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Vyāsa-pūjā 2025

Rūparāja Rāma Dāsa (Mayapur - India)

Dear Guru Maharaja,

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate jayapatākā-svāmin iti nāmine

namo ācāryapādāya nitāi-kṛpa-pradāyine

gaura-kathā dhāmadāya nagara-grāma tāriṇe

Please accept my prostrated obeisances unto your lotus feet. On this auspicious occasion of your 76th Vyasa Puja tithi, I would like to offer my heartfelt gratitude unto you.

Your entire life is full of service and surrender and is a great inspiration for fallen souls like us. The way you have served your spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, is unfathomable. By your wonderful service, you became very dear to Srila Prabhupada. You are teaching by your own example how a disciple should dedicate his entire life to executing the instructions of the spiritual master. No impediments could stop you—language barriers, health conditions, even life-threatening situations couldn’t distract you from your service unto Srila Prabhupada.

Oh dear Gurudeva, on this auspicious occasion, kindly be merciful upon me and bless me so that I can also dedicate my life to fulfilling your instructions. In almost all your monthly messages, you inspire us to help you in carrying out the instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave you. Although you are directly empowered by the Lord and can fulfill those instructions yourself, just to give service opportunities to souls like us, you ask for our help - just like Lord Ramachandra asked for help from the monkeys. I sincerely wish to assist you in whatever small capacity the Lord has blessed me with. I am sure that with your instructions and blessings, the Lord will empower me more—to keep away maya and to follow your instructions wholeheartedly.

I take great inspiration from your completion of sastric courses like Bhakti-Vaibhava, Bhakti-Vedanta, and Bhakti-Sarvabhauma. At such an advanced age, despite many physical challenges, the way you are consistently completing these courses is beyond imagination. It leaves me completely awe-struck, and my mind can no longer give any excuses. Because you carry the Supreme Lord in your heart always, your lectures are very powerful and help us turn toward Krsna, relinquishing the attractions of maya. As Prthu Maharaja says in Srimad Bhagavatam 4.20.25:

sa uttamaśloka mahan-mukha-cyuto

bhavat-padāmbhoja-sudhā kaṇānilaḥ

smṛtiṁ punar vismṛta-tattva-vartmanāṁ

kuyogināṁ no vitaraty alaṁ varaiḥ

"My dear Lord, You are glorified by the selected verses uttered by great personalities. Such glorification of Your lotus feet is just like saffron particles. When the transcendental vibration from the mouths of great devotees carries the aroma of the saffron dust of Your lotus feet, the forgetful living entity gradually remembers his eternal relationship with You. Devotees thus gradually come to the right conclusion about the value of life. My dear Lord, I therefore do not need any other benediction but the opportunity to hear from the mouth of Your pure devotee."

Thank you, dear Gurumaharaja, although I am a fallen conditioned soul struggling with so many anarthas in the material world, and you are an eternal associate of Lord Gaurahari, still out of your causeless mercy, you have given me shelter of your lotus feet and accepted me as your spiritual son. I can’t describe the extent of this fortune. By your own life and instructions, you are always teaching us like an acharya. On this auspicious day, kindly bless me so that I can eternally serve you with body, mind, and words and thus attain the perfection of my life. 

Your unqualified spiritual son, 

Ruparaja Rama Das