Delivering the Message Unchanged

The day on which a disciple celebrates the appearance of his spiritual master is called Vyasa-pūja. The word "Vyasa" indicates Srila Vyasadeva, a powerful incarnation of Krsna (God) who compiled all of the Vedic literature, and "pūja" means worship.

Vyasadeva appeared five thousand years ago, at the dawn of the present Age of Quarrel, just when widespread moral deterioration was about to begin. He could foresee that the people of this age would be short-lived, unfortunate and always disturbed.

Before Vyasadeva, all the Vedic scriptures were taught and received verbally in disciplic succession. The memories of both the students and the spiritual masters of those ages were so sharp that once they heard a transcendental message from their spiritual master, the message was immediately imprinted into their brains and considered a written language.

To give the unfortunate people of the modern age a chance to partake of the knowledge contained in the Vedas, Sri Vyasadeva undertook the enormous task of compilation. He composed the millions of Sanskrit verses of the Mahabharata, the Vedanta-sūtra and the Puranas, including Srimad-Bhagavatam. No one else in history can compare with him as a poet, philosopher or writer, and he is thus known as Mahamuni (the great sage). He is the spiritual master of all who follow the teachings of the Vedas. His final, mature work, Srimad-Bhagavatam, is known as the "ripened fruit of the Vedas" and is sufficient in itself for God realization. The precious Bhagavatam has been handed down in disciplic succession, from guru to disciple, in an unbroken chain, and today His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, spiritual master of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is delivering it in turn to his disciples.

Out of his causeless mercy, Srila Vyasadeva wrote Srimad-Bhagavatam for the benefit of the fallen people of Kali-yuga (the modern age), and out of his causeless mercy Srila Prabhupada is personally translating and expanding this monumental work-and he is preaching it throughout the Western world as well. At the advanced age of seventy, he traveled under great hardship from India to America to found the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and today, nine years later, he tirelessly works eighteen to twenty hours a day, still translating and preaching the eternal message of Srimad-Bhagavatam: pure, unalloyed service to Krsna (God).

There are many so-called gurus, in India and elsewhere, who preach something other than pure devotional service to God. But such "Gurus" are condemned by Vyasadeva at the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam: "The supreme occupation for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self." (Bhag. 1.2.6) And they are condemned by Lord Krsna Himself in Bhagavad-gita: "Just give up all other forms of religion and surrender unto Me. I will protect you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (Bg. 18.66) Those who are followers of the Absolute Truth, the source of all emanations, accept that all knowledge of the Absolute Truth is coming from the Vedic scriptures compiled by Vyasadeva, which include Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. The emphatic conclusion of these scriptures, which are the cream of the Vedas, is that Lord Krsna is the source of all incarnations and manifestations. And this conclusion has been reiterated by all the spiritual masters in disciplic succession, such as Lord Brahma, Narada, Vyasadeva and, in the modern age, Lord Caitanya, who stressed the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra.

Therefore one who is an actual spiritual master, who is imparting genuine knowledge of the Absolute Truth, must preach the message of Vyasadeva without change. So on his appearance day, the disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada will worship him as a bona fide representative of Vyasadeva, who is faithfully preaching the pure message of Vyasadeva throughout the world.

In 1969 a unique book was discovered-a collection of tributes to Thakura Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada written by his disciples, one of whom was Abhay Caran Das, later to become His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Those who came upon it were students of His Divine Grace, and they were inspired by it to print a similar volume in his honor. Since then it has become an annual publication, presented to Srila Prabhupada on his appearance day. This selection from last year's book was written by Giriraja dasa, now President of the ISKCON center in Bombay, India.

Dear Srila Prabhupada, your appearance day is the most historic event in the history of man. Under your divine guidance the whole world is being inundated by Krsna consciousness. As stated in Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 7.26):

"The Krsna consciousness movement will inundate the entire world and will drown everyone, whether one be a gentleman, a rogue or even lame, invalid or blind."

In this Age of Quarrel everyone is full of lust, anger and greed, being engrossed in the modes of passion and ignorance. We, all your disciples, were also born in that same ocean of material desires. We have been suffering in the hellish darkness of the material world since time immemorial. But you are a beam of light, pure and transcendental to this godless world, glowing with love of God. All the evils that we know are completely unknown to you, and all of the bliss in which you are immersed is alien to us. And yet you have so kindly extended your all-merciful hand to pull us out of this dark well of material life. As Narottama dasa Thakura has said:

"The spiritual master opens my darkened eyes and fills my heart with transcendental knowledge. He is my lord, birth after birth. From him ecstatic love of God emanates; by him ignorance is destroyed. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character."

You have thus established the truth of the wonderful vision of sastra (Vedic scriptures). Not only have you delivered all your disciples from the clutches of sinful life (meat-eating, intoxication, illicit sex and so on), but you have also inculcated them with divine qualities such as self-control, austerity, simplicity, non-violence, truthfulness and cleanliness. Who but your divine self could have brought about such astounding changes? As Narottama dasa said in his prayer to a Vaisnava:

"Whose association but yours can cause the sinful reactions of the most sinful man to run away? Who is so merciful as Your Divine Grace? Search as I may, I cannot find him." You are the greatest Vaisnava because you are the most magnanimous and because you are bestowing upon us the highest perfection: prema-bhakti (love of God).

You are so kind and humble that you do not take any credit for all your achievements. Taking unflinching shelter at the lotus feet of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and Srila Rūpa Gosvami, you give all the credit to them. Your spiritual master is now glorified all over the world. We, who are so polluted by this Age of Kali, have nonetheless been accepted by you, so we simply pray earnestly to Lord Caitanya and the Six Gosvamis to help us glorify Your Divine Grace all over the world.

One day, on your morning walk, a man started blaspheming you, saying that you are always criticizing everyone else. Your disciples were with you, and they were going to take him away, but you stopped them, smiled and said, "I'm just saying what Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita." After a while the man came to his senses. He bowed down and touched your feet, and you accepted him. Who can stand against you? Your patience and determination are limitless. You are causelessly merciful because of being always absorbed in love of Radha-Krsna. You are on the transcendental platform, free from anxieties. You have no business dealings with mundane people; you only deal with them to show them your causeless mercy. Somehow they must become attracted to Krsna. That is your only concern.

The transcendental name of Krsna vibrated through your lips surpasses the singing of the Gandharvas, the celestial singers. As soon as the name "Krsna" is mentioned to you, your face beams like the morning sun. O Srila Prabhupada, when will we deserve to be your disciples? When will we give up our petty little worlds? When shall we be allowed entry into the world of the paramahamsas (perfected human beings) with Your Divine Grace? Even after hearing so much from you, still we do not understand the value of the soul, especially the soul who has surrendered to Krsna. Nor have we any appreciation of our Godbrothers.

But you have started this movement from zero. Long before starting ISKCON, you struggled unsuccessfully for many years to find just one person who could learn pure Krsna consciousness from you. Even though you now have thousands of disciples, you never lose sight of the value of each and every one of them. Each of them receives boundless mercy from you. You do not look at anyone's faults. Someone may be ninety-nine percent in illusion and one percent in Krsna consciousness, but you just look at his one percent and immediately devise a trick to increase his Krsna consciousness and expand his service.

My dear father, on this day of your divine appearance we make a meager offer of love at your lotus feet, and we beg that you accept it. We pray for the strength required to recognize our Godbrothers and Godsisters as your loving children. We beg for the cooperative spirit to push on this movement throughout and even beyond this world. We pray that Krsna may give us the intelligence to act for your pleasure.

This material existence is a nightmare, Srila Prabhupada. We do not want to come back here. You have brought us this far; now please take us further away from this hellish place, back to where the supremely attractive person is playing upon His flute, enjoying eternal sports with the gopis. Please take us back to Krsna.

"Our spiritual master is an ocean of mercy, the friend of the poor and the lord and master of the devotees. O master, be merciful unto me. Give me the shade of your lotus feet. Your fame is spread all over the three worlds."