HG Uma devi dasi
Vyasa-puja is meant to honor, glorify, and celebrate our spiritual master, because of whom we have access to the message of Srila Vyasadeva, the original acarya. We aspire to live a life in which we can, at every moment, remember the spiritual master, feel gratitude for all that he has given us, and contemplate how we can repay an unpayable debt. Vyasa-puja is a celebration that helps us intensify these aspirations.
Remembering guru is year-round, but it heightens when we receive the call to submit our Vyasa-puja offering. In this fast-paced world of ever-expanding desires, responsibilities, and to-do lists, the attempt to write a Vyasa-puja offering helps us to pause, reflect, and breathe. We begin to ask ourselves, ‘How can I glorify my guru? Am I even qualified to receive his grace? How can I thank him for his unconditional acceptance? What can I offer him from the depths of my heart?’ We take the time to enter a mode-of-goodness space and dig deeper into our memories of guru.
We meditate on how our guru received us when we approached him, how he answered our questions, and how he accepted our service. Remembering Bhagavad-gita 4.34: “tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah,” we ask ourselves about the quality in which we’ve approached the spiritual master, inquired from him, and rendered service unto him. Was our mood submissive?
In a 2022 Back to Godhead article, Her Grace Visakha-devi writes, “…pranipata means prostrating oneself at a person’s feet in humble submission… in spiritual life [the] defiant attitude is unacceptable. It blocks realization of the transcendental message. In Srila Prabhupada’s words: “Knowledge cannot be acquired by challenge. Knowledge is acquired by submission. That is the process.”
Our relationship with guru is the most important in our lives; he is our connection to our eternal source, Krsna. The more we realize the importance of always remembering Krsna, the more we deepen our remembrance of guru, understanding that he is our lifeline to Krsna.
Like memories; feelings are an essential component of the bhakti process. In the presence of guru, we feel unconditional love, we feel protected and sheltered, we feel like everything will be alright, we feel peaceful. We may also feel a slight pressure to sit upright and recognize the many ways we can improve. At the same time, we feel empowered by the guru’s grace and guidance to be able to do so.
At the 1969 installation of Sri Sri Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa, Srila Prabhupada said:
“Ye mam bhaktya prayacchati,
Real thing is bhakti
What you can offer to Krsna?
Everything belongs to Krsna.
What you have got?
What is your value?
And what is the value of your things?
It is nothing.
Therefore real thing is bhaktya,
Real thing is your feeling.
“Krsna, kindly take it.
I have no qualification.
I am most rotten, fallen,
but I have brought this thing for you.
Please take it.” [Srila Prabhupada’s voice chokes up]
This will be accepted.
Don’t be puffed up. Always be careful.
You are dealing with Krsna.
That is my request.
Thank you very much.”
During the Vyasa-puja festival, the atmosphere is surcharged with all varieties of feelings. We feel awe when observing the relationship between our spiritual master and his own spiritual master. We feel joyful when singing the sri guru-astakam prayers and dancing in kirtana with other devotees. We feel sheltered and blessed to be sitting at the feet of our spiritual master, surrounded by so many disciples and well-wishers. We feel safe and enthused when we hear the words emanating from guru’s lotus mouth. We feel loved when we experience the reciprocation from our guru after speaking our Vyasa-puja offering. Diving into the experience of Vyasa-puja stirs beautiful feelings from the depths of our hearts.
The mood of desiring to repay our debt to guru is another component of Vyasa-puja. In his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4, Chapter 22, Verse 47, Srila Prabhupada writes:
“A joker’s activities simply arouse laughter, and a person who tries to repay the spiritual master or teacher of the transcendental message of Krsna becomes a laughing stock just like a joker because it is not possible to repay such a debt.”
Despite this, the disciple always continues to try to repay their debt.
Our guru is offering his mercy to us at every moment. Vyasa-puja itself is guru’s mercy upon us. One gift we can offer in return is to receive that mercy. At his Vyasa-puja celebration in 1972, Srila Prabhupada said, “… this Vyasa-puja means we receive perfect knowledge from Krsna through the agency of spiritual master.” We can offer our guru the gift of opening our hearts to receive this perfect knowledge from Krsna that he is so kindly, so tolerantly, so thoughtfully, and so personally handing to us. And if we’re not able to receive fully, let us introspect and pray for the gift of receptivity.
Krsna Himself reciprocates with anyone who approaches Him. Following in His footsteps, we too should be reciprocal in our relationships; we can serve our guru with our intelligence, our words, our wealth, and our life. While we’re never able to repay our debt, our feeble attempts to do so are pleasing to guru and Krsna.
Srila Romapada Swami often says: “Relationships are the essence of Krsna consciousness.” As disciples, we can contemplate how to truly value and deepen our relationships. We have so many relationships: relationships with ourselves, our family members, our communities, our spiritual masters, the holy name, and ultimately Krsna. Just as a parent is happy to see good relationships in their children’s lives, the guru is pleased to see flourishing, Krsna-centered relationships in the lives of his disciples.
Vyasa-puja is a celebration that creates impressions on our hearts. Sharing our offering or hearing others’ offerings, singing songs and, if possible, being in the presence of the spiritual master, all assist us to go deeper in our relationship with guru and with each other. We hope these impressions will help us to constantly remember guru, feel grateful to him, and contemplate how we can serve him.