20130422 Vyāsa Pūjā Morning Class

Following is a Vyāsa-pūjā Morning address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharāja on April 22^nd, 2013 at Śrī Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapataka Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda was carrying the message of the previous ācāryas, and he was completely dedicated to following his guru’s orders. I remember one time, he was, thoughtful about some point and he said, “My spiritual master is by my side at all times.” he said that so effectively. That he could see, that he could see really, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. So, we are trying to follow in His footsteps but a humble attempt. So as this verse says, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives out His mercy through the guru. How that happens is something of a mystery. It happens by the spiritual potency of the Lord.

Someone is looking for answers and they are going here and there but Kṛṣṇa, He leads him or her to the bona fide spiritual master and thus they get shelter, and they get engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service. However, we should not think . . . the guru should not think that he is in all respects equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. he is like a representative, and Kṛṣṇa gives out mercy through him. He [The spiritual master] may or may not know how that is happening. In the recent Safari, I gave some association to some families. And somehow, the husband, who was not at all chanting, not at all interested; after meeting me, he started to chant two rounds. (Haribol!) How that happened, I just took it as the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Lord.

Some years ago, I was visiting Europe. And one lady asked for blessings. At that time, I had the walking stick. I very gently touched it to her head. I did not beat her or anything (laughter) and she fell down unconscious. And they called a doctor, and she woke up smiling. She said, “You are my guru.” (laughter) So, how that happened, I do not know. Like this, some strange things happen but we take it as the mercy of the Lord. Like that, I was looking here and there and somehow, I came in contact with the devotees. And they directed me to Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, I took this as a special mercy of the Lord.

There are so many bogus gurus, so many different spiritual organisations, but the one which really gives out devotion for Kṛṣṇa, which gives out pure love of Kṛṣṇa, is very rare. And somehow, if one comes in contact, that is really the special mercy of the Supersoul. So, how the guru is representing Kṛṣṇa, but his duty is to follow his guru and to engage constantly in devotional service. And somehow, Kṛṣṇa works His wonder that he brings people in contact. And just by engaging in Kṛṣṇa’s service, a devotee becomes a touchstone, becomes empowered. We see our book distributors, how they come in contact with devotees, with people on the street. And those people, in turn, take the books and become devotees.

Like this, how Kṛṣṇa works through His devotees. Especially, how He works through those who are completely sold out to Him as the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant – gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc. Madhya 13.80] So, Lord Caitanya taught us that we have to be the servant of the servant and in this way, Kṛṣṇa works through us and He gives out His special mercy to different conditioned souls.

So, we are very fortunate that somehow, we came in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We came in contact with Śrīla Prabhupāda and his representatives. In this way, we also want to engage ourselves in pure devotional service. In this way, we want to engage ourselves in pure devotional service and be an instrument in his hands. Arjuna, he fought in the Kurukṣetra battle. He was the commander-in-chief of the Pāṇḍavas for their side. On the other side, the Kurus, they had more army, and they had very experienced generals, but they had to change many times – Bhīṣma, Droṇācārya, Karṇa.

So, because Arjuna was ‘nimitta-mātraṁ’ [Bg. 11.33], he was a servant in the hands of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When the battle was over, Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna to leave the chariot first. And He told him to go away far and then Kṛṣṇa got off the chariot. When He got off, the chariot exploded and was lit on fire. Soon it was reduced to ashes. Kṛṣṇa explained, “So many curses, so many weapons were thrown against this chariot. Because I was present, they were not taking effect. Once I left and withdrew My presence, all these took effect (laughter), and nothing left – only ashes.”

So, we have to keep Lord Kṛṣṇa in our heart. We have to serve as an instrument in His hands. We do that by serving our guru – our dīkṣā-guru, our śikṣā-gurus. Prabhupāda said that he was dīkṣā and śikṣā-guru for his disciples but otherwise, one may have a dīkṣā-guru and have some śikṣā-gurus too. So, one time he told us that the secret of success was to satisfy the previous ācāryas and he gave some example of how each spiritual master has served Navadvīpa dhāma. And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that there should be a city and there should be a temple, a grand temple, the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP). So, he was saying, “I have my humble attempt to also do something to develop the holy dhāma.” Then he said, “I am very grateful to all those devotees who are helping me to develop Navadvīpa dhāma.” Then he choked up, he could not speak, and tears rolled down from his eyes. So, we could understand that it was really something important to him, he wanted to please the previous ācāryas.

So, like this, we are very thankful that the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium has given us some scope to do service. Anyone who wants can contribute one square foot or more. One square foot is seven thousand rupees. So, for seven thousand rupees, you can have your name in a book in front of the Deities for all time. I am very happy that everybody serving in my office, they have contributed one square foot. Haribol! I also have some services. So, I hope that Śrīla Prabhupāda will be pleased. Like this, Prabhupāda, he has many different programmes, and we are trying to serve.

Like that, through the guru-paramparā, we try to engage our mind, our body, our senses, and our speech in the service of the guru, and the previous ācāryas because we know from this verse, that the guru is a representative of Kṛṣṇa and he is not to be offended or criticised. He is to be seen as the mercy of the Lord, as the Servitor Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality, He accepts all the service. And the guru is the servitor, he offers service. So, because he is very dear to the Lord, therefore he is considered connected or non-different, but he cannot imitate the Lord, he is not the same in all respects.

Sometimes, the disciples write, they say, “Oh, you are the antaryāmī. You know everything.” Kṛṣṇa is antaryāmī and by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, the guru may know about his disciples, but he is not the same as Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa knows everything. He knows what is going on in all the unlimited universes. We may know something of what is going on with some disciples. But the disciples need to reveal, “Gurudeva, I have this problem. Please help me.” Oh, they cannot think, “Oh, Gurudeva is antaryāmī, he knows. I do not have to tell him.” We are not that... the spiritual master is dear to the Lord because he is serving the devotee of the devotee of the devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But he is not God, in the sense that he does not know everything, he cannot do everything. If Kṛṣṇa wants, Kṛṣṇa can work miracles through him.

Once I was at a programme in Calcutta and they glorified Prabhupāda that he was a śaktyāveśa-avatāra and they said that Prabhupāda was a śaktyāveśa-avatāra but Prabhupāda, he did not say anything against that, and I noted that. We saw how he had the power of the Lord behind him. Still, he took the humble position, a position as the ācārya, that the ācārya is the serving personality and by his service, he is dear to the Lord and he specifically knows the śāstra, he lives by it, he walks the talk, and he engages his disciples accordingly. That is what Śrīla Prabhupāda did.

I am trying to follow his example, because he said, “You do as I do.” So, he showed us by his example. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! So, there is a very nice lecture on this verse by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. So, there is a very nice lecture on this verse by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. But there was no time to read it. Maybe it can be posted, so that they can read it. He says, “Look at this brute, he is sitting on a high seat, he is accepting so many glories. What a puffed-up person.” Then he explains that this is the order of Lord Caitanya.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]

“By My order, be a guru, and liberate the people of this land.” So, he explained how to carry out this order, which was given by his guru to him, the dust from the feet of the guru can liberate crores of people and that to carry out such an order, he has dedicated himself to do that. I am paraphrasing. So, it is a very nice article, which shows the mood that one should have. Anyway, now it is time to greet our Deities. So, I will end here.