HH Lokanath Swami Maharaja’s 107th Vyasa-Puja Offering to Srila Prabhupada

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Dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my most respectful obeisances. All glories to you on this occasion of your most auspicious Vyasa-Puja!

On this occasion of the 107th anniversary of your appearance, I would like to submit the following offering at your lotus feet.

While considering the theme for this year’s Vyasa–puja offering, I was looking for that event during the past year that made me full of Srila Prabhupada consciousness. I thought of the reunion festival in Mumbai. For me, that was the most intense experience of consciousness of you. I was swimming in an ocean of memories.

The occasion was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari temple. There were almost 100 of your disciples present who had witnessed your transcendental activities in Bombay. Some of your disciples had come to Bombay for the first time since they were here with you. Together, we spent a weeks in different settings reminiscing about your glorious pastimes in Bombay.

The devotees were there, but we were missing you. “Where is Srila Prabhupada? Where is Srila Prabhupada? Here is Syamasundara! Srila Prabhupada must also be here. Here is Gurudas! Srila Prabhupada must also be here. Here is Brahmananda! Srila Prabhupada must also be here!”

YOU WERE CONSPICUOUS BY YOUR ABSENCE.

Just by seeing my god-brothers and god-sisters in Bombay. I experienced a flood of memories of you. As each one spoke, it was like going thirty years into the past. It was just like being with you directly in Bombay. As each devotee began to speak their memories, you appeared.

There were lighter moments full of humor and laughter. And yet there were speakers who chocked up and spoke with faltering voices full of tears. The audience was equally surcharged with emotions. Your memories have been deeply carved into their hearts. The love of your followers is genuine and eternal, spiritual in nature. They will carry these memories beyond this life – birth after birth – eternally. We are all eternally indebted to you. May you empower us to do as you did.

All the while, as we were hearing the nectar of your memories, we were being reminded of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari. You had prayed to Them and promised Them, “My dear Radha-Rasabihari, please remain here, and I shall build a beautiful temple for You.” You are so much intimately connected with Krsna that one who remembers you remembers Krsna.

I remembered that Bombay was my spiritual birthplace. I was conceived at your first Bombay festival at Cross Maidan in 1971. And I was born in 1972, during the festival the following year at Hare Krsna Land, Juhu, Bombay.

I was a student studying in town called Sangli. I decided to completemy graduation in Bombay. I could have continued in Sangli, but there was a dictation from within to go to Bombay. It was the voice of the Lord within, who was directing me to go and take shelter of your lotus feet in Bombay.

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krsna. By the mercy of both Krsna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.” (Sri Caitanya–caritamrta, Madhya 19.151)

When I came to your Hare krsna festival in Bombay in 1971, I was confused. I had no sense of direction. I was full of doubts and questions. By hearing from you and, and by associating with your devotees, I became free from misconceptions. The dynamic of that association worked like an alum, which settles the sediment at the bottom of a flask, making the water clear at the top. By my coming into contact with you and your devotees, the impurities in my mind began to settle and dissolve. Everything became crystal clear for the first time in my life.

Arjuna uvaca
nasto mohah smrtir labdha tvat-prasadan mayacyuta
sthito ‘smi gata-sandehah, karisye vacanam tava

“Arjuna said:  my dear Krsna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions.” (Bhagavad-gita 18.73)

I concluded that you were eternal spiritual master and that the devotees are the kind of people with whom I would like to associate. By your grace and causeless mercy, I have remained fixed in this determination until this day. There is nothing better to be had.

I walked away from that festival with the treasure of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. I kept chanting for one year, all by myself. I attained the lotus feet of the Lord of my heart, Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari, the following year at the pandal at Hare Krsna Land.

WHAT CAN I SAY? YOU ARE “A GOLOKA MAN.”

I thank the Lord for your coming into my life and giving me eternal life full of bliss and knowledge. On the occasion of your appearance day, your Vyasa-puja, I would like to express my gratitude from the core of my heart for accepting me as your disciple and engaging me as one of the soldiers of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana army.

Your eternally indebted servant,
Lokanath Swami

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