Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupada 2003

(view 2003 offerings by disciples)

Srila Prabhupada

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

Day by day, as I meditate upon your legacy, the more I conclude that your genius is beyond my calculation. Your divine corpus of books, instructions, and orders—what to speak of your example--sustained us during your manifest presence. Most importantly, now your vani successfully carries us through the heartbreaks and exultations since your vapu has gone.

Today your remaining disciples are nearing the sunset of their own time in this world. Indeed some have already passed on. I wonder, what will be our legacy? What will we leave behind, to sustain the next generation of servant-leaders in your mission? How can we inspire another wave of devotees to champion your desires, through thick and thin?

Upon studying the aftermaths of other contemporary Vaisnavas and what the disciples do with their legacy, I can see no greater example of handing down an inheritance than yours. You facilitated our spiritual lives when you were physically present. But most importantly, you also took great pains to love us when you were gone. That is, you gave us a mission, structure, and guidelines that would, in your physical absence, not only shelter us but also propel us forward.

How rarely fortunate are we to have a father who left his future generations such a magnificent Vaisnava bequest.

Now I can see that the inheritance from a Vaisnava has to be surcharged enough to sustain the disciple’s enthusiasm and stamina throughout the routine trials and tribulations of the devotional sojourn in this world. Also, the parampara inheritance has to grant disciples an organized preaching mission for their future development and the development of the world.

Besides precious personal nourishment, you gave us an institutional framework for achieving your desires. How can I find anyone more mercifully expert than you? The level of care you supplied, both personally and organizationally, is incomparable. Let us declare it boldly: No disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati understood him better than you!

Obviously you are more than just a link in the parampara. You are the acarya extraordinaire, who constructed the very stage upon which we little bit players sing and dance. We will come and go, as new players take our place; but your stage, script, and score will remain. I beg you that my lowly self may leave this world in the consciousness of a selfless servant of your divine mission and will.

Your followers, unlike other Vaisnava lineages, are responsible to leave behind more than just a guru-disciple relationship. We must also bequeath the continuity of the worldwide organization you labored so valiantly to establish. Our sacred task is to instill in at least some of our dependents a commitment to staff ISKCON and push it forth. Minor adjustments may be necessary, but your sacred core must march on, to the goals you have preordained.

Lastly, Srila Prabhupada, forgive me if I sound like a giddy teenager gushing from the heart, but I want so much to say that I love your books. They enraptured my heart and mind on our very first date. Such an imbecile was I--a puffed Yale sophist and New York sophisticate. A prancing dog of Kali-yuga, I was diving freestyle into punya depletion and papa inundation.

But then I met a life-saving sankirtan devotee at a subway station in Jersey City. Attracted by his soft heart, I purchased “The Transcendental Teachings of Prahlad Maharaja.” One hour later, sitting down to read it, I had only reached page three when your empowered words literally dropped me to the floor:

“You are after sense gratification, but sense gratification is automatically achieved by contact with this body. Because a hog has a certain type of body, his sense gratification comes from eating stool, the very thing that is most obnoxious to you. At once, after evacuating, you leave to get free from the bad smell—but the hog is waiting. As soon as you evacuate, he will at once enjoy. So there are different types of sense gratification according to different types of body. Everyone who has a material body receives sense gratification. Don’t think that the hogs eating stool are unhappy. No, they are getting fat in that way. They are very happy.

“Another example is the camel. The camel is very fond of thorny twigs. Why? Because when he eats thorny twigs, the twigs cut his tongue, blood oozes out, and he tastes his own blood. Then he thinks, “I am enjoying.” This is sense gratification. Sex life is also like that. We taste our own blood, and we think we are enjoying. This is our foolishness.”

Suddenly the boil of my polluted heart burst. The very next day I sought out a trendy bookshop in Greenwich Village, determined to find more books by this Indian swami whose name I could not pronounce. Then, afraid that the exotic-looking devotees would capture me, I tactfully ordered my next books from BBT mailorder--rather than risk another monumental encounter with sankirtan devotees on the street. For six months straight I read your books four hours a day--before even once going to a temple or preaching center.

Certainly your books saved me from a hole in hell—both now and after death. You told us, “my books are better than me.” When will I be able to appreciate fully just one drop of your Caitanya-caritamrta? What more could an aging disciple want from you than that? You always said that even in our whole life, we don’t have enough time to fully penetrate the depths of your books. Crying at the feet of your lotus presentation of Krsnadasa Kaviraj Gosvami’s classic, and always desiring your mercy, I, insignificant Devamrita Swami, seek to eternally follow your footsteps.

 Trying to be your unconditional servant,

Devamrita Swami

 

Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
Day by day, as I meditate upon your legacy, the more I conclude that your genius is beyond my calculation. Your divine corpus of books, instructions, and orders—what to speak of your example--sustained us during your manifest presence. Most importantly, now your vani successfully carries us through the heartbreaks and exultations since your vapu has gone.
Today your remaining disciples are nearing the sunset of their own time in this world. Indeed some have already passed on. I wonder, what will be our legacy? What will we leave behind, to sustain the next generation of servant-leaders in your mission? How can we inspire another wave of devotees to champion your desires, through thick and thin?
Upon studying the aftermaths of other contemporary Vaisnavas and what the disciples do with their legacy, I can see no greater example of handing down an inheritance than yours. You facilitated our spiritual lives when you were physically present. But most importantly, you also took great pains to love us when you were gone. That is, you gave us a mission, structure, and guidelines that would, in your physical absence, not only shelter us but also propel us forward.
How rarely fortunate are we to have a father who left his future generations such a magnificent Vaisnava bequest.
Now I can see that the inheritance from a Vaisnava has to be surcharged enough to sustain the disciple’s enthusiasm and stamina throughout the routine trials and tribulations of the devotional sojourn in this world. Also, the parampara inheritance has to grant disciples an organized preaching mission for their future development and the development of the world.
Besides precious personal nourishment, you gave us an institutional framework for achieving your desires. How can I find anyone more mercifully expert than you? The level of care you supplied, both personally and organizationally, is incomparable. Let us declare it boldly: No disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati understood him better than you!
Obviously you are more than just a link in the parampara. You are the acarya extraordinaire, who constructed the very stage upon which we little bit players sing and dance. We will come and go, as new players take our place; but your stage, script, and score will remain. I beg you that my lowly self may leave this world in the consciousness of a selfless servant of your divine mission and will.
Your followers, unlike other Vaisnava lineages, are responsible to leave behind more than just a guru-disciple relationship. We must also bequeath the continuity of the worldwide organization you labored so valiantly to establish. Our sacred task is to instill in at least some of our dependents a commitment to staff ISKCON and push it forth. Minor adjustments may be necessary, but your sacred core must march on, to the goals you have preordained.
Lastly, Srila Prabhupada, forgive me if I sound like a giddy teenager gushing from the heart, but I want so much to say that I love your books. They enraptured my heart and mind on our very first date. Such an imbecile was I--a puffed Yale sophist and New York sophisticate. A prancing dog of Kali-yuga, I was diving freestyle into punya depletion and papa inundation.
But then I met a life-saving sankirtan devotee at a subway station in Jersey City. Attracted by his soft heart, I purchased “The Transcendental Teachings of Prahlad Maharaja.” One hour later, sitting down to read it, I had only reached page three when your empowered words literally dropped me to the floor:
“You are after sense gratification, but sense gratification is automatically achieved by contact with this body. Because a hog has a certain type of body, his sense gratification comes from eating stool, the very thing that is most obnoxious to you. At once, after evacuating, you leave to get free from the bad smell—but the hog is waiting. As soon as you evacuate, he will at once enjoy. So there are different types of sense gratification according to different types of body. Everyone who has a material body receives sense gratification. Don’t think that the hogs eating stool are unhappy. No, they are getting fat in that way. They are very happy.
“Another example is the camel. The camel is very fond of thorny twigs. Why? Because when he eats thorny twigs, the twigs cut his tongue, blood oozes out, and he tastes his own blood. Then he thinks, “I am enjoying.” This is sense gratification. Sex life is also like that. We taste our own blood, and we think we are enjoying. This is our foolishness.”
Suddenly the boil of my polluted heart burst. The very next day I sought out a trendy bookshop in Greenwich Village, determined to find more books by this Indian swami whose name I could not pronounce. Then, afraid that the exotic-looking devotees would capture me, I tactfully ordered my next books from BBT mailorder--rather than risk another monumental encounter with sankirtan devotees on the street. For six months straight I read your books four hours a day--before even once going to a temple or preaching center.
Certainly your books saved me from a hole in hell—both now and after death. You told us, “my books are better than me.” When will I be able to appreciate fully just one drop of your Caitanya-caritamrta? What more could an aging disciple want from you than that? You always said that even in our whole life, we don’t have enough time to fully penetrate the depths of your books. Crying at the feet of your lotus presentation of Krsnadasa Kaviraj Gosvami’s classic, and always desiring your mercy, I, insignificant Devamrita Swami, seek to eternally follow your footsteps.
Trying to be your unconditional servant,
Devamrita Swami