20250408 Vyāsa-pūjā Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Jaya Prabhupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura! Jaya Prabhupāda Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda!

Oṁ namo bhāgavata vāsudevaya! Oṁ tat sat!

Usually our Vyāsa-pūjā is on Ekādaśī. This year is the same as other years, but somehow our Pañjikā says that fasting is on the next day! So, I tried many times before but this time I will make a concerted effort to make it in line with the other Gauḍīya Maṭhas. Anyway, today we are observing the Vyāsa-pūjā, where we worship the spiritual master. Because the guru is supposed to repeat what the śāstras says, what his guru has said and the śāstras are written by Vyāsadeva. The Māyāvādīs observe Guru-pūrṇimā. But the Vaiṣṇavas, they observe birthday of the ācārya as Vyāsa-pūjā. So, this Vyāsa-pūjā, Śrīla Prabhupāda said because we are personalists. So, somehow or another I am still here! But after the Gaura-pūrṇimā last year I went to Vṛndāvana to establish the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya all over Vṛndāvana. I was accompanied by Safari devotees and devotees from Nepal as well. But I fell sick and I was taken to the hospital in Delhi. Since then, I have been on dialysis three days a week.

So, the recent trip to South India was my first major trip after dialysis. Apart from my coming here! So, Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me to do many things! But I am limited in what I can do! Śrīla Prabhupāda had told me to distribute hundred thousand small books and ten thousand big books, every month! But His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami says I am down, I have not yet met my quota! Now is the time for my disciples to come and help me. This was just last year. I don’t know whether we are up or down this year! This year only one or two months have passed. Like that, I asked last night, how many of you have surrendered to Kṛṣṇa? Anybody lifted their hands? So that means now your ātmā, your dehā, everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa! So He promises, He will protect you! But you should treat your body as Kṛṣṇa’s property. You have to take care of your body, but you have to use it for Kṛṣṇa! The body is temporary but the ātmā is eternal. If you use your body in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then you will go back to Kṛṣṇa! But one thing is that Śrīla Prabhupāda ordered me to increase the preaching, unlimitedly! So I need unlimited help! My disciples, my grand-disciples, my cousins, nephews, brothers and sisters, everyone! It is unlimited! But, at least my disciples, grand-disciples, they should do it! Everyone you speak to, everyone you meet, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128] give them the message of Kṛṣṇa.

I have seen that several of my godbrothers have left the world. Like, Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami, Bhakti Tīrtha Swami, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami, Bhakti Cāru Swami, so we see one or two of their disciples may be gurus. But maybe Bhakti Tīrtha Swami has three disciples who are gurus. But Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpur in a lecture he said, say we have ten thousand gurus now, and then make that one hundred thousand or one lakh. Then from one lakh to one million. Then from one million to ten million! So, there will be no shortage of dīkṣā-gurus in the world! Śrīla Prabhupāda was preaching in the West only for twelve years. And I joined two years later in 1968. I took sannyāsa in 1970 and became a guru in 1977 which means in only nine years! I tried to make some gurus but this idea Śrīla Prabhupāda said it is offensive, rather it is not the etiquette to be a guru in the presence of one’s own guru. (Audio Video Break) So there is a requirement that one should be initiated at least 25 years ago. But when your guru is gone, then it is only ten years. These are all details. So initially I found that Eastern India 537 devotees were initiated before year 2000. We don’t know if they are active or not. We are researching. At least 20 who are most active, I am going to put up. The EIDC, Eastern India Divisional Council will have to pass this. So on this topic I will not talk more. What is important is that we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, surrender to Lord Caitanya and we are committed to spreading Lord Caitanya’s message.

Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he wanted to unite all his godbrothers, nieces, all the Sārasvata Gauḍīya family, we should all work together. We are very honored that some of the members of our Gauḍīya Maṭha are present today. We don’t what prasāda we can offer them, so there is Ekādaśī prasāda for them. When I was in Madurai, I kind of inaugurated an App which is in its initial version. They said the actual inauguration will happen on Vyāsa-pūjā in Māyāpur. The App is called ‘My Sādhana’, which will keep track of your daily sādhana for over a year. This has many more feathers and this was promised by Seva-svarūpa dāsa here. He wants to explain the reasons for this app. If everybody sends their reports to me, I will get overloaded! So Prabhu has worked that detail out. Maybe a few days delay, but it will be out very soon! In South India they said it will be available in all languages. Bengali is already available. Now, I will have to end my speech here and there will be foot bathing, bhoga offering and puṣpāñjali.