19860420 Vyāsa-pūjā Speech

Vyasa Puja Speech Srila Acaryapada

Date:

Sunday, April 20, 1986

Collection:

Enlightenment 3

Audio player:

19860420 VYASA PUJA SPEECH SRILA ACHARYAPAD, MAYAPUR DHAM: Mukham karoti vaachalam pangum langhaayathe girim Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum deena taarinam Paramananda Maadhavam Sri Caitanya Ishwaram

Srila Prabhupad ki jai! Srila Prabhupad ki jai! Srila Prabhupad ki jai!

(Guru maharaj chanted the Prema Dhwani prayers)

Will speak some English and then some Bengali.

Yesterday Bhanu Maharaj read Srila Prabhupad’s offering to Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. In that offering Srila Prabhupad explained how Krishna is the spiritual master of everyone but He is working through the unlimited variety of forms through His devotees who are acting as spiritual master. Therefore, we observe Vyasa puja ceremony on the occasion of the appearance day of the spiritual master. Although we observe it on the appearance day of the spiritual master technically speaking we are observing not birthday or aavir bhaav thithi or the like. Vyasa puja means we worship the entire disciplic succession, the guru parampara. Because guru means that he first has to be a disciple. Nobody is a guru until they are a disciple. So that means every guru has a spiritual master and there is a chain, any bona fide guru. Therefore, when we worship the spiritual master we worship the entire disciplic succession that means we ultimately worship the original giver of Vedic knowledge Vyasadeva by whose mercy everyone in this age gets the opportunity of understanding the purpose of life. It is a fact, someone mentioned, one of my god brothers, Saudhanya Maharaj, that Srila Prabhupad gave me many instructions at different times to do different things. Just like one gets sentenced to prison with concurrent sentences, we have to serve them all. So these are blessings but they all need to be fulfilled. Just as he said to distribute ten thousand big books and hundred thousand small books every month. Told me to expand the preaching unlimitedly. He told me to develop the Kingdom of God that he had given, Mayapur Dham. He also told me that I should travel, that I had to take the curse of Narada muni, the curse that he had. Actually even if I want to stop there is always so many demands to go somewhere to preach that it is practically impossible for me to refuse. So somehow or another travelling to try to help different projects and programs in different parts of India and the world seems to be my luck. In this way Srila Prabhupad gave many instructions but singularly I am overwhelmed to think how I am going to be able to even achieve any one of them, what to speak of all of them and these are only a fraction of what he asked me to do. So therefore I am unlimitedly grateful, one of the things Prabhupad told me to do was he told me to help certain god brothers and god sisters which I try to encourage them and I believe that a way to achieve some of Prabhupad’s instructions is by delegating authority which is another thing Prabhupad said to do is, don’t do everything yourself, delegate it. So I like to see other people take up their individual initiative and try to encourage them to take up more responsibility. So I am very grateful that in spite of my difficult nature, people tell me it is difficult, that so many god brothers have still not abandoned me and they are still helping me, working together with me, allowing me to help them in their service to Srila Prabhupad, so that we can work together for fulfilling Prabhupad’s different desires. I take it anything that Prabhupad expressed is actually the desire of Krishna manifested through Prabhupad, whether Prabhupad tells it to me or to someone else it is of the same absolute nature if anyone of Prabhupad’s followers whether children or grandchildren tried to fulfill Prabhupad’s desires. I remember how Prabhupad used to say that he considered his disciples to be sent by Bhakti Siddhanta certainly in regard to my disciples I can see that they are sent by Srila Prabhupad and I see that even the spiritual nephews and nieces what to speak of god brothers and god sisters, they are all coming from Srila Prabhupad allowing us to show the world a real spiritual united nation. Unity with one with the father and many children is easy. Unity in a plural family, in a joint spiritual family, where you have a father but many child bearing fathers and child bearing mothers and many aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins and so on and this will become more complex as time goes on. To have unity in diversity in the pluralistic type of spiritual family is much more of an evidence to the world that Krishna consciousness is truly universal and holds a solution for the world.

Hare Krishna!

I will speak a little in Bengali.

Anything that is happening is purely by the mercy of Srila Prabhupad. I feel so helpless when I have to do some important work that I am forced to depend upon the mercy of Prabhupad, I don’t see any other way of doing something. Other god brothers are much more intelligent and capable so therefore I got some quality to do something because I don’t find myself having any quality at all only because I have to depend on Srila Prabhupad and somehow by his mercy things get done. I know this for a fact because on some occasions maya tricked me and makes me think I am the doer and that somehow with my expertise I am going to get something done. At one time I remember my inner sense was telling me I have to go early to the airport. Usually I am late and make last minute call to the airport but this time I didn’t heed the warning, I said it is alright, Krishna is going to cover me and felt proud of that maybe. So then I got to the airport, got through immigration and then I got right to the gate and I saw the plane was driving off. I missed the flight. I took the few hours I had to meditate how I should be more humble and not take Krishna’s mercy for granted. So I learnt not to expect, even though we may depend on Krishna’s mercy He may not give His mercy or He may not give us the mercy as He has the right not to. Especially if I take that Krishna has to give me His mercy, then Krishna has more reason not to give it to make us more humble. So these kind of experiences make us understand that actually the only thing that makes things happen successfully is I see by the mercy of Srila Prabhupad. And due to lack of consciousness of guru and Krishna then we are in difficulty. Sometimes devotees have some problems, and ask how can we improve our devotional service, then we tell them to depend on Krishna. Usually I am not successful although Prabhupad gave me the name Jayapataka, the name which means victory but I do feel in many ways I am not as successful as Prabhupad desired. Whenever there is any kind of success I can see that it is to whatever extent we depend on Prabhupad and previous acharyas’ mercy. On this Vyasa puja everybody is speaking very nicely, very eloquently showing their own greatness in worshipping the guru parampara, glorification which was given to me by name actually is directed towards Srila Prabhupad because without his mercy there is no possibility of finding any good qualities. They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but if you are seeing anything worthy of emulating then that is simply a reflection of the mercy Srila Prabhupad is giving to me and all of his disciples and all of the grand disciples and anyone who follows his teachings. So we should dedicate ourselves to spreading Prabhupad’s teachings and glorifying him. Hare Krishna!

Vedas describe that if one offends a vaishnava that offence is so serious that even if you to pray to God, to Krishna, He will not forgive you for that. We have to go to the vaishnava and ask for forgiveness. Similarly, if one offends the holy name of Krishna, the holy name of Krishna is dearest to Krishna. It is Krishna’s most merciful form rather and as such there is no other form of Krishna more merciful than the holy name of Krishna. So you have to go to the holy name and pray to be forgiven for your offence. Srila Abhaycharan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad has recommended that if one prays a prayer like this – Sri Krishna naama ashtakam, the glory of the holy name, then this helps one get rid of one’s offenses to the holy name and allows one to chant in a more pure way. So this is a very important verse. It is a meditation on the glories of the name of Krishna. It is only for those persons who are not envious. Anyone who is envious of Krishna’s name then they shouldn’t listen because we don’t want to commit the offense of telling the glories of the holy name to the unfaithful. These are very beautiful verses, there are only eight of them, ashtakam. So we will read through that and give a brief explanation.

Verse 1: Translation: Oh my dear Hari naam, holy name of Krishna, you are identical with Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendental form according to all of the Upanishads. The Upanishads personified the effulgence emanating from Your lotus feet. In other words, my dear holy name all of the personified Vedas taking shelter at Your lotus feet, sing Your transcendental glories with chosen verses and yogis, rishis and all kinds of liberated souls appropriately worship Your lotus feet. Therefore, I completely surrender myself unto Your lotus feet.

So the perspective, the invocation of this first verse given by Rupa Goswami is praying to the holy name of Krishna. That Krishna’s form is non different from the holy name. That the effulgence of the Brahman is coming from the lotus feet of the holy name. And all the great rishis, munis and liberated souls, they worship the holy name. Therefore, he is surrendering to the holy name. Meditating on the holy name is given, this direct prominence that actually the holy name is Krishna, that the holy name is chetana naam, it is fully conscious, therefore we can address the holy name, we can pray to the holy name, we can have relationship with the holy name. And the liberated souls they are always associating with this Hari naam. So we have to adjust our perspective to avoid thinking that the holy name is some type of just static vibration, or that the holy name is some external material sound. But the holy name is the transcendental Absolute Truth known as shabdha brahman. It is complete in all opulences, in all powers - Naam naam akari bahuda nija sarva shaktis – all the potencies of Krishna are present in any of His forms, whether in His visible or pastime lila form or whether in His shabdha brahman form. So we are praying to night to this form as the holy name to understand Krishna in His merciful form as the holy name and we are surrendering to the holy name to take the shelter of the Lord’s holy name in this age of Kali.

Verse 2: Translation: Oh my dear Krishna naam, holy name of Krishna, You are eternally glorified by the realized souls. Just to attract the consciousness of conditioned souls throughout the material universes, out of Your causeless mercy You manifest in an audible form of transcendental sound vibration. Your mercy is so great that when someone chants Your name accidentally or in neglect even for one time, You destroy inconceivable quantities of their accumulated sinful reactions for many births together. My dear holy name of Krishna, all glories unto You!

The holy name is glorified by the realized souls. Why is the holy name coming down? This paramaakshara krithe, why is the holy name coming down – so the human being can be reawakened. So the Lord comes, the holy name of Krishna descends to awaken this dormant consciousness and explains that the name is so merciful that if someone chants the name of Krishna accidentally or neglectfully – say that somebody, some maybe even a non-Hindu police constable, we happen to know our friend Krishnaswamy and he said, Krishnaswamy, how are you today or something. He has no intention of singing the names of Krishna as a religious meditational function. But just by calling his name accidentally he is also saying Krishna’s name, the name is the same. So by doing that it destroys inconceivable quantities of their sinful reactions. Even the Muslims they say haraam, by saying haraam they are saying Ram. That means that so many sinful reactions are being cleansed away. This is actually one of the types of chanting, transcendental chanting. There is a hotel chain in America, Ramada Inn. So by that way they are chanting Rama, Ramada. This accidental and neglectful chanting, that also takes away from many births these type of accumulated karmas. So therefore he is glorifying the holy name of Krishna, who can conceive of the great mercy of Krishna?

Jai Krishna Balaram ki jai!

Verse 3: Oh my dear holy name of Krishna, you are more brilliant than the sun. You are so merciful that if someone utters you out of fear or merely as naamabhaas imperfect chanting of the holy name of Krishna, imperfect stage prior to offenseless chanting. Even then your mercy is so great that you destroy their material ignorance and binding attachments to condition of life and gradually bless such conditioned souls the void of spiritual knowledge with transcendental knowledge of devotional service to Lord Sri Krishna. Oh my dear holy name, who in this universe can officially glorify your transcendental qualities even among the great realized souls. All glories unto you!

This is the next stage of chanting. If one chants out of fear or as a type of imperfect chanting, then that can destroy material ignorance and give one liberation. Now this example is there of Ajamila. Ajamila named his son after the name of Krishna, Narayana. When he was dying he called his son. By calling his son he was calling out Krishna or Narayana. So in this way at that last minute he was repeating the name Narayana antaha smrithi. So by this chanting the name wasn’t a perfect chanting because he was actually calling his son. But he was chanting the name and at that moment he started to remember the Lord. So because of that chanting he could achieve liberation, he was delivered. In this way the material ignorance can be destroyed. Binding attachments to conditional life can be awakened in devotional service, can be given even by this type of imperfect chanting or chanting out of fear. This way who can imagine how merciful the holy name is? If a person is chanting accidentally out of fear or inattentively or imperfectly they are getting such an opportunity, such a blessing, what to speak if a person chants giving concentration, giving devotion without any neglect or any distraction, then what is the result?

Verse 4: By unbroken and concentrated meditation upon the impersonal Brahman one is unable to destroy the primordial, sinful and karmic reactions which lie beyond the immediate renunciation of the material enjoyment that come from time immemorial. However, my dear holy name by vibrating on the tip of the tongue, in other words by merely pronouncing you these primordial karmic reactions are destroyed.

This is a very esoteric subject. This is post graduate subject matter. We have already gone through grade school, high school, now this is going into post graduate. This is university, this is very advanced. Most people do not know there are two types of karma. There is praarabhdha karma and then there is normal karma. Normal karma, that we get run over by a bus or we get a lottery ticket winning or whatever that normal karma reaction, this is up to 100 births. Beyond that it normally doesn’t affect. But when the material world is annihilated, when Brahma takes his rest and then we are brought back into a new body, the new creation comes and we come out again, there is a type of praarabhdha karma or very subtle karma which is binding us to the ahankara. And then again when the creation is made that lets us take up again where we left off. So that is a very fine type of karma which is not erased even by meditating and realizing the impersonal Brahman. Because from the Brahman one can fall back down again into this material world. Ah brahmanal bhuvana loke punar aavartino Arjuna. Other verses are there, even after realizing Brahman one can fall down again, so then again one takes up in the material world some activity. Although Brahman is outside the material world if one does not know how to do spiritual activity, again one can fall down into material activity. So this type of praarabhdha or primordial karma is not reerased, is not destroyed even by attaining the sayujya mukti of margining into the Brahman but by chanting the name of Krishna this karma is wiped away. There are many evidences given in the Vedas regarding the glories of the holy name.

Verse 5: Oh Aghadamana, killer of Aghasura, oh my dear Yashodanandana, beloved son of mother Yashoda, oh my dear son of maharaj Nanda, Nandasuno, oh my dear Lotus eyed, Kamalanayana, oh my dear beloved of the gopis, Gopichandra, my dear Lord of Vrndavan, Vrndavanindra, my dear merciful Lord, my dear Lord Krishna, oh my beloved holy name, in these and Your other countless forms You manifest Your transcendental vibration in this world to deliver the conditioned souls from the bondage of the repetition of birth and death in material life. Out of Your causeless and inconceivable mercy. My dear holy name may spontaneous attachment for chanting you increase unlimitedly by Your causeless mercy upon me.

So you see, Krishna, we had His association five thousand years ago. In Treta yuga we had Ramachandra present, in Satya yuga there were other avatars who were present. But when They are not present, when Their pastimes are aprakat or unmanifested then how can we get Their association? But by chanting Their names which is non different from Them immediately we are getting this association with the same transcendental form of the Lord. So in this way the residents of Vrndavan, they were having a daily festival when Krishna went to Dwaraka, the residents of Vrndavan were constantly chanting Krishna’s name, when He was present they were chanting His name. All great devotees they also chant the name of the Lord; this will be revealed later. So what is the significance of that? It is that this transcendental vibration when it comes in this world it delivers the conditioned souls from the bondage of birth and death and by chanting the desire to chant more which is the spiritual desire that brings us like a magnet to the higher spiritual reality, that desire increases more and more. In other words, if somebody wants to get attraction for chanting and they say how can I learn to like to chant Hare Krishna? Someone says you can do this or that, no, you have to chant, by chanting you will learn, you will automatically increase your attraction for chanting. That is the nature of the chanting, that the chanting purifies us. If we are chanting imperfectly, if we are chanting offensively then we should go on chanting the name to get rid of that offense, to get rid of that defect. There is no more effective method of achieving spiritual knowledge and bliss than this process of chanting.

Verse 6: Translation: My dear holy name, you exist in two transcendental forms or swaroops namely, one form is your personal form of bliss as the Supreme living person, the object of glorification in transcendental sound. And two, another form is your form as the holy name such as Krishna, Govinda and other transcendental names which indicate or describe your transcendental pastime forms of bliss. You are one and the same, ever existent in these two transcendental forms. Of the two I consider that your audible form as the holy name such as Krishna, Govinda, etc. is more merciful than your visible personal form as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is because if someone is engaged in worshipping Your deity forms and subsequently becomes implicated in offenses and then takes shelter of Your transcendental form as Your holy name, chanting Krishna, Govinda, etc. while worshipping You, my dear holy name, you out of your causeless mercy purify that person of all kinds of offenses and he is able to relish the nectar of the unlimited ocean of transcendental bliss.

Even Shukracharya, he told at the end after Bali Maharaja’s deliverance, he said by chanting the holy name any defect and any error in any yagna, he said that chhidhram becomes nishchhidhram and that chhidhram or error becomes nishchhidhram it becomes corrected. Such is the power of the name. When we do deity worship it is considered aradhana yagnam, archanam yagnam, whether we do homa yagnam or any form of spiritual activity, if the holy name is going on side by side that is guaranteed to make everything alright, corrected. So therefore the holy name is considered to be the most merciful than other forms of the Lord’s presence whether as fire or as deity. So in this way even when Draupadi was being embarrassed, when her clothes were being ripped off by Dushaasana, Krishna was not present in His visible form, one could not see Him at that moment. But she cried out Hey Krishna, Hey Keshava, Hey Govinda! She started crying the name of Krishna and Krishna hearing His name chanted with such devotion and helplessness with complete dedication, immediately He was present and the holy name provided unlimited saree to save her from her disgrace. In this way there are countless examples how the Lord’s holy name delivers the fallen souls, delivers the devotees. So here Rupa Goswami states he considers that the chanting of the holy name is the most merciful aspect of the Lord. Therefore, he is glorifying the holy name with his complete devotion and attention.

Verse 7: Translation: Oh my dear holy name, oh beloved, identical form of Krishna in sound, the devotees who take shelter of your lotus feet to constantly chanting you are even saved from destruction due to offences against the holy name or naama aparaadh out of your causeless mercy. You are manifest as the Supreme personal form of concentrated, transcendental ecstasy. Here it is described, chida gana sukha, you are personally the form of transcendental happiness and a daily festival for the residents Gokula Vrndavan Dham. Gokula Mahotsavaute. You are the full form of transcendental glory and eternal bliss through which you manifest nectarean loving exchanges with Your devotees. Therefore, my dear holy name of Krishna I offer again and again my respectful obeisances unto your lotus feet.

So here two important glories of the holy name are given, one I mentioned briefly before that by chanting the holy name one can be forgiven of the offences to the holy name. The other is that the name is actually the full form of transcendental ecstasy or bliss. Another verse explains this Naama chintamani Krishnas Caitanya rasa vigraha.. The rasa vigraha. The Alwars of the Sri sampradaya, great devotees of Krishna in Tamil Nadu or Purandara or Madhva or other devotees, great acharyas, there was one other, Kanakadas, they are chanting, even Shankaracharya is chanting Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam moodhamate. You chant Govinda, Govinda. But these other devotees they are simply chanting the name of the Lord. So by doing that they were experiencing unlimited happiness. And for the residents of Vrndavan it was a festival. So in these names they were experiencing the presence of Krishna, the rasa of Krishna, the loving exchanges with Krishna, by chanting the holy name. So in this way the holy name is manifesting loving exchanges with the devotees. In fact, Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He would hear the holy names chanted He would be transferred to the spiritual world and there He would experience all these pastimes which the names were manifesting in sound. So again and again, he is offering his obeisances to the holy name. You can imagine how fortunate all of you are that this name is available for you to chant. This says the residents of Vrndavan. You can also be chanting in the same mood, the holy name and thus getting the same transcendental benefits, realization and shelter. Although some may think that the chanting of the holy name is for the sentimentalist, a great scientist said chanting of the holy name is a very esoteric subject matter. Because if we explain this to people who don’t have any faith in the name of Krishna and no knowledge of the Vedas in this esoteric aspect they may challenge and say something offensive and in this way their own spiritual life will be hampered. If they offend the holy name who can they turn to get shelter? So therefore generally the glories of the holy name are revealed amongst the devotees, amongst those who have developed a certain degree of advancement in spiritual life.

Now the last verse is very short. Verse 8: Translation: Oh my dear holy name of Krishna, you are the life and soul of the veena of Devarishi Narada muni. You are the eternal tidal wave of full transcendental nectar. I humbly fall at your lotus feet and beg for your causeless mercy to make me always fixed in your service so that you may dance tirelessly on my tongue. In other words, kindly bless me that I may always be engaged in chanting you without hesitation.

So here Devarishi Narada muni who is a great liberated soul, the life and soul of his veena is the chanting of the holy name. He is travelling throughout the universe as a type of transcendental space man. He doesn’t require any liquid Nitrogen or Oxygen or anything neither does his veena explode like the Challenger killing all the inhabitants. He is going simply by the chanting of the holy name of Krishna. He is chanting the name of Krishna and he is being propelled everywhere by his own spiritual potency. So Narada muni is constantly chanting the holy name and other great liberated souls like Ratnakara by chanting the name of Rama he became Valmiki. There are so many examples. Prahlad was always chanting the name of Krishna, therefore by the power of the name of Krishna his father Hiranyakashipu asked him where did you get your power? I can defeat anyone but I cannot defeat you. And Prahlad said I am getting my power from the same place you are getting your power from. Everybody is getting their power from the same place. There is the Supreme Powerhouse, the supreme source of all power, the Lord. The difference is that I know where I am getting my power from, but you are not accepting that you are getting your power from some other source. So the thing is by chanting the name of Krishna, actually we cannot give enough attention. That’s why in previous yugas this chanting was not allowed to be chanted by except for by very orthodox brahmanas because the name being identical with Krishna if you chant the name and commit some offence, then for fear of that people wouldn’t chant. That is why this was a very restricted process and some idea came that if we chant the name then there will be some offence so they stop to chant except when bathing in the Ganga or some sacred river, Kaveri, Narmada or like that. The actual science is that by repeatedly chanting the holy name of Krishna, Krishna’s name is more merciful than other names of Vishnu. It is said that 1000 names of Vishnu if you chant that is equal to one name of Rama. And if you chant 3000 times the name of Vishnu that is equal to one name of Krishna. Even then all these things weren’t guessed when chanting Krishna’s name. On top of that Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s blessing is if you chant His name first and then chant Hare Krishna then by His mercy one can more easily avoid offences to the holy name of Krishna and get the full effect of offenseless chanting. So great souls like Narada muni and all the liberated souls, their life and soul is chanting the holy name. It is not actually that it is a cheap thing. It is actually an invaluable thing. It is a priceless gift. But unfortunately people don’t because it is so priceless that if you were to put a value on it, it would be out of the reach of anyone to buy. So it has to be given free because it is priceless. Free means, the price we have to chant it. So this is a great opportunity which everyone has to take this name and if someone tries to perfect their chanting and chant more attentively and keep on chanting and avoid offences to the name then by the mercy of the holy name in a very short time one can achieve all perfection which would normally take yugas to achieve. Once there was an argument between Haridas Thakur and one brahmana in Bengal. Haridas Thakur was against the head priest, one landlord, the name was Balaram Acharya. And the landlord’s name was Hiranya Mazumdar and his brother was Govinda Mazumdar. So then they asked Haridas Thakur, who was born in a Muslim family but he was appointed as a Nama Acharya by Lord Caitanya because he was chanting 300,000 times the name of Krishna every day and his pastimes are unlimited. His life story is just something inconceivable. So Haridas Thakur was asked by some other person, they were having a dharma sabha in the evening and all the brahmanas and pandits and respectable citizens were there in the court of this landlord. He was a very wealthy landlord. He was giving tax at that time one million two hundred thousand gold coins to the emperor. You can understand now one million two hundred thousand gold coins what it is worth now and what it was worth then. This was the tax he paid, what to say of what he kept! So at that time the pandit asked tell us about the glories of the name, you are always chanting the name. By chanting the name you can get Swarga, you can get all good karmas, everything. But someone said by chanting you even get moksha. Then Haridas Thakur interrupted and said that these are all by products of chanting the holy name, you get these things easy by chanting, there is no need to count. Because by chanting the holy name of Krishna, you can actually capture Krishna in your heart!

10 May 2016 Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi