Vyasa Puja 2011

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.” (Vaishnava-pranama)

It is the settled conclusion of the Vedic seers that the greatest benediction in life is to have the association of saints. More specifically, if the dust coming from the lotus feet of the guru, or spiritual master, can be accepted just one time, there is no counting the number of spiritual merits, or sukriti, that follows. Just humbly submitting before any person is difficult enough, so the need for surrendering before a human being recognized for his wisdom and knowledge of spiritual matters takes many lifetimes to accept. But to those who do find the bona fide guru and bask in his association, the benefits reaped are too many to count, and the credit for the subsequent success goes directly to the spiritual master and his teachers. Since the guru can never be fully appreciated for his impact, occasions like Vyasa Puja allow for some time to reflect on the mercy of the spiritual master and what he is capable of.

A puja is a formalized worship, wherein obeisances are offered to the beneficiary of the ceremony. Vyasa refers to Vyasadeva, the literary incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna. The Vedas are the oldest scriptures in existence, and since they emanate directly from Krishna and describe devotion to Him, they are considered non-different from Him. As the Vedas were originally just one work consisting of prayers and hymns, they could only be understood by the purest men. As time passes from the beginning of creation, man’s ability to think critically and retain relevant pieces of information dwindles. Therefore Vyasadeva comes to divide the Vedas and write supplementary literature known as the Puranas. Vyasadeva compiled so much literature that some people refuse to believe that he even existed. Proof of his influence and divine nature is seen, however, in the behavior and glories of his disciples and their descendants. The bona fide spiritual master is one whose line of instruction is either linked to Vyasa or at least reaches the same conclusion that he put forth, that life’s aim is to worship the Supreme Lord Hari, the original Personality of Godhead.

Interestingly enough, having the audience of a pure devotee is considered a greater blessing than actually meeting the Lord in person. Shri Narada Muni, the spiritual master of Vyasadeva, was blessed through good association, as was Valmiki, who was originally a dacoit. Meeting the Supreme Lord in person is certainly a terrific reward, but, at the same time, it doesn’t automatically lead to one’s knowing how to act and what their true nature is. The devotee, on the other hand, lives bhakti-yoga, or devotional service, therefore they are deputed by the Supreme Lord to teach others about what they have learned and how to make the most out of the human form of life.

The spirit soul is the essence of identity within any life form, but only with a human birth can the soul take the necessary steps to reacquaint itself with its true dharma, or foremost characteristic. One who takes instruction from a brahmana, or a priest devoted to real religion, earns the title of dvija, or one who is twice-born. The first birth is from the parents, but this doesn’t automatically awaken the dormant God consciousness resting within the heart. The instruction provided by the spiritual master gives the second and more important birth. The rekindling of the torchlight of knowledge that is part and parcel of the soul is the more important giver of life. Since this birth comes from the guru, how can his glories ever be fully appreciated?

Since man is forgetful of his constitutional position, those who accept the instructions of the spiritual master and take them to heart will acquire tremendous skills. The guru’s primary teaching is that one devote themselves to bhakti-yoga. The quintessential act of bhakti is the chanting of the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. There are other spiritual teachers who provide different instructions, such as how to do meditational yoga, how to study Vedanta, and how to work without attachment to the results. These instructions can be beneficial, but they fail to extract the full potential for love found within the soul.

It is for this reason that the dust of the lotus feet of the devotee is considered life’s greatest blessing. In the Vedic tradition there are many sacred places of pilgrimage known as tirthas. Just by visiting these places, so many benedictions are guaranteed. These spots are related to Lord Vishnu in some way or another. Vishnu is another name for Krishna which means the “all-pervading”. In His Vishnu form, the Lord is opulently adorned and has four hands instead of two. The sacred pilgrimage sites are full of saints, who use the auspicious surroundings to increase the efficacy of their service. This shows how pure the Supreme Lord is. Any ordinary river is not that important, but one attached to Vishnu becomes visited by millions of people each year. Similarly, there are tons of teachers and devotees of objects not related to God, but they are not given the attention that the saints are, those who are intimately associated with Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord fully endowed with every beneficial attribute.  The potential to meet saints is the real benefit of visiting a tirtha, as the relationship with Vishnu fully matures through their association.

The guru can be considered the travelling tirtha, as he brings with him the auspiciousness found in the sacred pilgrimage sites. This auspiciousness is present in every aspect of the spiritual master, including the dust that comes from his feet. The lotus feet of the guru are the cherished objects for the devotee because they symbolize the proper way to approach God. Through humility, kind submission, and service to one who is deserving of it, true enlightenment can be revealed.

What is the result of following the chanting prescriptions and the restrictions on meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex? As Krishna consciousness awakens from within, many new abilities arise. All of a sudden the person who was previously dumb, lazy, and harboring a hateful attitude can produce volumes upon volumes of literature praising their beloved Lord and His devotees. They may not even have had any formal training in writing, grammar, or composition. They may even have done poorly during their school years in these subjects. Yet simply from hearing Krishna-katha, talks about Shri Krishna, and the beauty of devotional service from the guru, the humble soul can become an expert reciter, never running out of material to share with the general public.

When someone becomes skilled in a particular field, it’s not surprising that they would garner a lot of attention. The Vaishnava poets, singers and writers are the most glorified, for their fame stretches the full boundaries of time and space. Their glories know no end, and they continue to be honored and worshiped long after they physically leave the earth. The real credit for superexcellent ability in spiritual endeavors actually goes to the guru, for without his planting of the seed of the creeper of devotional service, bhakti-lata-bija, the full blown tree of transcendental ecstasy and its resultant fruits would never have manifest.

If the guru is due credit for the wonderful writings of his disciples, how can he ever be properly honored? With each new work produced the guru’s fame and glory further increase. In this respect, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is worthy of endless adoration. Not only did he personally accept thousands of disciples during his time on earth, through his published works and recorded lectures he continues to rescue those swimming in the sea of nescience. So many past lives have been spoiled pursuing sense gratification, but Shrila Prabhupada doesn’t hold this against anyone. His message comes directly from Krishna, so it is very powerful and can turn even the biggest fool into a genius.

An issue of contention may be raised regarding the negative traits exhibited by disciples and devotees who took instruction from a guru. If a saint deserves the credit for the wonderful qualities of his disciples, including the brilliance of their writings, shouldn’t he then be blamed for their shortcomings? Though this seems logical enough, the rules don’t apply equally. To explain this the example most often cited is that of fire and its production of smoke. Fire is a purifying agent, as it can disintegrate pretty much anything. Though the fire can produce smoke, which is impure, the fire itself never loses its properties. Similarly, the guru may have some errant disciples who can be compared to smoke, but this doesn’t diminish his standing whatsoever.

Isn’t this a cop out though? The guru gets the credit for all the good, but then gets none of the blame for the bad? How does this make any sense? Let’s think of it this way: The bad qualities are always there in a person. By “bad”, we refer to anything that is divorced of its relationship to God. A sinful reaction is really just the negative consequence to doing something incorrectly. Since we know that the spirit soul’s original home is in the spiritual sky alongside God in His personal form, any soul who takes birth in a realm governed by reincarnation must be considered sinful. Moreover, from our present birth we know that in the past we failed to become fully God conscious by the time of death.

“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.6)

The Bhagavad-gita, Krishna’s direct instructions offered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra some five thousand years ago, reveals that whatever state of mind we have at the time of death, that state we will attain without fail. Since our present birth is in a human form, where we are born ignorant of the Supreme Lord’s divine nature and the need for worshiping Him, by rule our consciousness at the time of our previous death was not focused on God. Thus every material birth is sinful, with man having an innate tendency towards following bad habits.

The bona fide guru is thus not responsible for the sinful behavior in man. This penchant is already given to us at the time of birth, or, more accurately, it is provided to us through our wishes. The guru teaches devotional service and how to throw away attachment to sinful activity. If, after taking instruction from him, the sinful behavior continues, it should be understood that the root elements of desire for material association remained, sort of like the last flames of a raging fire that has almost been put out. If the guru doesn’t teach attachment to sinful behavior, how can he be blamed for the mistakes made by his disciples?

The glories of the guru are too many to count. His presence in our lives is directly due to Krishna’s intervention. Those who sincerely desire to have the Lord’s association and be able to think of Him without fail will never be denied. That precious dust from the lotus feet of the spiritual master will come soon enough. No greater gift can be found in this world than the association of saints. On this Vyasa Puja day we honor and remember one of the more notable saints in modern times, Shrila Prabhupada, who lives on forever through his recorded instructions.

Vyasa Puja 2010

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.” (Gautamiya Tantra)

How do we find God? How do we find the proper path in life, that road which will lead us to the promise land? Many people have answers, but who should we believe? The Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, tell us that the answers to life’s most troubling questions are only known to a select few exalted individuals. These individuals, though they may come in different shapes, sizes, and overall appearances, carry what is lacking to the bewildered soul. These individuals are known as gurus, or spiritual masters, and one who humbly approaches them can have all of life’s problems solved.

Simply put, the spiritual master is a representative of God. Just as a king or government leader has trusted aides and officers, the Supreme Lord has His representatives on earth. On a more basic level, the guru is a teacher, except that the subject matter they teach is more important than that of any other teacher’s. For one to teach, they have to know. If someone doesn’t know how to do something, their teaching will not be effective. The spiritual master teaches others about God, how to find Him, and then how to serve Him. This last point is the most important: serving God. The basic teaching of the bona fide spiritual masters – those who are friends, servants, and surrendered souls to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna – is that the individual spirit souls are fragmental sparks emanating from the original and gigantic fire known as God. As individual sparks, the wayward spirit souls are similar in quality to the original fire, but vastly inferior in quantity. True bliss, enlightenment, and peace of mind can only be achieved when the sparks return to the original fire, signaling a return to their original habitat so to speak. Upon entering this original realm, the activities of the sparks do not cease, but rather become purified. This purified activity is known as devotional service, or bhakti-yoga.

Judging who is a bona fide spiritual master and who isn’t is quite straightforward. We simply have to tell if a person is surrendered to Krishna or not. We can think of it in this way: Celebrities and star athletes all have agents. These representatives negotiate deals on behalf of their client with higher ups, wealthy franchises, and movie studios. It’s easier to have an agent haggle about dollars and cents than it is for the person to go themselves and squabble with their potential bosses. A good agent is one who represents the interests of their client and not themselves. Naturally, if the client is satisfied, the agent will be as well. The same principle applies to spiritual masters. If a guru is working only on behalf of Krishna, then naturally the Lord will be happy, which will also result in the guru’s happiness.

How does a guru determine what Krishna wants? The answer to this is quite simple as well. A guru has learned the art from their own guru, who learned it from their guru, and so on. Traversing the chain of spiritual masters all the way to the top, one will eventually reach Krishna, or God. This is the other component to determining the bona fides of the spiritual master. If their unbroken chain of disciplic succession doesn’t eventually reach Krishna, their teachings cannot be considered legitimate. At the same time, this chain also cannot be broken through any deviation in teachings. As mentioned before, the guru’s main business is to please Krishna. As strangers trapped in a strange land, the spiritual sparks represented by the individual living entities are lost and unaware of the ultimate purpose in life. The transcendent Lord’s happiness comes through reclaiming His lost souls and having them return to their original home. The guru, as the via-medium, is tasked with creating the mode of transport, taking the individual souls to the point of entry into the spiritual world. In this way, the guru is the ocean of mercy, a transcendental boatman who can carry the wayward souls back to their original destination.

What’s interesting to note is that the most exalted of gurus actually don’t need to produce proof of their disciplic succession in order to be successful in their efforts. Since the message they carry is so pure and powerful, they can deliver fallen souls simply through their instructions. An example of one such powerful guru is Narada Muni. The son of Lord Brahma, who is the first-created living entity and thus original spiritual master of the world, Narada Muni is probably the greatest reformer in the history of mankind. Vedic literature is full of incidents relating to Narada’s healing powers. Because Narada is a great saint and spiritual master, his disciples serve as the who’s who of Vedic writers, poets, and gurus.

A long long time ago, there was a dacoit living in the forest, earning his living by killing people and robbing them of their wealth. This dacoit one day happened to attempt to rob Narada Muni. As a sannyasi [one in the renounced order of life], Narada does not carry anything with him except for his vina, which is a type of musical instrument. Narada has the ability to travel the three worlds, so he makes the most of this power by spreading Lord Narayana’s glories throughout the world. Lord Krishna is considered God’s original form, but Narayana is essentially on equal footing with Krishna; He’s just the four-handed version of God. If one simply devotes themselves to Vishnu or Narayana, they are equally worshiping the original Supreme Lord.

So Narada came upon this dacoit and asked him why he was stealing. Since Narada was a mendicant, he had nothing to offer the thief. After asking the dacoit some insightful questions, to which the dacoit had no tangible answers, Narada convinced him to sit in meditation and chant the name of Rama. While Vishnu is the same as the original form of Godhead, so is Lord Rama, who is considered an avatara of Lord Vishnu. Devotees of Krishna, Vishnu, or any other non-different form of God are known as Vaishnavas. In the Vedic tradition, devotees typically pick one form and devote themselves completely to Him. For example, great authors and saints like Shrila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, and their disciples worship Lord Krishna along with His pleasure potency Shrimati Radharani. They are not really interested in worshiping God in any other form, except for maybe His preacher incarnation of Lord Chaitanya. Devotees like Goswami Tulsidas, however, only see God as Lord Rama. Tulsidas actually makes many references to incidents relating to Lord Krishna, Vishnu, and other avataras in his writings, but he does so in the mood of devotion to Rama. To Tulsidas, there is no other God except Rama.

In this respect, anyone who takes to worship of Krishna, Rama, Narasimha, or any other vishnu-tattva form is worshiping the original form of Godhead. So Narada advised this dacoit to chant Lord Rama’s name, but the dacoit was not able to do so at the time. He wasn’t properly conditioned to chant the transcendental name of the Lord; a name which is non-different from the original form of God. Narada, ever the wise guru, told the dacoit not to worry and to chant “mara” instead. This word means death. Now what kind of spiritual master would advise his student to chant the word “death” over and over again? Ah, but there was a method to this apparent madness. By chanting “mara” over and over again, the dacoit actually was saying the name of Rama without knowing it. We can actually try this ourselves. If we say “mara” over and over again and limit the gaps in between the words, we’ll actually be saying “Rama”. Pretty soon, through regular, coincidental chanting of the name of God, the dacoit gained enlightenment. Since his meditation through chanting was so great, he didn’t even notice the anthill that had formed around him. Upon seeing this, Narada named the dacoit Valmiki, meaning one who is born from an anthill. The rest was history as Valmiki went on to author the original biography of Lord Rama known as the Ramayana. This poem and Valmiki himself are celebrated to this day.

This is just one example of Narada’s healing powers. He similarly has performed the same magic with other disciples. We should take note of the fact that these disciples don’t ask for Narada’s resume when he comes to teach them. His message is so powerful that simply through his teaching he can deliver anyone. The key component to success is the willingness of the disciple to listen to the guru’s words. This also raises another important point. Contrary to the thought of many, no one can tell anyone else who their guru is. Surely one can make the attempt, sincere or otherwise, to persuade another into surrendering to a specific exalted personality, but that surrender will be meaningless if the disciple is not wholeheartedly in favor of following the guru’s instructions. No one forced the dacoit to listen to Narada Muni. The dacoit listened to the great sage’s words and then decided to surrender himself completely to him and his instructions. In this way, through voluntary and humble submission, the great Valmiki was made. Even though the spiritual master is carrying the greatest message, the burden remains primarily with the disciple. If the disciple is scared or forced into submission, they will not be able to truly appreciate the guru’s instructions.

The guru’s instructions are so powerful that they remain equally as potent long after the spiritual master has left this world. This is evidenced today by the healing powers of the written instruction and recorded words of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. One of the greatest Vedic authors in history, Shrila Prabhupada started a worldwide movement dedicated to preaching the glories of Lord Krishna, Lord Chaitanya, Bhagavad-gita, and Shrimad Bhagavatam around the world. He turned Krishna into a household name. Though the swami left this world more than thirty years ago, he is still mesmerizing the pure souls who humbly submit themselves before him. Since he wrote so many books and delivered so many lectures, people can still approach him today and learn about Krishna. In fact, people today have an opportunity not available even to the swami’s direct disciples back during his time on earth.

Since he was travelling around the world, opening centers and speaking to large audiences, Shrila Prabhupada’s disciples didn’t have the chance to associate with him on a daily basis. People today, however, can listen to his lectures every single day. His books are quite voluminous as well, for it would take an entire lifetime to read through all of them and fully grasp their meanings. For Vaishnavas, the guru is honored every day of the year, but especially on the anniversary of his appearance day. This day is known as Vyasa Puja, for the Vaishnava spiritual master is a representative of Vyasadeva, the celebrated Vedic saint, author, and direct disciple of Narada Muni.

Just as Valmiki satisfied Narada by regularly chanting Rama’s name, Shrila Prabhupada and all the gurus in his line can be satisfied by our regular chanting of the maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. There can be many facets to the collective discipline known as devotional service, but nothing is more effective and more recommended than the chanting of this mantra. To provide a daily routine, a guideline to ensure that chanting and hearing of God’s name was performed, Prabhupada advised everyone to chant at least sixteen rounds of this mantra on a set of japa beads. Though this may take a long time to complete every day, it is the most effective process for spiritual realization in this age. We should all try to adopt this chanting regimen, if not for ourselves, then at least for the great spiritual masters who sacrificed everything for our benefit. Chanting this mantra will make them happy, and thus enable us to offer the greatest gift to the gurus that we owe so much to.