Tomorrow is the celebration of our nitya-līlā-praviṣṭha oṁ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajnāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s appearance in this world. On this day my Gurudeva would show his deep faith towards the entire guru-paramparā, starting from his own Guru.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thākura in his time discovered a process of worship. When he was staying in Purī he collected this from the Śaṅkara-sampradāya. Within this ceremony there is guru-pañcaka, kṛṣṇa-pañcaka, vyāsā-pañcaka, ācārya-pañcaka, and pañca-tattva-pañcaka.
There are seven pañcakas and the methods for worshipping each have been given. Within vyāsā-pañcaka is Vyāsadeva and his four disciples: Paila, Vaiśampāyana, Sumanta, and Jaiminī. And in kṛṣṇa-pañcaka there is Kṛṣṇacandraji, Rādhikāji, Gauraji, Gadādharaji, and one more, these five tattvas. In pañca-tattva-pañcaka is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa, and gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.
For ācārya-pañcaka there are five gurus in our lineage. When Gurujī would do this worship he would select Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura Prabhupāda, Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thākura, Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, and in the center would be Śukadeva Gosvāmī, or anyone else. In this way 5 x 7=35. He worshiped thirty-five personalities on this day.
Why do they worship all these gurus? If one only accepts one’s own guru and does not accept guru-paramparā then:
nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayaṁ
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.3
[O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.]
Kṛṣṇa-prema is not a thing of this world, it is of Goloka Vrndāvana. It comes from Kṛṣṇa to Brahmā and from Brahmā to Nārada to Vyāsadeva and from Vyāsadeva to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. In this way it comes like a current and is flowing even today. If this current’s path is blocked at any one point then how will the flow continue? The flow will not come. Therefore, we have to accept all our gurus. If you accept one but not accept another then that is like accepting the half-hen logic. “Baas! I will only accept what my Gurudeva has spoken and written. I don’t believe in any ācārya. I only depend on my Gurudeva, what he has written and what he has done. I believe in him, not any guru-paramparā.” Then? Everything will be spoiled. There will be no link from Kṛṣṇa to here. So this person will not have the real thing.
Therefore, don’t do like this. We need to know the guru-paramparā. Just like in the material world there is a family lineage—we accept our father but not our grandfather. But where did your father come from? So this is not good. In the realm of bhajana we have our Guru and he is the link. But link to what? My link is bhakti Prajnāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja and he connects me to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura, Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thākura, Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūsana Thākura, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura, Śyāmānanda Prabhu, Narottama Thākura, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Krsnadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsādi Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Is´vara Puripāda, Mādhavendra Puripāda, Lakṣmīpati, Madhvācārya, and his disciples, then Vyāsa, Nārada, Brahmā, and ultimately Kṛṣṇa.
This is how we reach there. Those who do not accept this link—their bhajana becomes useless. Therefore, Guru, on his birthday, is not eager to have others perform worship to him. It is not called vyāsa-pūjā for one’s own worship. The name is vyāsapūjā and it means Vyāsadeva or Vyāsadeva’s lineage; it is the worship of that lineage.
This is how Guru worships on his birthday. Gurus should do worship of their guru-paramparā from Guru to Kṛṣṇa. This is vyāsa-pūjā. He who fails to do like this has no knowledge of guru-paramparā. If he does not know the guru-paramparā he cannot do bhajana. He cannot do bhajana.
Ordinary people think, "We can be anywhere and just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa—or any mantra of Kṛṣṇa, like kṛṣṇa śaraṇaṁ mama." They live independently and think, "There is only my guru. Beyond that there is nothing. What is the use of a guru-paramparā." In this way ordinary people do bhajana. Therefore, their bhajana does not reach perfection. They think their bhajana will reach perfection, but it does not.
Therefore, we should not do like this. We should come in that line. Therefore, it is said—sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te niṣphalā matā—if one does not follow the four recognized disciple successions, his mantra or initiation is useless. (Padma-purāṇa)
Without sampradāyas, or the paramparā, all mantras are useless. Why are they useless? They will be mundane just like money from your job. You can attain only worldly things. But by doing real bhajana we will receive real results. You can get mundane things by service, by business, and by all other means. But you cannot have Kṛṣṇa or that supernatural kṛṣṇa-prema. You can not get this. You may attain everything else, but then what will happen in your bhajana? Anarthas will not go far away. The anarthas will remain prominent. Our bhajana will not remain if we do not come under paramparā. Bhajana won’t be possible—anarthas won’t go away. We will only fight, quarrel, and cut for these things. Therefore, just see, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Rūpa-Sanātana and others, what did they do? They completely left all worldly things. Worldly things meant nothing to them. If there is attachment for these things then we will become antagonistic towards others and bhajana will be very far away. Therefore, they never gave attention in that direction. They sent those attached people to the paramparā of Śukrācārya. He is the ācārya of śukra, semen. From semen comes birth, death, etc. So go there and remain entangled in these things. Don’t come here. Here our path is completely straight and that path is guru-paramparā.
Worship of Vyāsadeva is also included in the Śaṅkara-sampradāya. Who is Vyāsa? What does ‘vyāsa’ mean? If we take a single point and continue to enlarge it, it becomes a circle. This expansion is called vyāsa. Or take a line which begins from a single point and ends at an object some distance away, the last point or the end of this line is called vyāsa. Meaning from one point something is taken and expanded to such an extent that it reaches Kṛṣṇa the cause of all causes and the creator of the universe. So Vyāsadeva expanded or spread and increased the nāma, guṇa, rūpa, and līlā of that Kṛṣṇa throughout the whole world.
He who does this is Vyāsa. He who takes the līlā-kathā of Bhagavān and spreads it throughout the world, dispels the ignorance of the jīvas and helps them attain prema, he is Vyāsa. He who is able do this accepts the role of Vyāsa. He is ācārya. This type of ācārya may sit in the place of Vyāsa (vyāsasana) and be worshiped. His worship is also said to be vyāsa-pūjā.
[CC-by-NDNC Bhakta Bandhav]