Fwd: Jaya Srila Prabhupada - Guru Puja Meditation - Today is Srila Prabhupada's disappearance day
Ankur
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From: Damodardesh Yatra <damodard...@gmail.com>
Date: 27 October 2014 06:56:15 GMT+3
To: damodardes...@googlegroups.com, damodard...@googlegroups.com, damodara...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Jaya Srila Prabhupada - Guru Puja Meditation - Today is Srila Prabhupada's disappearance day
Reply-To: damodardesh...@googlegroups.com
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Guru-Püjä Meditation
Every day we come together, disciples and granddisciples of Çréla Prabhupäda, to worship His Divine Grace in guru-püjä. Together we acknowledge that if it were not for Prabhupäda, we wouldn’t be together here in ISKCON today. We express our submission and gratefulness to Çréla Prabhupäda, beg his forgiveness for offenses and failings, pray for strength, and meditate on his divine qualities.
Prabhupäda’s guru-püjä is an essential part of ISKCON daily life. No one is so great that he does not need to come and formally prostrate himself before Çréla Prabhupäda. No one is so busy that he can’t spare a few minutes to worship him who has given us everything.
This guru-püjä is essential, just as the Deity worship is essential. It is not cheap adoration. It is the process of enlightenment, of divya-jïäna. We worship the guru because he gives us superior knowledge. Kåñëa consciousness is divya-jïäna. It is not ordinary knowledge. (Lecture, 1 April 1977)
At guru-püjä we sing “Çré Guru-vandanä,” by Narottama däsa Öhäkura. Each and every word of this beautiful song is full of important instruction. Let us meditate on Çréla Prabhupäda through the words of Narottama däsa.
çré-guru-caraëa-padma, kevala-bhakati-sadma,
bando mui sävadhana mate
The lotus feet of Çréla Prabhupäda are the abode of pure devotional service. I bow down to those lotus feet with great care and attention.
The lotus feet of Çréla Prabhupäda are the only way for us to attain pure devotional service. We have no other way—not by austerities, nor by the power of our sädhana, nor by scholarship. Prabhupäda’s lotus feet are our only hope. Therefore we must worship the lotus feet of Çréla Prabhupäda with great awe, reverence, and attention, on a daily basis. Worship of those lotus feet are the source of all our strength and inspiration. By that worship we get Kåñëa. As Lord Kåñëa Himself says, mad-bhakta-püjäbhyadhikä: “Worship of My devotees is more important than worship of Myself.” (SB 11.19.21)
We must be convinced that we do not belong to this material world. We belong at Prabhupäda’s lotus feet, of which many prabhus have taken shelter. Why are those lotus feet able to give shelter to everyone? Because Çréla Prabhupäda has taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Prabhu, Lord Çré Kåñëa. Kiräta-hüëändhra-pulinda-pulkaçä äbhéra-çumbhä yavanäù khasädayaù/ ye ’nye ca päpä yad-apäçrayäçrayäù çudhyanti tasmai prabhaviñëave namaù: “Kiräta, Hüëa, Ändhra, Pulinda, Pulkaça, Äbhéra, Çumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races, and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.” (SB 2.4.18)
Narottama däsa Öhäkura sings, patita-pavana hetu tava avatära: “The purpose of Lord Caitanya’s descent is to deliver the most fallen.” Çréla Prabhupäda has taken power from the Supreme Personality of Godhead to fulfil that mission. His level of Kåñëa consciousness is simply amazing. We poor struggling disciples stand far below. In great awe and reverence we offer prayers with joined palms.
jähära prasäde bhäi, ei bhava tariyä jai,
kåñëa-präpti hoy jähä ha ’te
By his grace we can cross over the ocean of material suffering. Attainment of Kåñëa is made possible by him.
All obstacles to and disturbances in our daily practice of devotional service are overcome by the mercy of Çréla Prabhupäda. And ultimately he takes us across the ocean of birth and death and brings us to Kåñëa. If we stick with Prabhupäda and always pray for his mercy, we will be safe. Otherwise we can be swallowed by mäyä at any moment.
guru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya,
ära nä kariho mane äçä
Make the teachings from the lotus mouth of the spiritual master one with your heart, and do not desire anything else.
Çréla Prabhupäda quoted these lines as being the secret of his success. Because he exactly followed his spiritual master, he was blessed to do wonderful things. The words from the lotus mouth of Çréla Prabhupäda should be fixed in our hearts. Everything else should be kicked out. No other desires. That is the real meaning of being a Prabhupädänugä: to regularly listen to Prabhupäda’s words, meditate on them, and make them our very life, without desiring anything else. If we stick to this principle we will be safe.
Everything Prabhupäda said was and is authoritative. Nor was it simply ex cathedra. Çréla Prabhupäda always spoke çästra. He was totally committed to his role as a teacher. Whether speaking to an important personality or to a single disciple, his mood was always the same: gravely presenting Kåñëa as the Absolute Truth.
The words from Prabhupäda’s lotus mouth are all cintämaëé. Anything that he said is far more valuable than all the proclamations of the world’s so-called big men. Every day the newspapers and television report the words of politicians and other famous men, but all these so-called important speeches merge into meaninglessness as the politicians and their followers are crushed by time. It is all asat-kathä. However, any words from Çréla Prabhupäda’s lotus mouth, even “Bring me a glass of water,” are supremely valuable because they are spoken by one who is in full contact with Kåñëa. Whatever the materialists might say that happens to be in line with Prabhupäda’s teachings, that much we can accept—anything and everything else, we reject as speculation.
This might sound like fanaticism, but “foolish and brainwashed” as we are, we absolutely accept Çréla Prabhupäda, and only Çréla Prabhupäda. We can trust that which is given in the Vedas through the äcäryas as it is spoken by Prabhupäda. Unlike others who only cheated us and will always cheat us, Prabhupäda never cheated us and will never cheat us. Rather, he will always save us from being cheated. We are completely safe in the shelter of his lotus feet.
Our wealth, our shelter, our everything is Çréla Prabhupäda. We are not sentimentalists. We are not fools. We are right because we follow Prabhupäda, who is right. Çréla Prabhupäda is right because he follows Kåñëa, who is the Supreme Absolute Truth, and who is axiomatically always correct.
çré-guru-caraëe-rati, ei se uttama-gati,
je prasäde püre sarva äçä
Attachment to the lotus feet of the spiritual master is the topmost situation. By his mercy all desires for spiritual perfection are fulfilled.
Rati means “strong attachment,” like sexual attachment. Such adherence to Prabhupäda’s lotus feet is in itself the topmost transcendental achievement. By such attachment all spiritual desires can be fulfilled. Let us always remember Çréla Prabhupäda’s lotus feet and cling to them.
cakhu-dän dilo jei, janme janme prabhu sei
He who has given me the gift of transcendental vision is my lord birth after birth.
Çréla Prabhupäda explains:
You cannot see. I see. I am not a fool like you. I can see, therefore I offer. But you cannot see, so I have to open your eyes. You come to me. That is our propaganda. You are blind; you are suffering with cataract. I shall operate and you’ll see also. You have to get the eyes, that I say. Because you are blind, you have cataract, I have to operate. You’ll see, you’ll see. You come to treatment. Therefore the çästra says, “Go to guru and be treated and try to understand.” But how can you see with your blind eyes, cataract eyes? (Conversation, 7 December 1973)
Prabhupäda, you forcibly opened my eyes! You are my eternal spiritual master, birth after birth. It was you who saved me. How could I ever dream of being so ungrateful as to run off here and there looking for “another spiritual master”? When one has the incalculable good fortune as to have the greatest spiritual master in the universe, what kind of madness is it to minimize his value and go to someone else? Çréla Prabhupäda, I know you are still with us, because you still reveal transcendental knowledge to us. To the degree that we surrender to you, that much you reciprocate with us.
A devotee once asked Prabhupäda, “Do you love all your disciples equally?” “Yes,” Çréla Prabhupäda replied. “ But if someone comes forward for service, I reciprocate.” (Told by Giriräja Swami)
divya-jïäna håde prokäçito
By his mercy, divine knowledge is revealed within the heart.
Çästra states that a disciple can never repay to his spiritual master the debt for having received even one syllable of transcendental knowledge from him. The whole world has received and continues to receive volumes of spiritual instruction from Çréla Prabhupäda, principally in the form of his books.
prema-bhakti jähä hoite, avidyä vinäça jäte,
vede gäy jähära carito
He bestows prema-bhakti and destroys ignorance. The Vedic scriptures sing of his character.
Prema-bhakti is available from Çréla Prabhupäda (not “emanates” from him). We don’t have to go anywhere else for prema-bhakti. Just stick with Prabhupäda. Anyway, for most of us prema is still a long way off—first comes avidyä-vinäça, destruction of ignorance. The guru’s duty is to remove the ignorance of his disciples. Çréla Prabhupäda constantly endeavored to enlighten his disciples by speaking to them about Kåñëa. It is this quality of the topmost paramahaàsa guru which is repeatedly extolled in the Vedic literatures.
çré-guru-karuëä-sindhu, adhama janära bandhu,
lokanätha lokera jévana
O spiritual master, ocean of mercy and friend of the fallen souls, you are the teacher of everyone and the life of all people.
This song was specifically written by Çréla Narottama däsa Öhäkura in his ecstasy of love for his spiritual master, Çréla Lokanätha Gosvämé. But its words are true for any Vaiñëava äcärya, especially Çréla Prabhupäda. Who has shown more mercy than Prabhupäda? Who has been a greater friend of the fallen than he?
It is Kali-yuga. Everyone is fallen. Almost all of Çréla Prabhupäda’s disciples were so fallen that the word adhama (fallen) has found its proper usage in describing us.
Even though we want to be Kåñëa conscious, rotten, nasty contaminations burden our hearts. The way back to Kåñëa seems long and almost unnavigable. Although we cannot cease trying to overcome our sinful mentality, still we fear that it will be a long and arduous task. Remembrance of Prabhupäda gives us hope, our only hope. We know that however low our mind may take us (and there seems to be no bottom limit), Çréla Prabhupäda is always ready to help us as long as we have the tiniest spark of sincerity to follow his basic instructions. This hope keeps us alive in devotional service. Otherwise, out of weakness and frustration we might have given up long ago.
How Çréla Prabhupäda is adhama janära bandhu could be the subject of thousands of grateful poems and songs. He is also lokanätha (the master of the devotees) and the life of the devotees. Without Prabhupäda we have no life. With Prabhupäda we are fixed on the path back to Godhead. And if we forget Çréla Prabhupäda, we will fall back to speculation, forget all about our chanting and principles, be overcome by false ego, again be subject to birth, death, old age, and disease, and finally fall into hell.
hä hä prabhu koro doyä, deho more pada-chäyä
O master! Be merciful unto me and give me the shade of your lotus feet.
Çréla Prabhupäda! Falling down helplessly at your lotus feet, Iam begging for your mercy. Please be kind to this fallen wretch. Keep me in the shade of your lotus feet. I am a fool, but somehow or other you are engaging me in your service. Now I am pleading, “Keep me with you. Don’t kick me away.”
ebe jaça ghuñuk tribhuvana
May your glories now be proclaimed throughout the three worlds.
Let Çréla Prabhupäda’s glories be spread throughout the three worlds!
Although the demigods are surely engaged in regular discussion of Çréla Prabhupäda, praising his activities with great wonder, the dull-headed, unfortunate people of this planet still do not recognize him. But surely that day is coming when Prabhupäda’s glories will be widely spread throughout this world. He will be constantly praised via radio and television, in schools and colleges, and in great assemblies. So many books will be written about him. Places that Çréla Prabhupäda visited even briefly will be considered important pilgrimage sites. His books will be scrutinized to give direction to human society for the next ten thousand years. And because of their connection with him, Prabhupäda’s genuine followers will also be glorified.
Everyone is spending his life eating, sleeping, copulating, excreting, and dying. Out of millions and billions of people in this world, only a handful have some understanding of the importance of Çréla Prabhupäda. Just as a blind man does not know of the sun’s rising and setting, so the people of this world do not even know that the most important personality in centuries has already come and gone. But Prabhupäda continues to live through his instructions and books. And those who actually know Çréla Prabhupäda, know his order to distribute his books and spread the Kåñëa consciousness movement.
As I think more and more about what Prabhupäda has done for us, I become more and more amazed at how great and merciful he is, how little appreciation of him I have, and how urgent it is that he be known by the world. Let us not think that Çréla Prabhupäda is the founder of a small religious sect struggling for recognition. He is jagat-guru, the spiritual master of the entire universe. He can give shelter to and solve the problems of everyone. Everyone needs to know Prabhupäda. When they do, they will be so grateful to him and will also feel his love. Let us not be lazy in the matter of giving Çréla Prabhupäda to everyone.
- This article is taken from a book written by an ISKCON Guru glorifying Srila Prabhupada.
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