Vyāsa-pūjā Lecture – [Hindi] – August 31, 1975, Vṛndāvana

Prabhupada: I can speak little bit in Hindi then you can… [Transl. Today all my disciples are celebrating the Vyasa-pūja-tithi. Vyasa-pūja-tithi, is the birthday of the spiritual master. The real guru is Vyasadeva, Vedavyasa, and through the disciplic succession of Vedavyasa. Just like it is said in the Bhagavad-gita, evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2] This Vedic knowledge is disseminated through the disciplic succession, not by any academic education and learning, through disciplic succession. Sa kaleneha yogo nastaḥ parantapa [Bg 4.2] If the disciplic succession is destroyed then this Vedic knowledge is destroyed. That is why Sanatana Gosvami has said,

[One should not hear anything about Krsna from a non-Vaisnava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has a poisonous effect; similarly, talks about Krsna given by a non-Vaisnava are also poisonous.]

Those who are not followers of the Vaisnava etiquette, we should not hear the topics of the Lord from their mouth. What is the fault in the topics of the Lord? Pūta hari-kathamrtam. He says, that Hari-katha, is like nectar but despite being like nectar if one is not a Vaisnava, then we should not hear from him. Sanatana Gosvami has forbidden this. Why? Sarpocchistam payo yatha. Milk is nectar but if it is touched by the lips of a serpent then it is poison. And Sriman Mahaprabhu has also said this, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa [Cc Madhya 6.169]

The scriptures, the holy books, the Vedas-sruti. That is why the Vedic scriptures are called sruti. Sruti means we have to hear through the medium of disciplic succession only. The spiritual master instructs his disciple, the disciple in turn instructs his disciple and he in turn instructs his dispciples, this is called sampradaya. Brahma-sampradaya, Rudra-sampradaya and Sri-sampradaya, so there are similar sampradayas. Kumara-sampradaya. Sampradaya-vihina ye mantras te viphala mataḥ [Padma Purana]. Those who do not follow any sampradaya and whimsically interpret Vedic literatures, they will be unsuccessful. That has no value.

So this Vyasa-pūja, that is we are in the lineage of Vyasa sampradaya. Vyasa's disciple Narada, Narada's disciple.. I am sorry!, Narada's disciple Vyasadeva. And Vyasadeva's disciple is Sukadeva Gosvami. Similarly through disciplic succession, Madhvacarya, then in the Madhvacarya sampradaya, there was Madhavendra Puri, then his disciple Īsvara Puri, his disciple Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His disciples-the six Goswami's-Sri Rūpa, Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha. Similarly we are in this sampradaya, which is why our sampradaya is called Madhva-Gauḍiya-sampradaya. The meaning of sampradaya is that the acarya of the sampradaya does not talk nonsense. He speaks whatever he has heard through the guru-parampara. So that is why the appearance day of the spiritual master is called Vyasa-pūja, the real spiritual master is Vyasadeva and this asana [seat is called Vyasasana]. The spiritual master who comes in disciplic succession, he is welcomed to sit in this asana. My disciples have organized the Vyasa-pūja today and they are worshipping. This does not mean, ahamgrahopasana: self-worship, that I have become God and I am getting them to worship me for showing off. This is not the case. The fact is, the scriptures say,

To acquire this Vedic knowledge, there is only one way. Yasya deve para bhaktir, that is to have unflinching faith in the Lord, transcendental faith and devotion, and just as we have transcendental faith on the Lord similarly transcendental faith on the spiritual master also.

This should be practiced and to teach that, we have to sit down and accept their worship so as to teach them. This is proper system. That is why the Vyasa-pūja celebration is conducted, they also worship and those who have faith in the acarya, acaryopasanam. [Bg 13.9] The Supreme Lord Himself says in the scriptures that one should worship the acarya. So all of you have so kindly come here, thank you. This Krsna consciousness movement, we teach this all over the world, Vedic pantha: Vedic way of life, srauta-pantha: the path of aural reception. Srotriyam brahma-nistham [Munḍaka Upanisad 1.2.12].

To be firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth one must accept the path of hearing from authorities [srauta-pantha]. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also says at the time of imparting knowledge to Rūpa Goswami, Guru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija. [Cc Madhya 19.151] Through the mercy of the spiritual master and Krsna we get the seed of the creeper of devotional service. These are some conclusions. Therefore it is the duty of the disciple to celebrate the appearance day of the spiritual master [Vyasa-pūja], the spiritual master will teach. It is not that I want to increase my prestige by having them to worship me, this is not the case. So we have around one hundred two centers all over the world and all their offerings, a book has been printed, every year such a book is printed on the occasion of Vyasa-pūja to give the spiritual master. Sriman Brahmananda Svami will read one or two offerings from that book. After that you can partake in the prasada and be merciful.

Thank you very much!

This devotee is from Iran. We have got a centre there. His former name was Attar Miya. Now his name is Atreya Rsi]

Devotee: Jaya. [end]