19990327 Vyāsa Pūjā Talk

Following is a Vyāsa-pūjā class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on March 27^th, 1999 at Śrī Māyāpur, India. The talk was given during a Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony.

Jayapatākā Swami: It says the guru, they start writing in many ways. One says the, paragomy of the kind of zonal guru is very easy, everybody one guru-disciple. Gauḍīya Maṭha is struck with that system and made one ācārya. But then because the different ācāryas keep changing, even because they leave the world or other reason, then in one āśrama we have got still disciples of many different gurus. Even at one point one guru had all the other disciples of the other gurus spend half a day with that day, would never ask to be in any positional responsibility in the āśrama in the Gauḍīya Maṭha, only the disciples of one particular guru. So, it became like a political thing, who is disciple you were and then you could be a temple president. Such type of things are going on in Gauḍīya Maṭha.

That is why some of the members of the Gauḍīya Maṭha who are the disciples who are not allowed to have any position, since they were of the wrong guru like guru upper side, they came to ISKCON. They asked the guru, “What should we do? We are your disciple, we cannot have any service here, can we go to ISKCON?” “You can go wherever there is pure bhakti being practiced, I have no objection.” So, most devotees in ISKCON do not know what is going on outside of ISKCON, in Gauḍīya Maṭha. We know here because we live here, we see here every day. And Śrīla Prabhupāda told that, “See what they are doing and learn from their mistakes and do not make the same mistake.”

So, also, we are learning from own mistake, but we have to evaluate properly what is in the mistake and then come with the proper solution. As a family, if we all take up this responsibility that we need to carry on Prabhupāda’s legacy, his teachings into the next millennium, the next ten thousand years – He wanted Kṛṣṇa conscious movement to give Caitanya Mahāprabhu is message to everyone for ten thousand years and very quickly He wanted to flood the whole world and put Kali on a back burner, put Kali on vacation for the next ten thousand years.

Kali is the expert in argument, in envy, in fighting, so he will try to create confusion. Just after I made the offering to Prabhupāda, or I was offered the prasāda, internally I was also offering that is going on simultaneously. Then someone came and handed me, did not hand me, there is just the diorama showed me that the Calcutta President has gone to court against all gurus for his ṛtvik thing. So, this is a Vyāsa-pūjā offering,

So, this is Kali, this is the repetition of Gauḍīya Maṭha, they went to court to have one of the gurus declared as ācārya and now the ṛtvik people had gone to court to have Prabhupāda declared as ācārya, present ācārya, not Founder-Ācārya. So, like this confusion is there in people’s mind. But amongst ourselves we should not be confused, we should be very clear, what we have to do. We should work together as a united family in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are very clear of what Śrīla Prabhupāda, what Lord Caitanya wanted. Actually, even at the time of Lord Caitanya, there was confusion amongst certain devotees. And that is why Lord Caitanya told, gave the order that:

siddhānta baliyā citte nā kara alasa
ihā ha-ite kṛṣṇe lāge sudṛḍha mānasa
[Cc. Ādi 2.117]

That regarding the conclusion of śāstra you should never be lazy. You should know very clearly, what is the conclusion of śāstra. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a sentimental movement, it is a movement based on siddhānta, based on the philosophy and we have to be very clear about what is our philosophy and we have to practice it.

So, on the eve of this Vyāsa-pūjā I was, in English, you just say, “You”, but in Bengali and in Spanish, in number of other languages there is two kinds of “You”. There is a respectful “You” and there is a familiar “You”. In Bengali, it is “āpani” is the respectful and Spanish it is called “Usted”, and if the normal, the familiar is called “tumi” in Bengali or it is called “tu” right. “No, no, in Spanish ‘tú’, ‘tú’ and ‘tumi’.” So, very similar, it is only because actually Spanish is coming from Latin which is coming from Sanskrit. So, I told them “You are not Latinos you should actually be told Sanskritinos” (laughter), all coming from Sanskrit. So, it is another topic.

The point is how Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to call his disciples as “āpani” which is respectful. Because he would see them as representative of his guru. That order to, for him to do his service, the guru has sent disciples. So, then he would respect them by the word “āpani”, formal “You”. And how there is something very special, but in English is just “You”, so it is hard to express that, because in Bengali you tell somebody, “āpani kemana āchena?”, how are you?” Then they get offended, they say, “No! No! No! Call me ‘tumi’. I am your servant, I am your disciple, say ‘tumi’, treat me as inferior or equal.” But he stuck to his grounds and kept calling everybody “āpani”.

Because as the spiritual master we have to keep also in the proper consciousness how to see disciple. Actually, all the disciples belong to Kṛṣṇa and everybody in ISKCON belongs to Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya, Śrīla Prabhupāda. As a guru, one is also a caretaker, he is responsible to bring the disciple back to Kṛṣṇa. So, disciple does not belong to the guru really, belongs to Kṛṣṇa, but for some time I have to guide disciples until I can bring them back to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda said, once that guru can bring the disciple back to Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual world then basically his work is over, still, he remains as the old friend. So, some relationship is still there although, it means Kṛṣṇa has many assistants there, so depending as some of you may be gopīs, some may be sakhās, some may be servants, some may be like mothers of Kṛṣṇa. So, according, the guru has to say, “Alright you have to go with Yaśodā. You have to go with, you are in this one, You have to be with Indulekhā, You have to be this kind of give you where you have to go.” You do not have to worry about that too much right now” (laughter).

Right now, we are just kind of keep people from forgetting that they are the spirit soul cause we continue to think we are the body, we have to keep people from breaking the four regulative principles, we have to get people from leaving their general practices of devotional service and their service to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Once you get them to the Spiritual world then work is complete. Even if I am not qualified to get back if one of you becomes qualified then in order for me to do that service, we saw that even Dhruva Mahārāja’s mother got back, so I would get a free ticket to go back.

So, primarily here we are concerned with how to keep all the disciples busy in devotional service, to see that they get the training needed to avoid committing offenses, to be able to be rendering spontaneous service naturally, so like that it is the spiritual family. Narahari Ṭhākura said, “Well what happens if many devotees give conflicting advice to the, to their, who do you listen to? So, then if you listen to your initiating guru because he is finally the most responsible.” But it is not a conflict but then of course you listen to your father, you listen to your uncles, you listen to so many people. It is only there is a conflict, then you listen (to the guru). Of course, if the guru, everybody is father, grandfather is Prabhupāda so we all take the vow that we will only guide people in following Prabhupāda. You see, “If I ever go crazy and tell you do not follow Prabhupāda then do not follow me.” But I hope that never happens, I do not have any intention for that to happen (laughter). I pray every day that I may never go crazy like that. But just as you see if some people go crazy and tell people do not follow Prabhupāda we get frightened, that may never happen to me, how did such an insanity happen?

So, this is our training to the devotees who are in guru-paramparā. So, they were observing Vyāsa-pūjā. There is, some gurus in Bengal, they say “You do not need to follow Vyāsadeva, you do not need the Vedas anymore, it is too difficult to follow all those scriptural injunctions. Now I am here you can just follow me.” Such kind of bogus people are there. So, what is the use of having a Vyāsa-pūjā for such a guru? When he rejected Himself Vyāsadeva. So, Vyāsa-pūjā meaning is that we are accepting the principle of guru-paramparā, we are accepting that we are following guru because he is representing the previous gurus. Then the guru ever ceases not to follow the previous gurus he is not guru, according to our definition of guru-paramparā. Similarly, a disciple means to follow the guru and follow the guru-paramparā. Different disciples seem to have different expectations, that is why I mentioned that day after tomorrow we are going to discuss that.

Tomorrow maybe we get everybody’s written idea what their expectations are, what they mean to have a strong guru-disciple relationship. Sometimes some disciples said that “I am not satisfied, I am not getting what I wanted”, but they do not say exactly what they wanted but we need to be very clear. So, far I never heard that from one of my Indian based disciples, but we want to be very clear what it means to be a disciple, what means to be a guru, we should be clear, we should try to do our duties in the most responsible way. What is like to be a family member, to be a Vaiṣṇava, that we want to be perfect Vaiṣṇavas first of all, wanted to be a devotee and live as devotees.

So, as someone mentioned as we want to preserve the guru-paramparā system in these discussions with the GBC, he raised the point that Prabhupāda shown us the certain way of doing things is a very dynamic way of preaching, guru-pūjās and various kinds of worship systems to very public, to very congregational. But in the discussion of what should be the system in ISKCON, examples are given like Madhvācārya’s, they sit on a little wooden seat, people come in and they give them the akṣata, the rice with the turmeric, different schools they have different systems.

So, that examples in those gurus considered one inch seat, so maybe in ISKCON all gurus should have a one-inch seat and this way they can, or no seats, ours is no seat so it says how to apply the principle. I was always, I am in the bad books of many devotees, they say I have got too high-end guru profiles. I am simply trying to follow in the footsteps, not imitate but following in the footsteps, follow the instructions what Prabhupāda gave and trying to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Yesterday we were in Bangladesh, day before yesterday – seventy thousand people came to and took prasāda in the festival and hundreds, thousands participated. Somebody this morning said, “Oh! You gave initiation to seventy thousand people! You are a real hero!” “No! I did not give initiation to seventy thousand people (laughter) they were at the festival”, “They misunderstood what you said, Mahārāja!” (laughter). Maybe some people took initiation but only a small, very small amount compared to that.

And, but in Bangladesh people they respect, they know that sādhus’ foot dust are something very sacred. You see, so not only me but every devotee they try, they are grabbing their feet. I asked Śrī Prahlāda dāsa and his wife Rukmiṇī-priyā that they touch your feet? They said “Ya! Everybody is diving for our feet!” So, you do not have to be a guru there to get someone to touch your feet. If you wear tilaka and look like a Vaiṣṇava, you better watch out! Then they will go for your feet. You have to wear rubber boots up to the neck practically to escape. This is the tradition, because they want to get some mercy.

Of course, when we are doing pūjā there is a system, all ladies, they are not supposed to touch the feet of a sannyāsī. So, they are going to bring some silver shoes here, first, they want me to wear, then all the ladies anybody who wants to touch the feet you can touch that. The dust will be there, the same dust, it is no different dust, exactly the same dust, you know, so you can get the same dust.

Although I have, if the sannyāsī gets touched by many women then maybe he loses his vision about what sannyāsa life is, there is something, there is some system with some tradition we have to follow. So, Lord Caitanya, He followed this system very strictly. So, like that I have been trying to follow this system, I live in Bangladesh, I live in India, we have our way of doing. When I go to South India in somebody’s house they bathe the feet, they put kuṅkuma, they put candana. I have to ask them to take off the kuṅkuma because it makes my dhotī red, this is our system.

We are following a tradition handed down but some people they are feeling that this is too much and to do in ISKCON, in publicly, I personally do not agree, I do not agree that this not should be done in ISKCON but I agree not to do it to be a team player, to do it in private because in ISKCON GBC decide and I respect that many of my godbrothers and many devotees, they also agreed to follow the ISKCON system but they did not like it that publicly things should not been done. So, we see, we have to come up with new ways of associating with each other. I am writing a letter to all of you, a personal letter, so many of these things I am explaining there, I am not gonna go too much in detail here.

So, one interesting thing was told to me by Hari Vilāsa Prabhu, he told me, “Well instead of doing a big pūjā, why not, whenever they arrive in the temple you give your greeting address and then all the disciples and devotees whoever wants to, they can all offer you a homage. So, every visit to a temple becomes like a mini Vyāsa-pūjā homage. So, that is alright, we do not mind that, we do not want this pūjā, how much is our good?” I said, “Well that sounds more than a pūjā, just you know washing the feet is something, what is that? But if everybody standup and glorify some leader something much bigger but we, in general.” “We do not mind that, we do not want the pūjā.”So, that interesting, I thought that is very interesting maybe there is different ways of expressing, maybe you see if we can come up with new and creative ways how to express our love for each other, how to exchange our sentiments and praise each other without relying so much just on these big festivals and pūjās. This may be the . . . just according to the rule this would be the last super big Vyāsa-pūjā so that we can think of other ways.

The point is that the love that devotees have, I was sitting when Prabhupāda was in Māyāpur here on Gaura-Pūrṇimā festival that he says that, “I am elderly Indian at that time all of the devotees were mainly foreigners from America and Europe different places, So, you all are different young people from foreign countries and various countries normally different age groups, different cultural backgrounds, different nationalities, they do not have such close tie. But how is it that we all of us so close together? So, this is the proof!” He said, “This is all spiritual, it is not to do with material,” and he suddenly was crying and we were all crying.

And also feel like that, we maybe work together here, we are here different backgrounds may be from our births, different nationalities, now I am Indian of course but whatever may be different birth, nationality and people here from different countries from all over the world. And not only my disciples but other devotees who are also very close with me, I am very close to them, and for me the words that Prabhupāda were ringing in my ears that this if we had this type of relationship with devotees without any reference to any material things, it is very common of people of the same village, people of the same country, people of the same language group, people of the same age group, people who, okay they can mix together. But if we can have close relationships, if we can have loving relationships, if we can have a unity even amidst all these diversities that is only possible in the spiritual platform.

So, on one hand, I feel very much responsible for all the disciples who have taken initiation because they have taken vows and I am also responsible, the final responsible person. Maybe I am thinking well maybe others there to help, so it is not so much on me, but ultimately the bus stops at me, I am responsible so I have to, I want to take more of a proactive way of ensuring that everyone is being properly taken care of, to whatever extent I can, although I have to depend on and I am depending on my disciples and my godbrothers and my nephews and nieces who are training them all over the world and Nāma-haṭṭa leaders. To, whatever extent I want to see that, ensure that everybody is getting that.

Like apart from that, that link is also spiritual, it is not a material link. But apart from that the other śikṣā links, sometimes śikṣā disciples are coming and doing more service more enthusiastically than even the initiated disciples. Sometimes initiated disciples think that, “Well, like somehow, I take initiation, now my guru owes me so much. He has to get me married and he has to get me a place to stay and he has to love me and care for me all the time, you know even if I do not do my service very well, he should never be heavy with me. And I got a letter from somebody who did a very nice service, I appreciate very much but I gave a few comments that the service should have been done better in a certain way. And he said, “I do not feel loved for, cared for by you, maybe you are not my real guru!” This is Kali-yuga.

Actually, when Vibhīṣaṇa came over to see Rāma, then they said, “How do we know you are not a spy of Rāvaṇa? What is the proof you are not a spy? You are just coming here and you trick and you want to create some problem.” And then Vibhīṣaṇa said “I vow, if I am not coming here sincerely If I am not what I said I am then let me be born a brāhmaṇa, a guru in Kali-yuga!” So, brāhmaṇa means the guru of all the varṇas, let me be a brāhmaṇa in Kali-yuga! They said “Wow! He made such a heavy vow! Okay he must be true.” Nobody wants to be a brāhmaṇa in Kali-yuga and nobody listens to the brāhmaṇa, everybody knows it is in all the other yugas, nobody listens to brāhmaṇas in Kali-yuga nobody listens to the guru in Kali-yuga. So, to be a guru or brāhmaṇa in Kali-yuga means very difficult, so he must be telling the truth, you do not wish that on your enemy!

So, being now in Kali-yuga somehow or another I am very grateful for all the disciples in spite of my not being able to care for them very well, in spite of my not being able to be with them all the time, in spite of my not being able to always the perfect example that I should be, could be a better example, in spite of so many problems somehow you are still here and you are still disciples and you are still serving Prabhupāda and I am very, very grateful for that.

And, what else could I say but of course I would like to see, in spite of this Kali-yuga, in spite of the difficult time, but we can rise above even in Kali-yuga by Lord Caitanya’s mercy, this is the golden age, so there be golden time also for us that we can actually work together and loving way and being come close to and close together and where everyone would be close to Prabhupāda, closest to Prabhupāda and want everyone bring close to all the Vaiṣṇavas in ISKCON and all the disciples to be close to their, to me, my disciples close to me and all disciples close to their gurus. In this way to make ISKCON the ideal family that Prabhupāda wants.

For that, I need your cooperation and help and your patience that we were in a society where we have to work as an integral part of the society. We do not want to be separate, we may have our own little subfamily here that we work together, we help each other, that will go on. But we are also a joint family, we have to take them to greater family members also and we want to fulfil Prabhupāda’s dream to make ISKCON – the perfect society for helping people get back to Kṛṣṇa is society. Still, even if we have so many problems, he says that, what is that English saying “Oh my country, with all your faults I still love you”, “England with all thy faults, I still love thee”. So, Prabhupāda used that with “ISKCON with all thy faults I still love thee” ISKCON kī! Jaya! Prabhupāda kī jaya!

You see, or maybe feel that Jayapatākā Swami with all very faults still . . . (laughter). In any case, I told you I did not have a warning on this, so I am just speaking things from the top of my heart. So, if I would have an hour to think about it probably it would have been more coherent. But these things are on my heart a lot these days and I am really grateful to all my godbrothers and godsisters for tolerating me in trying to fulfil Prabhupāda’s vision the way I understood it. The way I understand it, I was acting a certain way, maybe my profile was considered to be too ostentatious or something. So, now in ISKCON, we are going to have a, by law a lower profile for everyone. So, within that environment, we will see how we can function. I am still sure my profile would be too high but even within that.

Anyway, we will discuss that tomorrow night about all the GBC rules and come up with some consensus, everybody’s input how we can do this better, how we can preserve our faith and relationship and build our Prabhupāda’s position in the best possible way and follow the GBC guidelines for this year as ideal members of ISKCON. I want, it is a nice, it is interesting, I think it is a challenge you know, great, no matter what rules they give, we are still going to be able to develop our guru-disciple relationship and we are going to be able to have a try to have ISKCON you know, as long as it is according to scriptures then I do not see any problem. So, anyway I think I am going over my ten minutes.