HG Nandimukhi devi dasi

I bow down to my loving Godbrothers and Godsisters, who kindly engaged me in this service of presenting the meaning of Vyasa-puja. By their words, thoughts, and deeds, my understanding of Vyasa-puja could be deepened. In a sense, the meaning of Vyasa-puja is non-different from the meaning of guru-disciple relationship—a sacred bond featuring spiritual guidance, surrender, loyalty, and unconditional love. This meaning can be sensed through the Vyasa-puja address given by His Holiness Romapada Swami in 2017. The paragraphs below are abridged from that Vyasa-puja address, which was the first Vyasa-puja event I had ever attended and was at Maharaja’s personal invitation shortly after my first meeting with him. I had never heard of the word “Vyasa-puja” before this event, which has a special significance to my becoming Maharaja’s disciple.

In 1970, Srila Prabhupada was interviewed by some newspaper reporter at an airport and asked to share the message he had brought with him from India to the world. Holding the microphone, Srila Prabhupada said, “I come to teach you who you are because you have all forgotten.” Srila Prabhupada came to the West with a message—the message of Krsna consciousness, the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the message of taking shelter of the holy name. The purification that comes to one who sincerely takes shelter of the holy name will awaken self-realization and God-realization very quickly. “Very quickly” means in comparison to processes other than bhakti. “Very quickly” means considering the number of lifetimes that a living entity has been wandering through many species of life in an attempt to find happiness. “Very quickly” means the process of bhakti acts directly on the soul. “As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17 Purport). Srila Prabhupada came to give this process of self-realization and God-realization.

Very quickly the process acts—that is not all; that is just the beginning of awakening of our dormant Krsna consciousness. It has an intermediate phase. It has its end or its conclusion. Even the end or the conclusion is not static. Tamala Krsna Gosvami once asked Srila Prabhupada about rasa. Srila Prabhupada’s answer was that devotional service is not static; it is ecstatic. In other words, there is an ever-increasing connectivity beyond anything that we could possibly imagine. And that is the gift that Srila Prabhupada wanted to give, because it is the gift that Bhaktisiddhanta wanted to give, it is the gift of the acaryas, and it is the gift of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Love of Krsna as the residents of Vrndavana alone have. That is what he wanted to give. How can we even imagine what that gift is? The giving of the gift was in full knowledge of what was being given, and it was with full compassion.

There is a series of quotes of Srila Prabhupada speaking about how difficult it was to give that gift, even the beginning of that gift, to new people. Then what to speak of taking the new people to the intermediate phase and to the advanced phase? Specifically, when Srila Prabhupada was in Hong Kong where he spoke about his American and European disciples, he said it is very difficult because they do not accept anything on say-so or at face value. They want to know why. That is not bad; it is good to ask. But Srila Prabhupada had to invest so much energy. He used the phrase “two tons of blood for everyone”—big transfusions. His audience was the world. Srila Prabhupada said in another conversation that one cannot expect many disciples, but I have two thousand, and it is all by Krsna’s mercy. Srila Prabhupada spoke like this, my Guru Maharaja has sent all of you. Krsna has sent them to assist him in his mission.

So many amazing devotees with amazing talents. How did Srila Prabhupada do this? When Krsna sent some opportunity, he immediately accepted the opportunity and was guided. There are so many stories, such as how the London deities were secured. Srila Prabhupada was filled with adventure, just looking for where that opportunity is that Krsna wants him to be and give Krsna consciousness. But he said, to make one devotee it is very difficult. Srila Prabhupada made lots of devotees, but not all those devotees stayed on. In short, among those luminaries that became devotees, some are still practicing and some are not. The rate of attrition is not the same as the rate of joining. It makes one pause and think. The point is, it is from Srila Prabhupada’s own admission, then what to speak of us? It is a wonderful challenge. It takes great spiritual strength to be able to rescue even one person, what to speak of having that one person stay on the path for the rest of their life? When we take initiation vows, it is very clear that we are saying we are going do this for the rest of our lives. A lot of my attention has gone to what will help persons stay the course, and at least, reach the stage of nistha, or steadiness. The theme is bhagavata-dharma, or attentive, conscious hearing and enchanting as opposed to the mechanical kind.

After Srila Prabhupada’s departure, some of those persons that were maha-ratha personalities that did enormous services just disappeared. And little after some other spiritual masters disappeared, some number of their followers disappeared. There are exceptions to that, too. One of the exceptions is Tamala Krsna Maharaja. What an intense personality! His disciples were well trained—good character, knowing which way to go to get to where he wanted them to go, and faithfully continuing to go where he wanted them to go. They were very loyal to him, loyal to the society, and respectful of other Vaisnava’s. As a result, the attrition afterwards was less.

Those that are serving as leaders in our organization, particularly initiating spiritual masters, naturally are very concerned about the preservation of the society and the preservation of those who want the shelter. What to do today to help ensure that preservation tomorrow? The first is an emphasis on carefully reading and systematically studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, so that we know the gift he wanted to give and how to receive it. If we do not do that, what is going to sustain us when the physical presence is gone?

The second is our spiritual family, which means the sanga of Vaisnavas, not just me and my disciples. There are so many persons in a family that help hold the family together and uphold their traditions and the values of the family, not because it is blood-based but because it is value-based. It is very clear that the volume of writings of transcendental literature from the time of Mahaprabhu and the followers of Mahaprabhu is unprecedented in the history of world religion. It is our family business to make them available to the world. But our family business is not just the distribution of those books, but also receiving of the knowledge that are written in those books, so that the family values will continue.

As the years pass, as we get into the future decades, is there going to be more diversity within ISKCON, the same diversity, or less? More. The demographics of United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand have been dramatically changing. As diversity grows, what is going to maintain the unity? Clear understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, which is the message of the previous acaryas, and their mood. If ISKCON is going to continue, that is a must. And I am placing the responsibility to all of us—please take it seriously to understand the message of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Why? To make sure that the International Society for Krsna Consciousness will go on after Srila Prabhupada’s disciples are gone. Otherwise, it will for sure disintegrate.

The third is relationships amongst one another. Something that is unwholesome is groupism. A very easy groupism to fall into is guru groupism. It is poison. Rather, in the family, there are aunts and uncles, and different emphasis and different moods. It is not a problem; it makes everything beautiful. Srila Prabhupada gave this example. Suppose we have a flower vase that has only one flower of one color, as opposed to a variety of flowers with different colors and fragrances that adds to the beauty of the flower vase. Similarly, diversity is fantastic. Groupism is not fantastic, and it will tear at the fabric of ISKCON. Avoid groupism of any kind and center the attention on what we find in Srila Prabhupada’s books and other practical instructions on how to carry forward his mission.

Another thing is individual caring. I remember very clearly a question that was asked when these Vyasa-puja events were held in Brooklyn. “We do not get as much association as we used to because you are traveling so much. What to do?” I feel that from my side. At the same time, my service has been demanding in so many different places. In addition, I feel it is very important for the family dimension of the Hare Krsna movement to have its oxygen, air, light and place to grow, because at some point in time each one of us is not going to be around anymore. And what is going to be in place to maintain all that has grown from just giving personal association? Therefore, training others to train others, to become caregivers and spiritual guides to others, and then supporting those relationships. Because that is what families do. However, it may not be perfectly performed. Somebody in the family may have to go and tap another family member on the shoulder and say, let us have a little discussion over here about something, and we can address it so that we can do our service to the spiritual family better; or formal training where skills are learned.

It is very important to have education and training, and the relationships that come from education and training, and respecting those relationships from whatever our position is. Make the family strong and make the International Society for Krsna Consciousness strong by supporting and respecting those relationships. Again, the emphasis is on training and education in its various dimensions, not only the scriptural part, but also other aspects, like the presentation at gita-nagari by Krsnanandini on family life in grhastha-asrama. To go away or just do something somewhere on our own is not really what our Founder acarya wanted for us. And it will not help or accelerate our progress and our ability to help others progress.