods to attract the conditioned souls to surrender to the Lord. You show how to combine eastern spiritual vision with western material advancement to make one world of Kṛṣṇa conscious culture. You have shown how everything desireable is to be had in this one culture. At the end of your introduction to the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is you have quoted the Gītā-māhātmya:
     
“In this present day, people are very much eager to have one scripture, one God, one religion, and one occupation. Therefore: ekaṁ śāstraṁ devakī-putra-gītam, let there be one scripture only, one common scripture for the whole world—Bhagavad-gītā. Eko devo devakī-putra eva, let there be one God for the whole world—Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Eko mantras tasya nāmāni, one hymn, one mantra, one prayer—the chanting of His name: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Karmāpy ekam tasya devasya sevā, let there be one work only—the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
      
And finally, “one-ness” can be taken in the sense of “wholeness” or “completeness.” As Kṛṣṇa is the one Absolute complete whole, you, Śrīla Prabhupāda are the complete personality of servitor Godhead. You have given the complete process for becoming completely free of māyā and taking complete shelter of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. You have created one complete society, the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, by which the whole world can be saved from madness, and in which everyone can perfect his life. 
     
I am one insignificant, wretched soul, struggling to catch hold of your mercy. If I have one bit of strength, let me use it to serve you. If I have one bit of intelligence, let me use it to glorify you. If I have any desire, let it be to surrender to your desire. If I have any life, let me use it to follow in your footsteps and preach Lord Caitanya’s message: harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty gatir anyathā—“in this age of Kali there is only one way to make any spiritual advancement, namely to chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of the Lord.”
     
By your singularly wonderful mercy I have one chance, one opportunity to reverse my fate—from eternal bondage to eternal freedom—in service to Kṛṣṇa. My one and only prayer is this: That the endless stream of desires which course through my life may find their way to the one unlimited ocean of your mercy—not to merge with that ocean—but to swim in that nectar which is the preaching of the one Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s unlimited glories.
     
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!

—Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupada by Krishna Kshetra Das on August 15, 1990, from the book In Praise Of My Preceptor, Eulogies, Remembrances, and Reflections of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 2013