Occasion Vyasa puja celebration in Pandharpur
4th July 2017
Pandharpur
Online class
Hare Krishna
Srila Prabhupada ki jai
Nityananda Prabhu ki jai

All the assembled viewers, listening or watching us. Today here in Padharpur, we are kind of in middle of the Vyasa puja, celebration festival. So very bigger event here in Pandharpur. Its yearly festival, on occasion of commencement of chatur masya. Today Shayani Ekadashi biggest day here. In Pandharpur for Lord Vitthal. And I am happy Lord gave me birth on this day, which is big day for Lord of Pandharpur. My family they worshipped Lord Vitthal, my father used to come here walking, for darsana of Panduranga and when we were children we would be waiting for our parents. I waiting for my father also to return.

Here darsana of Lord is always very special, each person comes in front face to face with the Lord. So, when my father would return from Pandharpur l would be waiting of course. As our children attraction is for mahaprasadam that would be brought back for us. And those who could not go on pilgrimage to Pandharpur they used to receive pilgrims and touch their feet and embrace them thinking that they have just come from dhama. After meeting Lord and after touching the Lotus feet of Lord.

One time even pilgrims coming to Pandharpur they did not only touch Their feet but put head on the lotus feet of the deities and embrace the deity. But those days are gone now.” So, my family they worshiped Panduranga Vitthal, and Lord gave me birth on this big day like today. Millions of pilgrims are here in town today and ISKCON devotees are also are here in big number.

This year’s Vyas puja festival has special flavor or dimension. Jananivas Prabhu from Mayapur arrived today with the “Nityananda paduka “ its shoes of Lord Nityananda they have been travelling around the world to do the fund raising for TOVP and today I had invited Jananivas and Brajvilas Prabhu also to come on occasion of Vyaspuja with the paduka of Nityananda. Nityananda is Adiguru, Guru of all the Gurus. He is original Guru and we were blessed, I was blessed by presence of Lord Nityanada His padukas, His Lotus foot prints, His shoes, sandal’s are non-different from Him.

Also there was initiation in Pandharpur today. Just right in middle of Mangal arati that time they arrived and we offered Abhishek to paduka’s of Lord Nityananda and worshiped them.

I felt that after five hundred years Lord Nityananda again returned to Pandharpur again on this day of my birthday and the assembled devotees, disciples are very generous. Of course, Jananivas Prabhu, Brajvilas Prabhu and myself we did appeal to the assembled devotees, disciples for their generous contribution. Financial assistance for completing TOVP. And response was tremendous beyond our expectation. Raised to some close to seven crore rupees. I think that was highlight of the Vyas puja today. That took quite some time this TOVP presentation and fund raising so will continue this evening, with more offering from disciples.

So, may be some of you are watching, hearing, witnessing the proceedings of Vyas puja activities here of course most the offering where in Hindi some in Marathi and there are also some English offerings. So, I am getting news of devotees, disciples around the world gatherings different part of the world celebrating this occasion.

I am grateful, thankful of course as a I said that during the day that we are all the glories are ultimately offered to our Prabhupada and predecessor Acarya and ultimately Lord Nityananda or Balarama who is original Guru, adi-guru. We are there to receive and listen to offering glories that is infact glories of the Lord and we offer that unto Them, They are to be glorified, Nityananda, Balarama.

Also my Vyas pooja book has been printed this time it is heavier ,thicker and bigger. Vyas pooja book with more offerings more than ever. So go through those offerings and they also would be uploaded on the websites. So, that you could have privilege of accessing those offering from your God brother’s or sister from everywhere. I take your leave now. I have to get ready for next event this late afternoon, Vyas puja continuation on the stage.
Hare Krishna

Vyasa Puja 2020

Today’s day, Ashadi Ekadashi Mahotsav is the biggest day in the year for Lord Vitthala, Lord Panduranga. Panduranga! Panduranga! Why is it the biggest day? Today devotees of the Lord come in large numbers to see the Lord. It doesn’t sound right to call them devotees of the Lord. Vithu maza lekur wala sangi gopalancha mela – this is a good relationship – vithu maza lekur wala, (my Vithoba is the father of many and He is in the association of the cowherd boys).

Who comes to see Lord Vitthala? Those who had forgotten before now come to see the Lord. The souls are bodily limbs of the Lord. They are parts and parcels of the Lord. Therefore they are very dear to the Lord. Such dear-most devotees could be His friends, cowherd boys, or parents. When such devotees come again to see the Lord, then what to say about the happiness of the Lord. This is the happiest day, biggest day for Lord Vitthala and also for His devotees. The Lord facilitated my birth on such a day. The Lord is happy, devotees are happy, hence I am also happy. You do not have to say, “Happy Birthday”. I know it is a happy day – happy for Lord Vitthala and also for the devotees of Vitthala, devotees of Krsna. Today’s day is the happiest day, anandi ananda gade jikade tikade chohikade (there is happiness every where). In the middle of the day when the happiness is spread all over, I was born. That’s why I want to celebrate my birthday, Vyasa Puja, in Pandharpur.

July 5, 1949, was a Tuesday. However today is Wednesday. Wednesday is Lord Vitthala’s day. This year’s Ashadi Ekadasi is being celebrated on Wednesday. Lord Sri Krsna was born on a Wednesday and Lord Rama was born on a Tuesday. I was also born on a Tuesday and I think that possibly my family members remembered this and that’s why they named me Raghunath. By the way I was called Raghya.

You have learnt that our true birth is the day when Guru gives us initiation, mantra, when the acaryas or Gurus connect us with the parampara. That day is our real birthday. It is the no more births, no more deaths day! From that point of view, Srila Prabhupada gave me my true birth. I was born in Vrindavan, in the courtyard of Radha Damodar in the month of Kartik. It was also the appearance day of Radha-kunda.

For the last few days as well as today I am listening to your glorifications. It is said, ‘vachane ka daridrata’, if we have to speak then why to be miserly in our speech, speak to your heart’s content, speak wholeheartedly, ‘vachane ka daridrata’. You were saying things which even I am not aware of. Am I really like this? You seem to know me better than I know myself. I was thinking I do not know myself, you know more than I do. Exaggeration is obvious as per the principle of vachane ka daridrata. I was thinking that you want to see me like this. Our Guru should be like this. He should have such qualities. You were saying that our Guru is like this, but I was thinking that you are expecting these qualities in me. I know that all these qualities are not in me, but you have big hearts and keep on saying, ‘Maharaja is like this and that’. In one sense, this is your greatness!

I was also thinking I have not manufactured all these qualities and I have not created these qualities in any factory or in my brain. These are only my qualities. No one has them and no one will have them. This is my property. This is mine, my creation. Only a fool claims this. All acaryas, all pure devotees have these qualities. Yet these qualities do not belong to them. The ultimate source of all these qualities is the Lord. It is said, ‘Like father, like son’. If the son has these qualities, then where do these qualities in him come from? They are in the father, that’s why the son has these qualities. These qualities of the son are not his own qualities. The Lord is the source of all these qualities. Not even a single quality belongs to me; I couldn’t label it with a stamp stating, “This is my quality.” I was also thinking all of you also have all these qualities. All these qualities are present in all of you. Every devotee has a specialty, one special quality. One may have lesser qualities and another may have more qualities. But every devotee has qualities. Devotee means soul. Every soul has qualities. Every soul is qualified. And why not?

Mamai vamso jiva loke jiva bhutah sanatanah

This is acintya-bhed-abheda. There are similarities as well as differences between us and the Lord. The Lord’s 50 qualities are present in the living entities. We were giving a presentation on the ‘Super Excellence of Gaudiya Vaisnavism’. At that time we showed you a chart where the living entities have 50 qualities of the Lord’s 64 qualities. This is the similarity, abheda. What is the difference, bheda? The Lord’s 50 qualities are in the living entities, but in a lower percentage.

Discover yourself! Know yourself! There is discovery and invention. What is the meaning of discover? There is something, some element, some tattva and one has to uncover it! It is covered and you have to only uncover it. When we discover, find ourselves, then we all will also know that these qualities are present in us also. We also have these qualities.

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati (BG 5.29)

Prabhupada called it the ‘Peace formula!’ How is the Lord? suhrdam sarva-bhutanam – suhrdam, means friend. Whose friend is He? Sarva bhutanam, Lord is the friend of all living entities. This is Bhagavad Gita and when we see Bhagavatam, there it is said, suhrdah sarva dehinam. Sadhavah sadhubhusanah – it is all about the devotees. Sadhus are like this. What should one do immediately? Take a selfie or something! They are beautified with the qualities,

trnad api sunicena
taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih

These are the ornaments, the jewellery. This is the beauty of a devotee, of a soul. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that the Lord is the friend of all the souls. In the Bhagavatam it is said, the devotee, sadhu is the friend of all the souls. Suhrdam sarva bhutanam, suhrdam sarva dehinam, you say bhutanam or dehinam, it is the same thing. What is common? Suhrdam, they are both suhrdam, friend of all living entities. This is one example. Being friendly is one of the 26 qualities of the Vaisnava. The soul has this quality. Here we consider someone as our friend and someone as our enemy. This is the effect of the three modes of material nature, specially the mode of passion. The effect of the mode of ignorance is feeling sleepy. When there is the effect of Rajo guna, then we start fighting.

yadrccha-labha-santusto
dvandvatito vimatsarah
samah siddhav asiddhau ca
krtvapi na nibadhyate

Lord says this. What should one do? One should cross over the dvandva, duality – this is a friend and this is an enemy. This comes only when we are in bondage, in lock down. Who is responsible for this lockdown? The three modes of material nature, the powerful bondage, the shackles, they make us think like this, due to lust, anger and greed.

Devotees, disciples, friends, brothers and sisters, understand yourself. Ke ami? Such was Sanatana Goswami’s question. When he met Caitanya Mahaprabhu the first time, he asked, ‘Ke ami? Kene amar jare tapa-traya? Who am I and why are these miseries of the world giving me trouble? Please tell me.’ Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained everything. Sanatan Goswami asked this question on our behalf. For us Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu answered the question. It is for us only that Lord Krsna had dialogues with Arjuna and therefore there is this parampara.

evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh

Sri Krsna is Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu with whom the parampara proceeds further. He is the Acarya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava parampara, and this is the arrangement of the Lord. In this way we can understand who we are. We should come to know that we are not from here. We are not from this world. We belong to Krsna. Right now we have our relatives, our family, husband, wife, bride, groom. They get married and then children take birth. They call it the family tree. We are in the centre – andha kupam. We are hanging in the dark well, and whoever is around us, is ours. But the real situation is different. That’s why the Lord comes to this world from time to time.

We have forgotten the Lord, but the Lord has not forgotten us. Grown up sons forget their parents. Daughters do not forget their parents as much as the sons do. So it is shown. But do parents forget their children? I was thinking, how I can talk like this as I am not a mother and father. But I am also a father. ‘Ham do aur hamare do’-we two (husband and wife) and our two kids! But when one becomes a Guru, a spiritual master, then even though he is a sannayasi, he becomes the father of 200 disciples, 2000 disciples. Our Jayapataka Maharaja has 40,000 disciples. For the disciples the Guru is mother and father. Maybe disciples can forget the spiritual master by becoming guru bhogi, tyagi or drohi, but the Guru can never forget, just like a mother and father can never forget. The mother and father are grihasta, family. They are a smaller unit. The Guru is also small compared to the Lord. The Lord is the father, aham bija pradah pitah; when the material mother and father do not forget. The Gurus who play a role of mother and father, do not forget, then the Lord who is the original father, the original mother, can He forget? No, He never forgets. That is why the Lord comes to this world. He comes to remind us, ‘I am yours. You are mine. You are not this body. You are the soul’. The Lord comes and leaves after making all the arrangements. Dialogues of Gita become the Granth, scripture of Gita. He performs many lilas. We get the Ramayana. Lord Rama came. His name, form, qualities, pastimes get glorified in Ramayana. Then there is Bhagavatam, Mahabharat, ante ca madhye ca harih sarvatra giyate

When the Lord appeared 5000 years ago, He came to Pandharpur from Dvaraka. This is History, fact. The Lord heard the prayer of His devotee. Pundalika who offered special prayers to the Lord. ‘Lord, You stay here.’ The Lord Dvarakadhish is staying in Pandharpur. He is Vitthala, He is Panduranga. Panduranga! Panduranga! Panduranga! Panduranga! Panduranga!

Whether the Lord came 5000 years ago or not, is no question. Is there any proof that the Lord came to earth and performed many lilas? What is the proof? Yes! Vitthala Bhagavan is the full proof. For the fools, this is the proof. Not only did the Lord come, but we all know how He looks?

Sundar te dyan ubhe vite vari
Kar katavari theuniya

Tuka mhane maze hechi sarv sukh
pahina srimukha avadine.

Lord gives realizations to such acaryas. Even after looking at the Deities, we still have doubts. Is He the Lord? But some devotees take darsana of these Deities,

Govinda govinda mala lagaliya chanda, maga govinda te kaya bheda nahi deva taya,

This is not just recitation. Tukarama Maharaja wrote an abhanga in such a way that we sing them. These are his realizations, maga govinda de kaya bheda nahi deva taya. There is no difference between the Deity of Govinda and Govinda. He is Govinda and I am looking at Govinda. I don’t know what is a Deity? I am looking at the Lord.

All these arrangements are facilitated by the Lord. Then the acaryas give the package of the parampara, all scriptures, all mantras, vidhi vidhan, nishedh, etc, and give it the name dharma. This is religion, the laws of the Lord. We follow these rules and regulations and understand the philosophy,

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvata
then what happens,

tyaktva deham punar janma – no rebirth
Then what happens?
naiti mam eti

Mam eti, eti means he goes, sa-eti, so where does he go? Mam, he comes towards Me. Why does the Lord say this? Has He said it in vain? Does it have any meaning or has the Lord just said it without thinking? The Lord knows what He is talking about. That is why He came here, Golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana-karanat All the arrangements are done by the Lord so that we can again return to our village, return to our home.
Leave the talks of settling down here. Who wants to settle in this world? People say, “He is well settled.” And then comes corona and it is all finished. Forget about settling down in this world. Who wants to settle down in this world? No one has ever and no one ever will. Just when it looks like he will get settled, then death comes. Sometimes he constructs a new home, the house warming takes place and something happens. He died. During his entire life time he was thinking of getting settled and something happened. People think, “We are not able to settle down here, so let’s go to the moon.” Nowadays some fools are selling plots on the moon. Many are booking their plot. We could not settle here, so let’s settle on the moon. There is no question of getting settled here. We have to come to this conclusion that no settlement is possible. As quickly as possible, let’s go, amhi jato amuchya gava, back to Godhead.

There are some examples like this. Tukarama Maharaja showed the world. Can anyone really go to Vaikuntha? Yes, Tukarama Maharaja went. Ajamila also went. All the time the shuttle service between the earth and Goloka or Vaikuntha is going on, day and night. We cannot see it all the time, but sometimes the Lord shows through the example of Tukarama Maharaja and Dhruva Maharaja and many more. All this is done by the Lord which we call dharma, religion. The same arrangement is being done in ISKCON on behalf of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Our parampara acaryas were doing the preparations. A lifetime in preparation! Prabhupada was preparing his whole life for this.

Has Prabhupada started from scratch? No! Before Srila Prabhupada, so much preparation was done by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. And before him, hasn’t Bhaktivinoda Thakur done anything? Like that, every Acarya of the parampara makes the necessary preparations. Then the next acarya takes it forward and then the next generation, devotees, acaryas, those who do yare dekho tare kaho krsna upadesa, take it forward. And finally it is for me and all of us assembled here, the humans present on the planet to take it forward. Lord made Srila Prabhupada an instrument, nimitta matram bhava savyasachin. Like this the Lord made perfect arrangements, not to settle here, but to go back. Let’s go! Let’s go!

We have become one part of this arrangement and our journey is still continuing. You are on the way back home, back to Godhead. For such an arrangement we thank the Lord, thank the acaryas of our parampara and especially we thank Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! We will always be indebted to Srila Prabhupada. What he did for the world is matchless. Na bhute na bhavisyati, never happened before and will never happen again. Such are his arrangements. We are indebted, but we also need to get free from this debt. It is very difficult to get free from this debt. One time the disciples of Srila Prabhupada were asking Srila Prabhupada, ‘How can we get rid of this debt?’ Srila Prabhupada said, “No! No, you cannot get free from this debt.” Then after thinking a while Prabhupada said, ‘Yes! Yes, one thing can be done.’ And what is that? ‘You do as I did’ This is a very famous statement of Srila Prabhupada. ‘You do as I did.’ In other words we can say, ‘The work which I have started, you endeavour to take it forward by using your energy and intelligence’. We have to do that. I am trying my best to continue the work started by Srila Prabhupada, by following his lotus feet. Many of us are trying our best. It is a big team. In the beginning we were only 5000 disciples of Srila Prabhupada and at that time it was known as ‘Prabhupada days’. We were 5000 disciples, and slowly slowly, day by day, the number is growing and growing and growing ….
It is the request unto all of you …..

utsahan niscayad dhairyat
tat-tat-karma-pravartanat
sanga-tyagat sato vrtteh
sadbhir bhaktih prasidhyati

There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as sravanam, kirtana, visnoh smaranam [SB 7.5.23]—hearing, chanting and remembering Krsna], (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service. (NOI 3)

May you get such bhakti. We are expecting support from you. Srila Prabhupada also has expectations from you and we are expressing our desire on behalf of Srila Prabhupada that you will give your full support and contributions. Will there be any benefit in such contributions? It will be the best welfare. What will be that welfare? Krsna prapti hoya jaha hoite, What will you gain? Krsna prapti – you will get Krsna. Till now we were running behind Maya prapti, to get maya, aham mama. Due to our foolishness we were running behind that only. Now we are coming on the right track, becoming well organised. In his last days Srila Prabhupada said, ‘If you love me…’ Do you love Srila Prabhupada? It is easy to say. It is called lip service. We say, “Yes! Yes! I love you.” But Prabhupada said, ‘I want to see your love for me, not only hear it.” How will you show it? How you cooperate with each other, co – operation means together – if you will work by cooperating with each other, then you love me.’

I could also say this. For the past few days there was a disciples’ sammelan and you were expressing your love. We have heard that love and now we want to see it.

On this Vyasa puja day, we are requesting you all, we are expecting, desiring that all of you will cooperate with each other and will give and take support. Srila Prabhupada said, ‘How will you keep this institution together after I am gone? Protect this institution after I am gone?’ How can it be protected? How will it become strong? In Srila Prabhupada’s movement there are many different activities of Prabhupada’s disciples and even of grand-disciples. They have their own areas of operation. There are movements within the movement. Note that it should not clash with other movements which are within the international movement established by Srila Prabhupada. Our karya-kshetra or my karya-kshetra (area of operation) is as per the orders of Srila Prabhupada only. Prabhupada gave personal instructions to everyone. Sometimes he gave orders through letters. Some services are done before asking, some services are done after asking and some devotees don’t do the service even after asking. It may be possible that we could not follow some orders. That is a possibility. But we are trying to follow all the orders.

These padayatra projects are part of that only – padayatras, parikramas. You saw the letter from Prabhupada. Prabhupada is saying, ‘This is the land of Tukarama and the politicians are spoiling it. Awake the Krsna consciousness in Maharastra.’ Regarding padayatras, Srila Prabhupada said, ‘… millions of carts all over the world’. Such is the desire expressed by Prabhupada.

How many bullock-carts should be there? Millions of carts! Prabhupada is known for this. Prabhupada could have said dozens of carts or hundreds of carts, but what did Prabhupada say? Millions of carts! For how many lifetimes do we have to be engaged? I don’t know. He gave the order, but to follow the order, needs lots of time and energy and power; Prabhupada gives an order and with that He gave the facilities also. Krsna gives the facilities as Prabhupada has desired.

Most of my books are about this service only – Vraja-mandala darsana or Bombay Is My Office. I received Srila Prabhupada’s association and it is related to that. The experiences with Prabhupada during ‘The Mayapur Vrindavan Festivals’ is another book. We had many meetings or conversations with Srila Prabhupada, so there is one book like that – In Conversation with Srila Prabhupada. The first ever Padayatras are captured in Volume One Padayatra: On the Road with Lord Caitanya. Volumes 2 and 3 are also going to come. Srila Prabhupada gave me some instructions regarding chanting, so chanting is also going on. Then there was a book on this subject. Prabhupada was expecting that disciples will write books. This is also service for present and future generations. Prabhupada was thinking about a Worldwide International Society. I am expecting your contribution in my zone which is within Srila Prabhupada’s worldwide society. And if you give such support and contributions then I will understand that, ‘You love me’.

Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Sri Vitthala Rukmini ki jai! ISKCON Pandharpur ki jai! Radha Pandharinath ki jai! Radha Parthasarathi ki jai! Radha Rasabihari ki jai! Radha Madhava ki jai! Nitai Gaurasundar ki jai! Jagannath Baladeva Subhadra ki jai!

These are some special of the special Deities I have served as pujari, so I am remembering Them on this day. Hari Haribol!

Venue: Pandharpur
Dated: 23 rd July 2018
Occasion: Vyas pooja

Jay Vitthala Vitthala Vitthala
Mazya Vitthala Panduranga

Hare Krsna all the assembled devotes, disciples, friends and followers. Have you heard me singing this song before?

Jay Vitthala Vitthala Vitthala
Mazya Vitthala Panduranga

Oh! Vitthal You are my Panduranga. This Vitthal ianother name is Panduranga there are many other names. These are the names of the Deities here at Pandharpur and this is were we had been celebrating Vyas pooja today. I think we had been doing this some dozen years, every year on this day. There is a big occasion here not because my birthday or vyas pooja celebration. For Pandharpur this is the biggest event of the year. The day of Shayani ekadasi and with this commences the caturmasya, Lord goes to sleep. He would be sleeping for four months; this is all described in Padma Purana. So before the Lord goes to sleep thousands not just thousands one and half million pilgrims come here walking. Not just walking but walking and dancing, using same mridanga they call it pakhawaj, kartals they sing.

Jay jay ramkrishna hari jay jay ramkrishna hari

This is one of the song or mantra they sing. They also sing hundreds of abhangs of Tukaram Maharaja and other vaishnav saints of Maharashtra, followers of Panduranga. They arrive here day before ekadasi, they all arrived yesterday. We have Hare Krsna padayatra, padayatra party we also participate in this march they call it dindi here. Then on ekadasi mostly there is darsana, because before Lord goes to sleep they would like to have glimpse of the Lord. So this becomes very major event in Pandharpur. By Lords grace by Shri Krsna’s grace Pandhuranga’s grace I was born on this day. Instead of saying I was born I could have said I was given birth by that Lord on this day. So that makes me happy, that Lord chose such a day for my birthday. Around 5000 ISKCON devotees, friends and followers are here at ISKCON Pandharpur. We have just now finished infact not totally finished we started at morning 8 o’clock and concluded the first session at 4pm. So it was 8 hours marathon.

May be some of you were watching on Mayapur TV. Many of you have written your offerings and I will be reading them. Thank you for your wishes. Devotees all day were wishing me, happy birthday, happy vyas puja day. I am sure you would also like to express that. I am not able to hear but I am sure that’s on your mind, so thank you. I also said to the assembled devotees that I am happy today as its birthday but I said I am happy because Srila Prabhupada gave me the mantra and asked me to chant and be happy. I had been doing this chanting my prescribed number of rounds, more than prescribed number of rounds daily without fail. If I am happy today and I was happy yesterday and I will be happy tomorrow because Prabhupada said “Chant Hare Krsna and be happy” and I had been doing that. I had been following that one instruction of Srila Prabhupada every single day. So I also said today is vyas poja day or birthday. But Srila Prabhupada also gave me birth that was my second birth. And I was born in Vrindavan during Kartik of 72. Then I was accepted as disciple of Srila Prabhupada that was my actual or spiritual birthday. Or I was brought back to life by Srila Prabhupada by giving me initiation, giving me this Hare Krsna mantra which is Lord Himself. So I am grateful to Srila Prabhupada for giving me such a gift.

This is my 69th birthday today. I did not say that to the assembled devotees today during the day. But I have been thinking otherwise. This year 69 in Srila Prabhupada’s life, the 69th year was very significant for him. When Srila Prabhupada turned 69 that was when after a lifetime in preparation, he had left for the West. He started execution of his Guru’s order, the mission that Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura had given him. So that started at the age of 69.

I was thinking although I have done a few things, there is yet much more to do. I wish that beginning with this year 69 I would also do the execution of the remaining things on my list, on my mind  and some things that’s very close to my heart. So may be these times and the year 69 give me a further boost, inspiration and the strength because we do not know. When Srila Prabhupada also many times he would say when he was in his seventies, many times he would also say, “ This is the ripe age, this ripe age to move on. Get out of this body and go to the Lord.” I don’t know how much more time is at my disposal, but whatever time is there. So many projects are pending.

Prabhupada wanted a temple in Nagpur. He was sitting with a big map of India when he returned from the West and he was now starting his mission in India. He was sitting with a group of his Western disciples. He was pointing out – here… here we should have ISKCON here, a temple here… here and he pointed to Nagpur which is part of my zone in central India, Maharashtra. That is something that I wish to complete. Here also in Pandharpur we are working on constructing a very beautiful, very huge ghat, bathing ghat called Prabhupada ghat. That work is still unfinished. And then the temple project is also here.

And many more padayatras in more countries, more towns and more cities. Prabhupada said, “We should have millions of carts all over the world.” We have a long way to go. Just yesterday three carts came from three different directions. All India Padayatra arrived here yesterday. And the Dindi processions. As I mentioned to you millions of pilgrims come walking. There are two groups of Hare Krishna Dindis. They all arrived. So there were three carts, three Gaur Nitai Deities and three groups of people.  It was quite a conference,  big sammelan.  So that’s three carts. Some more Padayatras need to be organized. This means bringing the holy name to more towns and more villages.  And then I wish to study Srila Prabhupad’s books more and also our Gaudiya Vaisnava acharyas commentaries and that literature. That is one of my unfulfilled desires. I would like to spend some time going deeper into Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy and commentaries. That is reading. Then there is writing. There are so many more writing projects in the pipeline. So many are in the mind. Likewise there are a lot of things.

 A Western poet said,

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” He was referring to death as the final sleep. Miles to go means so much more to do, so much more to accomplish before that final moment comes. So I would like your prayers and of course assistance from all of you for me to continue with my services or the services given by Srila Prabhupada   and some are coming, originating from me. So we have evening session here, we have maha-abhishek of Vitthal Rukmini on the stage. There is also drama “ Saint Tukaram.” There will be lighting of thousands of lamps in Radha Pandharinath temple that’s called “Deepotsava” also there will be kirtan. Three days there was 24 hours kirtan in the temple. The Deities are giving darsana throughout the day, they are not resting. Thousands of Srila Prabhupada books are being distributed every day. And our ghat though unfinished the pilgrims have been using, it’s all crowded like ants crawl pilgrims are crawling all over. One time our Radha Pandharinath temple was kind of secluded place, like a desert. People were wondering why Maharaja chosen such a special land, who would come? But now our temple has become like a center.

All the pilgrims are coming to our temple. Hundreds and thousands people are crowding.
You all are online, I wish there was some way to reciprocate or communicate, it’s like one way traffic. I don’t even know who’s there and how many of you are there. Thank you for your participation and for our wishes. On my 69th vyaspooja day I also wish you a happy day. Chant Hare Krsna and be happy. I was appealing today to devotees to join this campaign of propagation of Krsna consciousness far and wide. I reminded them the instructions of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, “amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa yare dekha  tare kaha Krsna upadesa” Where ever you are in your country, in your circle propagate Krsna consciousness. “yare dekha  tare kaha Krsna upadesa” Give Krsna in form of Holy name, in form of prasadam, in form of Srila Prabhupada books, give Krsna give Krsna. So you have received Krsna, you have Krsna so now you have to give Krsna to others. By doing so make your life perfect. Be happy and make others happy.

There is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way. Krsna Consciousness is the only way.

Thank you for being here in good number. Happy birthday to me, good days have come. Its Lord’s mercy He gave me birth on this auspicious day. Lot of devotees come on this day to meet Lord. “vitthu maza lekurwada”.
I was born on tuesday in Aravade, Lord Rama was born on Tuesday. So they named me Raghunath as its Lord Rama’s name. My mummy mazi aai used to love me a lot. She used to take me to temple and she used to say fold your palms and pray and I used ask her what to pray?? And she used to say ask for Buddhi. Then Lord heard my prayers and finally I became Hare Krsna wala. Then my elder brother came to Mumbai to take me back. And said to Lord we never told to give him such Buddhi. My family used to think that one day Raghunath will become engineer and come to village with motorcycle. But I went with bullock cart with padayatra to Aravade. I was studying in Sangali initially but my family said you go to Mumbai University for higher studies. That’s how Lord inspired them to send me to Mumbai.
Then I went to Mumbai. Once in pandal program I was giving Introduction of Srila Prabhupada. I said Srila Prabhupada is exporter and importer; he exported holy name to America and imported American sandhus. I was lucky to have darshan of Srila Prabhupada. I was inspired by his kirtan. I always had this desire to serve country..humanity.. But was not sure how to start it.

“Yatha taror mula nesechanena” – When you put water at roots then fruits will come. Srila Prabhupada said we also want to serve our family, country, humanity then you should serve Lord. Then my eyes opened. We always have propensity to serve someone. So we should serve Lord. One is guru and other laghu. Phone has become cheap and talk has also become cheap. So if you want to really serve some one then serve Lord through Krsna everybody will be served. I also brought few books of Srila Prabhupada also japa mala.

Then I started living in kohinoor lane with some of my villagers in Mumbai. I was student of chemistry. And I used to keep grantha in the chemistry book and read. And my parents told my villages keep an eye on him he should not run away and they were happy seeing me reading rasayan that is chemistry. But they were not aware what rasayan I was reading. When nobody was in room I used to sing kirtan like I heard from Srila Prabhupada.

I used to regularly go to hare krsna land juhu then I decided jina yaha marna yaha… I wrote a letter to the president there to join. I wrote in the letter dazzling arti, ecstatic kirtan, prasdam, which I had copied from the pamphlet which I got from there. Then I went to meet the president and told him I want to join and he announced new bhakta here new bhakta here.

Britishers came for business here and then captured us. So Indians were not joining in Hare Krsna. Indian used to say these foreigners are CIA. Yes we are CIA- Caitanya Intelligence Agency... So very less Indians were joining. So the hare krsna land people were very happy to receive me they welcomed me. And then they took me to a place where a barber was waiting for me. So in one hour I was hare krsna devotee. Same evening they took me to a place and I was told to translate lecture of H.G. Gargamuni prabhu. So in two hours I became a preacher. Then my family came to know about me. They got the pamphlet of Hare Krsna festival. Then they understood. I would be there. Then my elder brother came to take me back. If you don’t come back mom will not live. Family was telling me stay at home we will make a temple here for you. But I wanted to stay in Hare Krsna temple. All villagers used to say. He was a very good boy now he has become mad. My mom went to an astrologer and he said he will come back. But his bhavisyavani went wrong. I went back to Hare Krsna land by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.

Srila prabhupada made me fortunate and you also make others fortunate by giving them hari nama. Let us all push forward the mission of Srila Prabhupada. You will need to take now responsibility on your shoulders. Time is less and lot of seva is pending. I can’t do it alone… I need help… We all together will protect, expand, this Hare Krsna society. You all love Srila Prabhupada, you are premi bhakta of Srila Prabhupada. But Srila Prabhupada said you show your love by cooperating with each other after I am gone. This is how you show your love for me. Srila Prabhupada is siksha guru for all of us…… Every one related to Krsna is to glorified…

SrilaPrabhupada ki jai…
Radha Pandharinath ki jai…

Born in a little village of Maharashtra called, Aravade, Lokanath Swami Maharaj went on to become one of the most powerful bonafide gurus of ISKCON. Little did anyone know from his village that the spiritual words uttering from the divine mouth of Lokanatha Swami, would be the source of inspiration for hundreds and thousands on the path of spiritualism. His fate was sealed when he took his first initiation in the year 1972 from Srila Prabhupada. And from then on, he took up his Padayatra mission to spread the Vedic culture. He, together with his baritone voice and a deep ocean of knowledge, spread the divine nectar to one and all. His inspirational lectures have helped in the rapid progress of his followers on the divine path.

In order to spread the message of ISKCON’s spiritual guru in a more effective manner, his worthy followers have created a magnanimous website called www.lokanathmaharaj.info. The website is a unique approach in spreading the words from the divine mouth so that it can reach to the homes of the general people. It has got word to word English translations of his lectures all over the world. The website has been so designed that anyone can access it easily. The design and layout is simple yet elegant and very user friendly. It is wonderful for the devotees as they can read each and every powerful quote of their divine master on this website. The website contains various transcripts under different sections. Some of the transcripts included are Lokanath Maharaj on the importance of tirthas, Lokanath Maharaj on curbing the symbol of sin, Chant for Change, etc.

One of the most interesting transcripts is ÇRÉLA PRABHUPÄDA ON SANSKRIT (SAÀSKÅTA ÇIKÑÄMÅTAM). It is an encyclopedia of Sanskrit pronunciations, an index of verses, and other features to assist readers in accurately reciting the Vedic scriptures. It has proved to be really helpful for the disciples and they have achieved a sense of perfection in reading the scriptures.

The transcripts here are a storehouse of knowledge and inspiration for the present devotees as well as for the inspiring devotees of His Holiness. The transcripts in this web portal will help the users understand how they can include chanting and various divine activities in their day to day life and enhance themselves spiritually. The Vedic verses included in these transcripts are very succinct to the topic.

Scores of people have found this web portal very interesting. It has enhanced their level of thinking and given them a better understanding of life. A lot of very fresh and informative transcripts are yet to be added in the portal and thus the readers will have a multitude of topics to read from. So, for those who want to transform themselves and reach to a higher platform of spiritual understanding, this website is a must read for them.

HH Lokanath Swami speaks on the occasion of his 62nd Vyasa Puja at Shri Dham, Pandharpur on 11th July, 2011.

How many Hindi speaking disciples are there? Oh! Quite a lot. How many do not know Marathi? So what should we do? (Chorus for Hindi.) Marathi disciples keep quiet?

I was thinking that today I have to only hear and not speak; and then, Ishtadev prabhu reminded me that I needed to speak as well.

What should I speak on my own birthday? There is a specific topic for you to speak…no, the topic is not Hindi. (Responding to a prabhu’s call for Hindi from the audience.)

Today’s puja is for Vyasa dev, Vyasapuja. Vyasa. When you were giving your glorifications, ‘Guru is one tattva’. This is one of the arrangements of the Lord – Vishnu Tattva, Shakti Tattva, Panca Tattva in Mayapur – similarly Guru Tattva – I won’t go into the details of all. In this world, man forgets the Lord, one wants to enjoy the external energies of the Lord, and this has been happening since time immemorial. So the lost souls are wandering in this world, trapped in various bodies. However, the Lord does not want this. Still some souls adopt this path of enjoyment. The Lord is fully independent, and we, being His minute particles, have some independence. But we misuse this independence by thinking that, “I am the Lord.” Then some small indragopa germ, Srila Prabhupada informed us about the existence of this very small germ, till Indra, everybody is trapped in this mentality to different degrees to try and enjoy. So the facility to enjoy is what this world is for – it is for both enjoyment and deliverance.

The Lord does not want us to remain entrapped. He wants us to get liberated. sarvasya c?ham? hr?di sannivis?t?o…. Lord is present in every heart and knows what we desire. The Gopis were so fortunate that with each Gopi there was one Krsna. When we hear or read this, we forget that this is the arrangement, one living entity can be considered as one Krsna. As many living entities are there, there are as many Krsnas. Lord Krsna is present in everyone’s heart waiting for us to discard sense enjoyment and turn towards Him. brahmäëòa bhramite kona bhägyavän jéva, guru-kåñëa-prasäde päya bhakti-latä-béja, this is the arrangement of the Lord. This is the choice of the Lord. He keeps observing who is who and then some living entities have reached the end of their time, they desire to go back to Him or are tired of the material world. Guru Krsna kripa paye….then the Guru Tattva made by the Lord comes into the picture and he is also a person and on behalf of the Lord, those who are bhagyavan – bahut sukrit jiva – manuna Vitthal avadi. If he becomes warkari, knowingly or unknowingly, if he comes into the association of devotees, and then he assimilates those qualities, then they desire to achieve Godhead, and such a person, Guru Krsna kripa paye – adau shraddha… by the mercy of Guru, who teaches the path of devotion.

Guru is not independent but acts on behalf of the Lord, as Srila Prabhupada said, “Krsna says, ‘mam ekam sharanam,’ so the Guru says, surrender to Krsna. So the message remains the same.” However, nowadays swamis become Narayan themselves, and then the tattva is different. Their disciples are sometimes asked, “This swami used to come so regularly to the temple, but we do not see him at all now-a-days. Why so?” And they reply, “Since he has realized that he himself is God, he has stopped coming to the temple. He has realized that he is God – Narayan – aham brahmasmi. Then the bewilderment starts, then he stops being the representative of God and therefore he does not remain in Guru Tattva, and thus there is no Vyasa Puja also. This is the arrangement of the Lord…there is satsang, dharma.

Dharma is the arrangement of the Lord. It is not the result of household activity. If some people get together and decide what dharma is and pass a resolution that from now on we shall drive on the right, but as they start doing so, they get caught by the police, who states that their personal laws are to be kept at home, but in the world outside, law of the state has to be followed. The main dharma is dharman tu saksad bhagavad pranitam…this is what the guru teaches, by means of personal example. They become devotees themselves and show how devotional service is to be performed, and in this manner make more devotees. He has to take all his disciples back to Godhead! This is some kind of contract. (Chorus of Hari bol!)

Now don’t become a parent, friend, guru, etc, unless you can save the person from death, or from the repeated cycle of birth and death. So you can’t become a friend, a Guru if you cannot deliver them from birth and death. Hare Krsna.

So the Lord becomes Guru himself. He teaches Brahma himself…adi kavaye. We come in this parampara, Srila Prabhupada’s parampara – Brahma Madhva Gaudiya sampradya, in which Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself appeared 500 years ago, God appeared and acted in the manner of a guru. All acts of a guru were carried out by Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself. He introduced the chanting of the holy names, and delivered the yuga dharma.

Krsna lived in a few places only like Vrndavan. He also came here in Pandharpur, Krsna became Vitthal or Panduranga here. The same Krsna from Vrndavan, the cowherd Gopal, they all walk and the dust creates a cloud. This dust then settles down on earth again, and some of it settles on Krsna’s peacock feathers, his features, etc and thus He looks whitish – yellowish. That is the color of the Vrndavan’s dust, and this increases the beauty of Krsna and He is known in this form as Panduranga. Krsna went only to places like Kaundinyapur, Hastinapur, Prag Jyotishpur in Assam. There may be hardly 50 places where Krsna went, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu traveled all over, right down to the small towns and streets and all He requested was for everyone to take Krsna’s name. When He ordered Haridas Thakur and Nityanand Mahaprabhu to travel all over to preach, He himself also went. Nityanand Mahaprabhu preferred to be with Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu made him the founder acarya of West Bengal parampara.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu also went to Kerala, Orrisa, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. He also came to Pandharpur. He taught the dharma for Kali Yuga – congregational chanting – very musical rendering of the holy names.

Sundara Lala….kirtan.

So Vitthal Bhagavan, Panduranga appeared 5000 years ago, and the same Krsna reappeared 500 years ago. So the latest God is Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So in this way, Krsna remains the same, there is no difference, one is Gaura Sundar and the other is Shyam Sundar. He inaugurated this yuga dharma. So the Gurus have only this work in parampara, the preaching that is there, should be of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings in this Kali Yuga. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna himself, so in that parampara, it is for every living entity in this world. There will be a time when there will be only one parampara in the world…in some years, maybe 10, 100, and 1000s of years – what will happen? Sarvatra – everywhere there shall be only this preaching of sankirtan. This is not a matter of winning or losing, but param vijayate Sri Krsna Sankirtan.

So now when I see this arrangement (points to the samadhis on stage), one is Rupa Goswami’s samadhi and the other is Bhajan Kutir, this sight is of Vrndavan’s Radha Damodar mandir. When I was Bhakta Raghunath – you have seen my family – my parents are no longer there. On 5th July, 1949, I was born; it was a Tuesday (his eldest brother agrees). Ram was also born on Tuesday, and therefore my name was kept as Raghunath. Raghunath Das, so when I was Bhakta Raghunath, I went to Vrndavan, and saw Radha Damodar mandir  for the 1st time, I saw Srila Prabhupada in  the courtyard, (and Laxmi N pr explained what was my 1st lesson).  I used to shake my legs while listening and this caught the attention of Srila Prabhupada. I was wondering why he was looking at me, his camera would stop every time he saw me, and the he ordered, “Stop It!” So I stopped, and it has stopped ever since except when I recount this as a demonstration. So Srila Prabhupada accepted this das, and it was during Kartik. So I was with Srila Prabhupada for a full month. He would give pravacans every morning and evening. He would sit between the two kutirs, and mornings would be Nectar of Devotion and Srimad Bhagavatam in the evening. There I got the chance of serving.
My life got a new direction, I was on the lookout for something, and the Lord brought me to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. Otherwise, my education was going on in Sangli’s Shivaji University. But I thought that if I became a Bombay university graduate, that would be good. That’s how I went to Bombay. There I saw the banners and posters of Srila Prabhupada’s pravacans, and I went. As I heard more and more, I became Srila Prabhupada’s, and my chemistry books underwent visarjan in the sea, gutters and God knows where else.

So I went from Sangli to Bombay to study, but the Lord had some other plans, if I had remained in Sangli I would not have met Srila Prabhupada, who was in Bombay then. So the Lord brought me to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. So during kartik, I went to Vrndavan and my initiation took place between the two kutirs, and from Bhakta Raghunath, I became Lokanath Das. Chant 16 rounds was the order, and I have been following ever since. So this sight on stage has taken me back to those days. So I met Srila Prabhupada in 1971, so this is the 40th anniversary, and in this way, and in that year itself, we met in April and in June he was to go to Moscow…those were different days, of communists, superpowers. So it was big news that an Indian swami was going there, so when everyone heard that Srila Prabhupada is going to Moscow, there was loud applause. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

When Srila Prabhupada was in our midst, he was traveling all over the world; all of you know his story. He went all alone in 1965 to preach Bhagavad dharma, and those kirtans that only took place in India – he wished these kirtans to resonate in New York. Now we have so many mikes etc, but Srila Prabhupada sat on the footpath and he did not even have a hand mike. He would play kartala and preach there himself.
Then he took a small place on rent, and those whom he met on the streets would come there twice a week. They did not know the basics of spirituality and would come with their girlfriends and bottles of wine in their hands. Srila Prabhupada would cook prasadam for them, preach them, and teach them the swami step. Then he would seat them down and personally serve them halava puri, which they had never eaten before. They would eat and leave and Srila Prabhupada would wash the dishes. I was hearing yesterday, that devotees of the Lord can go anywhere to preach. Srila Prabhupada also said that, “Bowery was worse than hell.”  So he was alone in 1965 and after 10-12 yrs, when he reentered the eternal lilas of the Lord, he had already preached all over the world. The astrological prediction when he was born was that he would establish more than 100 temples, and he established more than 108 temples. He was instructed by his guru to preach in English, and this he did to the full satisfaction of his guru. Temples, goshalas, etc were established. The gobhakhaks became gorakshaks and they became human beings. Those who were ridiculed by society were nurtured by Srila Prabhupada.

This was the prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu – sarvatra pracar – and this was done by Srila Prabhupada, and is being continued by ISKCON – dharma samstharpa… The saints carry forward the message of the Lord. As I was explaining to the Chief Minister, the raja must protect dharma, and in turn protect the citizens. That is what the ISKCON movement is doing throughout the world. Today’s target is distribution of 16000 Bhagwat Gitas out of which 7k have already been distributed. The dindis from Dehu and Alandi started kirtans from their respective places and continued till Pandharpur. Also from Kaundinyapur. Prasad is also being distributed today. So Srila Prabhupada will be immensely happy by seeing all this.

There are many vacant places in Vaikuntha, your place can only be occupied by you. That is the desire of the Lord that we regain our original identities. Like Tukaram Maharaj’s Vaikunth agaman. ISKCON has manifested here in Pandharpur dham, and as we were planning significant expansion, there was an initiative by the authorities to provide facilities for the devotees. One should not come here as a tourist. So there are many proposals in the offing. So from Vishnupath, nearly 1.5 kms away, right till the bridge here; there shall be a ghat on both the banks of river Chandrabhaga.  So the authorities approached ISKCON and now Braj Hari prabhu informs us that a committee has been formed under which this project will be undertaken.

So we are eternally indebted to Srila Prabhupada, “without him I don’t know where we would all be.” Today we have assembled here in Pandharpur, and are discussing about returning to Godhead. So in his memory, we have proposed the name as Srila Prabhupada ghat. Is the name ok? (Haribol) So this is a big project, and we are offering this as a service to Srila Prabhupada. So today, during brahma muhurt, the bhoomi pujan took place. Some of you may have been sleeping or on the way, but do you think this is a good plan? So we all have to contribute towards the success of this plan.emstrongacarya