Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Pooja 2022

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For Vyasa Puja
August 20, 2022

A Hard Sell

At a time when the Vietnam War was raging and the peace movement was growing, Srila Prabhupada arrived in America and presented Bhagavad-gita As It Is, a scripture in which Krishna chastises Arjuna for being a pacifist and tells him to get onto the battlefield to fight and kill.

At the height of the Civil Rights movement and a time when feminism was on the rise, Srila Prabhupada came to teach that spiritually we are all equal but on the bodily platform it just isn't so.

When an entire generation was turning into hedonists with slogans, "if it feels good, do it" and "turn on, tune in, drop out" and the battle cry was "sex, drugs and rock n' roll" Srila Prabhupada introduced bhakti-yoga, a discipline that requires followers to give up illicit sex, intoxication, meat eating and gambling.

When growing long hair was so "in" that the musical "Hair" became a nationwide sensation, Srila Prabhupada instructed his male followers to shave their heads as a show of submission and asked his female followers to cover their heads as a show of chastity.

When other swamis, yogis and gurus were coming from India to the West preaching peace and love and we are all one Srila Prabhupada called them cheaters, rascals and crows.
When the feel good book "I'm OK, You're OK" came out and we showed him a copy, Srila Prabhupada remarked, "We say that we are OK but you are not OK."

To say the least, Srila Prabhupada's message was a hard sell given the time, place and circumstances. He was even admonished that if he tried to impose such rules and regulations onto Westerners nobody would listen; no one would take him seriously and we would say to him, "Go back to India, old man."

Srila Prabhupada saw through all the superficiality and he saw that we were dissatisfied. He saw a generation of young people who were unhappy and wanted change. All the experimenting with communes, drugs and sex and all the protesting and rebelling was due to deep feelings of frustration and hopelessness. He told us that we were intelligent to want something better, to want happiness and peace - but we didn't know how to achieve it. He said that he came to give us the "positive alternative." He gave us "the peace formula" and taught us about real love.

Never did he compromise. Surely he was innovative and creative and made some adjustments to accommodate for the time and place but he never deviated from his strict adherence to the Gaudiya Vaisnava teachings that he heard from his spiritual master.
Srila Prabhupada's genuine purity, compassion and love was the force behind the message and which attracted all of us to him like iron filings to a magnet. We gladly let him turn us hippies into happies with (as he would describe) shining faces.

Yes, Prabhupada's message was a hard sell and he came alone, almost 70 years of age, to a strange, hostile environment to distribute the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as ordered by his guru maharaja. Against all odds he captured our hearts and minds and made the Holy Name of Krishna, the Maha Mantra, known and chanted throughout the entire world.

GARGAMUNI DASA:

Brahmananda Prabhu printed the first ISKCON Vyas-Puja Book at ISKCON PRESS in 1969, while Srila Prabhupada was in Hamburg, Germany, and it arrived just in time for the celebration there. This below is His offering. His Divine Grace wrote Brahmananda Prabhu, ''thank you for the nice booklet you have had printed and for the part in this booklet written by you.''.........

Brahmananda......

No one can claim to have wasted years wandering after such dirty things as I. No one else’s mind is so easily attracted by the promise of sense indulgence. No one is as forgetful as I. Yet His Divine Grace has accepted me as a servant. Not even my mother has given me Krishna’s Holy Name to always chant. Nor has my father taught me who I am, what the purpose of life is, and who God is. His Divine Grace has enlisted me in the transcendental loving service to Krishna instead of the service to Maya. 

No one else in the world could have done this. That is a fact. Therefore, I pray to the mercy of Lord Nityananda that I may spend every remaining moment of this life informing everyone I meet that His Divine Grace meets all the requirements stated by scriptures and by great authorities to be the Spiritual Master of every living entity of the universe.

BG-3/21: “Whatsoever action is performed by a great man, common men will follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.”
* * *
—Brahmananda

(ISKCON—New York)

Prabhupada: Yesterday we held Vyasa Puja Ceremony, and it was very nice. I shall take the opportunity now to thank you for the nice booklet you have had printed and for the part in this booklet written by you. After all of the reading was finished, I explained how service and prayers are accepted by Krishna through the medium of the disciplic succession. 

It is something like electricity: if one is in touch with his Spiritual Master, and his Spiritual Master is in touch with his bona fide Spiritual Master, then in this way an offering is automatically transferred to Krishna. Just as the Mercy of Krishna is coming down through the disciplic succession, so the service of the devotee is offered up to Krishna through the disciplic succession.>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Brahmananda -- Hamburg 5 September, 1969

KM DASA:

JAGAD GURUDEV HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C.BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPAD (Founder & Acharya of Iskcon) was the Spiritual Scientist & the most successful Spiritual Ambassador to the west. Highly qualified, He was the member of Royal Societies of English & Sanskrit. He was a Great Vedic Scholar. By looking at His great literary works, one is tempted to wonder if He is not the same VED VYAS MUNI reborn to adapt His own original work into the universal language of this age for the spiritual upliftment of modern man.

He boldly declared to the world, Sanatan Dharma is monotheistic. There is only one Supreme Almighty God - "SHRI KRISHNA." Rendering pure devotional service unto Him is the ultimate goal of our human form of life. This bold declaration was not sentimental. Very scientifically, He proved the same from Vedic Scriptures. His transcendental teachings are unparalleled.

He is the dearmost servant of Supreme Almighty God Shri Krishna & His last messenger. Billions of people from all over the world became His followers. His topmost gift to the modern human society is - Maha Mantra - "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare." By chanting this Maha Mantra, not only our desires get fulfilled, we also become pure & qualified to know the Supreme Absolute Truth.

Today is the Vyas Puja Day of Jagad Gurudev Srila Prabhupad. I offer my billions & trillions of humble obeisances at His Divine Lotus Feet

In His transcendental teachings, there are many wonderful quotes. I have quoted below, my favourite quote:-

"If we are sincere, Krishna will supply us with all necessities of life. When we serve some mundane master, he gives us sufficient salary, so when we serve the Supreme Master, how it is possible that He will keep us fasting?"

(Gurudev Srila Prabhupad, 21st January 1969, Los Angeles)
Hare Krishna

Jai Shri Krishna
Jai Jagad Gurudev Srila Prabhupad
Jai Param Satya Shri Radha Krishna
Always at your service,
Thanks with best regards,
Kersi Mehta,

www.kersimehta.wixsite.com/sadh
https://www.facebook.com/kersimehta108/

"To Krishna we belong, to Him we shall return."