Volume 7, Chapter 21

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Diary of a Traveling Preacher

 

Volume 7, Chapter 21

 

November 11, 2006

 

By Indradyumna Swami

 

 

Vyasa Puja Address to Partha Sarathi das Goswami

 

 

Dear Maharaja,

 

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

This evening you have asked me to speak at your auspicious Vyasa Puja

celebration, but with your permission I would prefer to read an offering.

Please don't feel that this is inappropriate. The great Narada Muni has

stated:

 

brahmanyah sila sampannah

satya sandho jitendriyah

atmavat sarva bhutanam

eka priya suhrt tamah

 

"To respectable persons, Prahlad Maharaja acted like a menial servant. To

the poor he was like a father and to his equals he was attached like a

sympathetic brother. He considered his teachers, spiritual masters and older

Godbrothers to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

 

[srimad Bhagavatam 7.4.31]

 

My dear Goswami, it is indeed easy to glorify you, for in your character and

deeds I see the mercy of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. I have no

doubt that because of your service to the ISKCON movement you have received

the full mercy of Srila Prabhupada. Your pioneer preaching in South Africa,

particularly through the Tent Campaign, is legendary.

 

Time moves on and you have aged, and the campaign's old bus now lies rusting

in a field. But the many devotees you made and the fine reputation our

society gained are evidence of a historic time when grass-roots preaching

established ISKCON as one of the major spiritual movements in the country.

 

As prosperity and success blossom throughout the yatra, let us not forget

the initial efforts of devotees like you, who worked tirelessly in austere

and often dangerous situations to establish Krsna consciousness in South

Africa. Such selfless preaching has no doubt endeared you to the Lord and

earned you the right to return back to Godhead.

 

And what is the secret of your success? It is no secret at all. Everyone can

see it: you are a faithful follower of our Guru Maharaja. It is for this

very reason that you sit on the Vyasasana tonight, for Srila Prabhupada has

said that a loyal student in turn becomes a qualified teacher.

 

But to the devotees in this yatra you are much more than their noble

teacher. Because of your personal dealings with your disciples, you are also

their father, friend, and counselor as well as their spiritual guide. As

their teacher, you know slokas and sutras, tithis and mudras, but you also

know the joys and sorrows, the happiness and woes of all your disciples.

 

Because you are so personal with them, you are acutely and painfully aware

of their struggles with family, business, sickness, and death. You are the

first to congratulate the parents of a newborn child and the last one to

leave a beloved disciple's funeral pyre. You counsel and advise, chastise

and criticize as their eternal guide.

 

They are blessed - those disciples who have your fatherly love and care. I

sense they feel secure and protected under your guidance. They are confident

that you will one day take them home to the transcendental abode. Such faith

is rare in this world, and I feel privileged to be here tonight seeing the

loving exchanges of a genuine spiritual master and his faithful followers.

 

Why do so many devotees seek your shelter? Because you have passed the test

of time. Firm and steady in your service, you are like a steadfast rock in

the South African yatra.

 

As a Godbrother I am impressed with your strong sadhana. While a number of

devotees still struggle to chant a minimum of 16 rounds a day even after

years of devotional service, you always endeavor to chant the maximum number

of rounds. For years you chanted 64 rounds or more a day. Only recently have

you reduced it to a "mere" 40 rounds a day, because of your ill health.

 

And you like to study. That is evident in your learned discourses and the

books you write which are always fresh and interesting and filled with

transcendental realizations.

 

And the most amazing thing is that you do all this despite your bad health.

You do more reading, chanting, and preaching while ill, than most of us do

when we feel fine. If the Lord were to suddenly bless you with good health,

it would prove troublesome for the atheists, agnostics, scientists, and

sense enjoyers of this land, because they would be challenged by your

preaching. On this auspicious occasion, we ask Lord Nrsimhadeva to watch

over and protect you so that you may live a long and exemplary life, showing

us and many others the path to perfection.

 

hari smrty ahlada stimita manaso yasya krtinau

sa romancah kayah nayanam api sa nanda salilam

tam evacandrarkam vaha purusa dhaureyam avane

kim anyais tair bharair yama sadana gaty agata paraih

 

"By remembering Lord Hari, the devotees' hearts become overwhelmed with

bliss, their bodily hairs stand erect, and their eyes become filled with

tears of joy. O Earth, these devotees are the best of men. Please carefully

maintain them for as long as the sun and the moon shine in the sky. What is

the use of your carefully maintaining those other burdensome persons who are

simply intent on coming and going to and from the house of Yamaraja?"

 

[Padyavali, text 55]

 

My dear Goswami, our beloved Srila Prabhupada said he wanted at least a few

disciples to catch a hint of what he was revealing to us, and I know that

you have caught a glimpse of that deeper understanding.

 

How do I know? Because your taste for bhajan and your desire to distribute

the holy names have given you away. You know that after diving into the

ocean of Lord Caitanya's sankirtan movement, one day a devotee will find

himself in the pastimes of Radha and Krsna.

 

By Srila Prabhupada's mercy you have understood this.

 

param gopyam api snigdhe

sisye vacyam iti srutih

tac chruyatam maha bhaga

goloka mahimadhuna

 

"The Vedas say that to a loyal disciple one may speak the confidential

secret. Therefore, O most fortunate one, now please hear the glories of

Goloka."

 

[sri Brhat-Bhagavatamrta, Part Two, Chapter 1, Text 6]

 

Dear Maharaja, please be kind upon a poor, unintelligent, and unenlightened

Godbrother who has yet to taste the nectar of the holy name, whose impure

heart keeps him from doing anything significant for our spiritual master.

Please keep me in your prayers, as you are in mine, so that I too will have

a chance to return back home, back to Godhead in this lifetime.

 

Before closing, I want to share with your disciples something I wrote for

them today. It's the one thing that your extreme humility keeps you from

giving them. It's a pranam mantra, a short meditation on your unique

qualities and service.

 

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur has written that the disciple should

remember his spiritual master at least three times a day. I hope your

disciples will use this pranam mantra as part of their daily meditation upon

you. Our Godbrother Gopiparanadana Prabhu has kindly rendered it into

Sanskrit.

 

dasa gosvaminam vande

nama bhajana samsrayam

yamya dese guruddesya

sthapakam srita vatsalam

 

"I offer my respectful obeisances to Das Goswami, who helped pioneer the

mission of Srila Prabhupada in the southernmost tip of the world. He is

devoted to bhajan and is caring and affectionate to all those who take

shelter of his lotus feet."

 

Your servant,

Indradyumna Swami

 

Indradyumna.swami (AT) pamho (DOT) net

 

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