Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
This is in continuation of the previous offering titled "Srila Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj Vyasa Puja 2016", wherein we were hearing some of the glorifications of Maharaj, which were shared by the devotees in Sri Sri Radha Neel Madhav dham, Rajkot on the auspicious occasion of his Vyasa Puja. Now we shall hear further.
HG Kalacakra Krishna Prabhuji: "Last year Maharaj's Vyasa Puja was on 25th December 2015 and it also happened to be on a Friday with a long week end. I was quite excited as soon as I came to know of it and started telling whoever I spoke with, to attend Vyasa puja without fail. I was confident of attending it in Rajkot, but Krishna's arrangement, I had to travel to UK for a few months and could not attend it in Rajkot. Though we did celebrate it in a humble way with the devotees in London and also little service to Sri Sri Radha Londonishwara in Soho st temple, we missed being part of the sweet celebrations in Rajkot. It then struck me that we can never take attending Vyasa puja for granted. It is completely up to the mercy of Guru Maharaj. We have to really beg to Maharaj to allow us to celebrate Vyasa puja.
I met Maharaj in 1999 and in the past 16 years, I have been part of 16 Vyasa puja so far. Except for 2 or 3 Vyasa pujas I could attend the rest of them by Guru Maharaj's mercy. Initially, it used to happen in different places - in Singapore, Australia, etc. but not everybody could attend due to visa and other restrictions. The first Vyasa puja I attended was in Singapore in 2001 and it was an extremely enlivening experience. My life turned dramatically since then. The next year, in 2002, it was organized in Sydney but I could not make it due to travel constraints. However from 2004 onwards, ever since our Radha Neelmadhav manifested in Rajkot, the Vyasa puja celebrations of our Guru Maharaj have been organized here and it is much easier for devotees from around the world to come here, be part of the festival glorifying Guru Maharaj. The festival is so enchanting that it fills us with enlightenment for the entire year. Though it is equally enlivening to our soul when we celebrate Guru Maharaj's Vyasa Puja in any part of the world, but still celebrating it in his personal presence in Rajkot in the midst of all god siblings is a different experience altogether. Each god sibling is a reflection of Guru Maharaj's unique qualities and so when we all gather we enjoy experiencing the different qualities of Guru Maharaj through their association and also enjoy hearing difference incidents experienced by each one of them with our Guru Maharaj.
Now that 16 years have passed ever since I first attended the Vyasa puja celebrations of Guru Maharaj, but effectively it is only 16 days of Vyasa Puja. I was talking about this point with H G Devakinandan Prabhu the other day, that the time, though sounds like a long period, but it is actually very little. At this age, suppose even I assume that I can live for another 8-10 years Krishna willing, it sounds a long time. But then it is only 10 more Vyasa pujas, which in effect is only 10 days of getting together to celebrate the appearance day of Guru Maharaj. That is very small, isn't it? And in those 8 or 10 Vyasa Pujas, I don't how many Vyasa Pujas I would be able to attend here with all our godbrothers. It completely depends on Maharaj's mercy. He needs to give us permission. Just like we need Radharani's mercy to enter into Vrindavan, similarly, we need Maharaj's mercy to enter here. When we realize the scarcity of a commodity, we will realize its value and utilize every bit of it very carefully."
Krishna willing, we shall continue to hear further glories of Maharaj in the subsequent offering.
Hare Krishna.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Sudarshana devi dasi.
Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved.