19920512 Smaraṇa Vyāsa-pūjā

Following is a Vyāsa-pūjā class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on May 12^th, 1992 at Cuenca, Ecuador. The lecture was given on the occasion of the Vyāsa-pūjā Smaraṇam and comes with Spanish Translation.

Jayapatākā Swami: When the, especially the initiating guru he is connected through the fire sacrifice and the ceremonies with the disciples even in the physical and the psychic plane apart from the spiritual plane. In the sense that he has to also take the reactions physically or mentally for the activities of the disciples. And Prabhupāda, before he left the world, he was, he became very sick, and he was very thin. That time he held up his hands which was just like skin and bone at that time. He said, “This is because I have taken too many unqualified disciples, I have to suffer for them, for their sinful activities.” The disciple actually can cause pain to the spiritual master or can help the spiritual master. By being Kṛṣṇa conscious and developing love for Kṛṣṇa, the guru is very pleased.

When the disciple commits sinful activities then the guru is also held responsible. Just like if a child goes in the night and does some mischief. The police may come to the parents and say, “Why you are not taking care of your child? Why you are not taking care of your child?” So, like that Kṛṣṇa holds the guru responsible. Of course, the guru, he can only help the disciple as long as they are voluntarily keeping themselves under his care. For the parents until eighteen years of old age, they have some legal power over their children. But the guru, his relationship is spiritual. So, it is up to the voluntary acceptance of the disciple to follow the guru.

So, it is, can sometimes be a thankless task. Thankless! It can be a work without any gratitude. Sometimes they do not respond to the help of the guru, they do not take the help of the guru. I know one case, where a boy and girl they kind of ran off together to get married. Then we preached to them, “Alright come back and you be married in the temple and do everything properly. You continue your devotional service.” But after about eight years or so they separated. And then they were saying, “Actually, it is all the guru’s fault, he got us married!” (laughter) They are already marrying, it was there (but) they said you know, he arranged, he was the one who arranged it. Which was not actually the truth. So sometimes people like to blame the guru, when the guru is simply trying to help them.

But just like a parent, even there is so many, the child may sometimes misbehave with the parent, the parent still tries to help the child. So, that this way on the day of the appearance of the guru that time, the disciples glorify their guru as a representative of Vyāsadeva, the original guru. So, the actual day was already passed so that day there is many ceremonies which had to be performed. Today, this is like a Vyāsa- pūjā smaraṇa or a remembrance of Vyāsa-pūjā. Where the devotees take the opportunity of offering personally their glorifications to the guru.

But they do not observe all the other ceremonies and fasting and things. Just an opportunity to remember the different realizations we had on the Vyāsa-pūjā day. Actually, the relationship with the guru goes even after this body is finished. And that is why it said – janme janme prabhu sei, cakṣu-dāna dilo jei. That even life after life he is my master who has opened my eyes with a torchlight of spiritual knowledge. So, he is my master life after life. So, to be a guru, to be a disciple this is the training to actually be a proper devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

In Bogotá, I was telling this story about a disciple who was given the order to read Bhagavad-gītā. [Aside: You know that story?] So, there was once a disciple who took the renounced order of sannyāsa from his guru, and he was given a special service to read the Bhagavad-gītā in a cave. And he was regularly, and then that guru after initiating him he went and said, “I will come back.” So, the disciple was every day reading his Bhagavad-gītā. But sometimes the mouse was coming and eating the pages of the Gītā. (speaks in Spanish) (laughter) And he was very disturbed by this, what to do? He said, “What would the guru have me do?” He should have thought, he should have asked the guru, but the guru was not there, so he started to speculate. And he thought, “To get rid of this rat, all I need is one cat. The cat will keep away the rat.” So, he got a cat and the cat kept away the rat. But the cat then it is making noise because he was hungry Oh! Meow! Meow! Meow! (laughter) So then he had to feed the cat. So that was taking lot of time.

So, he decided that someone then he said, “Listen, let me give you a cow, you can have a cow, and you can feed the milk to the cat. So, the cat will keep away the rat and he can read the Gītā (laughter).” So, then he had a cow, but the cow is then hungry – Mooh! Mooh! Mooh! (laughter) And he has to feed the cow (laughter) to feed the cat, to keep away the rat, (laughter) to read the Bhagavad-gītā. (laughter)

So, then he thought, “This is, I should do, is have one servant. Who can take care of the cow to get the milk, to keep away the rat. So, I can read the Bhagavad-gītā (laughter).” So, he got one servant And, then he was reading the Gītā but he found the servant was a lazy guy And, he had to always be supervising the servant to feed the cow o produce the milk, to give to the cat (laughter) to keep away the rat. So, he can read the Bhagavad-gītā. (laughter)

So, said “There is so much trouble just to read the Bhagavad-gītā, so much trouble, how the guru has given me all these troubles?” So, he said “Now there is the only way I can see, I get out of this is, I have to get a wife to take care of the servant. To why because the wife would actually do the service with the full heart and soul and then I can read the Gītā.” So, then he got married! So, his wife would take care of the servant to feed the cow, to feed the cat, to keep away the rat. So, he can read the Gītā. (laughter)

But the wife, she has also many needs. She wants to get some attention from her husband. So, pretty soon and there are also some babies And, then he has to have some house and land. The cave was not enough And, so the guru came to see the disciple, he finds the cave is empty. Just the rat was there. (laughter) And he went, then he found the disciple there is living in a big house. With so much land and cows and everything, wife and kids. He said, “What happened? I just told you to read the Bhagavad-gītā!” (laughter)

So, “Whatever you see is simply the product of reading the Gītā (laughter) See, I had to do all these in order to read the Gītā!”

“So, are you reading the Gītā?”

He said, “I forgot about that!” (laughter)

So, he was trying to put the whole blame on the guru. Actually, he should have taken the advice of the guru before doing all these things. So, sometimes we speculate and we do little more, little more and we complicate the matters, and we miss the original point. In the path of the spiritual life, a little mistake can take us off the path So, we have to be very careful That is why the guru is there to see that we are doing everything properly. And if the guru, if somehow or another we get off the path as soon as we can, we should connect back with the guru and take his further guidance to practice properly.

So, under all circumstances, the guru is always trying to help his disciple to get back to Godhead. So, it requires that the disciple has to use a certain degree of common sense. The guru is explaining to the disciple various things about how to practice the devotional service, but it requires some intelligence, this is the subject matter is very critical, very complicated. So, if we very carefully follow the orders of guru there will be no problem. But that means also following at using practical common sense.

The best disciple is someone who knows what the spiritual master wants – whether even if he does not say they can understand. The second best is someone who understands what the guru says, but and follows it very carefully, follow the orders very well. A third class is someone who follows but not very expertly or who do not understand so they do not follow it properly. They do not ask, they do not clarify. But they try to follow but they are not very good. They are considered the neophyte disciples Then there are the fallen disciples. Who are actually not properly situated disciples. Who they do not follow the guru. They do not follow his instructions at all. But they just give lip service, “I am so and so disciple.” [Aside: No!] They give lip service, that means they just say that they are disciple, but they do not do. So, they are called adhama or the fallen disciple. So, they should try at least to follow the orders of the guru.

So, there once was a disciple, and the guru asked the disciple that, “You please give me one harītakī.” This harītakī is a special Ayurvedic fruit, like a dried apricot. So, but shell is very dry, very hard. So, the disciple gave it like that to the guru, “Here!?” He said, “You should break it and take out the seed and give me the fruit.” So, he said “Okay,” broke it, gave the guru the fruit. The next day the guru asked for some cardamom [Aside: No, No!] He just said, “Give me cardamom” So, like that the disciple came to give the shell of the cardamom.

He said, “What are you doing?”

So, “Yesterday you told me to give the fruit, to give the covering of the seed, today I am giving you the covering of the seed.”

“What (did) you do with the seeds?”

“I threw the cardamom seeds away.”

“But when you take the dried fruit, that one you eat the fruit you throw the seed. You take cardamom it is a spice; you eat the seed and throw the shell.”

“Arey Gurudeva! This is so complicated! How can I get it straight!” (laughter) You are telling me contradictory things every day!” (laughter) One day give the fruit, next day give the shell, next day give the seed, how can I get it straight?” So, like this is very difficult. Actually, the matter is very simple, but the disciple did not have any common sense. If he did not know what to do, he said “Today I should give you the seed or give you the shell how would you like it?” This is a different type of thing. Cardamom is different than the dry fruit So, sometimes like that you find in disciples, they do not know how to act so they tend to speculate, they should ask!

Sometime in South America someone says, “Take care of the guru’s shoes!” So, then you are in front of the Deities offering your prayers. And he looks to his side. Then he sees the disciple carrying his shoes in the temple (laughter). (laughter) “But you are not supposed to bring the shoes in the temple” (laughter) So, why you are bringing the shoes in the temple in front of the Deity?”

“They told me to take care of the guru’s shoes, I am doing!”

“Take care of them outside the temple.” (laughter)

So, like devotees are simple sometimes they do not understand what to do. So, they have to learn, there is a lot of things to learn. And if somebody they should always ask you know “To be sure it this the way to do it?” So, if disciple’s intelligence can pick up the things quickly then he can train the other disciples. So, always there was the system that older disciples would train the younger disciples. The older devotees to help the younger devotees.

Also, there is, apart from the initiating guru there is also instructing gurus. Who also guide the devotees and give them spiritual instructions. They are not officially responsible for the karmas of the students. But they are responsible to give proper instruction and for whatever they instruct they are responsible. But so in this way we respect all the Vaiṣṇavas who are helping us in our spiritual life. Just like Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, in the verse, we read today he said, “I worship my initiating guru and also all the instructing gurus who have helped me.”

Just like these children, they are getting help from the parents, from the, but also from relatives from friends. So, many people are giving their children love and affection and that helps them to grow nicely. So, that makes them grow properly.

Similarly, we need also the association of devotees. And we help other devotees in their spiritual growth. There is some like in the temple in Madras, Bhānu Mahārāja, he is a guru, but he does not have many disciples there. But all are my disciples and other devotees they arranged him the Vyāsa-pūjā and they offered him special Vyāsa-pūjā offerings, very grateful for all the instructions that he is giving to them as a guru. Also, in Māyāpur for Subhaga Swami he has few disciples but all the disciples of different gurus they also come and participate in his Vyāsa-pūjā. [Aside: Subhaga Swami, Subhaga, yes.]

So, that is why we in ISKCON we are also grateful for all the Vaiṣṇavas who help us in our spiritual life. Sometimes even godbrothers also give the appreciation for older godbrothers and the help, they give in their service. So, this way there is a very close relationship and a very loving relationship in ISKCON. And this relationship we can see in the pages of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, how deep they appreciate this guru and disciple relationship.

First the disciple offers his, always offers his respect to the guru because by the guru’s mercy we can get Kṛṣṇa. So, once one reaches Kṛṣṇa then what does he do? So, then? Already no need, that time what does he think? “Now I reached Kṛṣṇa, so I do not need the guru?” Prahlāda Mahārāja when he realized that Narasiṁhadeva . . . Narasiṁhadeva asks him, “You can have any blessing you want. This time what do you want to say to Me?” So, at this moment, “I want to offer my respects to my guru because it is only by the mercy of my guru that today I am able to see You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. That You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead; I am able to see You by the mercy of my guru. So, the thing I want is the blessing to continue to serve my guru. Because by his mercy, I am able to serve You.”

So, one continues to serve the guru as long as one is in the material world. And when one is in the spiritual world, then the guru establishes one in his service with Kṛṣṇa. Then the guru is like an old friend. He does not have so much need anymore, to give the guidance in the spiritual world. So, in the material world the relation with the guru is kept formal that one offers respect to the guru, very respectful. In the spiritual world then the relationship is more as a friend – the old friend. So, this is the eternal relationship.

We all want to be together with the previous ācāryas in the spiritual world. You might think “How is it possible that we can be together with so many previous gurus who already left the world?” But even in this world that happened one time with Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. When he was putting on a big festival with all the devotees present. It was a festival of Gaura-Pūrṇimā. At the place called Kheturi-grāma. [Aside: Whenever they run that grinder it interferes here with the amplification.]

Translator devotee: You can grind by hand; there is the motor.

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa! Haribol!

In that special festival the devotees, they are feeling so much separation for Lord Caitanya when Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura was singing the bhajanas of the Lord and the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. That practically, that became more and more intense their love for Kṛṣṇa and the kīrtana, it was becoming like a thick, like, it was just as if they were like walking in the honey or something. It was so sweet, it was so thick like everyone started you know just like moving really slow and the kīrtana was heavier and people were crying in ecstasy.

At that moment Lord Caitanya appeared. Even though it was fifty-sixty years after He had left the world. So, three generations of disciples were there. Lord Caitanya appeared with all His associates – his (Narottama’s) guru, their gurus, their disciples, the grand-disciples who are present. So, in this way when Lord Caitanya became present then everybody became so happy! So ecstatic!

There it was indescribable how everyone they suddenly start jumping in ecstasy. Haribol! Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Haribol! Haribol! “This way there is a huge kīrtana going on for one day of Brahmā.” (laughter) But for outside calculation that it just passed like maybe hours something, you know few. But for them it was one day of Brahmā, it was special time evoked. (speaks in Spanish) I do not know so they call like a transformation of time. So, for them the time was going on and on and they were in complete ecstasy. But by outside calculation people they could not know what is happening! Then Lord Caitanya disappeared.

So, in anyway, like this we can be together with all the great ācāryas chanting the holy names. So, this is very great opportunity. And we hope all of you will take shelter of this great disciplic succession of Caitanya Mahāprabhu in a more serious manner, get the full mercy of Lord Caitanya and always be in transcendental bliss.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare