Over 1600 devotees offer their Vyasa Puja homage
ISKCON News
The 119th auspicious appearance day of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was celebrated on September 6, 2015 at ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Temple, Bangalore.
The appearance day of Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, is celebrated as Vyasa Puja all over the world by the members of ISKCON as he is the current spiritual master in the disciplic succession coming down from Srila Vyasadeva himself.
The celebration began in the evening with Sri Vasudev Keshav Dasa, Temple Vice President reading out the excerpts from Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja homage to his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura in February 1936.
Vyasa Puja homage is a submission of literary offering that contains glorifications and gratitude expressed by a devotee unto the spiritual master. The devotee may also pray for guidance from his spiritual master and ask forgiveness for any offenses that he may have committed.
Temple President Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa offered Srila Prabhupada the Vyasa Puja book containing the written offerings of 1,687 devotees from 20 temples. He then read out his homage offering followed by few other devotees.
Next was an elaborate abhisheka and Guru Puja ceremony for His Divine Grace. The Deity of Srila Prabhupada was given a massage with the paste of white sesame seeds and sandalwood paste and bathed with milk, curds, ghee, honey, etc. followed by a shower of fruit juices. Then there was an arati and bathing the Deity with the sacred water from 108 kalashas. A variety of colorful and fragrant flowers were also showered on His Divine Grace.
This was followed by a few more devotees reading out their offerings. Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa gave a short talk emphasizing the performance of both spiritual sadhana and seva and constantly trying to improve the quality of our sadhana. He said that sadhana and service together make a devotee’s life successful. He also called upon all the devotees to contribute towards the mission of Srila Prabhupada in all possible ways.
Apart from written offerings, Srila Prabhupada was also offered hundreds of delicious food items prepared by the devotees with love and devotion. As many as 229 devotees brought food offerings totaling 844 items which included 344 sweets, 225 savories, 86 snacks and 189 other feast items.
There was also a special cake offering in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s crossing to the West on the ship, Jaladuta. His divine Grace, at the age of 70, sailed in this ship from Calcutta to New York on the order of his spiritual master to spread the message of Krishna all over the world.
It took three days for six devotees to make this 220 kg cake depicting Srila Prabhupada’s voyage of compassion. During the Guru Puja, every devotee offered flowers and paid obeisance to the spiritual master. The celebration concluded with the distribution of food items offered to Srila Prabhupada and a prasadam feast to all the devotees.
