Jagadananda dasa

mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim
yat-krpa tam aham vande sri gurum dina-taranam

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate romapada-svamin iti namine

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

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

My dear Guru Maharaja, my ever well-wisher,

Please accept my humble obeisances in the dust of your divine merciful lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories unto you, the mercy of His Divine Grace.

Once Srila Prabhupada was asked about his glorious spiritual master and he replied, “What can I say about him, He was a Vaikuntha Man”. 

While studying Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta this summer with devotees in India, I found a gem of a verse among many gems; Lord Siva is glorifying the residents of Vaikuntha and I strikingly found our spiritual master in that verse and sundry verses.

Following Srila Prabhupada I wish to quote Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta by our revered predecessor acarya, Srila Sanatana Gosvami in your glorification. His words, the commentary by His Grace Gopi Pranadhana Prabhu are flawless, while my words may have many faults. To keep the offering brief, I will just quote one verse which epitomizes the qualities and activities of our Guru Maharaja. 

harer bhaktya param prita
bhaktan bhaktim ca sarvatah
raksanto vardhayantas ca
sancaranti yadrcchaya
[Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta 1.3.46]

TRANSLATION – They are satisfied simply to worship Lord Hari with devotion. They travel freely wherever they want, protecting and promoting the cause of the Lord’s devotees and the Lord’s devotional service.

COMMENTARY
The devotees in Vaikuntha do not want to equal Lord Visnu, because they want to serve Him in loving devotion. Nothing other than bhakti gives them pleasure. In Lord Visnu’s own words, maya santusta-manasah / sarvah sukha-maya disah: “One whose mind is completely satisfied in Me finds only happiness wherever he goes.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.13)

These eternally liberated Vaikuntha-vasis are always helping others. Acting in the material world, they protect sincere persons from misunderstanding the principles of devotional service and thereby falling down and being punished by the agents of Yamaraja. The Vaikuntha-vasis encourage the descent of advanced devotees into saintly families, act for the increased prosperity and influence of those devotees, and render unseen help to the devotees’ preaching, by which more and more conditioned jivas are brought back to Krsna consciousness. As instructing spiritual masters, the Vaikuntha-vasis and their representatives remove the obstacles of attachment to karma and jnana and inspire their disciples in various ways to dedicate themselves fully to Krsna’s service. Because the residents of Vaikuntha are free from the restrictions of karma, their efforts never go in vain. “

I trust that the Vaisnavas will find Guru Maharaja in every word of the above purport and verse and I offer this verse at their lotus feet, all who have come together to sing the glories of our spiritual master on this auspicious Vyasa-puja!

Your servant
Jagadananda dasa