Bhakti Caitanya Swami

Appreciation and homage to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada on the auspicious anniversary of his appearance in this mortal world.

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhū-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sūnyavadi-pasatya-desa-tarine

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

Personally I have no qualification to offer devotional writings in praise of Your Divine Grace. Please bestow your causeless mercy upon this fallen soul so that this body may become an instrument in the service of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krsna.

I remember you always kept me engaged in unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, therefore you are known to be a direct manifestation of the Lord, and genuine representative of the disciplic succession, and acaryadeva of the whole world. In his prayers to the spiritual master, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has confirmed that all the revealed scriptures accept the spiritual master to be identical with the Personality of Godhead because he is a very dear and confidential servant of the Lord. Therefore we Gauḍiya Vaisnavas worship Your Divine Grace in the light of your being the servitor of the Personality of Godhead. Also, according to all the ancient literatures of devotional service and other unalloyed Vaisnavas, the spiritual master is always considered one of the confidential associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Your Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, who has arisen on the horizon of West Bengal on this most eventful day to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all of us, being compassionate for the fallen state of the world. As the sun drives away darkness by its appearance, similarly you have dissipated the darkness of the living beings and enlightened everyone with knowledge of the Absolute Truth. You have shown us the easiest path of liberation in this Age of Kali by giving the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. You always said, "Chant Hare Krsna and be happy."

O my dear Srila Prabhupada, by your causeless mercy my illusion is now gone, and I have regained my memory and am now firm and free from doubts and am prepared to act according to your divine instructions. I know if you are satisfied, we are satisfied. You were so kind that you blessed us all by saying, "Please chant Hare Krsna and follow the regulative principles." Now if we want to become God conscious and realize our own essence, we only have to understand God in truth, how He appears, how He disappears, and what His functions are. Thus we can become eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. For this we find no one except Your Divine Grace, a real mahatma, who is actually situated in knowledge. This material world is just like a prison house. It is a punishing place meant to bring us to that point of becoming disgusted, surrendering at last to Lord Sri Krsna and going back to home, to our original nature of eternal life of bliss and complete knowledge.

On this holy event of Vyasa-pūja day, I was supposed to make an offering unto your lotus feet, but I am coming to beg your mercy, and please pardon me for all the offenses I have committed by not following your instructions. I have heard through your holy lips the most powerful unchanged message of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna: Bhagavad-gita As It Is. And Caitanyadeva said,

bharata-bhūmite haila manusya-janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bharata-varsa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.

Please give me strength to remain pure and allow me to assist you in your mission of spreading yare dekha, tare kaha krsna-upadesa all over the world.

Thank you, Srila Prabhupada. Koti koti danḍavats to Your Divine Grace.

Begging to remain your servant forever,

Bhakti Caitanya Swami

GBC-New Delhi, Northern India

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/svp/vyasa-puja-homages-from-the-g-b-c/bhakti-caitanya-swami