Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s Appearance Day

Giriraj Swami: Predicted and desired, prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama, that His name or Krishna’s name would be sang and preached all over the world, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had the same desire. It was Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura who actually sent some of his disciples to England, but they weren’t able to achieve much, and eventually, he called them back to India. But he requested Srila Prabhupada to do it, and he was actually the one who did it, on the order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

So, very, very auspicious day, very, very important day. I happened to be with Srila Prabhupada on occasion when it was his Guru Maharaja’s Appearance Day or Disappearance Day. And once, on his Appearance Day, we were in a city in India called Gorakhpur, which is famous for the Gītā Press, which publishes many spiritual books, Vaishnava books, but it is famous for producing inexpensive editions of the Gītā. And the main person, very famous, in India at the time was Hanuman Prasad Poddar. So, Srila Prabhupada and the devotees were his guests at what used to be his own personal estate. And on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s Appearance Day, Srila Prabhupada said we should have the main program in the evening, so we could accommodate more people coming. Of course, we fasted until noon and broke the fast, but then the main program was in the evening, and then, after the program, there was a feast served outside this sort of pavilion, and, we are not going to have that feast tonight. It would probably give you dysentery. [laughter] But it was cooked in a lot of oil. [laughter]

So, we came down, it was sort of a courtyard we were sitting in, and Prabhupada took the feast upstairs. So, then, his servant named Nandu Kumar came down with some of the remnants from Srila Prabhupada’s plate, and he said, Srila Prabhupada had two things to say. One is that his Guru Maharaja is very pleased with all of us, very significant, and second was that the feast was so good he could not control his senses and he overate. [laughter] So yes, there is blessings. So, now we will have kirtan, the essence of our process, and then, after some kirtan, we will have puṣpāñjali. Srila Prabhupada said that the most important item in the whole celebration of Appearance Days and Disappearance Days like this is the puṣpāñjali, which means offering flowers with mantras to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and then we will offer ārati, and then have a little prasāda.