Bhakti Charu Maharaj’s 75th Vyasa-puja

Host: I would like to request our guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace, Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja, to bless us with a few words on today’s occasion. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna Maharaja. I never expected that we would be gathering for your Seventy-fifth Vyasa-puja in your absence. But I guess Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna had their plan. After you left, His Holiness Radhanath Swami made a short video that was very instructive. He told all the devotees not to dwell on any of the details related to your departure, simply to take it as an arrangement of the higher authorities of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna to bring you to them. He advised not to entertain ideas such as, why did you have to leave Ujjain? You could have just stayed there and preached and so on.

Srila Prabhupada had written a letter from Bombay to his disciple Tushta-Krishna dasa, who had been associated with Sai in Hawaii. Sai then took initiation from Srila Prabhupada and received the name Siddha-svarupa. In Tushta-Krishna’s letter, he had referred to Siddha-svarupa as a pure devotee. I am just judging from Srila Prabhupada’s reply, what Srila Prabhupada wrote was very significant. He wrote that Siddha-svarupa is a good soul, but you shouldn’t think that only he is a pure devotee and none others. Anyone who is surrendered to the spiritual master and sincerely following the spiritual master is a pure devotee. So don’t make any faction. Then he said, why do you want to be in the spiritual sky with only Siddha-svarupa? Prabhupada said, Siddha-svarupa will go, Shyamasundara will go. Prabhupada mentioned him because he was the GPC. Siddha-svarupa Rupa will go, Shyamasundara will go, you will go, and we’ll have another ISKCON in the spiritual world. Is there only Mr. Nair, he will not go. Srila Prabhupada mentioned that because Tushta-Krishna Prabhu was, I think, the first to meet Mr. Nair.

The idea of another ISKCON in the spiritual sky became more attractive after His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami left. Our godbrother Bhurijana Prabhu said that he wasn’t sure about the idea of another ISKCON in the spiritual sky, but now that Tamal Krishna Goswami has gone there, the idea is becoming more attractive. And now that you are there, it is even more attractive. But we have service to you here. So many of your disciples are reaching out to me, and I consider it my sacred duty to encourage them in their spiritual lives and their relationship with you in your absence. One couple in Dallas, and I am mentioning it so that you can give them some special mercy. The husband’s name is Pankajangri Prabhu, and his wife’s name is Lopamudra. I would almost always be in Dallas at the time of your Vyasa-puja, and Pankajangri Prabhu would organize a program at his home. I would go and have an opportunity to glorify you along with others. They have really taken your departure very heavily.

When Pankajangri Prabhu phoned me, he could hardly speak; he was weeping. He said that his wife was so distraught that she wasn’t eating, she couldn’t sleep, she was just completely broken. He asked me to try to reach out to her and help her. So yes, it is really sad that you are not here with us in person at this time. But we have to continue anyway and serve you, serve your service. If you have anything specific that you would like me to do now or at any time, I pray that you will. We feel that, so I can execute your will. I pray to you to give your mercy to your disciples who are suffering so much in your separation and give them and all of us your mercy to appreciate that the spiritual master is in the heart. He is not away from the disciple so that we can feel your presence. Of course, I have many fond memories of you from Srila Prabhupada times when we first met in the bathroom, a sort of makeshift bathroom at the Maha-khumba in Allahabad in 1977. We can relish those memories.

I got from you that you would sing the songs of the Gopī-gīta beautifully. One of the verses, perhaps the most famous of them, was the verse that King Prataprudra was reciting to Lord Chaitanya during the time of the Ratha-yatra when Lord Chaitanya took rest in the garden. It says, those who spread the message of Godhead all over the world are most munificent. That is a beautiful verse, which I have quoted on many occasions. You provided a brilliant insight by saying that the verse refers to Srila Prabhupada because, other than Srila Prabhupada, who has distributed that message of Godhead all over the world? It is only Srila Prabhupada who has done that. So now whenever I hear that verse or recite that verse or hear you recite that verse, I think of it as referring to our dear Srila Prabhupada. That is just one of many ways that you have helped me and so many other devotees go deeper in their relationship with Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for doing all that you have done. I also learned a lot about you just hearing the other devotees speak, especially some of the ways in which you encouraged and facilitate the Vilasini dasi during the GBC meetings. They are sort of so beautiful. So yes, please bless me that I can follow in your footsteps and serve your ideals and your goals and your purposes as an instrument.

I feel like Srila Prabhupada. You always observed your Vyasa-puja on September 17, on the day that Srila Prabhupada arrived America in Boston. He wrote his wonderful poem, “Markena Bhagavad Dharma.” At the end, he prayed, “Oh Lord, make me dance, make me dance, make me dance as you wish.” I feel in that mood in relation to you. “Let me be a puppet in your hands and make me dance, make me dance. Oh, Maharaja, make me dance as you wish.”

Hare Krishna.

Host:

His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
His Divine Grace Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

So now we will do puṣpāñjali followed by ārati. Puṣpāñjali will be led by Giridhari dasa Prabhu. So devotees can get the flower petals from the table, and then we will start.