Verse 2.5.8

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.5.8:

“শুন শুন নিত্যানন্দ শ্রীপাদ গোসাঞি ব্যাস-পূজা তোমার হৈবে কোন্ ঠাঞি? ॥ ৮ ॥

“शुन शुन नित्यानन्द श्रीपाद गोसाञि व्यास-पूजा तोमार हैबे कोन् ठाञि? ॥ ८ ॥

“śuna śuna nityānanda śrīpāda gosāñi vyāsa-pūjā tomāra haibe kon ṭhāñi? || 8 ||

“suna suna nityananda sripada gosani vyasa-puja tomara haibe kon thani? (8)

English translation:

(8) “O Śrīpāda Nityānanda Gosāñi, please hear. Where should we hold Your Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony?

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Introductory knowledge of the Absolute Truth, Vrajendra-nandana, who is the predominating Deity of the samvit potency, is called Veda. The marginal potency, one of the three potencies of the Supreme Lord, has spiritual characteristics. Advaya-jñāna Vrajendra-nandana is situated within the conceptions of knower, knowledge, and the object of knowledge. The Lord, who is the personification of knowledge, takes the form of sound and manifests as Vedic literature. When the Vedic literatures, consisting of knowledge related to sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana, fail to check impersonal concepts, then the advaya-jñāna, or Absolute Truth, gives up its variegated characteristics. In the perfectional stage of their impersonal conceptions, those who give importance to material variegatedness lose their individuality. Śrī Kṛṣṇa- dvaipāyana Vyāsa divided the Vedas into three parts. The Ṛg, Sāma, and Yajur Vedas entangle materialistic persons in karma-kāṇḍa and create illusions in their understanding of the actual purport of the Vedas. Since the impersonalists do not accept the eternality of distinctions such as great and small, they are unable to accept Śrī Vedavyāsa as spiritual master and they therefore forcibly consider him the propounder of their

ignorance. Being unable to understand the actual intention of Śrīmad Vyāsa, those covered Buddhists who claim that the Supreme Lord is a product of matter and are thus bereft of His service consider themselves Brahman, which is devoid of distinctions such as individuality, devotion, and aversion. Śrīmad Ānandatīrtha remained a true servant of his spiritual master and became renowned as the topmost follower of Śrī Vyāsa by establishing a difference of opinion with such persons. In the disciplic succession from Madhva we hear topics of great personalities like Śrīman Lakṣmīpati Tīrtha and Śrī Mādhavendra Purīpāda. Although the tradition of Guru-pūjā, or Vyāsa-pūjā, is current among the Māyāvādīs, or the pañcopāsakas, in such Vyāsa-pūjā there is a prominence of false ego. Due to the absence of pure devotional service, they can never conduct Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā. In the Māyāvādīsampradāya the make-show of Vyāsa-pūjā is seen on Guru Pūrṇimā day in the month of Āṣāḍha (June-July). The Vedas state that the very moment one develops detachment, one will retire from material enjoyment and achieve a taste for the service of the Lord. In this regard there is no consideration of proper or improper time. As soon as the living entity’s material enjoyment is vanquished, he approaches an ācārya and takes shelter of his lotus feet. Taking shelter at the lotus feet of an ācārya in this way is the real meaning of the term Vyāsa-pūjā. Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā is a prescribed function for all four āśramas, but particularly the sannyāsīs should observe this function. Members of those sampradāyas in Āryāvarta that accept the teachings of Śrī Vyāsadeva are famous as vedānugas, or followers of the Vedas. Every year they all worship their spiritual master on his appearance day. The most suitable day for accepting sannyāsa is Pūrṇimā, the full moon day. Whether impersonalist or personalist, all sannyāsīs worship their spiritual masters. That is why Vyāsa-pūjā is generally celebrated on the full moon day of Āṣāḍha, which is considered the appearance day of the spiritual master. The servants of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha observe Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā every year on the fifth day of the waning moon in the month of Māgha (January-February) as a sign of respect. The

observance of Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā differs in various branches. Since brāhmaṇas of all four āśramas who have undergone the prescribed purificatory processes are under the shelter of a spiritual master who represents Śrī Vyāsa, they more or less regularly worship Śrī Vyāsadeva as a prescribed duty; but the annual observance of Vyāsa-pūjā is the beginning of worshiping the spiritual master throughout the year. Another name for Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā is Śrī Guru-pāda-padme pādyārpaṇa, or “bathing the lotus feet of the spiritual master with five ingredients,” or the process by which it is made known that the inner desire of the spiritual master is to properly serve the Lord. That is why our well-wishing guide and predecessor spiritual master Śrīla Ṭhākura Narottama has glorified our primary guru, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, as follows:

śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṃ sthāpitaṃ yena bhū-tale svayaṃ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṃ dadāti sva-padāntikam

“When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?” The most merciful Śrī Caitanyadeva’s pastimes of distributing love of Kṛṣṇa that Śrī Rūpa prescribed to his followers as the remedy for curing the disease of aversion to the service of the Lord are the ideal offering for Vyāsa-pūjā.