What is Vyasa Puja ?
Vyasa Puja means to worship Vyasadeva, the energy incarnation of Lord Krsna who is the spiritual master of the entire spiritual lineage. All initiating spiritual masters represent Vyasadeva. Therefore, on their appearance days, the disciples arrange a Vyasa Puja for their initiating spiritual master. His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur is the prominent personality in the Brahma-Madhava-Gaudiya-sarasvata parampara as he systematically spread the pure loving message of Lord Caitanya, establishing a non-sectarian society in the name of Gaudiya Math. According to the desire of Lord Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, grand disciples, and great-grand disciples established so many units of Mahaprabhu’s mission for the sake of massively spreading the message of Lord Caitanya. All of us will be worshiping Srila Prabhupada in a grand manner in unison, every year.
The specialty of Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja:
The specialty of worshiping Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur?
Srila Prabhupada is such a personality that by worshiping him, we shall satisfy all of his disciples, grand disciples, great-grand disciples, and also his Gurudeva, Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj. When addressing Srila Prabhupada, at that time known as Bimala Prasad (Sri Varsabhanavi-dayita Das), Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj used to say, “My Lord, have you arrived? Could you please explain one Bhagavatam verse?” For the satisfaction of his Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada would explain a verse. After hearing Srila Prabhupada’s explanation, Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj would explain the same verse from an even deeper perspective. Srila Prabhupada would become astonished at hearing his Gurudeva’s explanation. Although Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaja was not an academic scholar, he had the direct realizations of the Supreme Lord within his own heart due to his pure chanting of the holy names, constantly. Srila Prabhupada was very dear to Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaja. He would always address him as, “Amar Prabhu – My Lord.” In order to satisfy the entire tree, we water the roots, which causes the entire tree to become pleased. Similarly, by worshiping Srila Prabhupada, all of his disciples, grand disciples, and the whole guru-varga will be satisfied. The concept of the spiritual master is not limited to an individual. Therefore, our previous teacher, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta.
Srila Prabhupada taught us to arrange the Vyasa Puja as follows:
In the middle is the Krsna-pancaka. Pancaka means five. Krsna is in the middle surrounded by Vasudeva (in the East), Sankarsana (in the South), Pradyumna (in the West), and Aniruddha (in the North). On the southern side of the Krsna-pancaka is the Vyasa-pancaka. Vyasadeva is in the middle surrounded by Paila Muni (in the East), Vaisampayana Muni (in the South), Jaimini Muni (in the West), and Sumanta Muni (in the North). On the northern side of the Krsna-pancaka is the Acarya-pancaka. Sukadeva Goswami is in the middle surrounded by Ramanujacarya (in the East), Madhvacarya (in the South), Visnusvami Acarya (in the West), and Nimbaditya Acarya (in the North). On the western side of the Krsna-pancaka is the Sanakadi-pancaka. Visvaksena is in the middle surrounded by Sanaka (in the East), Sanatana (in the South), Sanandana (in the West), and Sanata-kumara (in the North). On the eastern side of the Krsna-pancaka is the Guru-pancaka. Diksa-guru is in the middle surrounded by Parama-guru (in the East), Paramesthi-guru (in the South), Paratpara-guru (in the West), and Brahma (in the North). On the southern side of the Vyasa-pancaka is the Gaura-pancaka. Gauranga is in the middle surrounded by Advaita Acarya (in the East), Nityananda (in the South), Srivasa (in the West), and Gadadhara (in the North).
