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Vyāsa-pūjā 2024

Śrīnivāsa Hari dāsa (Coimbatore - India)

Respected Guru Mahārāja,

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Please accept my most respectful obeisances unto your Lotus feet. All glories to your Divine Grace. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

On this auspicious day of your 75th Vyāsa-pūjā, I sincerely pray to Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava, Śrī Śrī Pañca-tattva and Śrī Śrī Narasiṁhadeva for your complete and speedy recovery from all health problems and for the long duration of life so that many conditioned souls like me will get Your valuable association.

By seeing your conduct, I am remembering one of the principles of Saraṇāgati, which is, “Exclusively depending on the mercy of the Supreme Lord”. Guru Mahārāja, You are possessing this divine quality, because even though you faced severe health challenges, you are always depending on Lord Gaurāṅga and Lord Nityānanda only and inspiring everyone to pray to Their Lordships for removing all your health problems so that You can simply serve Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission very well. Guru Mahārāja, from your personal conduct, I can understand that you do not have any private life or agenda and your desire is to simply spread Lord Caitanya’s glories unlimitedly. By your conduct, you are teaching all your disciples that one should practice bhakti with no ulterior motives. Guru Mahārāja, You are the perfect example for “anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ” principle.

When I measure my faith on the Supreme Lord, I feel ashamed, because my faith on the matter is very strong as compared to the faith on the Supreme Lord. This proves that I am an ordinary conditioned soul only. But Guru Mahārāja, your faith on Lord Gaurāṅga is unimaginable, which is perfectly fulfilling another principle of Saraṇāgati i. e. , “Believing firmly in the Lord’s protection”. I am deeply praying at your lotus feet for your mercy so that I can imbibe this divine quality in my personal spiritual life also.

Even in your advanced age, you have completed “Bhakti-vedanta” course recently, in order to be a good example for all of your disciples. I am deriving great inspiration by seeing your wonderful behavior. Guru Mahārāja, by your behavior, you have proved that you are a great ācārya, which means, “One who teaches by his example”.

I learned after a long time that there are two types of preaching. One preaching is, just studying the Purports, memorizing all the points and just repeating it in the lectures. Second preaching is, sharing our realizations and preaching with genuine compassion for the suffering humanity. Śrīla Prabhupāda did this second type of preaching. This is the real preaching. That is why, Śrīla Prabhupāda travelled the Globe 14 times on preaching tours in spite of his advanced age and failing health. It is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5. 18. 12, “yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā” that “all the exalted qualities of demigods become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Lord”. One of the divine qualities is compassion. Guru Mahārāja, You are always preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness with deep realizations and genuine compassion for the suffering humanity. That is why your serious health problems are not hindering your preaching and you are still travelling and preaching. This is very amazing to me. Śrīla Prabhupāda is writing in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4. 21. 31 Purport that, “Sometimes a spiritual master takes the risk of being overwhelmed by the sinful reactions of the disciples and undergoes a sort of tribulation due to their acceptance. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore advised that one not accept many disciples”. Even though this instruction is given, you are still continuing to give initiation to many many conditioned souls even at the risk of losing your health. This is because you are very kind to everyone (which is, one of the 26 good qualities of a Vaiṣṇava).

Śrī Kṛṣṇa is always auspicious for everyone (sarva-śubhaṅ-karaḥ). Similarly, Śrīla Prabhupāda is also always auspicious and well-wisher for everyone. That is why, Śrīla Prabhupāda used to write in the letters as, “Your Ever Well-Wisher”. In the same way, Guru Mahārāja, you are also always auspicious for all the conditioned souls, because you are distributing Lord Gaurāṅga to whomever you meet. I have never seen You treating anyone with hostile mentality, because you are freed from the false ego concept completely. Guru Mahārāja, I am seeing the divine qualities of “adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ” in Your Personality completely. It is very very rare to see a Mahātmā like your Personality. Since you are possessing these divine qualities, you are very dear to the Supreme Lord. Guru Mahārāja, I am begging at Your lotus feet to please bless me with kṛṣṇa-bhakti.

Guru Mahārāja, I don’t have intelligence / strength to understand / describe all Your transcendental qualities. Still, I am doing it only for my purification.

Because You are the possessor of all 26 divine qualities, Your Holiness is naturally attracting everyone by your purity. Guru Mahārāja, You are a valuable treasure for the entire ISKCON society.

Your insignificant disciple,

Śrīnivāsa Hari Dāsa, Dīkṣā Disciple

ISKCON, ŚRĪ JAGANNĀTHA MANDIR, COIMBATORE