Vyāsa-pūjā 2025
My Dear Beloved Guru Mahārāja,
Please accept my heartfelt daṇḍavat-praṇāti at your lotus feet on your 76th Vyāsa-pūjā and auspicious appearance tithi.
O Guru Mahārāja, I am eternally grateful to you for the grace you have bestowed upon a fallen soul like me in this world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed you, O Guru Mahārāja, to come to India. You recently said at the Śrīla Prabhupāda Connect Day festival that Śrīla Prabhupāda underwent many austerities at Śrīdhāma Māyāpur. So I was thinking how many austerities you also endured in the early years at Māyāpur—staying in a straw hut with no basic facilities like a toilet, electricity, or roads. You are the eternal associate of Gaura-Nitāi and Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda personally confirmed this in Mumbai at the house of N.D. Desai (Śrīnathjī). Otherwise, it would not have been possible.
O Nitāi-kṛpā-pradāyī, Śrīla Prabhupāda told you to preach limitlessly throughout the world. Following that order, you sowed the seeds of Kṛṣṇa consciousness by distributing harināma village to village, in the remote areas of Bangladesh and other countries. You opened many centers and installed deities. One of these is Śrī Puṇḍarīk Dhāma, where you first installed Śrī Varṣabhānovī-Murāri and Gaura Sundara—the first deities you installed after accepting sannyāsa. By your mercy, I got the opportunity to serve there. Because of your contributions, today in Bangladesh there are countless devotees and followers, and temples have been established in almost every district.
O Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Victory Flag, in nearly every country where ISKCON is active, you have disciples. You have raised Śrīla Prabhupāda’s victory flag all over the world. Śrīla Prabhupāda told you to accept 50,000 disciples. Not only have you fulfilled this, astonishingly you have surpassed it—now reaching nearly 80,000. In the scriptures, we hear of ṛṣis and munis who had such numbers of disciples, but now we are seeing this manifest in you.
O Kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya, because of your countless travels, journeys, festivals, programs, meetings, and bearing the burden of your disciples’ sins, your transcendental body has undergone so many challenges. Surely, no one else in this universe could endure so many health issues—affecting almost every organ—like you. Yet nothing can stop you. To this day, you continue serving Śrīla Prabhupāda, fulfilling your duties in the GBC, and rescuing fallen souls day and night. You have set an unsurpassable example of what it means to be both a guru and a disciple—how one should dedicate their life to the service of guru and the previous ācāryas.
O Ācāryapāda Guru Mahārāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave you the vision to develop Māyāpur as a Vedic city and to construct the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP). Now the whole world is witnessing that vision come true. You and your team have made Lord Nityānanda Prabhu’s prediction a reality.
O beloved Guru Mahārāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda made you the lifetime chairman of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust to develop Gauḍa-maṇḍala and Vraja-maṇḍala. Last year, during our Gauḍa-maṇḍala parikramā, we visited many śrīpāṭas of Lord Caitanya’s associates. We saw nameplates in many places where you have developed or constructed temples, kitchens, or courtyards—now serving as shelter for pilgrims. You are completing every service Śrīla Prabhupāda gave you—nāma-haṭṭa preaching, book distribution, and so much more.
O Guru Mahārāja, your bhajan, kīrtana, and Bhāgavat-kathā, especially your ecstatic singing of "very loudly chanting Gauraṅga!" from your lotus mouth, are unique. Many ISKCON devotees, including myself, were attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness by the magic of your melodious voice. Numerous recordings of your lectures and songs have been instrumental in inspiring others to take up devotional service.
O Guru Mahārāja, you are one of the foundational pillars and shapers of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision for a global ISKCON. Recently, you mentioned that Śrīla Prabhupāda awarded you sannyāsa as the 11th sannyāsī during his manifest presence. Now, only you remain—the most senior among the entire Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. From the beginning until now, you have protected ISKCON and its members through the shelter of your compassion. You have inaugurated many preaching systems—even during the COVID pandemic, you visited every corner of the world and every devotee’s home through Zoom. Nothing can stop your preaching.
O Paramadayāla Guru Mahārāja, your care and love for devotees is known to all. You inaugurated the “Help Desk” at Māyāpur to assist visitors and devotees, especially Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples. Last year, I had the opportunity to serve H.G. Parvat Muni Prabhu, who left his body at Māyāpur.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.15.26) states:
yasya sākṣād bhagavati jñāna-dīpa-prade gurau
martyāsad-dhīḥ śrutaṁ tasya sarvaṁ kuñjara-śaucavat
"The guru should be regarded as the direct manifestation of the Supreme Lord, for he bestows the light of transcendental knowledge. One who thinks the guru is an ordinary human being is doomed, and whatever he has heard is lost—like the bathing of an elephant."
O Gurudeva, by your grace I am now completing the Bhaktivedānta and Bhakti-sarvabhauma courses at Govardhan Eco Village, Mumbai. Please bless me so I can apply the teachings of the scriptures in my life and also preach. Kindly bestow your blessings so my taste for harināma may grow more and more.
O my savior, even though I commit so many mistakes and aparādhas, you pour soothing water on the burning fire of sorrow in my heart with your divine comfort. Whenever I desire your presence or response, you make time for me, giving encouragement and guidance to this insignificant son of yours, despite your incredibly busy schedule. For this I consider myself truly fortunate.
Finally, O Guru Mahārāja, please forgive all my transgressions and offenses, and give me the wisdom to follow your instructions so I can carry them out with complete devotion, under your divine supervision.
Your insignificant son,
Śaraṇāgati Gaura dāsa
Śrī Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana Dhāma
Jashore, Bangladesh