750831 - Lecture Hindi - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

750831LE-VRNDAVAN - August 31, 1975 - 09:59 Minutes

(Hindi translated into English)

Prabhupāda: I can speak a little in Hindi then you can. Today all my disciples are celebrating the Vyāsa-puja-tithi. Vyāsa-puja-tithi, is the birthday of the spiritual master. The real guru is Vyāsadeva, Vedavyāsa, and through the disciplic succession of Vedavyāsa. Just like it is said in the Bhagavad-gita, (BG 4.2), evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. This Vedic knowledge is disseminated through the disciplic succession, not by any academic qualification, through disciplic succession, sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. If the disciplic succession is destroyed then this Vedic knowledge is destroyed. That is why Sanatana Goswami has said (SB 6.17.40):

avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ

pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam

śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ

sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ

Those who are not followers of the Vaiṣṇava etiquette, we should not hear the pastimes of the Lord from their mouth. What is the fault in the pastimes of the Lord? pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam. He says that Hari-kathā, is like nectar but despite being like nectar if one is a non-Vaiṣṇava, then we should not hear from him. Sanatana Goswami has forbidden this. Why? sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ, milk is like nectar but if it is touched by the lips of a serpent then it is poison. And Sriman Mahaprabhu has also said this, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa: (CC Madhya 6.169). The scriptures, the holy books, the Vedas- Śruti. That is why the Vedic scriptures are called Śruti. Śruti means we have to listen through the medium of disciplic succession only. The spiritual master instructs his disciple, the disciple in turn instructs his disciple and he in turn instructs his disciples, this is a sampradāya. Brahma-sampradāya, Rudra-sampradāya and Śrī-sampradāya, so there are similar sampradāya's. Kumāra-sampradāya. Sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te niṣphalā matāḥ, those who do not follow any sampradāya and whimsically engage in Vedic mantras, will be unsuccessful. That has no value.

So this Vyāsa-puja, that is we are in the lineage of Vyāsa sampradāya. Vyāsa's disciple Nārada, Nārada's disciple . . . I am sorry, Nārada's disciple Vyāsadeva. And Vyāsadeva's disciple is Śukadeva Goswāmi. Similarly through disciplic succession, Mādhavācārya, then in the Mādhavācārya sampradāya, there was Mādhavendra Puri, then his disciple Īśvara Purī, his disciple Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu, His disciples- the six Goswami's—Sri Rupa, Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha. Similarly we are in this sampradāya, which is why our sampradāya is called Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya. The meaning of sampradāya is that the ācārya of the sampradāya does not talk nonsense. He speaks whatever he has heard through the guru-paramparā . So that is why the appearance day of the spiritual master is called Vyāsa-puja, the real spiritual master is Vyāsadeva and this āsana is called Vyāsa āsana. The spiritual masters who come in disciplic succession, they are allowed to remain in this āsana. My disciples have organized the Vyāsa-puja today and they are worshiping. This does not mean, aham-guro-upasana, that I have become God and I am getting them to worship me for showing off. This is not the case. The fact is, the scriptures say (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23):

yasya deve parā bhaktir

yathā deve tathā gurau

tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ

prakāśante mahātmana

To acquire this Vedic knowledge, there is only one solution, yasya deve parā bhaktir, parā bhakti, aprakrit bhakti means to have unflinching faith in the Lord, transcendental faith, and just like we have transcendental faith on the Lord similarly transcendental faith on the spiritual master. Yasya deve parā bhaktir, yathā deve tathā gurau.

This should be practiced and to teach that we have to sit down and be worshiped by them and to teach them. This is correct. That is why the Vyāsa-puja celebration is conducted, they also worship and those who have faith in the ācārya, ācārya-upāsanam, the Lord says in the scriptures that the ācārya should be worshiped. So all of you have so kindly come here, thank you. This Krishna consciousness movement, we teach this all over the world, Vedic panthā, śrauta-panthā, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Brahma-niṣṭham—to be firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth one must accept the path of hearing from authorities śrauta-panthā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says at the time of imparting knowledge to Rupa Goswami, Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151), through the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa we get the seed of the creeper of devotional service. These are some thoughts. Therefore it is the duty of the disciple to celebrate the appearance day of the spiritual master, the spiritual master will teach. It does not mean that I am getting this worship done by them to increase my honor and prestige, this is not the case. So we have around one hundred two centers all over the world and all their offerings are printed in a book, every year such a book is printed on the occasion of Vyāsa-puja to give to the spiritual master. Mr. Brahmananda Swami will read a few (lets say two to four) offerings of temple management from that book. After that you can partake in the prasād and be merciful.

Thank you very much. (end)